The "Big" 3: The death of what was America

General Motors (GM): Founded 9/16/1908 as a holding company for Buick and over the next 2 years took on Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Pontiac and began GMC Trucks. Ironically William Durant lost ownership control after the collapse of new vehicle sales, regained control after starting Chevrolet, however, ultimately lost it for good after another slump in sales.

Chrysler (C): Founded 6/6/1925 from the ashes of the "Maxwell-Chalmers" company. In 1928 Plymouth was introduced along with DeSoto. By 1930 Dodge had been acquired. The last major name picked up by Chrysler was Jeep in 1987. In 1979 a 1.5 billion dollar loan was guaranteed to avoid bankruptcy. They sold off parts of the company that were profitable but not part of their core industry. In a few years they paid back the loan plus 300 million in interest to the U.S. government.

Ford (F): Founded 6/13/03 by Henry Ford with $28,000 and twelve investors. For a large chunk of Ford's existence it was a family owned business and is believed to be the most sound of the 3 auto makers.

All of the automakers have their own finance companies to help customers buy their product; they all also own auto parts retail outlets and have partnerships in all of the major countries around the world. Their size and depth in not only the U.S.,but the world economy, is very impressive. The effects of their bankruptcys are not limited to just the auto workers. Between these 3 some 20 millionvehicles are sold yearly and the market could not handle this shortfall.

This would create a shortage and thus increase the profits of those still making vehicles and what will probably happen is the Japanese and Chinese auto companies would buy up the best sellers of the American auto makers. They will not move them overseas as the costs still justify U.S. based manufactures, however, the unions will be weaker and those that have been on retirement plans will have to find other sources of income.

If that is the ultimate outcome, why not just do it now. By allowing them to dump the union contract, drop some model lines and probably combine Chrysler into some of Ford and GM the government can assure that automakers based in the U.S. still exist, just in case we need them for national security issues in the future. A temporary loan to allow this process to occur is justified and needed. Those Senators who voted against a plan just because Nissan has plants in their state are too short sighted in their thinking. That thinking would allow a no vote on aid to flood victims in the mid-west, or earthquakes in the west, hurricanes in the south, or terrorist acts in the north-east. We are still the "United States" and should act like it.
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