I agree with what you're saying. I think companies like GM or Chrysler have always made claims that they are innovative, inventive companies that are bringing the latest technologies and widgets to the marketplace to sell. Corporations are geared to be highly consumer responsive, and for years we the public have been telling them we want fuel efficient cars that run on renewable energy. The oil prices jumped nearly 30% after the Gulf War. People and the EPA have been going to the car manufacturers with emissions data for decades and it took these companies years to even acknowledge there was even a problem. They denied everything about the pollution and externalized costs they were creating on the environment and made it seem like they were doing a service to the government by creating jobs, and nothing more. And that's another issue, the UAW (or CAW here in Canada) is one of the largest and influential worker's union in both countries. I know they are the largest in Canada, so I assume they are just as powerful in the USA. They're also one of the most public and vocal unions around. Most of us would like to support the workers and allow them to keep their jobs, especially if they were making vehicles with renewable sources of energy. It's difficult to target a particular company and say "it's your turn to fall" when effectively the workers are all organized under the same collective. That's part of my reasoning why I believe they should not fail, but nor do I favour a bail out package either. A nationalized car manufacturing company makes sense in this type of situation. Make it a public company for a limited time. That way people can buy cars and their money goes to pay for someone's social security or health care. Or make it a partially-public company where the divide is half and half government owned and private company owned. Make the government have a little more involvement in the management of the company instead of just investments in its stocks. Instead of letting the investment bankers dictate what hunk of tin they can sell to us for the highest price, I think it's high time the government steps in and manages the unregulated and failing industry with the public's interest and tax dollars at stake, not the profit margin line and exponential growth rate based on immediate consumption that the auto is so readily gambling on.
