To Bail or To Bailout, That Is The Question

My gut tells me the GOP is right on this one. My heart strings tell me a different story. “Don't 2.5 million people … deserve three months?” Michigan's Sen. Debbie Stabenow pleaded Thursday night on the Senate floor. The idea of a Great Lakes economy crash and burn is terrifying. But, at the same time, it seems to me that the Big Three are about to skate past any form of accountability for the problem. The Senate has closed the checkbook. Now, the White House may have to directly intervene to save the American auto industry and all it entails from collapse. If I were the CEO of GM, I'd be on the phone to the CEO of Toyota right now with a deal to bring to the table. Do we care about the people or about the icon of the "American auto industry?" Why can't they bail each other out? I'm sure foreign car manufacturers would jump at the opportunity to get a bite of the Big Three. Or, how about the Senate just gives those 2.5 million people a million dollars each? That's a fraction of what the corporations are asking for, and it would set most of those people up for life. I can't get past my disgust at the greed and poor decision making of these big, six-figure income COE's who now have the audacity to come begging without any concrete plan, or willingness to make any sort of compromise. They just want to be handed another few billion in operating expenses, so they can go back to business as usual. It's disgusting. So, a couple million people are screwed. And Big Brother has to bail them out. Is it their fault? Maybe. It's the unions that won't budge, and those are worker-run. Unfortunately, the President-elect is quite beholden to unions at the moment, so no doubt there will be unilateral pressure to open the purse of Treasury. Nancy Pelosi doesn't get to write a check this time, but someone will. Where's my bailout money? I could use a few billion, too.