No Bailout for the Big Three

I feel that I must enter the discussion of the automaker bailouts and why this is NOT a good idea. These companies increased their lobby spending 20% to a whopping $70 million last year. What were they lobbying? They were trying to get congress not to boost fuel efficient standards to 35 mph. Meanwhile, their competition is eating them alive with better made, more fuel efficient cars and increased green technology.

In fact, the only green car that can be considered competitive is the Chevy Volt. The Chevy Volt isn’t even going to be on the market until 2010. The car is so bad - the government is offering a $7000 tax rebate to anyone who buys it. The government has to bribe consumers to even look at it. Just think what $70 million would have done in the product development department.

So these are the subpar managers that want a bailout. They then go to the bailout in private jets (for security reasons??) without any plan other than – “we need money”. Not just some money, but billions. When asked what they were going to do with that money? Fix the problem. The problem with that is that they don’t know that their paradigm has shifted and they are still making cars for the 20th century. They had no documentation of how the money would be spent.

Therefore, these companies should be made to ride the free market. Chapter 11 will reorganize the companies into viable, successful companies. Jobs may be lost in the short-term, but then they will be more stable in the long-term. It is naive to think that these companies will not cut jobs in the short-term with or without aid. I think it is time to get the board of directors in each of these companies to start doing their jobs.