The bill clearly falls short of the $34 billion the Big Three were asking for, but should be enough to keep the automakers running through January, when the new Congress and Obama administration take the wheel.

As previously reported in Money Morning, there will be limits on executive pay, prohibitions for golden parachutes and requirements that the automakers get rid of their corporate aircraft and not pay dividends while loans are outstanding. The bill also provides a “car czar,” or presidential appointee, to oversee keep tabs on the companies’ restructuring efforts.

Of course, the bill is still awaiting congressional approval and there is cause to believe it may stall in the Senate.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, was a member of the panel that twice grilled Big Three CEOs and one of the bailout’s most vocal critics. Yesterday (Wednesday), Shelby threatened to filibuster the deal if it reaches the Senate.

It’s interesting to note that Shelby’s home state of Alabama, has built three foreign car assembly plants – Honda Motor Corp. (ADR:HMC), Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai – as well as a Toyota Motor Corp. (ADR:TM) engine plant, in the past 20 years.

Shelby’s efforts induced the formation of Boycott Alabama Now, a group that says it wants America to give Shelby a taste of what he’s doing to America. Such a boycott “will include any travel into the state well as boycotting the purchase of anything produced in any way within the state,” according to the group’s Web site.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed reservations about the bill’s legislation and doubts it’ll garner enough Senate votes to pass. The state he represents, Kentucky, has a 7,000 employee Toyota plant, The Boston Globe reported.

Then there’s Tennessee, the only state with U.S., Asian, and European auto assembly plants. And in an interview with BusinessWeek, Tennessee’s Sen. Bob Corker seems to understand his colleague Shelby’s positions on the bailout more so than his own.

“It has not been an issue of local politics. For me there is no issue of local politics. I try and dig into these issues and present thoughtful responses to the situation. In defense of Senator Shelby, I knew where he was going to be on this issue before this ever arose,” Corker said. “He was against the Chrysler loans back in 1979. He was always going to be against this, as he was against the Wall Street bailout legislation. In his case, it’s not the politics of the auto industry. That’s just who he is.”

But Corker nailed the source of problem.

“Regardless of what happens this week, the legislation, if passed, is not going to move people to buy cars,” Corker said.

Auto Woes Extend Beyond the Big Three

Falling demand is something all carmakers can agree on, especially in Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the home of Europe’s largest carmaker, Volkswagen.

While all focus has been on Detroit’s Big Three, few have noticed that Volkswagen – like Detroit’s Big Three – is trying to bite off its own piece of a broad government bailout. In October, Germany’s parliament passed a $642 billion (500 billion euro) bank-rescue plan to stabilize the country’s banks. And Volkswagen has quietly sought government help for its financial services and banking units.

Premium carmaker BMW said it wasn’t sure if it would ask for similar help, Reuters reported.

That’s why it’s not accurate to assume bailout opponents share the same opinions on the bailout as foreign automakers. As Money Morning previously reported, it’s more than just Big Three employees on the line.

While the Big Three employ more than 200,000 people directly, they support millions more indirectly through suppliers and dealerships. The collapse of the Big Three could ultimately cost the economy more than 2 million jobs total. And that doesn’t count the estimated 1 million Americans – including many retired autoworkers – who rely on the U.S. auto companies for pension and healthcare benefits.

According to Germany’s VDA industry group, parts purchased by manufacturers account for 75% of the value of an average car, Bloomberg reported.

Here in the United States, as many as 60% of Honda’s U.S. parts suppliers are also major parts sources for the Big Three.

If a manufacturer’s major customer goes under, it too may scale back operations and therefore be unable to meet the manufacturing and shipping demands of another customer.

“You can’t underestimate what would happen when a large player collapses,” BMW Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer e-mailed to Bloomberg. “That would impact the supplier structure and therefore the entire industry.”

The United States is also the largest market for most foreign automakers. Allowing one or all of the Big Three to go under would add millions to the running unemployment numbers and deepen the recession, making the U.S. market less likely to buy their cars.

