US care makers hold out begging bowl

Times are desperate for US car makers General Motors and Chrysler. It seems they are suggesting that they may barely survive a month or two if they are not given a major bail out by the US taxpayer. The chief execs of the two major US companies are looking for a bail out of around $34 Billion to stop the impending collapse of the US car industry. With car sales in the US having fallen by around 37% in the last month things are looking really grim for all the US carmakers. So grim in fact that there have been reports that the Chief execs have said that they will work for $1 a year of they get the hand out. Of course it wont really be $1 because they will have some other perks to keep their income up but it does show how desperate they are.

Perhaps if the US carmakers had upgraded their technology and focused on fuel efficiency then consumers would be keen to update their models even in hard economic times. But who wants to trade up for another gas guzzler when money is short.