Obama: Willing to save auto industry, but not without a fight
Although President Barack Obama has told automakers he intends to save them from bankruptcy, he has toughened up considerably in recent weeks. Automakers, Obama said this weekend, have not done enough. They have not done what was expected of them. As long as they do not, Washington will not bail them out.
“They’re not there yet,” Obama said in a taped interview on the CBS-TV news program “Face The Nation.”
“We think we can have a successful U.S. auto industry. But it’s got to be one that’s realistically designed to weather this storm,” Obama said.
“That’s going to mean a set of sacrifices from all parties involved,” he said. “Everybody’s going to have to come to the table and say it’s important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in order to preserve a brighter future down the road.”
This new, tougher attitude should of course be encouraged. If the government is going to bail automakers out once again, they have to be forced to reform themselves. Costs have to cut, everybody has to sacrifice. Washington bailed these companies out several times in the past, and every single time automakers didn’t do what was necessary to secure their financial future.
No, automakers, employers, employees, everybody involved in the auto industry has to know that help is only given to those who change their ways, who take responsibility and make sure they won’t repeat the same mistakes again.
Having said that, one has to wonder whether American automakers can survive. Even if they do everything Obama asks of them, can they be expected to compete on the global automarket? Without any federal aid?
I really do hope that Obama can save the auto industry. I believe that the US auto industry needs some serious restructuring and the bailout won’t simply solve the problem.