Originally posted by Prash:
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
Why are you OK with the government handing out billions in tax breaks, subsidies etc. for foreign automakers, but opposed to a loan for the D3? I don't get it. |
I am NOT Ok with that. I cant imagine U.S. govt. handing out tax breaks preferentially to foreign auto makers. Where did you hear that? If there are such breaks, the D3 for sure must have gotton them too.
Now assuming the foreign automakers get the same tax and subsidy treatment as the U.S. ones from the U.S. government, I am OK with a structured plan that has milestones to measure stepped progress of D3. Again, I am NOT ok with freebies to D3 without any thing that makes them accountable in return.. just because they are home companies.
If the asian auto makers get subsidies from their government, it shows in their standing and reputation.
If the D3 receive the same treatment from our govt., I would expect them to work their asses off and prove it in the world market rather than sitting in their Hummers and desiring a new HDTV every Christmas (I am referring to the management here.. not the working class). The asians are hard working people.. very hard working. And perhaps.. just perhaps.. they know how to make use of the opportunities they get. |
Everytime a foreign automaker announces the slightest hint that they might even be thinking abiout building a facility in the U.S., the local and state governments trip all over themselves, holding out offers of tax incentives, subsidies, free land etc. All of that represents real money to the tune of humdreds of millions, if not billions of dollars.
The D3 get no such break because they have no need to build facilities in the US because they've been here so long that they really have all the footprint in the US they need.
How many of the foreign automakers pay for health care benefits for their workers at home? None
They're also subsidized by their home governments in other ways; through unbalanced trade policies, like high tariffs on imported cars and their government's subsidies to their suppliers. That's in addition to direct subsidies to the foreign automakers themselves by their home governments in times of economic crisis. The reason you don't hear a lot about it? They don't make their auto companies get on their knees and beg, they understand the critical role their auto industry plays in their economy and to even think about letting them fail is beyond consideration. Here in the U.S. however, it seems the Congress is willing to fill the role of Herbert Hoover. |