Source: Auto Bailout Awaits Congressional Approval with Millions of Jobs at Stake

Good day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to you! Well… You heard it! Big Ben says that everything is going to be all right! Man, do I feel better about that! Just when I was getting all nervous and out of whack because of the debt situation, the jobs situation, the war situation, the credit situation, the housing situation, and the awful state of financial institutions… Whew! Everybody back in the pool! Big Ben says the water is fine!

Whoa! (In my best John Wayne) Now, just wait a minute there partner… Haven’t we heard these words of euphoria before from Big Ben? Hmmm… Seems to me that last July, he told us that the mortgage meltdown wouldn’t filter out into the rest of the economy… And then he followed that gem up with the August all clear sign that the housing meltdown had bottomed… Now… He expects us to believe him that the economy will be strong again in the second half of this year?

Hmmmm… OK… Before I go on, I had better tell you what happened so you can catch up… I just realized I immediately went into level 4 on Big Ben…

OK, so, yesterday, Big Ben was talking to Congress about the economy… He admitted that the economy would contract (notice the mass media didn’t pick up that ditty) He also said that the there are “downside risks”…  But then he put lipstick on the pig by quickly switching to statements about how the economy would be strong in the second half of this year… Well… You know my old saying folks… You can dress up the pig… You can put lipstick on the pig… But in the end… You still have a PIG!

I want to know and I can’t understand why the lawmakers don’t ask him this stuff… But I want to know where this growth that he’s spouting off about is going to come from? Or, how about this one, triple B… Why don’t you SHARE with us what you feel the downsides risks are? Nah… You wouldn’t want to do that, because it would expose the awful job you and your Fed Heads have done! I feel like Ricky Ricardo… Hey Lucy, you got some ‘xplainin’ to do!

I could go on… But I’ve had it with this guy! He has begun to give me the same kind of rashes Big Al Greenspan gave me!

So… The currencies gyrated all over the place yesterday… First rallying on the Triple B words of a contracting economy, but then seeing the dollar rally on the “recovery” words. At the end of the day, the euro was back to rally mode, moving close to the 1.57 handle once again. Then came a report on Reuters that the Eurozone was going to voice concern at the euro’s gains at the next G-7… That sent the euro back down…

This morning… The euro saw further selling when Eurozone Retail Sales unexpectedly declined in February, thus signaling to the markets that the U.S. recession is spreading to Europe… That news was followed by a German bank announcing a $6.7 Billion write down… So… The euro has taken on some water from the weakening of the economy… But, Hey! We all knew the U.S. recession would spread to other parts of the world… What I kept thinking though was that it would not be as devastating to other parts of the world, especially the Eurozone, as it had in the past…

I know, I know, I dislike the saying, “but this time will be different”… That saying costs people trillions of dollars a few years ago… But my point here is that on of the reasons the Eurozone was created was to buffer the countries from suffering U.S. slowdowns… 80% of all Eurozone trade is among themselves… And lets face it, the exports of BMW’s, Mercedes, and other high end cars shouldn’t see that much of a shift… Rich people don’t suffer recessions!

So… We have the euro trading in the mid 1.55 handle… IT’S NOT A TREND REVERSAL! I said this the other day, but it’s worth repeating… We’ve seen these “flash in the pan” dollar rallies several times over the past 6 years of the weak dollar trend… Nothing, fundamentally, has changed… So, why would the dollar reverse the trend?

OK… Another note on Iceland this morning… Yesterday, there was an OP-ED in the Wall Street Journal titled: Iceland Isn’t Melting… Here’s a snippet…

“But fears of a meltdown in my sub arctic homeland are vastly overblown. True, the current account deficit was 16% of GDP last year, but that’s an improvement from more than 25% in 2006. And while net private-sector debt is about 120% of GDP, there is virtually no public debt in Iceland. This is largely the result of unparalleled political stability and continuity.”

That’s all nice… But it was written by an insider… A board member of the Central Bank of Iceland… I detect a note of “homerism”… But… Soothing words nonetheless, eh?

