BIG GOVERNMENT: SAVE BIG 3

The debate over the bailing out of Ford, GM, and Chrysler - the "Big 3" - seems to me a bit similar to the one over the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program.

Now, however, it is not only about stabilizing the market, but about the jobs of millions of people. If the car companies were merely a bunch of rich CEOs flying in private jets, bankruptcy should take its course. But the jobs of many working class people (sympathy for the proletariat perhaps) are at stake.

Some argue that foreign car companies are able to take over hiring the potential jobless. But the companies are doing fine without more workers. Also, some argue that America can live with only foreign cars. This foreign monopoly will generate, I guess, an "automobile dependence". After all, American cars are American icons.

The failing companies need to be scooped up with the bailout, and then made more competitive and attractive to buyers through further government help. The CEOs definitely will also have to cut down on their share of the revenue (and taxpayers' money).

The plan right now is not getting too much support in the Congress, though. For one, the plan calls for carving out chunks of money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program.