Interesting that Congress has asked the Big Three to come back with a plan for success before any bailout money is given. I don't recall them asking all of these banks and investment companies to do so before they threw $853 billion of our future income there way! And, by the way, they still don't have a plan yet - except to break the backs of the American public!

Although you mention that corporations were encouraged to move overseas to break unions ("wealthy manipulators are given tax breaks to ship American jobs overseas to get rid of pesky unions"), there is no doubt that the Big Three threw a lot of their lobbyist money around Washington in support of your theory as well. They sure boasted to investors that by moving overseas, they would be more profitable if they had less payroll, less regulation and less union involvement. They didn't seem to be that concerned about American jobs then!

My question is, where did all of those big profits go? They certainly didn't care much about American patriotism when they moved out for more profitable pastures while leaving Michigan and other area's of the country economically bankrupt! Even as many of the common folk proudly used the mantra "Buy American" with the Big Three's blessing!

And now they come crawling to Congress in their Lear jets and their tailored suits, looking for more of our money to bail them out because of their bad business practices! Oh, and by the way, since the Big Three are so proud of the fact that they are now "GLOBAL", shouldn't the rest of the "GLOBE" (and not just the American people) be asked to participate in the bailout? Contrary to popular belief, the Big Three ceased being truly American companies many years ago!

If there is a bailout of the auto industry, I think one of the requirements should be for them to stay put with these jobs. or better yet, require them to move more jobs back to the good ol' US of A). Now there is an idea that would benefit us directly! I would certainly feel better about pledging my tax dollars for that!

Finally, as far as Washington is concerned, I think the majority of these pandering, corporate sellouts in Congress should be rounded up and put on trial for treason! They have outright violated their oath of office by not upholding and protecting the articles of the Constitution and the sovereign well-being of WE THE PEOPLE! And while we're at it, let's tar and feather propaganda spewing elitists like Rush Limbaugh and his kind too!

In today's America, I am saddened to say that you can get a million gays to organize and protest their desire to get married (with rights) but you can't get a million people to congregate in Washington and confront these disloyal, greedy cowards and demand that they start doing the will of THE AMERICAN PEOPLE again...AND NOT THE WILL OF THE GLOBAL CORPORATIONS!

If our founding fathers were here today to see what is going on, they would first cry...and then, start another revolution!

I suspect Rush Limbaugh of being a genius at picking out just what will really wind up a large portion of the American population (including me). He has to be so much smarter than he sounds to do that. Does he say what he thinks? I hope not. He has a genius in choosing topics and an exhibited talent for stupidity in his interpretation of those topics. Now, back to the 'Big Three'.

I worked for GM for twenty-eight years. During that time, I saw a great transformation in the company. In the seventies, the watchword was 'ship it'. By 2000, quality was much higher. The average assembly line job in 2000 performed almost a third more work than in those strange days of the seventies. We went to Japan to learn more about their methods. We adapted to them in a hundred ways. The industry created plants like this one http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=1189 . The industry went through a revolution in methods, personnel and materials.

Now, I get to watch Congress reveal their ignorance of these changes when they mouth criticisms that haven't changed since the seventies while the conditions that spawned them have.

Legacy costs are driving GM to the wall in the United States. Legacy costs made up of survivor benefits, retirement checks and health care for hundreds of thousands. I receive those benefits, but I am amazed that any company can carry the financial load GM has. When most of the legacy costs are gone in twenty-five years, I wonder what GM will look like. If GM goes bankrupt and doesn't carry the load, I wonder what Michigan will look like!