Originally Posted by SteveZ

Reagan didn't fix anything, anymore than Obama will make positive change or Bush broke things. To give them that credit is to consider them dictators or kings. So many things happen during any president's term that credit for all good is claimed and blame for everything wrong is levied on the predecessor.

Throwing a ton of money at the auto industry never fixed THE problem - a bloated inventory (which keeps increasing) of unsellable product. Sales solves all business problems, and lack of sales is the death knell for every business. Detroit is making 21st Century buggywhips or products not cost competitive for the quality. The marketplace for cars - without tariff protection - is only going to get worse once products from India and China enter the scene, just like what happened from Japan and then Korea. The government is scared of levying tariffs for fear of retaliation, so the competitive environment for autos is going to get tougher.

Again, what has changed other than a phony image of "it's rosy now" because the money faucet got turned on to short-term bailout of some failing businesses which still are stuck with product-on-the-shelf which they can't sell and are daily deteriorating in value?

So, before "Mission Accomplished" banners are placed next to the signs saying "Entering Detroit City Limits," let's be clear on the mission, what was accomplished, and what' going to keep the US from "investing" more money into Detroit for each of the next eight years....

And what are we going to do with the umteen thousands of unsold 2007, 2008, and 2009 model-year cars still sitting in storage lots? They won't go away by themselves. The HazMat disposal costs aren't in any figures I've seen.