Besides the mistreatment of secured creditors, my big beef is this: we’re not talking about companies that just need to have their balance sheets cleaned up. Overall industry volume has dropped – drastically, from its high of 16 million cars a few years ago. Meantime, the more successful automakers are presumably gaining share even as their unit volume shrinks.
That means that the equivalent of several car companies have to close their factories; or, alternatively, Chrysler and GM will be propped up so they can keep some plants running at a reduced rate, while other, more successful car companies have to lay people off because they’re competing on a tilted playing field. But hey, those suckers work at non-union plants in red states, so why should Obama care?
