GM needs a new business model. A bailout won’t provide that.
Which is why this is all about bailing out the union.
1.) With the "VEBA" (google it) coming on line in 2010 the long term legacy cost will be shifted to the UNIONS.
2.) The latest labor contract has dramatically changed plant work rules to be more "Toyota-Like" and the labor rate off any new people in the plants will be at Parity with Toyota i.e. $48/hr. The fly in the ointment is getting more plant guys to take packages, so more of these 2nd tier employees make that $48 more universal.
Bailout no, bridge loan to stay capitalized until these things kick in 2010 when a host of new product is coming yes.
Bingo! The unions have choked Detroit since WW2, and now the chickens are coming home to roost. Let the companies go into bankruptcy - they'll continue to be operated by a bankruptcy trustee until all of the debts are renegotiated or forgiven, and they'll emerge with far stronger balance sheets and a better base for healthy (read: "profitable") operations.
Eff the unions - they waxed rich for decades, had no interest in the health of the enterprises they were looting, and now they want the already oppressed and ripped-off taxpayers to bail their lazy, corrupt asses out of a jam? No way!
The financial industry is one thing - without some kind of bailout, we'd likely already be in a 2nd Great Depression...and, of course, I think that a lot of people should either be forced to resign their positions or go to jail because of it. However, in more traditional manufacturing or service industries, the bankruptcy code provides for relief. Let capitalism work - otherwise the airlines, retailers, etc. will be the next bunch banging on the doors of the public treasury. We have to decide - NOW - capitalism or socialism. There's no room anymore for a middle ground. If it is the latter, I want to hear the next POTUS say it, in plain language - and let him deal with the consequences (though, of course, I want the former - we'll all be better off, even Obama).