Democrats Propose $15 Billion Big 3 Loan.

It appears as if a deal has been struck to save the big three auto companies:

Congressional Democrats and the White House yesterday settled on a plan to rush $15 billion in emergency loans to the cash-strapped Detroit automakers and were working into the night to resolve final disputes over the conditions the government should attach to the money.

Under the plan, unveiled by Democratic leaders, the Treasury Department would cut checks for the car companies as soon as next week. The proposal also calls for President Bush to name a "car czar" to manage a vast restructuring of the firms and restore them to profitability.

Democrats bent to the will of the president on several key demands, most notably in agreeing that the emergency funding would be drawn from an existing loan program aimed at promoting fuel-efficient technologies.

I'm no more in favour of bailing out the auto industry than I was in favour of bailing out Wall Street but, as with Wall Street and the threatened economic collapse, sometimes things have to be done for the greater good and you just have to suck it and pay the buggers.

The collapse of the big three would have resulted in millions of people being thrown out of work, which is why many of us thought allowing these companies to go to the wall would be disastrous.

Now, at least, with the government holding such a large stake in the future of these companies, they can hopefully be forced to explore some of the energy efficient options which the car manufacturers have for years resisted.

The days of the gas guzzlers should be at an end. That, at least, is the theory. Or the hope.



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Tags: bailout, auto industry, Big 3, Democrats