DETROIT — U.S automakers are expected to ask the federal government for a $25-billion loan sometime after Labor Day to help them ride out the economic downturn, according to the Friday edition of The Wall Street Journal.

The plan is to ask the federal government to lend Ford, Chrysler and General Motors approximately $25 billion in the first year at an interest rate of 4.5 percent or about one-third what they are currently paying to borrow money in the capital markets, the newspaper reports. The government would also have the option of deferring any payment at all for up to five years.

The report, which appeared on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, also carried a stern warning: Just say no to Detroit. 'Regardless of where and why these federal bailouts started, American taxpayers can't save everyone,' it said. 'The only way to stop this parade of supplicants is to start saying no — and Detroit is as good a place as any.'