Is GM's Goal To Loot Chrysler's Cash And Lay Off 40,000 Employees?

GM needs cash and Chrysler has it. They surely don't need any of Chrysler's overlapping product line. This is, in effect, a raid on the Chrysler balance sheet. The side benefit is that it removes one of only two remaining domestic competitors. It appears the major problem is that this deal needs financing. And, today's environment is the most rotten time in nearly a century to get it.

It's ironic that a driving reason why American auto companies became so uncompetitive was because of protection by the government. Part of that protection was the allowance of anti-competitive oligopolies to develop in the auto industry. Were we to truly embrace free markets, GM and Ford would have been split up fifty years ago. Instead they grew to become greater and greater risks on the economy thanks to lack of government initiative. Now Cerberus and GM are rushing to remove even more competition from the market place by trying to make a deal happen before the elections. Why? Possibly that a new President might enforce anti-trust regulations? You remember those old relics?

Frankly, a better bet would be to allow both companies to remain exposed to market forces and fail if necessary. Then restructure under a plan that would surely force needed change. If nothing else, taxpayer-backed employee ownership of Chrysler until the economy turned around would guarantee some modicum of competition and employment across the existing supply chains.