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Highlands Today

Local Views Mixed On Automaker Bailout

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By MARC VALERO

Highlands Today

Published: April 1, 2009

Updated: 04/01/2009 12:14 pm

SEBRING - Last year Kevin McNellis was trying to sell Buicks, Hyundais and GMC trucks in Elkhart, Ind.

But that wasn't putting food on the table for his family.

Now, McNellis is a small business owner in Sebring who doesn't believe in bailing out the auto and banking industries.

"I think we should worry about ourselves." he said Tuesday.

Instead of bailing out the banks and automakers, taxes should be cut so people have money to spend, McNellis believes.

If some of those billions went to the people they would have been able to pay off their cars and homes or buy new cars and homes, and home foreclosures would drop.

President Barack Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry Monday, rejecting the turnaround plans by General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. He is demanding fresh concessions for long-term federal aid and raising the possibility of quick bankruptcy for either ailing auto giant.

GM's new chief executive, Fritz Henderson, said Tuesday that more of the automaker's plants could close and bankruptcy is "more probable" as GM works to meet new, tougher requirements for government aid.

Fred Viau, of Avon Park, believes the U.S. auto industry deserves help because the country would be in trouble without a manufacturing base.

Viau worked for a GM parts division in Flint, Mich., from the 1950s until he retired in 1980.

"My sympathy lies with the working men and women of the country," he said. "I do not sympathize with the wealthy. The wealthy are well taken care of."

Other countries help their industries, so the playing field is not level for the American companies, Viau said.

"They talk about our government helping our industries when foreign countries do it already," he said.

The government is the source of the country's economic problems, according to James Casey, of Sebring.

The government should not bailout the car companies, he said. Free markets and capitalism works. When the government interferes, it doesn't work.

With so many jobs on the line, Keith Brown, of Cleveland, believes the government should help the auto industry.

"But they don't seem to be doing much to help themselves," he noted. The unions have to do their part and give concessions.

David Kemmerline and Eva Sampson of Sebring support the government's effort to help GM and Chrysler.

A lot of people work for and depend on GM, Kemmerline said.

Sampson said "they should be bailed out because it keeps jobs going and with the economy the way it is, work is really hard to find."

But the automakers receiving federal money need to improve their business plans so the money is not wasted and they don't end up bankrupt despite the assistance, she added.

Major corporations that impact so many people should be helped, Norm Cukras, a retired GM worker, believes.

He noted the federal loan guarantees that helped Chrysler avoid bankruptcy in 1979.

Cukras spoke to a fellow GM retiree on Monday.

"He kind of felt the same way," Cukras said. "We remember GM in its heyday and we are kind of sad to see it go, but if it happens, they just haven't kept up with changing trends."

The once-proud auto industry has struggled with foreign competition for more than a generation, then was further battered by the recession and credit crisis gripping the economy.

Obama said 400,000 industry jobs have been lost in the past year alone, many in Michigan.

In an effort to increase sales, GM launched a program called "Total Confidence" that will make car payments for customers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own.

GM will make up to nine payments of $500 each to qualifying customers. Consumers must qualify for state unemployment benefits to be eligible for the program that starts today and runs until April 30.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Highlands Today reporter Marc Valero can be reached at 863-386-5826 or mvalero@highlandstoday.com.

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