Providing capital to the auto industy is for trying to moderate an economic impact b/w recession and depression.

After all this bailing is said and done, we will no longer be a capitalist economy, this is a fact.

The purpose of Government was to protect the greater good of the citizens it serves. The hard but greater good would have been to let the auto industry collapes, raising unemployment until new capitalists were given government grants to develop better transportation ideas, initiating advancements in technology and education.

The fundimentals of business have been tried, tested, broken and now bandaged. I cannot support failure in my personal life but I have little choices with my tax donations.

Here’s why I don’t agree with you. We gave them billions of dollars then so that they could get us a plan together showing us what they were going to do to stay strong. The mentality that we just need to get rid of the SUV-promoting thinking is a good idea, but application of it is tough. These companies are STILL advertising on TV about their huge trucks and their huge SUVs. I still see three times the number of SUV commercials as I do car commercials. Their mindset is still the same.

I agree, there are a lot of hard working people who work in G.M. and Chrysler who are not to blame for this at all. There are also a lot of people in a lot of other occupations that lose their jobs and the government doesn’t come along and fix them.

I’m not saying that these companies should just disappear. What I am saying is that instead of asking for a bailout, quite frankly, I think we should let them go bankrupt and try to restructure, or instead, sell themselves off to other investors and wait another five years before the next big car behemoth pops up.

The problem with articles such as these is that they personify entire corporations, industries, and even economic systems by the few bad people that spoiled them for the bunch. Huge corporations like Chrysler, GM, and Ford are full of honest, innovative people that deserve to be left standing when the dust settles and ought not be punished for the greed and mistakes of those who caused these messes. Collapse would bury both.

I agree that we should not promote failure. Considering we invented the damn thing, the US auto industry can’t be called anything BUT a failure right now. The solution lies in keeping these companies afloat long enough to shed the short-sighted, SUV-promoting thinking that has prevailed at these companies in favor of the forward-thinking talent which will help the US lead the way to more fuel efficient vehicles.

By the way guys – the site looks awesome

I’m with Jakuul on this one. As with our failing education system, tax structure, power structure, etc., the failing economy is yet another sign of the times. While sure, we can do our best to change the modus operandi of the governing class, the ultimate issue is the time commitment – time that we, as citizens, simply do not have.