If the car industry goes down, what affect will it have on the country?

If GM goes down it's going to drag all 3 of the automakers into bankruptcy.

Why? Because all the supporting companys that build parts for GM will not be able to sustain thier own business and will ultimately have to file for bankruptcy as well.

When the tidal wave starts it's going to cost millions of jobs lost nationwide.

Ultimately losing 3 million jobs out of one industry in less than 6 months will send this country into the deepest depression it's ever seen in it's history.

People/business will panic the markets will have very steep declines or crashes and this country will come to a complete standstill in many areas.

The number of foreclosures will rise steeply, business/personal bankruptcies will skyrocket practically overnight.

Failure to pass this bailout bill will have an affect worse than anything congress has ever thought possible.

The UAW is going to regret ever having refused to cut wages and benefits. Because if the automakers are bankrupt thousands of UAW workers will be laid off and have nothing but unemployment benefits for as long as they will last.

If the big three goes down our economy will tank and the middle class will becomes the poor class in the USA but if we do bail them out are we not rewarding the managers for doing a bad job and the Unions for making demands that helped put the companies in the position they are in now. I don't want to see them go under but if we the tax payers are going to bail them out then there have to be a lot of changes made in both management and the union .

American unionized car top tier workers make 57,000 dollars a year. I don;t think that's being greedy. They work a lot harder than those republican Senator's who killed the bailout do, that's for sure. As far as the benefits they receive, if those were to go away--that would only mean that the taxpayers would end up pating for them down the road anyway.

The unemployment benefits that are going to have to be paid to the millions who lose their jobs, the Big 3 employees as well as the businesses who will go under as collateral damage will dwarf what was being asked for as a bridge loan, and we have the Repulicans to thank for it. Call it what it is, the Great GOP Recession, heading full steam ahaed towards a depression. I'm sure the right is happy about it though, since dismantling the Middle Class has been their goal for decades.

Much blame to go around. Consider this - the US car companies spend more money on employee heath benefits than they do on steel.

The unions will pay full wages to employees who do not work. The unions are destroying this country.

The problems in the auto industry are deep rooted. The only way to really solve the problem is to break down the current system and start over in Chapter 11. If GM goes bankrupt, jobs will be lost, but the company will still stay in business.

We have spent trillions of dollars propping up businesses. Enough already.

Don't confuse "filing for bankruptcy" with "goes down".

If the auto makers file for bankruptcy they can get rid of a lot of onerous contracts and debts, and then keep operating.

A government bailout will result in the auto makers having to make expensive changes to cars which the public as a whole DOES NOT WANT nor will they buy those cars.

The failure of the car industry will put hundreds of thousands of people out of work. Bush believes the bailout is the best thing for the country (think of it as a public works project with leverage -- there's a certain logic to that view). He may also think the GOP senators who blocked it were putting their hopes for re-election above what is best for the country.

The bailout failed because of the Senators , all GOP, from states that have foreign owned auto plants who stated that they wanted to bust the UAW.

1 out of every 16 jobs in America is directly related to auto industry,

GM doesn't make all their parts, they buy them from businesses that make only seats or Tires.

There is plenty of blame to go around, bad management,tax abatement's and some to the UAW, good wages are not a bad thing.

It will send a message to all the other industries hoping for a bail out. The auto industry is in dire need of change and just propping up the current status quo is not the correct solution.

you will have unemployment followed by lack of demand followed by unemployment followed by lack of demand followed by lower living standard.

edit : Seriously...if we bail them out now, people still wont be buying their product. Are we spending tax money to allow them to keep making cars that will not be sold? Either way there will be big layoffs. 25billion will only float them for a short time since sales are DOWN. Anyone notice they are advertising like crazy? How much does that cost them? The problem goes so much deeper than this recession. I think they should be forced to file bankruptcy, reorganize, lose the unions and hire hard working people that don't cost 2, 800.00 per car to employ.

It wont do that much extra.

Everything is still rolling down hill, bailout or not. Our dollar is collapsing.

The fact is we have about a 12% unemployment rate currently as it is. These unemployed auto workers might raise it 1%.

While jobs will be lost, other jobs will require automotive skills. For example auto repair shops. If Americans keep saving and paying off debt, they will keep older cars longer - meaning more repair and maintenance jobs.