Ariel Torres

Our economy did quite well in surviving the end of the domestic horse carriage industry. - Dimitrios Diamantaras

The horse carriage was replaced by the car. Are you holding back on some killer hovercraft technology, Dimitrios? - Mark Trapp

Who cares if it is liquidation or reorganization -- that only makes a difference from the company's points of view. For everybody else it is moot. - Brian Sullivan

No. Others can make cars better than the big three. Let them. Let US worker's energies be focused where they will be more productive. Yes, there will be adjustment cost, but it will be better in the long run, and it is inevitable in any case. - Dimitrios Diamantaras

Brian: if it's liquidation, that's the end of every single one of the jobs reliant on the domestic auto industry. If it's bankruptcy, the industry stays in place and at least some of those jobs are saved with the probability that more will be created as the company emerges from bankruptcy. Dimitrios: the problem is that there is nothing on the horizon to fill the very large void the auto industry would leave. Which is why everyone is concerned with trying to create as many jobs as fast as possible. - Mark Trapp

Mark: Bullcrap -- in liquidation someone buys the assets -- used to make cars and parts. The likely buyers are people that can actually make cars that people want. Yes jobs will be lost (but those will be lost in the medium term anyway). There is no way that the "domestic" auto industry (I assume this means the big 3 to you even though there are other players) can recover bailout or no bailout -- no one wants to buy their product. All a bailout does it delay the pain. - Brian Sullivan

Mark: I acknowledged the adjustment cost. I have nothing against job creation and support of displaced workers. Eventually, we must remember to trust the enterprising spirit that the US has shown for centuries. Like the interviewee in the article said, there are foreign automakers operating in the US to take up some of the slack. And who knows what ingenuity people will exhibit in the face of adversity. - Dimitrios Diamantaras

A bailout is intended to buy time: not to solve the problems. The time would be used to change the product to something people *will* buy, while keeping as many of the jobs as possible intact. Most signs point to the big three not having any clue as to how to do this, but there needs to be an alternative plan in place: whether it's nationalization or something else. We get out of... more... - Mark Trapp

Don't fear "chance". Adam Smith knew better in 1776. He still hasn't been shown wrong. - Dimitrios Diamantaras