![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
But it's worth considering what this deal would have actually done. They were talking about a $25 billion bailout. For perspective, here's what the financials of the big three look like right now:
GM - $16.2 billion cash on hand - burn rate: $6.9 billion/quarter
Ford - $18.9 billion cash on hand - burn rate: $7.7 billion/quarter
Chrysler - $6 billion cash on hand - burn rate: $3 billion/quarter
GM - Insolvent by 2nd Quarter 2009
Ford - Insolvent by 2nd Quarter 2009
Chrysler - Insolvent by 1st Quarter 2009
Ford - Insolvent by 2nd Quarter 2009
Chrysler - Insolvent by 1st Quarter 2009
Now, if they all get $25 billion, it's worth considering that their collective burn rate is $17.6 billion/quarter. So $25 billion probably gets them through til the 4th Quarter of 2009 depending on how you divide it up. So if that money is going to be anything other than flushing money down the toilet, they definitely need a game plan for restructuring to reduce their burn rates. Ultimately much of this depends on what the economy does, and if it turns around in the mean time, that might help them.
Also, in terms of bankruptcy, one of the big problems is that the assets they have aren't really going to be worth much. They can't sell off manufacturing capacity because, with the market the way it is, nobody else needs that capacity. The credit markets are for crap, so they won't be able to restructure their debt much either.
My take at this point is that there needs to be a bailout, but that Congress does need to take a somewhat hard line with these companies. We need them to survive in some form, but we need to get them to restructure in a serious way. There is a lot of value in these companies if they are trimmed down, reorganized a bit, and brought under more competent long term thinking management. I have little doubt that US manufacturers can compete against Japan and Germany, but not in their current form.
In the long run, even if they do fail, demand for cars will continue, and you can expect foreign manufacturers to fill the gap and, largely due to cost savings, they'll make a good portion of those vehicles here. But in the short run, the last thing our economy needs is another large group of people out of a job. So better to keep them around in some form.
So either the battery is shot or the alternator is shot. My guess at this point is that it's the battery because the battery did charge at least a little while driving it. It would at least start to turnover when I got home where as earlier in the evening it was so dead that even the odometer and clock were off. So clearly it got some juice, just apparently not enough to actually start a car.
Btw, as I was driving it, I noticed that when I was idling the dash lights were flickering ever so slightly. So this tends to again point to my suspicion that it's the battery. Clearly I was getting plenty of juice through the car by revving the engine, but with the battery not holding a charge, the lights were flickering because it was running off whatever was coming out of the alternator, not smoothed out by stored power in the battery. Or at least that's my theory. Car experts chime in,
So at this point, I need to take it into the shop and find out why it's not working. Now, on top of that, I also discovered this evening that one of my headlights is out. Hooray. So I think at this point, I'll take it to the shop, get the car in basic working order again, then get rid of the damn thing.
