Pelosi, Reid set terms for Detroit

You mean this?

"Pelosi said that she wants lawmakers to tell Congress that, if it approves the bailout, Detroit will:
-- pay no shareholder dividends,
-- give no bonuses to employees making more than $200,000,
-- explain how they will invest in advanced technology to make more fuel-efficient vehicles."

That's political face saving by uninformed idiots, but it will probably work because their constituents aren't much different.

GM and Ford have already suspended their dividend payments - GM last July and Ford back in 2006. Chrysler is privately owned so this does not apply.

GM and Ford have also previously announced they were suspending all discretionary bonuses for all salaried employees (which reaches well below the $200,000 salary figure). Again, Chrysler is privately owned so they don't announce such things, but Nardelli indicated this is no problem.

Explaining investment in advanced technology is a no-brainer. Ford's Alan Mulally was practically orgasming at the chance to tell the committees about advanced tech but they wouldn't give him the time.

And to all those pundits who think you accomplish anything by pretending you're intelligent and informed just because you've been given soapboxes to yell from - GM *used* to have a fleet of 11 planes. By the beginning of 2008 that number was pared down to seven. They dumped two more in September, before all this crap started, so don't think for a heartbeat that the two they just shed are in response to your yelling.

Regarding other commentary I'm sure GM will extend to you the same invitation they've extended to Tom Friedman:

An Open Letter to Thomas L. Friedman

Updated On: 11/21/08 at 04:10 PM

Some of that expense will be transferred to the UAW VEBA that goes into effect in 2010, but the remainder is essentially a cost of doing business as a US company, at least until the Federal government finally decides to do something about health care.

However, when the new UAW contract goes into effect, along with the reality that the Japanese transplants are also incurring increased cost for the same reason with every year tehy spend here, the labor cost gap between the US and foreign makers operating here is closing.

If the Obama administration gets serious about their stated agenda, particularly on fair trade agreements and addressing currency manipulation (Bush at best looked the other way) it will be reflected in the marketplace. There's no legitimate market reason that a Japan built Toyota sells for more in Japan than it does when exported to the US.