Big Three meet with Bush to discuss "competition"; hilarity ensues

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Apologies if you've seen this story already.

Big Three automakers sit down with Bush - Marketwatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The leaders of the Big Three U.S. automakers and
President Bush have begun their face-to-face meeting at the White House on Tuesday
afternoon aimed at discussing the global competitiveness of the industry.

"This is a terrific opportunity to sit down and speak with the president directly
about issues that we think are not only critical to the auto industry but American
manufacturing competitiveness overall, things like health care, trade and energy
security," said Greg Martin, a spokesman for General Motors Corp. .

Top U.S. automakers have been stung by spiraling demand and fierce foreign
competition, particularly from Toyota Motor Corp.  . Huge losses have forced GM and
its rival Ford Motor Co.  to cut its North American work force by 55,000 hourly
workers.

Auto executives stressed that they were not seeking an industry-specific bailout.

"We are not seeking any relief specific to our industry. We instead hope we can
bring these issues to the forefront and encourage some renewed focus and energy to
actually address them," Martin said.

Sitting down with the president will be Ford's new CEO Alan Mulally, GM's CEO Rick
Wagoner and Chrysler's  Tom LaSorda. The meeting, which started around 1:15 p.m.
Eastern time, is expected to last about 45 minutes.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said that Bush wants to use the meeting "to reaffirm
his support for the American auto industry."

The new political environment in Washington, with Democrats in charge of the House
and Senate, presents opportunities and challenges for Detroit, analysts said.

On the one hand, Democrats have said they want to focus on making health care more
affordable, and this would please automakers.

GM, the largest single private health-care buyer in the United States, spent more
than $5 billion last year to cover all its employee and retirees. That number is
expected to swell to above $7 billion in 2009, the company has said.

But on the other hand, Democrats have voiced support for raising corporate average
fuel economy (CAFE) requirements for SUVs and pickups by 16 miles per gallon to 36
mpg.

"The Big Three have become technology laggards because for more than 25 years, they
have been protected from higher fuel economy standards," said Daniel Becker, director
of the Sierra Club's global Warming program.

"The clock is ticking on the Big 3, if they fail to innovate, the will likely fail
to exist," Becker said.

But the Big Three will want White House help to thwart the move to raise these fuel
standards, analysts said.

On trade, the automakers generally agree with the Democratic midterm election
platform to make American companies more competitive.

Automakers will ask Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to push Japan to boost the value
of its currency.

An artificially weak yen gives Japanese automakers a significant profit advantage,
GM's Martin said.

The dollar's recent exchange rate, in a range of 115-120 yen, "adds up a $3,000 to
$9,000 profit on the yen alone" for Japanese automakers, Martin said.

But Paulson is not expected to be very sympathetic to this argument, analysts said.

Detroit also wants the International Trade Commission to end tariffs on
corrosion-resistant galvanized steel. But this tariff is supported by many Democratic
members of Congress.

On energy, automakers will stress their efforts to reduce dependency on foreign oil,
especially through production of hybrid vehicles.

This is one area of broad agreement between the Bush administration and Detroit.

Snow said Bush will thank the automakers "for some innovative activities such as
looking for -- creating flex-fuel vehicles and hybrids that enable us to find new
ways to power our large and always growing automotive fleet in this country in such a
way as that it gives us a little better ability to try to wean ourselves from an
addition to oil, especially foreign oil."

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I heard this on the radio and figured I'd link it in.  The "Big Three" are meeting with President Bush to discussion "competition" issues... I heard that on the radio, and immediately knew they were going to start citing Anything But Themselves as the problem.

News to anybody?  Of course not.

I tell ya... I drive a Honda, and right now, I'm glad I drive one.

I don't want to sound overly callous, but if the Big Three can't get their act together, then they should fall flat on their face.  Yes, it'll hurt a lot of people, but it's hurting the rest of us even more to have our tax dollars spent on propping up an ailing behemoth, not to mention that the lack of innovation has hurt us in far more indirect ways.

I could blather on and on about this, but I guess this is just more of the same from the sloths.

[Atlas]

Unfortunately, I drive a Ford and my father is considering taking a Ford buyout package in the next month or so after his 34 years. He plans on finding a job elsewhere, although I tell him he should look no further than NH.

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Unfortunately, I drive a Ford and my father is considering taking a Ford buyout package in the next month or so after his 34 years. He plans on finding a job elsewhere, although I tell him he should look no further than NH.

I'd say that he should definitely get out while he still can, before Ford and them finally crumble under their own weight.

(More commentary on Ford; none on you or your father ;P)

The precedent we have of running to Big Mommy government to kiss our booboos and Big Daddy government to make the bad men stop is disturbing at best.  I still don't really understand how people can think like that.  I mean, I can see it to a point where people are taught that, but it's a fundamentally childish mentality.