The Big Zero

How can I argue for bailing out the big three with my clear bias against this auto-centric nation?

The truth is I can't, and in lieu of a few tens or hundreds of billions of taxpayer supported bailouts, I suggest Congress do nothing and allow these companies to fail. Turn the Big Three into the Big Zero.

American auto worker wages/pensions/benefits are one of the two main reasons, IMO, that the big three are failing. I understand GM and Ford pay more per vehicle in health care costs than steel. This seems weird to me, but then I also know Starbucks also pays more for employee health care than it pays for coffee beans. The way I see it, instead of Congress forking cash over to 'bailout' the big three, how about Congress creating a single payer health care system that might make it possible for us to be competitive against foreign workers? Honestly, I don't know much about the arguments for or against government health care, but I do know that we cannot tolerate double digit health care increases ad infinitum along with growing ranks of the uninsured.

The second reason is their own damn doing, particularly the truck/SUV market.
They made $10,000 profit per SUV yet tolerated losing money on small cars. They kept small cars in the mix only to meet CAFE fleet requirements. The truth is, they've done every fucking thing they could to ensure the SUV/truck segment kept going as long as possible. Creating SUVs on a 'truck' chassis instead of a 'vehicle' chassis to keep them free from mandatory CAFE requirements and luxury taxes. Intense lobbying to keep the Section 179 tax deduction in place. Further intense lobbying and lawsuits which culminated in the prevention of California from implementing its 2002 law requiring a 30% GHG reduction by 2016.

The Chevy Volt -- will it save the Planet? Shit...it won't even save GM.