Bingo! Go to the head of the class, sir -- you've just identified a tangible "imbalance" along the lines of what I was describing. The auto workers are "helped" because they are able to take advantage of a situation (albeit temporary) in which they can produce cars using recycled steel -- while the workers in the iron and coal mines who would have been producing the steel must suffer on the unemployment line for a period of time because their commodities are not needed.
At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I'll point out that in this case, it is obviously imperative for the U.S. government to dump the vehicles overboad rather than recycle them -- because we must maintain full employment in our economy no matter how inefficient it may be.