The big three automakers and 9/11.....

[caty]

We keep hearing that the American automakers do not deserve financial help, but we never hear about the good these auto companies have done in the past. After 9/ll:

"CNN Headline News did a short news listing regarding Ford and GM's contributions to the relief and recovery efforts in New York and Washington.

The findings are as follows.....

1. Ford- $10 million to American Red Cross matching employee contributions of the same number plus 10 Excursions to NY Fire Dept. The company also offered ER response ! team services and office space to displaced government employees.

2. GM- $10 million to American Red Cross matching employee contributions of the sam e number and a fleet of vans, suv's, and trucks.

3. Daimler Chrysler- $10 million to support of the children and victims of the Sept. 11 attack.

4. Harley Davidson motorcycles- $1 million and 30 new motorcycles to the
New York Police Dept.

5. Volkswagen-Employees and management created a Sept 11 Foundation,
funded initial with $2 million, for the assistance of the children and victims of the WTC.

6. Hyundai- $300,000 to the American Red Cross.

7. Audi-Nothing.

8. BMW-Nothing.

9. Daewoo- Nothing.

10. Fiat-Nothing.

11. Honda- Nothing despite boasting of second best sales month ever in
August 2001

12. Isuzu- Nothing.

13. Mitsubishi-Nothing.

14. Nissan-Nothing.

15. Porsche-Nothing. Press release with condolences via the Porsche website.

16. Subaru- Nothing.

17. Suzuki- Nothing.

18. Toyota-Nothing despite claims of high sales in July and August 2001.
Condolences posted on the website"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is also never mentioned that Toyota is also having financial problems.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=458494&in_page_id=3

I can understand giving conditions to any business wanting to borrow money from the government, but it's not right that these conditions are only given to the automakers and not the other financial institutions that they just handed the money over to like a gift. They treat blue collar workers like second class citizens and let white collar workers walk away with high salaries and bonuses, even when their businesses are in financial trouble.

[ogneopasno]

1. Check snopes first. There's a lot we can go after foreign car companies for, but this isn't one of

them.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/automakers.asp

[MindPilot]

2. This was another of those post 9/11 uber-nationalistic propaganda pieces

Not exactly accurate:

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/automakers.asp

[amdezurik]

3. snopes.com calls BS on that mal-mail

and funny how often i have been hearing about Toyota's woes these days. So all in all you scored a big fat red ZERO on your foreead.

[Occam Bandage]

4. This is an untrue bit of nationalist spam.

Toyota gave as much in cash ($1M) as GM and Ford did, despite not even being an American company.

Also, lol@pointing to Toyota "only" being a AA company, and trying to equate that with the junk status of American automakers.

[booksenkatz]

5. Kick 'n rec from a member of the GM family, with one addition:

Thank you.

I'd like to add an excellent article to accompany that which you've written:
"Automakers in other nations get more government help"

Foreign governments generally provide broad support to their home-based auto companies, which employ thousands.

In Europe, Japan and elsewhere, the governments usually provide health care coverage for workers, and in some cases, they even own a stake in their auto companies.

So it's little surprise that automakers around the world are also poised to receive additional government assistance during these tough times.

"There is no way that France, Italy or Germany would let their auto industries disappear for lack of government help," said Paris-based veteran automotive journalist William Diem. "European countries are not afraid to invest in the industry."
....

Foreign automakers also seem to get more assistance for research and development than domestic automakers.

more: http://www.freep.com/article/20081208/BUSINESS06/812080362


EDITED TO ADD: Regardless of the truths/untruths in the OP, it is absolutely true that the Japanese and German auto companies did not lend assistance to American military forces in World War 2, as did the American auto companies. LOL

[YOY]

6. I head that they also farted magical red, white, and blue but those Japanese bastards held it in!!!

Jesus, the crap that came from the tragedy of 9/11...