I think that Congress is afraid that if the Big 3 go bust, a great depression would follow. Yes, a bridge loan might throw good money after bad, and they will probably come back for more, but before you throw them to the wolves, tell me in some detail, what is the liklihood that a Big 3 failure would spur a great depression and what would it look like,circa 2009? Would there be bread lines? Would millions shiver in darkened homes or freeze to death? Would there be mass migrations to warmer climes as in Grapes of Wrath? Would we see long lines of abandoned vehicles, run out of gas litering the roads to Florida with long lines of American refugees trudging south?

I'm serious. You had better factor-in a great depression before you say 'let them fail'. Remember the multiplier effect - that one UAW job affects 7 other auto related jobs.

I'm pissed at the Big 3, too. They have miscalculated, misread, misjudged, missed the friggin boat in a thousand ways, ever since Detroit told Dr.Demming and his quality-control method to take a hike back in the 40ies. But if their failure would cause a great depression,
we best be prepared for the consequences because your mild mannered, salt-of-the-earth, church-goin, accountant-neighbor, will do whatever he needs to do to feed his starving children. If you have food in your home, he'll come for it, club-in-hand.

I'm not trying to fear-monger, I'm trying to imagine the worst-case reality. I'm mindful that "the only thing to fear is fear itself", but I also know that no money and no job and no home and no food are grim possibilities for millions of Americans. Let's think hard on this one. It's time for Obama to weigh-in with some ideas since the other President went AWOL, again.

If Congress can find 300B for Wall street with no strings attached, surely we can find a paltry 36B for Detroit to stay afloat.

I think one of the points the author wanted to make is that the Big Three--as currently configured--is already a major failure. On top of that, the rather timid steps offered in their plans as told to Congress would, in a phrase, be like "putting lipstick on a pig." I hope Congress insists on much bolder restructuring plans before any of my money is committed.

But even if GM and Chrysler are forced into Chapter 11, your conclusion about depression and its attendant calamities would likely be a few years off. Would a lot of people lose jobs? Sorry to say, I hope so, because these companies are so bloated, not only in production workers who don't work, but management people who also don't work on much besides preserving their jobs and departments.

When the Asians and Germans began to make cars here--cars that people wanted to buy, incidentally--did Detroit's management go into crisis mode? Nope, just lit up another cigar. Remember the steel industry or railroads in the past. Those companies went through enormous changes, many disappearing, because they hadn't responded to changes in the marketplace here and overseas. Yes, local depressions were a result, and our President-elect worked to help Chicago workers adjust to the disappearance of steel plant jobs. But Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Gary are still around, although they went through tough times.

Ironic isn't it, that many of Detroit's products have finally caught up to foreign carmakers in quality, but the products themselves are out of touch with the needs and desires of the consumer. Part of the problem is that Detroit needs high-profit vehicles to cover all the layers of the supply chain, especially the excessive dealer network. If some of the money spent on this broad network of dealers over the years had been plowed into research into more efficient vehicles, like Dr. Deming's Japanese makers did, maybe the cement shoes today would be on Japanese feet.

I remember a point made on a bumper sticker not all so long ago:

"Out of work? Hungry? Losing your home?-Eat your import"

In the ultimate quest for capitalism as the panacea to global poverty we see that in the end the result is that NOTHING made in America is made cheapest and therefore in the end nothing will be made here. And when America is sitting with its thumb up its ass wondering how it ever became a third world nation in a mere eight years we can look at those "reds" in China who really have won the cold war without firing a shot--they have our jobs, own our national debt, and soon will be the only manufacturer of anything affordable. All because some US capitalists saw short term riches even if it meant their fellow citizens and eventually their country.

"All because some US capitalists saw short term riches even if it meant their fellow citizens and eventually their country."

Yes, this is truly the fallout from 'globalization'. There are, believe it or not, still some good and yes, affordable, products being made in the USA. It takes some work to seek them out, but I buy them whenever I can.

And I tell every young person I can to go into a field that can only be done onsite, right there in person. Otherwise, those jobs will be overseas in short order. We're becoming a nation of fast food workers, plumbers, healthcare workers, and a few very highly paid CEOs that got that way by cutting labor costs.

