Those whom are not in this system, do not understand contractual agreements. Its obvious. ( 28 yrs GM Electrician). Sure, take away a retiree's moneys. I Worked for an agreed amount upon retirement. Yep, take it away. Also? increase taxpayers debts because they are thrifty folks. Everyone knows whatever happens to Auto factories, dominoes upon the whole market in a 6 mo. time. Always has always will. If this country stayed on, Be American Buy American; and not followed the WalMart tradition? We'd not be having this blog. But, go ahead buy non domestic products. See what other industries YOU the consumer can bring to thier knees. Bail-out the Companies? No. Bail-out the hard working class that were devoted and worked hard. And got excrimented upon. Just guatrentee what was promised is all WE ask. No more, no less. As You also would have exspected from your employer/contractual agreement. Thanks for your time. How do Judges rule in contractual agreements in court? Think about it. Neo~

The problem is three fold: Unions, CEOs, and consumers. Unions will always want more, even if it costs their members jobs. They want to set the standard for excessive wages and benefits. CEO's want the same: more money and more power (just like politicians). Consumers asked for the vehicles they wanted. When gas was $4 they wanted fuel efficiency. At $2 you can hardly give away a fuel efficient vehicle. We are all the blame for the auto industry, just like we are with education. We let teachers and professors always demand more to "keep up with the competition" and end up paying outrageous salaries and benefits for a marginal product - poorly educated students. Time to stand up to the unions and educators and CEOs and say enough is enough. Until then nothing will change, and we should let the automakers and the educatio system go bankrupt so we can start over. Same with banks. Hard in the short run, but better in the long run but we won't do it.

I was at a Transport 2020 meeting last night in Sun Prairie. I question why no TV news media was at this or the other 3 meetings they have had, or even told the major public when these meeting were going to take place. If this is adopted it will cost us millions, increase Dane Co sales tax and stop traffic hundreds of time and have a major carbon footprint in a city where air quality is already a major concern. In these hard times, I feel we have other options and other roadways that need money put into them.. Please look into what is happening with this and report to the public about it and when more public meetings will be helad. I feel this is going on and the government doesn't want people to know about it and they are doing a good job of keeping this a secret. Thank you as I really lerned a lot at last nights meeting and I think they need more of these meetings as people ned to know what is going on with there money.

my comment is to another topic, about HOA, we dream to have a house, the builder never say about the HOA fee at first our HOA is $72.00/month(2006) become$85.00/month (2007), then $97.00/month (2008) now is $110.00/month(2009), people who live here starting to leave, HOA keep on increasing, people loss their job, but for them they don't care as long as they get the money, some other community houses thier HOA is $130.00Quarterly, and some $135 semi annually, some are $37.00 a month ,our community HOA is horrible every month , our neighbor said that bec. this is a small community , they want that target budget to be divided for those who is still here and those who left they will not pay, in short we are paying for those empty houses.Do you think our HOA not fair, for them easy money juz to collect, how about us , esp now we are facing economic crisis,month, I requested to lower down the HOA fee, they don't listen, where can I ask 4 help.money now is tight, hope they will understand us

I agree with Pat from Fort Atkinson. Give the bailout money to the AMERICAN TAXPAYER. When we have money in hand we can allocate it where we feel will help the most. As for unions. Why Unions? Unions are making a difference. Workers never got anything without uniting for it. The 40-hour workweek The 8-hour workday Overtime Sick Leave Paid Vacation Employer-paid health insurance Pensions Safety and health protections Grievance procedure for wrongful discharge and discipline Fairness in promotions Higher wages I'm sure everyone has a "Union worker" somewhere in their past and are living a better life because of it.

I think there needs to be a bailout, but not directly to any company. I say give it to the American taxpayers. It really would solve a majority of the problems. The taxpayer can pay their mortgage with the money which fixes the bank problems and the housing industry. The taxpayer can pay off their credit cards which helps out the credit card companies. The taxpayer can then afford to buy cars, which in turn helps out the auto industry. The taxpayer can pay off debt and breathe again and spend again which brings back consumer confidence which helps the retail sector. It's a win win answer in my opinion. Will there be people that abuse it? Of course they will. They will overspend and not learn from the lessons of the past several years, but the majority will learn and spend responsibly. Hopefully, they will then spend some money on green energy alternatives for their homes.

