I think the assumptions being made about what would happen in bankruptcy are wrong. First, foreign automakers are having their own cash problems and are unlikely to go after taking over the big 3 unless in the process the "legacy" problems are resolved.

In addition, bankruptcy on this scale would be a very lengthy and probably messy and contentious process. The court would appoint a group of "experts" to advise it on how to deal with the possible renegotiation of labor and supplier contracts.

All this would create yet more uncertainty in the market and probably drive sales down even further. Who would by a vehicle without any assurance the manufacturer or anyone else would be there to back up warranties, service, etc? That dealer who sells the car is likely not to exist after the BK and instead of service nearby, you may have to drive many miles for it.

If we let the big 3 go into BK it seems to me we are simply moving the problem form Congress and the marketplace to a court. I know of no judge, even with advisors, that is better suited to making the big decisions required than those available through a bailout.

The questions I have yet to figure out, however, are:

1. Is there really the cash crisis being sold by the manufacturers? and
2. Why aren't loans available to them from other than the government if the first part of the bailout is supposedly working?

Life is a banquet -- and most poor suckers are starving to death -- Auntie Mame
You are born naked and everything else is drag - RuPaul