Yes, I’m telling my lawmakers the same thing–no automaker bailout. Why? Because bankruptcy is a time to reorganize and get your act together, and maybe forge ahead. So we shouldn’t be as afraid of automaker bankruptcy as Congress seems to be. Bankruptcy doesn’t mean closed doors and going out of business. It may eventually mean that, but so could a bailout. But bailouts reward companies who have been stuck thinking, producing, and structuring the way they always have, without planning for the future.

I know that lots of families, from the autoworkers to the restaurants to the retailers in Michigan depend on the money American car companies bring to the area. But you know what? I’d rather see the government hand money directly to the people who work at these firms than give corporate welfare. The workers shouldn’t have to pay for the (formerly) Big Three mistakes. But they should get work in another industry. And there aren’t any jobs right now.

So why not make Michigan the heart of America’s big wind-farm industry? Oh, yeah, we don’t have one. Well, let’s use the federal money for that, instead. Factory-build parts for wind farms need these skilled workers, and the former carworkers can have a job, new skillset, and important role in the next century, rather than being stuck in the nineteenth century industrial revolution.

Or, why not make Michigan the heart of America’s big infrastructure regeneration? Oh, yeah, we don’t have one. We’ll, let’s use the federal money for that, instead.

Or, why not make autoworkers, white-collar and blue-collar, part of America’s next big wave of domestic jobs and revenue. Oh, yeah. We don’t have that, either.

Maybe we have bigger problems than the financial well being of three outdated, outmoded, out-of-touch companies who couldn’t see the writing on the wall, as Japanese automakers did.

I don’t know. It’s going to hurt a lot of people if those automakers go into bankruptcy and renegotiate all their contracts. But it’s going to hurt more people  if we bail them out, and they come back for more money in a few months, then come back again, then go out of business anyway.

I’m tired of corporate handouts. Why do corporations get welfare, when the fiscal conservatives who backed their unfettered growth believed nobody should share the profits? When people who work hard come upon tough times, I say help them. When companies come upon hard times, I just feel the help should go to starting something new. Use the bailout money for building infrastructure and eco-friendly energy. That creates jobs and uses taxpayer money for growth not bandages on bullet wounds.