Area Development
Seventy-six percent of auto supplier executives from 185 companies say they support a federal government bailout of General Motors (GM), and that without the federal help, the resulting downsizing and closures would result in more than 275,000 job losses. According to a survey by Planning Perspectives (PPI), an industry consultancy, 71 percent of the executives surveyed favor a bailout for Ford Motor Company, but only 54 percent support help for Chrysler. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed say that a GM bankruptcy would result in downsizing at their company, with 12 percent saying they would more than likely or definitely go out of business themselves. Among the executives who favor the GM bailout, 34 percent feel that the potential negative impact on the U.S. economy of a GM failure is too great to allow, and 25 percent believe the auto industry deserves the same rescue given to the financial industry. Of the supply executives who do not support the bailout, 35 percent say that bankruptcy is a better option for GM than a government bailout, and another 35 percent feel that GM would get into financial trouble again and require more money. The survey was conducted November 20th and 21st among suppliers headquartered in 12 states in the Midwest and South.