I just don’t seem to get the resistance to helping our auto industry. We seemed to be more than willing to throw hundreds of billions of dollars at the financial industry without strings but a mere $15 billion requires a “car czar”?! Who is that going to be? What is his or her objective going to be? Increase the market share of one or two or all three of the US companies? How much? Build better cars? What the heck is a “better” car? Cut workers wages? Why do we complain about wages not keeping up with inflation on the one hand, and then complain that auto workers get paid too much? Maybe everyone else is paid too little!!!
This is an example of how seriously messed up things have gotten. We don’t have rational conversations about anything. We do need the auto industry for jobs right now. What would be better than bailing them out is to somehow get money in the pockets of consumers so they could buy cars — use the billions to provide tax credits, or rebates or whatever. That is what is killing the auto industry. Nissan, Honda and Toyota are also suffering huge drops in sales. It isn’t just GM and Chrysler. There is no money for loans due to the banks hording it. THAT is the issue.