Bush car bail-out: Your comments

The US government has said it will provide $17.4bn (�11.6bn) in loans to help troubled carmakers General Motors and Chrysler to survive.

BBC website readers have been sending in their reaction to the bail-out package. Here are some of their comments.

Yes of course George Bush has done the right thing and at the right time and we should applaud him for it as it will go some some way to safeguarding thousands of jobs in this country and Europe of people who work for GM & Ford.
Steven Workman, Birmingham, UK

As long as the bail-out is a short term loan it isn't so bad, the fear is that come later this spring and summer they will be wanting more because things haven't gone as they (auto manufacturers) said they would.
Ken Boesenberg, USA

Yes I believe this is a good thing at least with the auto bail-out it is a loan. With the banking bail-out they are not required to pay back the money and the people are not seeing any part of the 350 billion already released.
Mike Heringshausen, Grand Blanc, USA

I am happy the president stepped in and made the right decision now we need to do something about the ones doing all the political posturing in hopes of political gain.
George Rogers, Waterford, Michigan, USA

The deepening recession and crumbling credit and financial situation has pushed the already failing US car industry to the brink of collapse. I think this is a perfect opportunity for the US government to step in and rescue them and secure millions of direct/non-direct jobs. Now the auto manufacturers can step back and work out what it is that really needs to be done to make their businesses viable once again, and able to compete with non-US car manufacturers. The unions and workers need be realistic too, otherwise there isn't going to be a future for them.
Dean, Hayward, Wisconsin, USA

In the current economic conditions, our government is wiser to invest money to try to save the industry than to let them fail and then pay unemployment benefits to millions of people. However, it seems clear that this investment should be in the form of loans, and the loans be conditioned on very specific conditions. Government should also "restructure" its approach to corporate regulation, following the advice of people such as Ralph Nader.
Mr. Fitzpatrick, Portland, Oregon, USA

Where are these "bail-out" dollars coming from? Apparently, there's a lot of money out there just floating around ready to help bail out any big corporation or organisation, but not enough to help the common man. Highly suspicious.
J, Canada

This bail-out, just like the others this year so far, is ridiculous! These companies refused to produce economical, quality, and affordable cars and that is why they are failing. Now we, who live from pay-check to pay-check, get to bail them out! Excuse me? Bush's plan only has them paying the loan back if they don't present a plan to become more viable, WHAT?! It's time to let these failed companies, failed politicians, and failed methods sink. Does anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size think that giving greedy failures more money will make anything better? Didn't think so. Democracy? Hello?
Cevin White, Eugene, Oregon, USA

It is the auto workers who should be given "bail-out" help, and not the companies. The "big three" had every opportunity to switch to smaller, more energy-efficient cars not to mention hybrid cars... and even all-electric vehicles whose technology has been available for years. It is THEY who failed their employees AND the American public, and whose failure to make this change has greatly contributed to global warming and the disastrous consequences we are beginning to witness more and more.
Rae Beth Gordon, Storrs, CT, USA

They should not bail them out at all. The car makers should be showing they are moving forward with cheaper economical cars, electric or Hydrogen Cell cars for every family within a budget of no more then say $10,000 per car. They can do it but they choose not too, instead making astronomical amounts on bad parts for their tiring fleets.
Steve, Saint John, Canada

We all need a bail-out, especially the seniors in the USA who have no healthcare or drugs and who also are veterans. Wall street, automakers, and the president all did this nonsense. Let them all go bankrupt so we can have a government that serves the people and not the rich and dim witted.
Ursula Goldsmith, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

It's a classic "damn if you do and damn if you don't" situation. In this case the scenario of not bailing out is an absolute horror to the heartland of the US and Canada.
Joseph Lin, Toronto, Canada

This is disgusting. The majority of people in the US do not think the automakers should be bailed out, the senate agreed, and now Bush is going to take money that was approved for something else and unilaterally decide to use it for his own plan. Disgusting. The faster he is thrown out the better.
RB, Los Angeles, USA

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