Orderly Auto Bankruptcy?

Maybe George Bush is getting the message, seeing the light, or feeling the heat from his fellow Congressmen who sent him a letter and said, don't bail out the auto industry. We're all going to pay BIG TIME for all these bailouts. And no one knows what the unintended consequences will be 2-4 years down the road. If a corporation can't pay it's bills or stay in business, then file for chapter 11 and keep on truckin- or cari-n! 

The Bush administration is looking at "orderly" bankruptcy as a possible way to deal with the desperately ailing U.S. auto industry, the White House said Thursday as carmakers readied more plant closings and a half million new jobless claims underscored the deteriorating national economy. Chrysler has reported that they are ging dark for 30 days. No car production for a month. Now that is being smart.

If you're not selling a product, quit making it. Let demand catch up with supply.

With General Motors, Chrysler and the rest of Detroit anxiously awaiting a White House decision on billions of dollars in emergency federal loans, press secretary Dana Perino said it wasn't simply a choice between government rescue and the disastrous collapse of a major industry. It seems that the White House is changing their tune. And with the announcement of maybe an orderly bankruptcy (is there such a thing?) GM, Chrysler, and Ford took a big hit on the stock market Thursday.

President George W. Bush, asked about an auto bailout, said he hadn't decided what he would do but didn't want to leave a mess for Barack Obama who takes office a month from Saturday. A White House decision on helping the troubled automakers could come as early as Friday. Bush doesn't want to leave a mess? Say what? And what would one call this economy that Bush is leaving office called anyway? :-(

Perino emphasized there were still several possible approaches to assisting the automakers, including short-term loans from the Treasury Department's $700 billion Wall Street bailout program. The Big Three automakers (a play on words of course) said anew that bankruptcy wasn't the answer, as did an official of the United Auto Workers who called the idea unworkable and even dangerous. GM said a report that it and Chrysler had restarted talks to combine was untrue.

Ah, the intrigue. Maybe the bog boys will have to get a taste of what the "others" in society are going through.