Momentum is building in Washington to aid wounded US automakers with cash to help their finance arms and possibly even money to help seal a deal for General Motors Corp to acquire Chrysler LLC.
The US Department of Energy is trying to free up US$5 billion of a US$25 billion federal loan package to help make the GM-Chrysler deal work, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Monday.
And the White House said on Monday that the financing arms of the automakers might be eligible for federal help under the bank stock-purchasing portion of the US$700 billion financial rescue package.
Officials “at the highest levels” of the Treasury, Energy and Commerce departments have talked to top automaker executives on the topic, presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
“It’s a possibility that they could qualify under it,” she said.
It would be up to US Treasury to determine whether any of the automaker financing arms could qualify, she said.
GMAC Financial Services, Chrysler Financial and Ford Motor Credit Co all could be eligible for help.
Also, Perino said that administration is “working as quickly as we possibly can” to finalize the regulations necessary to release the US$25 billion in congressionally approved loans to automakers, designed to develop new energy efficient technology but is seen as a way to help keep the companies afloat amid hard times.
She wouldn’t put a specific time frame on it.
She also wouldn’t rule in or out any further federal aid, beyond the loans, to stave off bankruptcy by any of the US automakers.
All three automakers are burning up cash as the US auto market downturn continues with no end in sight.
Analysts say GM and Ford are spending more than US$1 billion per month more than they bring in, while Chrysler’s figures are unknown because it’s a private company.
Analysts say GM could reach its minimum operating cash level of US$14 billion sometime next year. GM’s sales are down 18 percent, and the company has lost US$57.5 billion in the past 18 months, although much of that comes from non-cash tax accounting changes.
The government has an interest in making sure automakers survive because of huge pension plans that it would have to insure, and the huge number of jobs that could go away if one of the companies goes bankrupt.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS