The End of Detroit? Auto Bailout Shaky

With Chrysler declaring bankruptcy, the Big Three is effectively the Big Two. Ford and GM are going to separate routes to financial viability but who knows if they'll make it.
I love Detroit.
I don't want to see Detroit go.
Coneydogs. Boblo (for the old heads). Gators. You name it.
Like so many automobiles produced in the hallowed corridors of Dearborn, Auburn Hills or on Grandriver Boulevard, thesupport for the auto bailout is F.O.R.D: Futile or Ridiculously Dumb. (My Detroit friends like to say Find On the Road Dead, but that's another post). Why is everybody so afraid of the auto bailout? The argument goes something like this: Why should we bail out millionaire execs that knew their day was limited in the first place?
The counter answer is that we'd be bailing out middle America, the workers, unions, honest, hardworking Americans.
It's a good comeback. Another question though is this: Why bail out companies that knowingly produce lackluster products that end up in our frontyards on blocks and are inefficient when it comes to gas mileage and/or smog pollution?
Another counter is that the U.S. economy cannot afford to lose Detroit and its subsidiary industries.
So, is this about people ... or the cars?
I'll admit, who goes to the dealership specifically looking for that brand-new Buick these days? Why is GM still making Buicks?
Why is Chrysler still producing Sebrings?
Why is Ford still producing Explorers?
Those are not easy questions. I just know that south of the Mason-Dixon line, the sympathetic eyes are not there.
Jobs are at stake, perhaps as many as 1.5 million. But the stats are fuzzy.
What's more important is what is Detroit supposed to do, the largest city in Michigan? It is not equipped or diversified enough to survive without a vibrant auto industry. If we let the city go, then what? And if we let a major city go, then who's next, New Orleans?
Interesting questions all.
I leave you with poet-musician Gil-Scott Heron's foreboding tale: "We Almost Lost Detroit" (the original song has the melody looped in Common's song "The People" produced by Kanye West).