No bailouts until labor union contracts are renegotiated down to competitive scales and executive bonuses are eliminated until the companies are profitable.  Union stranglehold on companies must be broken and government must stop making laws and regulations that favor organized labor. Under present conditions, nothing can help the car companies.

I'm a father of five and  whole lot of bills. I need a bailout!

They should get the same opportunity as me. Tough luck.

Employees must make some sacrifices, both union and non-union. However, the biggest sacrifices must be made at the top. Paying executives $1M or more per year is absurd. Even if they take a 25% cut they won't have to worry about losing their homes (unless it's a 2nd or 3rd vacation home), pay for food, pay for college expenses, etc. Sorry union folks (I am in a union myself), but $30 an hour to work the line is too much. A cut to $20-25 per hour is better than the $8 an hour job you will end up with after your job is eliminated. These cuts will not completely fix the problem, but will save a ton, and provide the government and taxpayers some assurances that you are willing to sacrifice and not just ask for a handout. Perception is a powerful tool.

Why even discuss or question  the three companys staying in bussines? Do the jobs that will be lost and the warrantys that will be gone afect the market, sure it will? The big three will exist-but just a lot smaller along with there supporting contractors-until they can show good company management!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Congress needs to raise gas taxes. That will encourage people to buy fuel-efficient vehicles. Wild swings in fuel prices have crippled the industry, Samuelson writes.  Some people want to buy an SUV, but then gas spikes and they can't dump them soon enough. Raising gas taxes will spur automakers to adopt a consistent energy policy.

All credibility was lost with this statement.

It is not hard to understand why "we" have this problem after reading what has been blogged here almost all of you seem to think that what has happened is the fault of workers doing what they are told to do instead of blaming the ones running these companies into the ground.FIRE the management that has failed to produce competitive cars for the last years because they are the incompetitent ones making MILLIONS of dollars a year, not the workers doing what they are told.By the way are any of you geniuses aware of what a loaded labor rate is ? I didn't think so.Keep giving these CEOs what they want and see how much "trickles down".

Dump those greedy CEO's that only care about themselves.I purchased a new 1999 GMC Yukon in 1998 andhad to replace 4 door handles (Drivers Side) inside and out at $50.00 each, I hade the rear door latch break $ 50.00 and the center console latch $30.00 and all done by 56,000 miles. At 58,500 miles i had to replace the transmission $100.00 deductible that broke down in Oklahoma on my way to Springfield Missouri. I was PISSED. Then after that was fixed six months later i hada coolant leak from the overhead cam area. I traded that crap in for a new Toyota. I'll never buy an american automobile again. Thanks GM,Ford,and Chrysler for helping me get the confidence in overseas automobile manufacturers like Toyota and the Quality and reliability that i should have gotten from you.

The bottom line is the designs and the quality are sub-par and unacceptable to consumers. Why bail them out only to continue to produce the worst cars on the market. Also, the $71 per hr is an excellent example of how out of control the company is. That's up there with the exec bonus structure Don't intervene. Let survival of the fittest play its role. In the long run, we will do what we do best...and that's not making cars.

Let GM file Chapter 11, restructure and reorganize their debt and renegotiate the ridiculous contract with the UAW. This whole bailout being proposed by the Democrats is simply the UAW boss' flexing their muscle and calling in the chips that the 100s of millions of contributions to the Liberal Left have extended to them. This isn't a GM bailout, it's a UAW bailout and the House and Senate Democrats owe the UAW big time. Who doesn't believe that all those legal and illegal contributions didn't have any strings attached. Don't spend my Tax Dollars bailing out unions that have sucked their employer dry and now have their fangs set on a bigger and more full host (us)

The unions must go, the excetives salary's must be reeled in line with todays economy.;The middle class worker has been asked to give up pay and other benifits, noe  it's the ceo and the other vp's ect. turn to give back, take a pay cut and freeze your wages for a long time. No one needs or is worth that much money, and besides you haven't done a good job, and if you had you wouldn't be in this mess.