American Auto Revival Pledge

thenation.com — It may be true that the tens of billions in federal tax dollars that are being pumped into Chrysler and General Motors will save the names of these companies. But the auto-industry "restructuring" is not saving auto plants that have been targeted for closing, tens of thousands of auto workers who face layoffs, auto dealers who are being "consolidated" out of business and perhaps 100,000 service and repair employees who are soon to be jobless.

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thenation.com — Less than a week after auto workers in Kenosha, WI, cast 89% of their votes for pay and benefits cuts they were promised would "keep manufacturing jobs here in the United States," Chrysler was forced into bankruptcy proceedings that President Obama portrayed as painful-but-necessary to give the company "a new lease on life." Then came the news about "the new Chrysler": the company, which had already accepted more than $4 billion in federal loans and which was maneuvering to collect $6 billion more, is preparing to use this largesse to jettison the Kenosha plant and seven others while ramping up production in Mexico.

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thenation.com — Though Obama has been visionary in his rhetoric about building a future around clean energy and green jobs, his administration has stopped far short of embracing such an agenda in response to the collapse of the auto industry. There are many reasons for this, but perhaps most salient among them is the persistent grip of a free-market ideology that has made the very idea of a national industrial policy infeasible (if not vaguely treasonous) for much of the past half-century.

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slate.com — New financial innovations, specifically those that allow investors in corporate bonds and debt to purchase insurance on that debt, may make some investors prefer that their investment go bankrupt. Thus, GM seems to be shaping up as a textbook case of empty-creditor syndrome.

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huffingtonpost.com — And now, with Chrysler in bankruptcy and General Motors probably in it in another week or so, the other shoe drops. The one that's really about Main Street.

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thenation.com — So this is how the auto bailout will work. American taxpayers pump tens of billions into rescuing General Motors from bankruptcy. Then GM pays us back by shipping more jobs overseas — the equivalent of four assembly plants. Can someone explain how this is in our national interest?

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washingtonpost.com — In return for its major loans to floundering auto companies too big and strategic to be allowed to go under, the Treasury opted for a structured bankruptcy, converting its loans to shares, ousting top executives, shrinking the companies. In return for its mega-loans to floundering banks that were also too big and strategic to fail, the Treasury has not opted for structured bankruptcy, has not converted its loans into shares, has not forced out top executives, has not moved to make banks smaller. Why the difference?

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