Liberal in the Land of Conservative

I think I've finally achieved bailout overload.

I did not endorse the idea of the banking industry bailout and do not embrace the idea of a Big 3 auto industry bailout.

However I do wonder that if the banking industry were as labor driven as the auto industry, whether or not they would have actually gotten a bailout.

So it looks like $15 billion is going to be the magic number. In my humble opinion, the bridge loan is a bridge to nowhere.

Has anyone looked at GM's books?

GM is nearly $61 billion in the hole, losing about $22 billion since December 2007.

Listening to talk radio while coming home from work yesterday, I heard several callers defend the auto industry. One experts opinion really caught my ear.

He spoke of the importance of the auto industry in a time of war, evoking images of World War II. He then cited a statistic that made me wonder. He said that the Big 3 could transform their auto plants into military equipment manufacturing within 3 days.

3 days to transition from auto's to tanks...

And yet, over the past 20 years, the auto industry has been incapable to transition to a more fuel efficient "greener" vehicle. They haven't been able to adapt to a changing world, to changing demand, but could transition to a war time economy in 3 days?

Let them reorganize under Chapter 11. They have to become more efficient. I heard from an old UAW, the dude that threatened to shoot anyone who touched any of his Klobuchar, Wetterling, Kimball lawnsigns a few years ago about all of this stuff. He told me GM has 18 separate ignition systems. Ford had 4. Chrylser 3. Honda 1.

They need to downsize and eliminate costs, emerge from bankruptcy a leaner more efficient industry.

What do you think we should do about a potential bailout?

Would the banking industry have gotten the killer deal it got, without the grilling on Capitol Hill if they were a strong union industry?