It has been a discussion in my Economics class. I don't feel that any CEO needs to make as much money as given them. There is no middle class and life is harder than it should be. Lets spread the money to all and not a few. This is directed at GM and all concerned. If the unions took a little less and the executives took a little less cars might be cheaper and the money would flow.

What about bailing out Americans instead of corporations that made all the wrong choices?!

Chuck, you ask some very good questions. The issues with the banks are the potential for panic. As we saw with IndyBank and WaMu, once rumors started in the public about their liquidity (note, liquidity not solvency), depositors took out billions in a few days. This is why the banks are so important and is a major thing the current Fed chairman learned from the Great Depression. Once the trust in the banking system is gone, whether real or not, all heck breaks loose - banks won't borrow from banks, banks won't lend to businesses to make payroll, etc. This is why it's so important to have a relatively safe banking system. The car folks - they've messed it up for 30 years, maybe help them a little to reorganize, otherwise, send them into bankruptcy.

October 30, 2008 Dear: I would like some answers to these questions: Why is it okay for Congress to give 700 plus Billion dollars to banks and corporations that made poor financial decisions? Why is it okay for those very same banks and corporations to use that money to give bonuses to the very people who made those poor decisions? Why is it okay for Congress to give Billions of dollars to other countries in the form of “Foreign Aid” (which doesn’t really help the poor in those countries)? Why is it okay for Congress to give Billions of dollars to the banking industry to renegotiate bad mortgages? Does this really help the mortgagee? Does it really help the average American taxpayer? AND FINALLY Why is it NOT OKAY for Congress to give each single filing taxpayer a Million Dollars and joint filing taxpayers 2 Million Dollars to pay off the mortgages, credit card debts, school loans, health care bills, auto loans, and a

The Auto problem is very tragic and blame is to be shared by everyone. The sad part is that it maybe too late. On a unrelated note, Christine, you were absolutely stunning in your pet segment. I almost cried over Sparkle.

Oscar...you bet I'm for the workers. And I don't care how much wealth one has, it's how they ACQUIRE it. When they steal (Enron) from their employees, or take out life insurance policies on their workers so they can collect when their employees die (Wal-Mart), or send 3/4 of their work force to Mexico or India (DELL) to save a few bucks...who suffers? Not the execs, that's for sure. You like capitalism? Great, let's start paying our public servants (teachers, police, etc)what they are they're worth. Oh, you don't want your taxes going up? Let's start closing the tax loopholes for big business. Oh, they'll leave the US for foreign soil? See my point? They hold all the cards. Our capitalisitc society is slowly turning communist-like, with only the elite invited to the party.

Jay, you must be a graduate of the School for Workers at UW as this is type of 'theory' they espouse? When folks begin to complain about how much one makes it begins that path toward MARXISM. One thing we can't do in this country is limit how much one makes as that is the foundation for individual incentive and motivation. It's not only the execs who necessarily should be held accountable but also the board of directors who truly represent the shareholder interests. The self-interest of the UAW hasn't helped either as they've been pawns of the Democratic party for years.

Christine, Caroline....the unions will follow the example set by the CEO's. And the CEO's,(and their hedgefund cronies) with their "gimme more and more, and when you're done, gimme even more" attitude, have set a very bad tone for all. Multiple houses, lavish expense accounts, private planes that they fly to Washington to beg for money...and no one sees anything wrong with that?? Yet they are never taken to task, and ask their laborers to cushion the blow to rectify their financial decsisions? That's BS!!! You are now seeing the one significant flaw with capitalism. And who suffers, THE WORKERS!!

I agree. I am very annoyed at the unions. I know they serve a purpose, but they need to realize that if they don't start cooperating with these negotiations, they will lose more than just their higher wages... I think it is time we keep these unions in check.