Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    BEIJING, Jan. 11 -- Legislation proposed to tighten the sweeping U.S. corporate bailout program has omitted specific targets for labor concessions that were a key feature of last month's Bush administration rescue of distressed auto makers.

    A portion of the bill proposed by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank on Friday sought to codify the auto bailout with terms that, with two exceptions, basically mirror those imposed by the White House when it extended  17.4 billion U.S. dollars in emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler.

    Key changes proposed by Frank would ensure oversight of the auto rescue under a trustee, or "car czar," and would eliminate language on steps the United Auto Workers union must take in coming weeks to reduce industry costs.

    Under the Bush administration's bailout, car makers and the UAW are to make "their best efforts" to reach an agreement on concessions to the 2007 contract in at least three areas.

    The administration wants the UAW to end its "jobs bank," which pays furloughed workers, and accept half of corporate contributions to a retiree health care trust fund in stock rather than cash.

    The most contentious issue in Bush's bailout plan is a goal that seeks to bring hourly wage costs in line with those of Toyota and other Japanese auto makers operating non-union factories in the United States.

    The labor give-back provisions were spearheaded by Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee and incorporated into the bailout by the Republican White House and the Treasury Department.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)

U.S. unemployment rate jumps to 15-year high in December

Photo taken on Dec. 25, 2008 shows an unlicensed vendor selling bags on a street in New York, the United States. The unemployment rate of the United States reached 7.2 percent in December, 2008, a nearly 16-year high, as non-agricultural employers slashed 524,000 jobs, bringing the job losses in 2008 to 2.6 million, the Labor Department said Friday. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 15 years, as 524,000jobs were slashed in the month, the Labor Department reported Friday.

    Total non-farm payroll employment fell by 524,000 over the month, bringing total job losses in 2008 to 2.6 million, and by 1.9 million over the past four months, said the report, adding that the unemployment rate for December was the highest since January 1993. Full story

Auto sales in U.S. fall dramatically in 2008 

    LOS ANGELES, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Auto sales in the United States fell in 2008, with a total of 13.2 million cars and light trucks sold, down from 16.1 million in 2007, it was reported on Tuesday.

    The year of 2008 was the worst year for auto sales since 1992 when there were 70 million fewer Americans, the Los Angeles Times said.  Full story

U.S. auto makers receiving government loan

General Motors vehicles are seen at a car dealership in Toronto Dec. 12, 2008. General Motors Corp. major auto maker in the U.S., collected a loan of 4 billion dollars from the U.S. Treasury Department on the eve of the new year, reports from Detroit said Thursday.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    CHICAGO, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- General Motors Corp. major auto maker in the U.S., collected a loan of 4 billion dollars from the U.S. Treasury Department on the eve of the new year, reports from Detroit said Thursday.

    The cash infusion will prevent the automaker's imminent financial collapse after a dramatic sales decline and cash crunch this year.  Full story

White House unveils mulit-billion-dollar loans to bail out auto industry 

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The White House announced on Friday a rescue plan of multi-billion dollars in emergency loans to bail out the country's crippled auto industry from bankruptcy.

    President George W. Bush made the announcement a week after Senate Republicans blocked a 14 billion dollars legislation to aid the automakers that had been negotiated by the White House and Congressional Democrats.

Global auto bailout, a risky game? 

    NEW YORK, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- When the White House finally handed out to the Detroit carmakers a long-awaited lifeline last Friday, it seemed to have triggered or at least fueled a wave of auto industry bailouts around the world.

    While many cheer the move as a timely rescue for the victims of global economic recession, many others have raised the acute question: Will this really work or will it make things even worse?

Wall Street relieved at pre-holiday auto rescue, but worries persist

    New York, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- With the Bush administration finally extending a helping hand to the country's struggling auto industry, investors of the Wall Street, who have been closely watching the so-called "auto bailout" for months, at least have something to cheer for ahead of the holiday season, though the specter of a sweeping industry collapse lingers and may easily come back in just a few months.