Paulson says the US $700bn bail out is working, and in light of the failing auto industry, government officials have recommended steering some of those funds to the car manufacturers.  After all, it's dog-eared to help the economy, and the auto industry employs millions of Americans directly and indirectly.  But there is huge opposition to giving money to "The Big 3".

Quoted Text

"Once we cross the divide from financial institutions to individual corporations, truly, where would you draw the line?" said Jeff Sessions, Republican Senator for Alabama.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7724325.stm
Myself, I think they've already crossed the line from capitalism to socialism with this bail out, so restricting the aid to a single sector looks like cronyism.

This guy has another opinion: http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/013499.php

Obama seems to be acting more and more like the president, not just president elect.  He's stated that the auto sector needs to come to the table with a real plan for continued sustainability, not just an injection of cash to push off bankruptcy.  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081124/usa/us_politics_obama_economy_auto

The US government is about to hold a vote on giving $14Billion to automakers in emergency loans, under the direction of a "car czar".  Car Czar?  War Czar?  What is with this new trend?  And where was the Mortgage Czar?
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081210/business/congress_autos

I read an article today that quotes financial analysts saying that the cost would be about the same to the american public even without the bailout (due to job losses, etc.) so why not offer the bailout?  I mean, my understanding is that the bailout would be in the form of a loan, so it would be paid back, and save jobs at the same time.

Bad news about the US automaker bail out.  Discussions fell through.  http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.c.....14-billion-auto.html
So who's to blame in this?  The Republicans for demanding every employee take a pay cut to Japanese factory levels?  The UAW for refusing that demand?  The end result is 3 million jobs are effected.

More bad news for the automakers.  GM has announced it'll be shutting down all of it's North American plants for all of January.  http://ca.autos.yahoo.com/p/10.....ee-rescue-up-in-air/

The January shutdown has been known for a while now, but it may have just been a possibility until this point.  I heard six weeks ago or more, that Lear Kitchener is expected to drop their workforce to around 40 people for the month of January because of it.  At this point, I just hope GM starts up again.