there has been much discussion lately on whether or not the big three (being GM, Ford, and Chrysler) should receive moneys from the government in order to not sink. being that several members of my family are either retired or still work for GM, this hits very close to home. My mom is worried that they are going to lose their insurance, my grandpa is worried that he is not going to be able to live out his remaining days, and my aunt, well, her husband already lost her job with GM and now she's worried that she will too.
On a less personal note, this debate over the bailout affects 2.5-3 million jobs directly. And 20 million jobs indirectly. And probably 5-10 million retirees directly and indirectly. In a failing economy such as this, why would the goverment consider leaving 30 million people jobless and pensionless, not to mention the loss of all the healthcare benefits. I agree that the American car hasn't been competitive with the foreign car over the past twenty years, but they have gotten much better recently. They finally recognized the need for fuel efficiency and are really working on being better.
My dad bought a 2006 Chevy Impala SS in September of 2005. The poor car has been in two accidents, but neither accident was the Impala (or driver of Impala)'s fault. Other than that, this car runs beautifully. Because it is an SS, is has a V8 engine. What is amazing about this V8 engine is that when on the highway, 4 cylinders turn off and the fuel efficiency quadruples (first ever engine to do that). Now, city driving this car tends to eat some gas, but it also has lots of power. That was always the draw to American made autos, the POWER (insert Tim Taylor grunt here). My dad just purchased a 1984 Chevy El Camino SS (he has an SS obsession, it's true). This car is 24 years old and beautiful. Not the most fuel efficient (again, V8 engine and this one doesn't turn off any cylinders), but runs and looks great. Though my dad is now tooling around town in a purple el camino, he thinks he's the coolest man around (not sure yet if that's a good or bad thing).
Don't hate on the Impala, it's so pretty!
I drive a Honda, but I bought it used off a friend. If I were to buy a new car, I would buy GM, granted I get the family discount, but I will buy GM. I will drive my Honda until it croaks, we will have hopefully paid off Adam's truck, and I will buy GM. Heck, I might even get the Chevy Volt (they super fabulous new electric car available in 2010... plug in, charge it up, and go!).
The conclusion to my little tale, bailout the big three with stipulations. Letting the livelihood of 30 million people (and who knows how many children?) collapse is so not cool. Yes, this sucks, yes, the big three kind of got themselves into this mess and didn't really do a whole lot to get themselves out, but letting them fail should not be an option.
Something entirely unrelated, today I am wearing the
shoes that would alter my universe (see previous post). They truly have altered my universe. They are so pretty, my feet look fantastic, and I have gotten so many compliments. Even from a professor who ignores I exist except when drunk, when she likes to drop many f-bombs about many topics. In my post about these fabulous shoes, I was sad that I couldn't get them in my size from shoebuy.com. Imagine my surprise (and glee) when I found them at smartbargains.com for $25 less than shoebuy! And in my size! Oh the joy!
