u235

Kidnapping is when you forcibly abduct someone and then ask for a ransom for their return. If you consider the victim to be American auto workers then the analogy holds that the American automotive executives are the kidnappers. They are ransoming jobs based on the fact that they've had a good run, made lots of money on stupid-big, stupid-inefficient, stupid cars that now no one wants. No one will buy these stupid cars, so there's no money (for the workers of course, not for the executives) and thus the taxes these workers paid, and their fellow Americans paid, should be used to bail them out.

And what better way to do it than to take the several billion dollars in incentive money to develop fuel efficient alternatives that have already been set aside! Brilliant! This way they don't have to develop the fuel efficient alternatives, and they still get to pay their workers to continue to make cars no one wants.

Chrysler was bailed out by the federal government once before, in 1979, with $1.2 billion in loan guarantees. The company repaid the loan, plus interest, ahead of schedule. Back then, former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca reduced his salary to $1.

Under questioning from Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Mulally [Ford CEO] didn't join the other two executives in saying he'd do the same now.

No surprise there really.

It's ugly, really ugly. And the timing of the season only makes it uglier. It's impossible not to be sympathetic to American auto workers on the one hand, but watching the executives who made the bad decisions and *continue* to make then and still get rewarded? That's excruciating.

If the taxpayers will be the ones to save the auto industry then we should be allowed to select the corporate executives. Bailout should come at the cost of the jobs of the people who have proven themselves incompetent to lead. Save the workers, fire the executives. Perhaps next year should be a time for change for them as well...