Metro to Mountain Journal

So we (the people) are bailing out the automobile industry. The big three begged for money before Congress claiming low interest loans would help their companies stay afloat for a few more months - therefore saving millions of jobs, at least for a few months.

The loans might truly keep the corporations from filing bankruptcy (at least for a few months), but I seriously doubt the loans will save the autoworkers jobs. Until someone starts buying automobiles again, nobody will be making them, and jobs will be lost - loan or no loan.

Instead of making loans to the industry, show them some love, buy something they make. The government could purchase a new fleet of green (as in environmentally friendly) postal trucks, military vehicles, or work automobiles for the vast fleets. The purchase would give the autoworkers work. Someone would need to build the ordered vehicles, and the workers would be able to keep their jobs.

Another idea would be to give the buyers no interest loans and tax incentives for purchasing qualified vehicles. The stimulus would promote car sales and once again giving the autoworkers work.

My fear with giving the corporations money is that the funds will be used to run the companies during a recession, rather than to stimulate the sales of vehicles. It would be giving money for nothing - jobs would still be lost, nothing would change. If instead the government gives the auto plants work through purchases and incentives, the consumers once again would support the industry and fuel the corporations.

These measures would provide only a temporary fix for the industry. The three giant companies would still need to re-revolutionize their industry by returning to the visions of the companies founders and building simple, usable vehicles that everyone could afford. These principles, shaped with the new understandings of green technologies, would build the car of the present and the future.

If we are going to give away money, let’s try to save the world while we are at it.