Happy Motoring?

Happy Motoring?

In its bid for government bailout help GM has conveyed that its restructuring plan includes laying off an additional 47,000 employees. Further, there is every possibility that the immediate infusion of cash will buy a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, but major surgery will still be required to save the patient, and the prospects for survival are not good. Amputating 47,000 laborers and throwing them onto the enormous and expanding heap of the already unemployed will effectively shift the costs from GM to the ever-so-welcoming arms of the remaining employed(-read taxpayers). But that's what unemployment benefits were meant for,eh? How many of those displaced automotive workers do you reckon will go back out and get another job to replace the one they lost? Better yet, how many will actually realize that they have been working for an unsustainable industry and seize the opportunity to retrain for something more meaningful than building horseless carriages? In addition to taking 13.4 billion in bailout money from the taxpayers already, GM says it needs another 16.6 billion besides, and it still may file for chapter 11 by the end of the year!

It may be irrational to do so at this juncture, but the most serious question We the People (-read taxpayers)must answer in regards to the issue of automotive bailouts, and soon, is whether the ability to produce more automotive products than the population of the United States of America can justify purchasing in any economic climate is an appropriate distribution of our wealth and resources? Does the United States(-read taxpayers) need the capacity to provide every household with enough new automotive product to trade cars every two years?

The American automobile manufacturers have attempted to defy the basic economic laws of supply and demand by expanding production to unsustainable proportions. The Unions have hamstrung the companies in their capacity to move in sync with consumer demand. Now that demand is at an all time low, the companies and the Unions are worried enough to ask for government(-read taxpayers) intervention.

The automotive industry is one of the most visible patients in the sick ward of our national economic crisis, for good reason. Consider how much land alone in this country has been devoted to highway infrastructure. Beyond roads, there are the strip malls, service plazas, fast food eateries, motels, car dealerships, and car repair shops. If it’s anyplace, there’s a road that will take you there, and when you arrive there you’ll have everything you need to either stay a while or move on. Day or night, there is always the ability to just up and go on a moment’s notice.

Everything has its price. Is it any wonder that we have arrived at this point in time to face the delusions we have been mindlessly operating under for so long now? At what point in time will it ever make more sense to change? Fuel prices are down. They will return to higher levels as supply diminishes and demand returns. Prices for many consumer electronic products have come down, and will continue to do so until supply diminishes and demand resumes. Pick any market where there is a current glut of merchandise and the story repeats. The companies that have been prudently managed for the future will curtail production in the short term and perhaps refocus on improving their product for the long term when demand returns. Companies will streamline where they can and will attempt to allocate their limited resources more efficiently. The companies that have been unable to sustain the effort to do so will be cleansed from the system.

So, are continued bailouts for these few companies at enormous taxpayer expense, at a time when taxpayers are struggling themselves to survive, in an automobile industry that has consistently missed the mark with product quality and reliability as well as customer satisfaction, are these billions of dollars to be spent on extraordinary measures to save the patient at all costs? Or would the more appropriate course of action at this time be to remove the patient from support and inform the family?