Life

I've gone back and forth in my mind about the auto industry bailout.  I'm now at the point where I do not believe the government should bail out GM and Ford.  I should add, my investment club owns a small bit of GM but that obviously hasn't influenced my decision too much.  Here's where I am:

    > the auto industry is crucial to a lot of state's economies, including Ohio's.  It's not just the jobs, its the spin-off little shops that are dependent on healthy companies.

    > the auto industry is saddled with problems that won't go away with billions of dollars from the government.  Union contracts must be renegotiated and benefits must change; this will in all likelihood only happen under bankruptcy.

    > why would anyone expect that government intervention and direction will improve the way Detroit does business?  I know the government does some things right but generally, anyone else does it better.  Anyone.  So I have zero confidence that a "car czar" will improve how America makes cars. 

    > finally, nationalization of industry scares me.  It's a socialist model and I'm afraid enough that we are going down that path enough with the "redistribution of wealth" that the incoming President has promised.