I am an analyst and I exist in a truly global labor market. I survive and thrive not because I am cheap but because I am valuable. America doesn't need to produce things cheaper, it needs to produce expensive things that nobody else can.

"I'm pissed at the Big 3, too. They have miscalculated, misread, misjudged, missed the friggin boat in a thousand ways, ever since Detroit told Dr.Demming and his quality-control method to take a hike back in the 40ies. But if their failure would cause a great depression". Not too many folks know about Demming, let alone about him coming to Detroit to tell of his QC methods to improve quality which equals profits. Good job. I learned of this in my undergrad's studys at Baker College while studying Engineering Tech in LSS/Industrial Engineering methodologies. I TRIED to use my education and experience at multiple Tier 2 companies to no avail. I was laughed at, swore at, parts thrown at me, almost physically abused for trying to implement positive changes, fired from two companies, laid-off from one, and the list goes on and on. All occured between 1998 and 2003. LOL. Well I don't miss the automotive field because the culture itself is so corrupt and in my opinion, it is self-centered, egotistical, and benevelent and in capable of seeing its errors in jugdgement. Hence, the reasons for telling Mr. Demming to "va-moose", and so he did, to Japan, and the result is a highly successful Toyota Corporation. I used my LSS working for DoD in Iraq for military vehicle upgrades and it works well. In fact, the US Gov't is more dedicated to the use of LSS that automotive EVER was.

" am an analyst and I exist in a truly global labor market. I survive and thrive not because I am cheap but because I am valuable. America doesn't need to produce things cheaper, it needs to produce expensive things that nobody else can."

##### Sounds good except expensive things have a lot fewer buyers and thus require a lot less people to create and support them. Cars are the most high end thing other than homes a common person will purchase-when we eliminate cars from the American industries pantheon what is left other than heavy duty military class weapons? Is our only business going to rely on war to be successful?

If I remember correctly, Ford hired Dr. Demming for a spel, but I don't think that the constant quality improvement ever caught-on like it has in Japan. I trust the accuracy of the Consumers Union car repair reports. US cars have come a long way but I don't think they have achieved parity. Good points made in many posts, but I'm not much mention of a great depression. Maybe nobody remembers or their grandparents never told them. I hear it was very bad. Everybody was hungry. We cant repeat that.

The great depression was over in 10 years.

Japan has been suffering for almost 20 years.

If we let the companies fail- it will be bad- but it will be fast.

If we keep supporting them- it will be just a little less bad- but for the rest of our lives.

Fact is - everything is relative.

If all of our wages went down 50% tomorrow, then relatively everything would cost the same- except those few rare resources which we are competing with the rest of the world for.

The fact is - there is no logic in paying someone $100k a year for semi skilled labor- and no logic in paying executives over a million dollars a year (including stock).

And the idea of having multi-billion dollar companies is dumb too- they are "too big to fail" in bad times and relentlessly move our jobs over seas and impose costs on states in good times.

"If all of our wages went down 50% tomorrow, then relatively everything would cost the same- except those few rare resources which we are competing with the rest of the world for."

Not correct. Wage income would be reduced by half as compared to non-wage income. To the extent that much of income is non-wage, prices would be supported by those individuals and folks with just wage income would find prices have jumped, relative by their income, by a huge amount. In fact, the price of "luxury goods" would have doubled - although many of those with only wage income would not be bidding on them anyway - and would be that much further from their grasp.

Actually we saw what happens already when gas doubled earlier this year--the average worker is completely drained of disposable income--between vehicle fuel and heating fuel and electrical increases most extra money is spent just keeping warm and getting to and from work.

Result is no one can afford to buy stuff or pay to fix or service stuff......welcome to recession land.

I'm reminded of an old story, probably apochryphal. Henry Ford and Walter Reuther are walking around the factory. Ford point to a new machine and says, "Do you see that. It replaces 100 of your members. Reuther replies, "Yes, so how many cars will it buy."

A lot of people don't seem to understand that everybody's workers are somebody's customers. Destroy the middle class and who is going to buy all these efficiently produced products.