“If ever the market has rendered a just verdict, it is the one rendered on G.M. and Chrysler. These companies are not innocent victims of this crisis. To read the expert literature on these companies is to read a long litany of miscalculation. Some experts mention the management blunders, some the union contracts and the legacy costs, some the years of poor car design and some the entrenched corporate cultures.

“There seems to be no one who believes the companies are viable without radical change. A federal cash infusion will not infuse wisdom into management. It will not reduce labor costs. It will not attract talented new employees. As Megan McArdle of The Atlantic wittily put it, “Working for the Big Three magically combines vast corporate bureaucracy and job insecurity in one completely unattractive package.”

“In short, a bailout will not solve anything — just postpone things.”

Amen.

What this tells me is that GM should sell off its Corvette and Hummer divisions to Mattell, and leave the serious business of making automobiles to capable manufacturers like Toyota.

Bail THIS out, GM.

A. Pussy. Magnet.

I will never say anything against them.

The problem, naturally, is political as well as economic. Slam the door on GM and the number of unemployed workers is unthinkable. The ripple effect would be devastating.

So not only does bad management decimate the company it operates, it takes down the entire system and all us innocent bystanders.

The best part is, all these years we’ve been told to Buy American, it’s patriotic. The gall of these bastards.