Automaker Updates

Well, let's be clear here, the problem is not just that people are not buying cars from the Big 3 (Big 2½), it's that they are not buying cars from anyone.

Year over year, we have domestic sales filling by: GM ↓41%, Ford ↓30%, Chyrsler ↓47%, Toyota ↓34%, Honda ↓32%, Nissan ↓42%, and Hyundai ↓40%.

That is simply not sustainable, and with its lack of a foreign presence, Chrysler is clearly in the worst shape of the lot.

So, we now have the CEOS of the Big 3 (Big 2½) going before Congress and abasing themselves for operating cash, along with the obligatory promise to pay themselves $1/year.

The investment bankers did not do this, and they are still getting multimillion dollar bonuses.

Chrysler and GM are still saying that they need the money to function, though Ford is still saying that they just need a loan guarantee to in case one of the others goes belly up, and it sets up a cascade of bankruptcies among the parts suppliers.

Also, the amount of money has increased, from $25 billion to 34 billion...Which is still a lot less than the $7 trillion promised in one form or another to the Wall Street set.