
George Will Agrees: Let the Automakers Go Bankrupt - ksvs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111703101.html
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jimbokun
"As Detroit continues to shrink, many American jobs "lost" will be regained in
this industry, and its American suppliers, as Americans continue to buy cars."

Americans are not continuing to buy cars, in anything like the numbers they
have been. Mr. Will seems to be engaged in some magical thinking to believe
that most auto workers laid off from American auto makers will find similar
employment in the near future.

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yummyfajitas
As of 2007, the Big 3's market share was 57% of the US market.

[http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2007/10/us_automakers_los...](http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2007/10/us_automakers_lose_ground_in_a.html)

Unless demand has also dropped 57%, it's highly likely that more jobs will be
created in the automotive industry.

They won't necessarily be hiring the people laid off by the Big 3, but
automotive jobs will be created.

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larryfreeman
I think this is a done deal since Obama and Pelosi have already agreed to
prevent bankruptcy of the automakers.

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sethg
Here's the lead of a just-posted NYT article on the state of the negotiations
(<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/business/21auto.html?hp>):

"Democratic Congressional leaders on Thursday said that the executives of
America’s foundering automakers had failed miserably in persuading Congress or
the public that $25 billion in aid from the government would be well-spent and
they gave industry leaders 12 days to come back with a plan showing
otherwise."

Also note that Rep. Dingell of Michigan has been unseated as chair of the
House Energy and Commerce Committee, and replaced by Rep. Waxman of
California. In other words, one of the auto industry's best friends in
Congress is no longer the gatekeeper for a key committee.

I assume some kind of bailout is inevitable, but I'm hoping that it will have
significant strings attached.

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jerf
I'm hoping Congress pulls a switcho-change-o where they _call_ it a bailout,
but it is merely a large-scale bankruptcy proceeding with a different name and
some token capital.

I'm not stupid enough to hope for this very _hard_ , but I'm hoping.

~~~
ojbyrne
I could definitely see them doing something like - you declare bankruptcy,
we'll backstop credit so that you don't have to liquidate.

