No really, let them fail

Let me clarify my call for “letting them fail”. By fail I mean, fail in their existing structure. The Big 3 should not fail permanently or totally. If the Government bailout money can force this restructuring then I’m all for it. However two things are going on that are worrying me:

1) Pelosi and Obama are both adamant about saving the Big 3 and they are both adamant about requiring restructuring. However; they seem to focusing on the wrong type of restructuring. 

Pelosi said the plan would call for "immediate, targeted assistance" and must include several principles, including the restructuring of the companies "to ensure their long-term economic viability," new fuel-efficiency standards, and the development of advanced vehicles. She said it would include "even stronger limits on executive compensation and assurances to protect the taxpayer." Pelosi did not mention any plans for the UAW to make any concessions as part of the legislation. Environmentalists and Pelosi have vehemently opposed using that money for anything other than designing and building vehicles that get higher gas mileage and produce less pollution. 

Is it just me or are we putting the cart in front of the horse? 

2)The Big 3 are pandering for bailout money in a sensational way:

$25 billion in bailout money or the end of America. Nice GM, nice. The sensationalism and inaccuracies in that video are so wrong I don’t know where to start. I’ll sum it up like this: The implication that since the American auto-industry is so big and touches so many workers that its collapse will ripple through EVERYTHING it touches is just plain wrong. 

It also assumes that any collapse will be a complete collapse… it won’t be. Will it be a consolidation, probably. Do we really need Chrysler? How about we let Chrysler collapse and be absorbed into GM. Why wouldn’t we want that? Everyone was fine when Mercedes bought Chrysler… do we have a problem with an American company buying an American company? So its ok for the Germans to buy Chrysler and the Belgians to buy Budweiser, but GM merging with Chrysler is imminent collapse?  

This is not like the financial sector! The global credit markets were systemically broken. The entire global industry was broken. (regardless, I still am against the $700b bailout) Saying we should bailout the auto industry is totally inaccurate. We are bailing out 3 companies. The rest of the industry is fine.

Isn’t funny how Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, Hyundai have no problem setting up factories in our own backyard, selling cars through American dealerships and employing American employees. Goddam insourcing !!