Big 3 Bailout

atrios: Lucy and the Football
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Step 1: declare something needs to be done

Step 2: declare that something will be done

Step 3: declare the proposal to be unacceptable

and wait for step 4...

With a worldwide overcapacity in cars, and all other governments set to bail out their car industries, there's no believable assurance that money spent on the "big" 3 is money well-spent.
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Furthermore, if and when oil prices rise again, the situation for all car makers will get worse, not better.
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This is not an industry with a long-term future in America. At the very least, Congress should admit that Chrysler, which was losing money even in good times, is a lost cause.

Yeah kinda like the money spent on financial instutions is money "well spent"?

and if the House and Senate don't act right now a full-blown Depression looms and we'll all find ourselves on bread lines faster than you can say AIG — er, Citibank. I mean, General Motors.

The automakers and their suppliers employ more than 2.5 million American workers — nearly one in 10 U.S. jobs.

I was about to point out that many people don't realize how serious it would be if the job market were suddenly flooded with an additional 2.5 million job-seekers (let alone the lost spending as those folks tighten their belt) when I suddenly realized that I don't know how many employees stood to be affected by the AIG and Citibank situations. Does anybody know?

-As a bone to angry environmentalists they included a study on transitioning the car companies to greener vehicles.
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Well whoop de f--king do. Our ice caps are melting, we're getting pummeled by weather, our national security is getting sacrificed for oil, and they decide to do a study on why maybe they shouldn't build any more SUVs.

What "angry" environmentalists, Jay?

Great. Where's my government subsidized car loan? Because I don't see these stopgap measures working without the banks being forced to lend again.

Andy -

I never said anything about the financial institutions. But now that you mention it, I need a bank. I have a 401(k). I'm not happy about their behavior, but I can't divorce myself from them.
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On the other hand, I don't own an American car, and I never will. The last time my family bought an American car, it was a Dodge Aries ("K" car) because my father believed Lee Iacocca's faux-patriotic spiel during the last Chrysler bailout.
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Parts started coming unglued around 60K miles. The engine block cracked around 85K miles. The car was junk in 4 years.
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My Toyota, on the other hand, runs like a champ.

Good article, JNS. Shame that it coincided with the Blogo thing, considering that strengthening the Auto Industry is about 1e9 times more important.
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What is the likelihood of this plan getting signed?
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@Oizy: I can understand wishing to choose one's vehicles...I own 2 domestic and 1 foreign, myself. But, a 30-year grudge? C'mon. Talk to friends, read Consumer Reports. Times have changed...for the better.