Just Let (Make?) Them Declare Bankruptcy!!!

This whole bailout concept is getting ridiculous, and "Big Three" are some of the more pathetic panhandlers. This is an industry that refused to find ways to compete with foreign companies, convinced congress to draft anti-competition legislation that they thought would protect them, gave in to absolutely ridiculous demands by the UAW, and now wants the American taxpayer to foot the bill for their stupidity. I vote no. The unions are finally realizing that they need to ease back on some of the insanity, and have now announced that they will accept a delay in payments to certain pension funds, and perhaps even agree to a modification of a ridiculous program in which workers are paid to do cross-word puzzles, Sudoku ... pretty much anything they want to do but work.

Read this story and tell me the unions aren't killing these companies:

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0510/17/A01-351179.htm

Someone please explain to me why Congress is so intent to throw good money after bad. The model isn't working, don't prop it up with my tax dollars. Not to mention, the "Big Three" couldn't even put together a coherent plan to convince Congress to write them a check ... and with the current Congress that says a lot.

Yet Nancy Pelosi stands in front of the public and declares that bankruptcy isn't an option. WHY NOT??? A Chapter 11 bankruptcy might be just what these companies need. It would allow them to reorganize, free from the stranglehold that the UAW currently has on them. All those ridiculous union contracts could be modified or done away with. When a company files under Chapter 11, it doesn't just disappear. It continues to operate while it figures out how to run a profitable business. These companies need a reality check and the unions need to realize they they've pushed too far. For years they have been slowly killing the golden goose, biting the hand that feeds them. They've been compensated far more than the market believes they are worth. And for what? To build a sub-standard product, in my opinion.

And another thing. The CEO's salary is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of UAW contract obligations. Accepting $1 for the next year is purely PR. It may make a lot of people happy, because they hate and envy anyone with more money than they have, but it won't save the company. Neither will wasting hours and hours of valuable time to drive to Washington D.C. in their hybrid cars; time that they should be using to figure out how to run your company.

We cannot allow the government to pick the winners and losers. That is the market's job; your job and my job. The U.S. auto-makers need to figure out how to build a better product for less money. Foreign companies are doing it right here on our soil, and I find it insulting that we can't.

Where do the bailouts end? How about the legal profession? When nobody can afford to do deals and sue each other any more, do I get some of that "government" money? I won't hold my breath.