Mark Morford of SF Gate, in his Notes & Errata column today, wrote "Detroit must die: American cars are still uniformly god-awful. Why save them?" There is no reason to save them.
The Big 3 American auto makers AND the entire supply chain that supported all the ugly gas guzzlers for decades are hardly economic victims any more than any other industry.
There is no justifiable reason for the government to throw good money after bad in a bailout. There is no realistic chance that a bailout now will do anything but merely delay an inevitable deserved demise of these environmentally irresponsible institutions.
Detroit has been in steep decline for decades with no chance for a forseeable turnaround by the traditional auto industry. The government should use the money to fund R&D for startups to innovate, thrive, and hire the best talent, without the Big 3 in the way.