We’d rather see the money go into startups that are actually innovating. The Volt is too little too late for GM. They had their chance with the EV1 and blew it. Should the workers and people of Michigan suffer for the executives’ mistakes? No. Should the taxpayers? No.

I see you posted an article on the Chevy Volt. Do you not agree this concept beats relaxing emission standards, or do you stand by your above statement on diesel/biodiesil “Giving them a short-term exemption to get a foothold and spur the market”? Consider the Money an investment, not a bailout.

Since this is a green website, you of all people should realize Michigan will be the leader of this movement. Any money invested into this State, be it through large companies or small business grants, should be supported. I do agree the funds should be strictly monitored and promoted to be used for research and development of Green technology.

We sympathize with the people of Michigan, but the government did all it could to encourage GM to make more efficient cars and stay competitive. It’s almost absurd to say that the gov’t made better decisions that GM’s leadership, but that’s the case. It’s not the Fed’s responsibility to bail out these companies when they had every opportunity not to find themselves in this position. The banks are a different story; it’s more of a systemic problem. Automakers that did the right thing are doing fine.

That said, the Fed will bail out the Big 3 b/c it’s become a huge election issue.

As of resident of Michigan, I see first hand what the layoffs are doing. I fully understand that Michigans future cannot bank on the auto industry. What I don’t understand is how congress can see an entire State going down the toilet and do nothing about it. AIG can get 85 billion, Fannie/Freddie 200 billion…. I guess it’ll take Michigan getting hit by a hurricane or wildfire to receive any assistance.

I guess by your standard, Michigan should tell Georgia to invest in desalination plants, don’t look to us for help.

But the question still remains.

We agree that regulators should look more seriously at diesel and, by extension, biodiesel for passenger cars. Giving them a short-term exemption to get a foothold and spur the market could be all the automakers need. There are also technologies that comply with the strict emissions standards, which are in place for a reason. NOx causes smog and bunch of respiratory ailments, and many urban areas are well above safe levels.

But the Big Three had every opportunity to comply with CAFE in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. They chose to lobby against it. They counted on oil remaining cheap, despite seeing the writing on the wall. It’s not the taxpayer’s role to bail them out and give them free money for their own mistakes. After all, the government did everything it could to keep oil cheap while encouraging automakers to innovate. Just because the market is more powerful than the U.S. government doesn’t mean the automakers should count on taxpayers to come to their rescue.

Let the market do what it does. The government needs to stop, once and for all, and let all of these markets shake out. They will one way or another; the government will only prolong the pain while burdening taxpayers in the process.

One – The CAFE restrictions are phased in slowly, with a slightly higher standard being applicable every years starting in 2011 (or so – I’m going from memory). It’s a misnomer to say that automakers have 12 years to get it done. They need to start making changes now if they want to get their from here.

Two – The reason that U.S. automakers are struggling with CAFE regulations isn’t just the fuel economy issue – it’s also about emissions. Ford has a version of the new Fiesta that gets 65 mpg and it would cost less than $20k in the USA. Unfortunately, it will never be sold here because U.S. emissions regulations are ridiculous.

The easiest was to “fix” the U.S. auto industry would be to relax emissions regs every so slightly (specifically in the area of NOx). That would make it easy for GM, Ford, and Chrysler to sell their international products here.