Nature abhors a vacuum: An old axiom, but apropos to the current financial crisis, and the hand-wringing that has become the national response. the question du jour - "do we bail out the auto companies?" Most normal people say, "No." The rest - most of those who speak for the normal people (i.e. Congress) - say, "Yes, we have no choice. If the auto companies fail, 2.5 million jobs nationwide will follow." Sounds like the same old fear-mongers to me; like those who tried to scare America into invading Iraq. Now they seek to make us fear the natural cycle of change.America's car companies have been badly mismanaged and are in need of restructuring. This restructuring need not be base upon senators and representatives dictating to companies who stay and who go, but rather on a tried and true system - Chapter 11, a basic tool of the Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 11 automatically governs corporate reorganization. Here, there is no need for fat-cats on Capitol Hill playing god - deciding who sinks and who swims. (How amazingly pretentious, and transparent they are, like children playing a board game.)
Besides, the U.S. doesn't need a Big Three. Perhaps it is time for a Big Two...or a Big One, along with three or four new companies competing to produce cars designed for the future. What's wrong with that?
Let the vacuum happen naturally, and just as naturally, let true entrepreneurs fill that vacuum. There is money enough and smarts enough in this great country to fill any vacuum. So what if current suppliers go under? New suppliers will rise up, just as new automakers will rise up to replace the old.
Would we save the dinosaurs at the risk of imperiling the evolution of mammals? Likewise, are we to save GM at the risk of imperiling the development of truly 21st century machines?
This country does not owe the Big Three; neither does it owe current autoworkers. We are all employees, and are all subject to the same laws of change.
2 comments:
I agree Lace, the big 3 need to fix themselves...EVENTUALLY!...But for now, with the economy the way it is, we can scarcely afford to approach this situation in a business as usual manner. There is yet another axiom to be applied here; DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES! The "Domino Effect" of laying off so many people will seriously exasperate an already critical situation...Congress can ill afford to do that right now...Our hands are tied...We are hostages to our own oversights...Let us allow these companies to fail SLOWLY! Automobiles should not be our main source of employment and wealth...TECHNOLOGY SHOULD BE! But we must be extremely vigilant on how this transition should take place...Obama's focus on Education for all our children ( and, thus, the minds of the future ) plays well into that CHANGE! But we cannot just sit back and let nature take it's course on the BIG THREE...RIGHT?
Sirheads,
Big ups! I miss you all.
You know, you're right. Letting nature run her course can be a capricious affair. She is known to be fickle, and cruel - even unfair. But in the end she is always true.
What the hey? A bit more poverty can be good for our souls.
Banger
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