Reply #91: I do have concern..

[MellowDem]

but I'm trying to put things in perspective. 3.5 million jobs is NOTHING compared to what would happen if the financial markets failed. For one, the auto industries would collapse anyways and those 3.5 million jobs would be gone along with a lot of other jobs. Whether this will push us into a depression or not, I'm not sure. I don't think the auto industry will collapse though. Ford is surviving and GM and Chrysler will be sold off to other companies rather than collapsing. So 3.5 million jobs would not be lost. There still would be a lot of cuts though.

I live in an old run down steel town in Ohio. It was entirely dependant on one insdustry. This town has been suffering for decades. Any town or region that is so utterly reliant on the auto industry will indeed be hit the hardest, that's just the facts, not something I consider "ok".

As it is, the auto industry has helped ensure that climate change and global warming caused by cars continued uabated for a good 40 years when we first could have done something about it in the 70s. The amount of protecionism and exceptionalism that the auto industry has enjoyed over the years has led to a situation that has hurt this nation as a whole far more than those at the top of the auto industry responsible can ever be paid back. They kept us addicted to oil and killed public transportation. It's unfortunate that the blameless workers will have to suffer, but in the long run it will be better for all of us, including the auto workers. Auto workers have had it much better than the rest of the nation for a while now, and all at the expense of the nation. You can't put the well-being of a politically organized few over that of the many. That's what we have been doing for decades with the auto industry, the farm industry, Cuban policy, etc. It's disgusting and needs to stop. Would you rather we protect the auto industry at the expense of America and the world as a whole? Are we all beholden to them because of their political organization? Apparently so.