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Speaking of GM and bailouts, some guy named Barack Obama took to the pages of The American Prospect awhile back to propose a deal:
There is now no doubt that cars that use less oil represent the future of the auto industry. If U.S. car companies hope to be a part of that future -- if they hope to survive -- they must start building more of these cars. And we must help them do it.Right now, one of the biggest costs facing auto manufacturers is health care. Last year, retiree health care alone cost the Big 3 automakers nearly $6.7 billion. No wonder they're having trouble finding the money to invest in fuel-efficient cars.I believe we should make a deal with the auto companies to solve this problem. Legislation I've introduced called “Health Care for Hybrids” would allow the federal government to pick up part of the tab for the automakers' retiree health-care costs. In exchange, the companies would use some of that savings to build and invest in more fuel-efficient cars. It's a win-win proposal: Their retirees will be taken care of, they'll save dramatically on health costs, and they'll be free to invest in the fuel-efficient cars that are key to their competitive future.He goes on to make some misguided -- but politically useful -- claims in favor of ethanol and flex-fuels, but the basic idea is sound, and it would be insane for the government to offer a loan that didn't require some significant reforms on the part of GM. Transitioning the country away from fossil fuels will be a decades-long project and won't happen all in one bill. Rather, it's got to be a pervasive goal present in lots of discrete pieces of legislation, and that means taking advantage of possible opportunities like this one. If we're going to spend tens of billions to subsidize GM, we may as well spend enough money to put them on the cutting edge of green demand and bring them into line with our national priorities.
