Doug
We still buy 14 million cars and pickups a year. GM sells 4 million and Ford 2 or 3 million. The rest are made by Tokyo companies. it doesnt take a genius to figure that it is a bad domestic time to buy an import this time around no matter what... If we insist on buying imports because of better quality, fine, GM and Ford might go under. If you think your job will be as safe after that, good luck, wish you well! Cats with whiskers are smarter than us bare skinned rednecks!!!

Americans think they can mind their own business as companies disappear here and there. I am not sure about our car industry because it is so big that it will create a tunsami once it goes under. all hell may break loose and import buyers will lose the quality cars due to their own financial problems anyway. What is the point anyway... GM and Ford is perfectly capable of boositng production of whatever they got on the fuel efficient lineup now by double or even quadruple overnight then work on better models later on. Some models are up 30 or 80% in sales from last year which is impressing but not enough to make a turn around. If enough of us buy GM and Ford fuel efficient modles even at losses, the bond rating agencies might consider upgrading GM and Ford bonds to provide more favorable financings later on. Dont worry about profits now.. Just buy what they got now and keep buying until better times comes and they are better able to compete with Tokyo companies. It is just a waste o f time and we learn our lessons for not thinking things through and around us at first.

Kerkorian has been making noise around the U.S. car business for years. I would rate him more in the Jay Gould (open your history book) category than anything else. The bad times that all U.S. citizens will be facing may have a silver lining. We have been import dependent for the last 20 years and have neglected our own industry - and source of independence. Go look - at the label of your apparel and you will realize that without imports you will be naked. We need to make some changes. Free trade is a very nice idea as long as your country is not flooded with goods priced deliberately to destroy the domestic rival. Protective tariffs have to be considered as this practice has to be stopped. GM and Ford will survive, perhaps not with as much market share, but that is up to the public. The public has to figure out who comes first - us or them.

please consider the fact that the have 20 vice presidents,plant managers,section managers,general foreman,foreman before the get to areal worker.They attend meetings proclaimingtoyota has the best quality cars,stop production for an hour and waste another 45 minutes startup.We had thousands more workersand turned outbetter quality cars before this fiasco started with jaques nasser.Ford poured money into ballard power and recieved nothing in return.Small cars-understand the concept?

All is good in saying to buy American cars like Ford, GM, Dodge etc. But let us all remember that all of these products are only assembled here in this country. 90% of the actual vehicle is made in other countries then put together here. So before crying to everyone to buy American lets inluence the Companies to buy American by hireing our people in this country to make even the smallest nut and bolt .Then we will have the ability to buy a true American made product .

There is a trend about automotives in advanced countries losing out to emerging countries. It tells me that this industry is outmoded and finding difficulty fitting in a post-industrialized society such as ours. So be it if that's the case, but my concern is that we maintain our defense complex in tact such as tanks, military vehicles, aircraft and etc. even if it is inefficient from a cost point of view.

Autos and airlines are food trade but bad long-term investment. Housing is another industry that will be stagnant for the 1-2 decades. Politicans make thing worse. I will tellyou why@
www.theinvestingspeculator.com

I always love the posters telling us we have to buy from Detroit. I wonder how many of them either own the stocks, or work for the (ex) Big Three?
GM is the company which thought investing in the Hummer business was a better idea than improving fuel efficiency. Ford couldn't build enough Explorers, and when it let the old Taurus die, the replacement sedan (Fusion) was intentionally sourced from Mexico. 75% of Chrysler's production is trucks. They don't even have a small car!
And it's our duty to save these guys? Our only duty is to buy the right vehicle. Detroit has shown us for decades that if that vehicle isn't a gas guzzler, they have no interest in building it.