Detroit Mafia -- Driving the Getaway Car

Give us the money -- Or Else!! The Big Three Detroit Families have learned something mobsters have known for a long time. Threats work.

For the last few months, Detroit car executives have demanded money from taxpayers. Lots of it. But Americans have been reluctant to hand over the billions the leaders of the Three Families have sought. Even though the offers they have made have been refused, so far, the lack of cooperation has not discouraged the heads of the Three Detroit Families. Today, a leader from one of three realized it was time to deliver a big threat that might get action, finally. The Offer They Can't Refuse.

The executive from the Chysler family threatened to take down the whole US economy if the taxpayers refuse to cough up the money within weeks. Smash it, burn it down, wreck the joint. Or. All it will take to save the nation, he suggests, is $20 or $30 or $40 or $50 Billion. Or more, if those initial sums fail to restore the health of the Three Detroit Families. He was backed by an executive from the GM Family.

Chrysler exec: Failure could spark Depression

Chrysler exec warns of depression as auto officials intensify fierce lobbying push

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top executive of Chrysler LLC cautioned Wednesday that a carmaker collapse could send the economy spiraling into a depression, as the United Auto Workers union braced for contract concessions.

Jim Press, Chrysler's vice chairman, said the U.S. automakers were "down to months left," as industry officials ratcheted up a fierce lobbying push to persuade Congress to approve as much as $34 billion in emergency aid.

"We're on the brink with the U.S. auto manufacturing industry," Press told The Associated Press in an interview. "If we have a catastrophic failure of one of these car companies, in this tender environment for the economy, it's a huge blow. It could trigger a depression."

Fritz Henderson, president and chief operating officer of General Motors Corp., took to the TV airwaves to stress that bankruptcy isn't a viable option on the eve of a new set of congressional hearings on the auto bailout. At the same time, UAW leaders were immersed in intense discussions on possible givebacks for the companies at an emergency meeting in Detroit.

Under consideration were the possibility of scrapping a much-maligned jobs bank in which laid-off workers keep receiving most of their pay and postponing the automakers' payments into a multibillion-dollar union-administered health care fund.

In blueprints delivered to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, GM and Chrysler said they needed an immediate infusion of government cash to last until New Year's, and both said they could drag the entire industry down if they fail. Ford is requesting a $9 billion "standby line of credit" that it says it doesn't expect to use unless one of the other Big Three goes belly up.

But Chrysler said it needed $7 billion by year's end just to keep running. And GM asked for an immediate $4 billion as the first installment of a $12 billion loan, plus a $6 billion line of credit it might need if economic conditions worsen. The two painted the direst portraits to date -- including the prospects of shuttered factories and massive job losses -- of what could happen if Congress doesn't quickly step in.

All three plans envision the government getting a stake in the auto companies that would allow taxpayers to share in future gains if they recover.