If free market principles cannot save a free market then the whole idea of a free market is a lie.
What George W. Bush was really doing was reacting with naked fear to a painful reality of free market adjustments.
THEY CREATE GREAT PAIN BUT ARE NECESSARY - JUST LIKE OPERATIONS PERFORMED ON SICK PATIENTS.
I won’t argue with your post, but this argument you jumped into was specific to GM.
George Orwell had a saying, “No jam( jelly ) today, Jam tomorrow”.
What he meant was socialists, communist, thieves were always robbing today, and promising sweets, paradise, utopia in the future.
Bush basically said, “No free market today, free market next year..or a decade or two down the road. Maybe. If conditions allow. Meanwhile, STFU and hand over the money and hold this debt paper and make sure your kids pay it off. Signed, GW Bush.”