George Soros, a guy that I personally wouldn’t have over for dinner, called the current financial crisis: “the worst since the Great Depression”… He also noted that the “markets will fall more this year after a brief rebound.”

Well… I may not like the guy, but I agree with him on the second statement… Seems the markets are getting all pumped up on the Kool-Aid Big Ben is serving up… But these are just words folks… We’ll see who’s right and who’s wrong on this… His track record isn’t so good!

The Carry Trade is back on the books after spending the month of March getting unwound… This is good news for Aussie, and kiwi… And should be good news for South Africa and Iceland… But, I think the “once bitten twice shy” campers have had enough of the volatility of these two currencies and are sticking to Aussie and kiwi… So… Aussie and kiwi rallied yesterday, bucking the sell off of euro (EUR), yen (JPY), francs (CHF), and sterling (GBP)…

Remember what they taught you in 6th grade science… A star burns brightest right before it burns out… And I think this can be applied to the Carry Trade… But, we’ll have to wait-n-see, eh?

One of my fave currencies… The Norwegian krone, has held strong during this euro weakness… And this morning, Norway reported that Retail Sales jumped 5.6% in February… Seems that the recent wage increases, the largest in 5 years, spurred consumer spending… Hmmmm…

That would work here too… EXCEPT! Wages haven’t increased in the U.S. in so long, people have forgotten what that looks like! My friend, Bill Bonner, here at The Daily Reckoning had this to say about wages yesterday…

“The part of the economy in worst shape now is the consumer. He’s the one whose salary has not gone up. He’s the one whose house is being foreclosed. And he’s the one who’s got to buy gas and food.”

Here’s another note Bill made that I believe is important to note: “Again, we see the sad evolution of the U.S. of A. since the end of the ’60s. Then, fewer than five million people received food stamps. Now, nearly six times that number are living on them…after, what was supposed to be the biggest boom the world has ever seen.”

But not to worry, Bill… Big Ben, or triple B, and I like to call him, tells us that it will be alright on the night in the second half of this year… I sure hope he’s right! That would certainly make things easier for me and my family!

Currencies today: A$ .9140, kiwi .7865, C$ .9870, euro 1.5550, sterling 1.9825, Swiss .9815, ISK 75.05, rand 7.7980, krone 5.1430, SEK 6, forint 165.40, zloty 2.2410, koruna 16.07, yen 102.70, baht 31.65, sing 1.3870, HKD 7.7910, INR 40, China 7.0175, pesos 10.58, BRL 1.7250, dollar index 72.67, Oil $103.70, Silver $17.16, and Gold… $894.60

That’s it for today… I found out yesterday that I will be doing a joint presentation with my friend Addison Wiggin, at the Agora Vancouver Investment Conference in July… Addison, by the way, has done an update of his best seller, Demise of the Dollar, and it should be available soon… I was honored to write the forward for the book! You’ll need to check that out, when available! So… If you’re interested in the Vancouver Investment Conference check it out here.

Took my little buddy to get fitted for his football gear last night… I sure wish he would get a growth spurt, these other kids are really starting to get big! But he can hold his own… He has the bulldog approach like I did, when I played… So… The Cardinals score 8 runs the night after I freeze watching them scratch out 1 run! UGH! Oh well, at least we won a game! Time to hit the “send” button, as our accountant extraordinaire, Mary Owens just walked in the door… I must be running late! Hope your Thursday is Tub Thumpin’… I get knocked down, but I get up again…

P.S. To get The Daily Reckoning sent directly to your inbox, sign up for our free email newsletter, or if you prefer to use RSS, subscribe to the Daily Reckoning RSS feed.

Editor’s Note: Chuck Butler is the senior vice president of EverBank World Markets. He oversees the trading desk and operations for over 12,000 individual and corporate clients, both in the United States and abroad, who look to EverBank for FDIC-insured World Currency Deposit Accounts, and Single-Currency and Index CDs .