Merry Christmas, You Unionized Bastards

Looks like the White House might now get around to a bailout decision before Christmas Day.

The White House and the Treasury are deep into negotiations with General Motors and Chrysler over reorganization plans that could result in freeing up more than $14 billion in emergency loans to keep the companies afloat through the first quarter of 2009, according to industry executives and a senior administration official.

The Bush administration appears to want an agreement with the automakers before Dec. 25. It was unclear, however, when all of the particulars might be worked out, said the senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the negotiations.

But the official indicated that the administration was inclined to do more than just keep G.M. and Chrysler alive until President-elect Barack Obama takes office, saying, “Giving them enough money to limp along doesn’t solve anything.”

In the negotiations, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., is effectively taking on the role of “auto czar,” which was envisioned in the carmakers rescue bill written by the White House and Congressional Democrats and approved by the House but blocked by Senate Republicans.

In the days since the White House said it would step in to prevent the collapse of G.M. and Chrysler, Treasury officials have been poring over detailed financial data in a meticulous exercise that one G.M. executive likened to “putting on the aqualung” and diving deep into the companies’ books.

One has to wonder if Citigroup, AIG, and the rest of the financials that quietly took hundreds of billions had anybody dive into THEIR books before they got any cash.

As one commenter said yesterday, "...I definitely lean towards survival of the fittest and seeing that they brought this on themselves in many ways. Bailing out might help (might!), but so would better practices and less waste." That's true. But my gut feeling is that the damage is done, and that the US auto industry won't be around in a couple of years in any form. I honestly forsee Big Three plants broken up, sold to foreign companies and liquidated. There may not be anything Obama can do to save them short of nationalizing the industry. I doubt even Obama is willing to make UAW workers into Federal employees.

As I've said, America in early 2011 is going to look a lot different from America early 2008.