BMW Receives U.S. Federal Support During Economic Crisis

[greenrail]

I don't usually get too upset about many ofthe things which are beyond our individual control regarding Federal supports and monies doled out during this Financial Crisis.

However, when I went on the Automotive News Website this afternoon. This article really struck me very hard. I know we are all going through a lot of problems. I also know that BMW employs a lot of people here in the United States. But, taking part in Federal supports by a supposedly sound foreign based company to be able to maintain their business here in the face of North American Based Maunufacturing Companies, really seems a bit disingenuous.

Check out this article from the Automotive News Website:

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...312029966/1246

This all from a company based in a nation that refused to assist GM when Opel needed help.

[xx_ED_xx]

I am not sure why we are supporting Bulvarian Manure Wagons other then maybe they use GM transmissions.

[PQ]

I guess being that it's automotive it's vaguely relevent here. But, why just pick one item.

They wasted billions on even stupider stuff. I'm numb to them anymore.

Too bad too. I send the Feds and State over 5k per month.

OH, and IBTL

[mikeSS]

lol and to think i just bought a bmw today

[GTAHVIT]

well, I'll give this a chance to survive..... Please don't kill eachother.... while it's on life support...

[CamaroSkooter]

I don't get why a government is bailing out any company, regardless of what it does. If a company is hemorrhaging money because of poor management, why should the government help them? It just doesn't make sense to me. I always thought our government was built to encourage competition, not bad managment practices...

[Number 3]

I'll post it again, Nissan received a $1.5 BILLION dollar DOE loan for the Leaf.

So this is nothing new. No one got excited about that loan so why this?

[PQ]

Originally Posted by Number 3

I'll post it again, Nissan received a $1.5 BILLION dollar DOE loan for the Leaf.

So this is nothing new. No one got excited about that loan so why this?

[greenrail]

I posted this because, personally, I feel that if we (our government) is going to aid industry, we should do so here for companies headquartered here. Not the competition to our homegrown companies.

Number 3, I would feel the same way about DOE funding development of the Leaf, had I seen that. (admittedly, I can't read everything.)

I pointed this one out because it stuck out like a red flag when I was looking at the Automtoive news website.

In one form or another the US Federal Government has aided US Industry in one way or another for many years. It is one way , at leastnto me, where our monies have been used to support technology development. US Space Program, for one is one of the most notable examples.

Military spending has an effect on many aspects of technology that is part of our daily lives. In reality, we do many of the same things other countries do by supporting these types of programs.

The point, here, is US Monies were used to support foreign based companies, while the government in which BMW is headquartered turned it's back on GM's Opel Subsidiary.

[greenrail]

GTAHAVIT-

I posted this as my expression about doling money out to foreign based companies, while their home country turned their backs on a US Based company trying to maintain a stable business over their.

By all means, if this turns into bashing GM for receiving Federal assistance, then do close this thread.

I am very pro-business. I also, am extremely pro jobs for all the hard working people who are part of this industry here in North America. (i.e. Manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, etc.) loss of these companies would have destroyed our economy much more than we would have imagined.

Did I like the fact that this was done. Heck, NO!. But the alternative would have been much worse.

[8cd03gro]

That article is very vague, but it sounds like a loan, not the free money bail out junk.

[a_Username]

Originally Posted by 8cd03gro

That article is very vague, but it sounds like a loan, not the free money bail out junk.

Loans straight from the Fed are not supposed to happen. This sounds very different from the government backed loans we heard about before; really, all loans are government backed in the sense of the FDIC.

[2010-1SS-IBM]

Every government is in the pocket of big businesses. Where the companies originate from doesn't matter.

[bigearl]

As I read this, what I get out of it is that:

*BMW needed a loan.
*Banks WERE NOT lending because of the banking crisis (not the auto crisis, the banking crisis).
*BMW could get a loan under normal circumstances, but lenders weren't lending period.
*Feds set up a funding source to assist with large loans while they worked the banking crisis out.

I don't see this as the Feds helping out BMW, I see this as the Feds standing in for banks because the banks were in such trouble. I'd agree under normal circumstances the funding shouldn't be this way- this ship was sinking though and the feds were just blowing up life rafts as quick as they could.