The pickups, the 300, the new Mustang, all have been profitable. And they all are great cars. If the Republicans had not created conditions where our economy melted in a matter of weeks, the auto companies still would be okay.

We believed we had a couple more years. We have been working on a plan for a long time. Nobody knew how far down the greedy Republicans would allow our economy to sink.

Can you get a car loan right now? Try it, and report back here on Salon. Any car company, foreign or North American, would love to sell you a car. Try to buy one, and let us know what happens.

Please note that I am NO fan of the GOP and declared it "DEAD" after this past election.

But, there is NO reason to bail-out the autos. The auto's management CAUSED this. While the GOP senators MAY have been motivated to 'get even" with the UAW, the truth remains that the autos are going DOWN anyway. So, why spend the taxpayers' funds (that are being borrowed from China), in the first place?

The answer lies in letting those autos go chapter 11; reorganize into leaner, competitive firms, with lines of products that are wanted for purchase by Americans, and let the rest go away.

The UAW is NOT the enemy here. They negotiated in their members' best interest and the auto management agreed to terms it knew it could NOT meet, but did it anyway!

This is management CAUSED. The Senators voted NO because the result with a bail-out would have only meant kicking that "rock" down the road for a few more months when the autos would be back for MORE of the same.

This taxpayer and the majority of Americans has had enough of the subsidies of ALL those failed decisions by big business now demanding OUR funds to pay for their failures.

The answer is NO! And, IF those autos continue their "shake-down," we will respond (quietly) by NEVER buying another of their products! Let's see those autos then try to regain OUR business in the "marketplace" after they have shaken down the Congress for a fraudulent subsidy of their fraudulent management.

Hey! The North American auto companies are shutting down 40 auto plants, now. If anything improves in the US economy, they may be able to open them up again in a few months.

But if you simple-minded folk (I say that very respectfully)... if you simple-minded folk have your way, the plants never may re-open, and y'all fahnully will git it, a day late and a trillion dollars short, when your own jobs go away.

Bah-bah, fer nay-oo, y'all! Ah'll see y'all ay-yat the unemployment office! Pray for that cute Senator from Tennessee. He has a marvellous accent. Ah always vote for the guy with the accent!

It's ironic that most of you complaining about this south v. north shenanigans are from the NORTH. No one in the south gives two rats asses what you all think is behind this because it's not really about south v. north, which is how you want to characterize it. It has nothing to do with regionalism except how you want to impose it, because most jobs are moving to the south and midwest and the north's a dying place, but none of my southern friends are even aware that this thread is happening and are vaguely aware of the vote about detroit.

The point is, too much wine notwithstanding, the south has nothing to do with this. Characterizing the vote of republicans as a southern civil war backlash shows some awful true colors. The south cares little about northern "elites" or unions or any of that mess. Give us jobs! If you want to secede, we'd be all for it. I think the south can do just fine with its beaches, agriculture, and whiskey stills without the dying north.

To the reader who said that if the south wanted to do without the auto bailout, we'd could do without insurance settlements and reprieves from the north, um, excuse me, can I introduce you to my friend Katrina? There were no insurance reprieves or charity donations from the "liberal" north, thank you. Katrina has done way more to encourage distrust of the north than the civil war could have ever done!

Dude, to quote the best writer who ever lived, "the lady doth protest too much". No one's bringing up the civil war but y'all northerners. Is it cause you're dying on an inviable business model and you need someone to blame? Sounds like it.

Good luck.

I am happy to see the GOP - the GOP I thought was dead - actually claw up from the grave and exercise some fiscal responsibility! The Big Three have been on a path to their demise for decades and the GOP senators have stayed true to their party’s roots now that the Bush era is FINALLY over.

The Big Three are Terminal. Unplug them and let them go.

Of course the problems are the UAW - and company management. But Unions in the 21st century are a problem to everyone. I grew up in Chicago, where the modern Labor movement was born. Yes we owe Organized Labor a debt of gratitude, for decent working conditions, a decent wage, and a 40-hour work-week. But all these changes came at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th - a hundred years ago.

Watch any pity-party news network talking to workers in Michigan, and you'll hear something like this: "I've worked for GM here for 25 years, my brother-in-law for almost 30. My Dad was with them for 35 years and put us through school."

That's the problem. The UAW and unions in general haven't adapted to the 21st Century. We don't need to build cars here when it's cheaper to build cars ANYWHERE ESLE in the world and ship them here. That's because of the UAW. And those workers have been in this mode of entitlement for so long that anything else would we like driving on the left-hand side of the road.

And Salon - please, take a stand. When the Big Three were churning out low-mileage, sub-par vehicles you blasted them to be more like Japan and Germany. But now you're all sympathetic for them. Rewarding bad behavior will only encourage it. You have to treat these car execs and their UAW cohorts like children and say NO!

When those fat-cats are brown-bagging it to work, and eating in the plant's dining hall, then I'll start to believe they are making earnest cuts. That'll be about the same time California becomes a Red state.

But what about the workers? You should've seen this coming. Seriously. Again - you've lived in this world where you thought Big Brother - the UAW - was going to take care of you. Despite all the writing on the wall that your retirees are living too long and your membership numbers are at their lowest level ever. You stuck your head in the sand and hoped someone else would make it all better. If you didn't take an earlier bailout package and go back to school, then you're as foolish as your bosses.

IF the next administration is going to spend ANY money on helping out the auto industry, it should only be to pay for re-training those displaced workers into some sort of 21st Century WPA so we can repair our power grid, fix our roads and bridges, build solar farms and wind farms, and yes, even go so far as to spend money on parks and green-spaces.