There was a time, not so many months ago, when I would express my ideas regarding which equities or mutual funds were poised to rise, fall, or dance somewhere in between.

Unfortunately, the public misguidings, mishandlings, misinformation, and plenty of other “mis” words have been pervading our society to the point that I feel handcuffed in my ability to ponder much else.

That being said, the public (and more importantly, Oxbury’s readers) want explanations, answers, insight and/or a few reasonable ideas of not necessarily what to expect but at least a multiple choice scenario given our situation.

Well, Diary, here we go once again. So many disasters, so little time. And so, after spinning my Wheel of Misfortune, it seems the needle has landed on the beaten, bruised, and positively frightened auto industry.

The bailout Uncle Sam should have saved his money for

Sorry, GM. Sorry, Ford. Sorry, Chrysler. Looks like the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Which happens to be, according to today’s news, only about $58 per barrel.

Should have asked for that bailout sooner. You would have gotten just what you needed.

True, these automobile giants will still probably receive an early Christmas gift, but not before they’ve burned through billions and billions of dollars in cash. And what type of gift will they receive? Originally they asked for $25 billion. Now they’re pleading for fifty.

GM and Ford together flushed $14.6 billion in the third quarter alone... who knows how much might be “enough” to keep them running. Some congressmen are trying to make a case for a portion of that $700 billion to be made available.

Sidenote: “$700 billion”, given the grabby hands and the way it’s being spread around and diluted, will eventually become the name of the bill instead of the final dollar amount with which it is associated.
Even Toyota, which boasted a much stronger cash position prior to this ordeal, broke the news last Thursday that their third quarter earnings dropped by 70%... even scarier, they slashed their fiscal year outlook by half. Half.

I might offer a cash prize to anyone who is able to spot a Lexus “December to Remember Sales Event” commercial this year. More than likely, that LS430 bearing a bow will be on cinder blocks before Santa can get back on his sleigh.

Why should they get a bailout?

People need to realize the catastrophic consequences of allowing these automakers to fail. The direct loss of jobs for those people that work at the companies would be the miniature tip of the iceberg.

We must look past the factories alone to grasp the depth of this one.