I’m not one to agree with Government bailouts at all, but it’s not as cut and dry as this. This is truly a complicated situation. There’s no doubt about the fact that domestic car companies have been snapped awake by what was a 75% market share of the U.S. automobile market just a short while ago, to now enjoying less than 47% of it. They were fat and lazy, and began thinking less about innovating because they simply didn’t have to. They also produced shit, and didn’t concern themselves with quality like their Japanese competitors…just quantity, especially SUVs. The more cars purchased, the better….BUT…keep in mind…the overnight spike in OIL and Petrol, not to mention the ridiculous cost of health care and benefits for auto workers, which has forced GM, Ford, and Chrysler to have higher costs, per car, than their competitors, has also been part of the problem. It was a combination of bad circumstance, lack of foresight and ability to respond on management’s part, as well as some clusterfucks in terms of cost per car related to pensions, health care, and benefits that put these guys at a disadvantage. Do you have any idea what it’s like to change a company culture, one that is 100 years old, quickly? Virtually impossible. It’s a major challenge.

Listen…bottom line. The big three go bankrupt, and we will see a recession unlike any other. The psychological effect of something like this alone will resonate forever. I think the government should bail out the car companies with major conditions….and the money should be paid back with interest over a period of time.

The reason for the bailout, however, should be to protect those people who did not make the mistakes. The people who were actually building the machines. The bailout should start from the bottom up. It should start with capacity building, training, new tools, transferable skills - whatever the workers need to survive the rough times ahead. Then if that doesn’t save the company, then the guys at the top, the ones who drove the car into the proverbial wall - are out looking for jobs. It was their risk, the workers should not suffer.

I guess I’ve just come to assume that these kinds of shots are slapped together in photoshop.

Accept my humblest of apologies. How embarrassing… no blog posts for a week as I feel shame.