I have no problem with unions and helping people get decent wages and benefits. I used to work for the Federal Govt and retired 6 years ago. I have good health insurance but I pay almost $600 every month for it not including all the co pays. I also paid a bunch into my pension plan for over 30 years to get what I do now. The problem with the car companies is in many cases it was easier to give the unions everything they wanted back in the old days thinking when the bills come due 20 years from now it will be someone else's problem and now the bills are coming due. Also in the old days the union basically ran the plants. The slightest work issue and the plant walked off the job for hours until the issue was resolved and the company supervisors knew this and they were held responsible. I had a friend that used to work in a plant that made transmissions. Once they did their quota they went to the locker room and went to sleep. There were guys who jumped the fence at the plant and had other jobs in the afternoon and came back to clock out later in the day. Then people wondered why the trany on their new car burnt out after a year or so.

I guess GM is hanging their hopes on the chevy volt. The only problem is the batteries to power the thing don't exist yet. They are hoping they will exist by production time and are going ahead with the car. Unfortunately the car as it is now has a tendency to seriously over heat leading to fires. Is this what we will be bailing out?