Bush announces $17.4 billion auto bailout

“If we were to allow the free market to take its course now, it would almost certainly lead to disorderly bankruptcy,” Bush said at the White House, in remarks carried live by the national broadcast networks. “In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not [...]

White House: Nation ‘can’t withstand’ failure of automakers

In what may be its strongest pitch to date on the need for rescuing the domestic auto industry, the White House today linked the $14 billion targeted for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC with a surge in jobless claims, saying the national economy “can’t withstand” the impact of the automakers failing now.
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Murky future for auto rescue amid GOP opposition

A House-passed bill to speed $14 billion in loans to Detroit’s automakers stands on shaky ground in a bailout-weary Congress, undermined by Republican opposition that could derail the emergency aid in the Senate.
Republicans are challenging lame-duck President George W. Bush on the proposal, arguing that any support for the domestic auto industry should carry significant [...]

A Ruinous Bias Against Helping Detroit

Media coverage of the auto crisis has been powerfully biased against assistance to the industry, in part because reporters, editors and TV producers—not to mention the corporate owners—have yet to shed the outdated free-market fundamentalism that has shaped American journalism for so many years. The worst example in recent weeks has been the constant repetition [...]

7 myths about Detroit automakers

The debate over aid to the Detroit-based automakers is awash with half-truths and misrepresentations that are endlessly repeated by everyone from members of Congress to journalists. Here are seven myths about the companies and their vehicles, and the reality in each case.
Myth No. 1: Nobody buys their vehicles
Reality: General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and [...]

White House, Congressional leaders near agreement on $15B short-term auto aid plan

The White House and Congressional Democrats are nearing agreement on a $15 billion compromise short-term aid plan for Detroit’s Big Three automakers, two congressional aides said late Friday.  Democrats were preparing to drop their insistence that the money come from the $700 billion Wall Street rescue program, and agree to tap a Department of Energy [...]

Obama Pushing for $50 Billion Automaker Rescue, Czar to Oversee Companies

President-elect Barack Obama is pushing Congress this year to approve as much as $50 billion to save cash-starved U.S. automakers and appoint a czar or board to oversee the companies, a move that would require President George W. Bush’s support, people familiar with the matter said.
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