CNN

From CNN's Jack Cafferty:

General Motors is looking for a handout once again - but not here. This time GM is hoping that Europe will drop a few coins in the collection plate.

GM says its European divisions could collapse within weeks.

The struggling American auto company says its European divisions could collapse within weeks, unless governments across the pond step in to make sure it doesn't run out of money.

The company wants Europe to give them about $4.2 billion,saying the countries who host its car factories should share the "burden."

GM has had talks with the governments of Germany, the UK, Spain and Poland among others to ask for the money. They say if they don't get the aid - it could mean the loss of up to 300,000 jobs in Europe.

This all comes after GM asked the U.S. government for an additional $16.6 billion dollars in bailout money last month. That's on top of the billions it had previously received. As part of its restructuring plan - GM said it would lay off 47,000 people globally and close 14 plants in North America by 2012. The company also talked about reducing the number of brands in half, leaving only Chevrolet, Buick Cadillac and GMC.

Here’s my question to you: Should European countries come to the aid of General Motors?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

As GM goes, so goes the nation...That's the old motto anyway. Financially neither one is looking so good right now. And General Motors, along with Ford and Chrysler, is looking for some help from our already cash-strapped government to get back on track. Estimates are if the Big Three go belly up, unemployment could hit 10 percent.

But doubts about a bailout for the auto industry grew yesterday on Capitol Hill as Democratic leaders conceded they don't have the votes to get a measure through in next week's lame duck session.

Watch: Cafferty: GM worth saving?

If General Motors fails– and it would likely be the first of the Big Three to fall because Ford is in better shape and Chrysler is a much smaller company– the impact would be huge. It's not just the hundreds of thousands of jobs at GM that would be lost, it's literally thousands of smaller companies all over the country that sell their products to GM. It's highly likely many of them would fail as well.

As Time Magazine's Bill Saporito put it quote, "The decision that Washington has to make is whether we pay for G-M's survival or for its funeral."

Because whether G-M gets help from the government or not, as taxpayers, we are on the hook. We'll have to cover everything from lost tax revenues and higher unemployment costs to G-M's hefty pension obligations.

Here’s my question to you: Is General Motors worth saving?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »