According to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, 63 percent of Americans disapprove of the government giving billions of dollars in loans to Chrysler and General Motors in order to keep the struggling automakers afloat. 

Currently, officials from the Obama administration are reviewing the automakers plans for restructuring (aka downsizing and going green). So you can expect a lot more about the auto bailout to be in the news in the coming weeks. 

As much as I think the domestic automakers are largely responsible for their dramatic decline, I worry about the everyday Joes and Janes who will be affected if any or all of the domestic automakers go under. It’s also ironic that as AIG hands out $100 billion in bonuses (paid for from the bailout funded by our taxes), it seems there’s a tough road ahead for the automakers to get any more than the $20-some billion bailout. In the end, I think the Big Three (Chrysler, Ford or General Motors) are going to become two, maybe even one, in order to survive.

Does anybody really know the difference anymore between $100 billion and $200 billion?

What do you think? Should our tax dollars keep Chrysler and General Motors alive? Are they victims of the times? Or have they dug their own graves through bad management, focusing on SUVs despite all the writing on the wall about higher gas prices, etc.? Will you ever again buy a car from Chrysler, Ford or General Motors?

Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

Update, 3/27/2009

This just in from The New York Times:

The Obama administration is likely to extend more short-term aid to General Motors and Chrysler on Monday, but impose a strict deadline for bondholders and union workers to make concessions that would help the ailing automakers become viable businesses and avert bankruptcy.

For more information, read U.S. Expected to Give More Aid to Automakers.

Update, 3/30/2009

From The New York Times:

The White House on Sunday pushed out the chairman of General Motors and instructed Chrysler to form a partnership with the Italian automaker Fiat within 30 days as conditions for receiving another much-needed round of government aid.

The decision to ask GM's chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, to resign caught Detroit and Washington by surprise, and it underscored the Obama administration's determination to take a hands-on role in the companies it is bailing out — a level of government involvement in business not seen since the Great Depression.

President Obama is scheduled to announce details of the auto package at the White House on Monday, but two senior officials, offering a preview on condition of anonymity, made clear that some form of bankruptcy — a quick, court-supervised restructuring, as they described it — could still be an option for one or both companies.

For more information, read Obama Issues Ultimatum to Struggling Automakers.

This week, Congress debated an auto industry bailout bill of $25 billion. The executives of the Big Three Automakers – Ford, Chrysler and General Motors – testified at congressional hearings (after spending tens-of-thousands of dollars to fly in on their luxury private jets, one of which cost $36 million) and asked for federal support.

Reactions to the Detroit automakers’ requests have been mixed, from support to flat-out opposition.

The Civil Society Institute (the organization behind 40MPG.org and CLEAN) sent out an action alert at the beginning of the lame-duck session, asking its supporters to contact members of Congress and President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team in support of a Green Auto Bailout. The goal being to have conditions on a bailout that would require the car manufactures to develop and produce more hybrids, clean diesels and fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as drop their lawsuits against states with higher global warming emissions standards, such as California, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Mexico.

“If taxpayers are going to be put at risk by guaranteeing new loans, then any such new help should be conditioned on the U.S. car companies ending their campaign to frustrate state-level efforts to clean up car and light-truck emissions that cause global warming,” said 40MPG.org founder Pam Solo. “Further, Congress should insist that every penny of the $25 billion in new loan guarantees that Detroit is seeking to building the cars of tomorrow, not the gas-guzzling dinosaurs of yesterday.”

Although Congress is leaving for Thanksgiving break, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they may call Congress back in session at the beginning of next month to continue work on the automaker bailout bill and other economic issues before the next holiday break.

40MPG and CLEAN are still encouraging people to sign and e-mail the action letters, since the issue is still on the table.

There is some support for environmental preconditions in Congress, but others argue clean energy restrictions might make the bill more difficult to pass. It is estimated that if even one American automaker goes under, more than 2 million jobs will be lost in 2009.

Here are some links to other articles on this topic:

MSNBC

CNN

The New York Times

Fox News

It’s that time of year again, that weekend in October we all look forward to – no, keep the candy hidden and the lights in storage – I’m talking about The National Solar Tour.

Check out homes and buildings in your area featuring the latest in solar technology and pick up some tidbits on how to make your life naturally brighter.

This year, the nationwide event expects up to 150,000 people to turn out in 49 participating states – making it the largest solar event in history.

And the timing of this national Sun-recognition day couldn't have come at a more exciting time for solar power. Earlier today, President Bush signed into law some eagerly awaited tax credits that will provide substantial support for renewable energy. They include support for commercial and residential solar power, as well as other forms of renewable energy including wind power, tidal and wave power, and geothermal energy. You can read more about the tax credits here from Renewable Energy World.

The tax credits were tacked onto the bailout plan, so maybe some good will come of it after all.

"This action will create over one hundred new U.S. jobs..., cut U.S. energy imports and slash greenhouse gas emissions, says Scott Sklar, President of The Stella Group, Ltd.

At this rate, the Sun may become more of a star than it already is!

So get out there this weekend and find out something you didn’t know about your community. And hey, let us know what you found out too.

PHOTO BY ISTOCKPHOTO

While the Senate wrestles to construct some kind of utilitarian financial bailout, economists and political activists have moved out of the Wall Street box – and into the green house.

With one-seventh the money it looks like it will take to bail out the economy (so $100 billion), an investment in green power would produce nearly twice the amount of jobs as the mortgage bailout would.

These figures come from a study by two economists at the University of Massachusetts, Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier.

An article by Greenpeace media director, Glenn Hurowitz, expanded on the study.

“Instead of golden parachutes for CEOs,” he writes, “the government could finance America's transition from an oil- and fossil-fuel-dependent economy into one run completely on clean energy.”

In addition to offsetting carbon, Hurowitz says a green-power stimulus plan would offset the jobs lost by the economic crisis and the rising price of fuel that is driving so many companies out of business.

He went on to say that a green stimulus plan could generate conservation by creating more national parks and restoring wetlands; foster technological breakthroughs; reduce the price of fuel – as less people will be so dependent upon it; and solve what he considers to be an even greater financial burden – global warming.

The financial costs of the effects of global warming equates to about $3.8 trillion of the U.S. budget, and globally between 5 percent and 20 percent of the economic output, Hurowitz says.

In the article, Hurowitz said big businesses relying on U.S. taxpayers to bail them out would suffer, but they’d be replaced by innovative, environmentally-conscious companies that would “get not only America but also Wall Street back on its feet.”

PHOTO BY ISTOCKPHOTO