When the automakers start acting as though there is a crisis with their business operations perhaps I'll consider their claims to need billions in taxpayer bailouts more seriously.
The thing is, the automakers don't think things are so serious that they can't continue sending their executives to beg before Congress with their fleets of private jets.
There is no way that a bailout will save the automakers from themselves. Bad business decisions have put them in this precarious situation. UAW union contracts that make production costs nearly double that of other cars produced in the US at non-union facilities have gutted the bottom lines for GM, Chrysler, and Ford. There's no way that these companies can recover without reorganizing their debts and contracts with the unions.
The real opposition to bankruptcy reorganizations isn't the automakers, but the unions, who would lose all their clout. With Democrats taking a firm grasp of Congress, they're hoping that a bailout will enable the automakers to hang on to their cushy contracts without having to make any serious sacrifices.
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