An Auto Bailout ... Good, Bad or Ugly?

The news is all about an auto bailout today. And the debate is getting pretty heated.

One the one hand, we have arguments that the auto industry is central to the U.S. economy as a whole. If the Big 3 go down, they take a lot of other related industries down with them. And those dominoes will keep falling.

On the other are concerns that the auto makers, if given taxpayer money, won't use it wisely and will just need more in the future. The auto industry needs major restructuring, critics charge, and that won't happen unless the industry is shocked into action. Bankruptcy provides such a shock.

As always, we're interested in what our readers think. Should the auto makers get a bailout? Without it, will the entire economy tank? And, near and dear to our audience's heart, what happens to the market?

Let us know.

They should be given every chance to be saved. Each has it's own situation, so it is unfortunate that they are being lumped together. — Mark

It's ironic that the big LA Auto Show starts this week. I wonder how many people will be inspired by pretty spoke models touting the virtues of car companies on the verge of going belly up? It may be more like going to a museum to see dinosaurs. — Kelly

Let them go into bankruptcy it will make them better in the long run. — David

Let them figure it out on their own. Maybe the UAW will see the light and realize that greedy under-educated, under-motivated, over-paid workers are a root cause of this mess. — Susan

We need to bail them out if we want our economy to get better. And they are asking for a loan and that means money repaid with interest. Whats so hard about that? — Jan

Watching the hearings today and all I hear is excuses from the big 3 as to why they are in financial turmoil. Everything has a root, this one is greed and lack of accountability...Throwing money at a dead horse is a no win deal.

— Juan

I work in an assembly plant. Unless you work in an assembly plant then I dont want to hear anything about us being overpayed. — Jimmy

I think that it is imperative to help our American auto industry while they are trying to survive the very worst financial crisis in more than 50 years. — CJ

A "bailout" is not the solution. It only re-inforces bad behaviour...Only a chapter 11 bankrupcy will fix the problem. — Angel

No bailout for the big three! Come on, how do you expect them to keep flooding the American highways with clunky big 15mpg trucks and SUVs? — Tim

I thought this was capitalism! Let the economy take its course, it was designed to do so. — Leighton

How can we allow Bernake and Paulson to hand out $700 billion to their banker buddies, but we can't LOAN $25 billion to the Big 3? — Jeff

As much I want the BIG 3 to learn there lesson on poor management by having to go into bankruptcy I feel we should help them out...There are a lot of people's jobs at stake here. What if you were in the same situation? — Nicholas

I would rather see the money spent retraining those affected to be able to get a job in a growing sector not prop up a dying one. — Richard

In rough times help should be given. We are not just bailing out the housing and auto industry—we are bailing our own selves out also. — Alfie

Absolutely no bailout for decades of incompetence. The people working in the industry need to be unemployed for a few years so they can realize how disgusting it is it that they demand 80% higher total compensation than their Japanese counterparts for producing inferior goods. — Marie-Hélène

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