Should We Nationalize GM ?

[davester]

Karsen does have a point. If an automobile company fails and goes bankrupt, it doesn't necessarily disappear, though that could happen if an uncontrolled collapse was allowed to occur. The facilities and resources are still there to be picked up at fire sale prices after a bankruptcy, and if there actually is a market for Big 3 vehicles then the buyers would almost certainly simply reorganize the companies and continue production. Look how quickly Lehman Bros was snapped up by Lloyds, etc after they were allowed to go bankrupt. Most of the employees kept their jobs, too. I definitely don't agree with the concept of handing them money with no strings attached. If we hand them money, there should be an extremely rigorous set of strings (enough to allow repayment of the taxpayers and/or seizing of resources in the event of further losses, and a significant amount of control by the government (i.e. the taxpayers) regarding management of the company). You can call it nationalization if you like, but there's no way the government should give our money to the automakers without getting ownership rights in exchange. There's also no way that the government should allow the Big 3 to fail completely (i.e. the right wing wet dream of laissez faire capitalism) without making a significant attempt to ensure the best possible outcome for the workers and local economy.