Bailout Watch 143: Dallas Morning News Ed: "Enough is Enough"

“Rick Wagoner, GM’s audacious chief executive, wants the federal government to invest $3 billion in a merged GM-Chrysler, take over about $3 billion in pension obligations and buy another $4 billion in commercial paper to keep the newly combined automaker flush with cash. And he wants the money to come out of the $700 billion that Congress recently approved to rescue financial institutions.

Gee, Rick, why not ask the Treasury to pick up the lunch tab, too?

The demise of these companies would come at a terrible time for their workers and the economy as a whole. By some estimates, more than 2 million jobs would disappear, and the federal government would inherit massive pension obligations if the automakers landed in bankruptcy court.

But both automakers have known for years that this day of reckoning was coming yet steadfastly resisted the long-term manufacturing and cost-cutting decisions that would have made them leaner and more competitive with foreign automakers. They repeatedly opposed attempts to improve fuel-efficiency standards and placed the lure of short-term profits from oversized gas guzzlers ahead of their long-term health.

To add insult to self-inflicted injury, the industry’s latest request for federal welfare comes barely a month after the government agreed to loan them $25 billion to retool factories for fuel-efficient cars.

A bailout would not solve the automakers’ problems. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service predicts that the companies would still be on life support. Both are bloated and aren’t making cars that Americans want to buy. Although onerous, bankruptcy would finally force the automakers to address the market and financial realities.

A government commitment to prop up the automakers would squander good taxpayer dollars on a bad deal. Enough is enough.”