Word: congresses
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...contribution retirement plans - they have high fees, for one - Ghilarducci didn't think she was courting controversy. "I was saying things that seemed completely milquetoast," she recalls. Ghilarducci did bring up a bold proposal to replace the 401(k) with a mandatory, government-run pension plan and suggested that Congress immediately allow retirees to swap 401(k)s battered by the stock market's collapse for monthly payouts from the government. But she had floated both ideas before, to little effect. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...they probably should do it for the good of the economy. An out-of-business GM (or even a bankrupt, reorganized one) is more than just a dead factory here and there. "There are real risks of cascading bankruptcy and then supply-side seizures," Columbia economist Jeffrey Sachs warned Congress, meaning that the ability of all car companies simply to make cars would be in jeopardy. The negative feedback in the supply chain would hurt partsmakers and dealers and even extend to retailers, restaurants and banks. But others argue that bankruptcy is exactly what GM needs, despite the dislocations...
...Detroit Three recently presented detailed restructuring plans to Congress - an application for loans and credit lines to tide them over until the economy rebounds. U.S. auto sales were down more than 30% in October - even Toyota wasn't spared. Detroit wants $34 billion to shelter 3 million jobs and $300 billion worth of business. The first time the companies came calling, on Nov. 19 and 20, Congress blew a radiator. "Even though all Americans want this industry to succeed, I cannot support a plan to spend taxpayer money to bail them out" is the way Spencer Bachus, the ranking Republican...
...Most of these plans were on the drawing board before the global financial collapse made the situation more dire. This, in essence, is a last-chance opportunity. If Congress provides cover, the Detroit Three can try to rescale their manufacturing capacity to their respective market shares - or even below. GM, for instance, has lost 7 market-share points, falling to 22%, in the past 10 years. It plans to slash costs by an additional $7 billion by 2012. "It's all about survival," says Van Conway of Conway MacKenzie & Dunleavy, a crisis-management and turnaround firm in Birmingham, Mich...
...matter what congress or President Obama does, there is one aspect of the industry that is beyond rescue. The Detroit of the American Dream, the Benevolent Manufacturing State - the big-metal, Big Labor, big-brother, bigger-than-its-britches Detroit - is deader than Studebaker...