In Spite of Everything . . .

I hate the three American automakers. They conspired to get rid of streetcars and continued to try and prevent public transit by lobbying Congress to pursue a transportation policy that favored dependency on cars. They got Washington to put loopholes in corporate average fuel economy standards to sell us light trucks and expeditionary wagons (also known as SUVs) instead of smaller cars. They also got out government keep gasoline artificially cheap to promote these gas guzzlers. I wouldn't even consider buying a domestic car right now.

Nevertheless, I support a bailout for General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.

The Big Three provide millions of jobs, directly or indirectly, for American workers. GM and Ford in particular have new products in the pipeline that promise to be far more fuel-efficient, including the revolutionary Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle, as well as several models from their European operations many of us in America have been craving (except, apparently, the Opel-built Saturn Astra, which is still a sales failure). Also, Detroit has in fact been moving away from the old way of doing things toward a more sensible business model for the future. They were on their way there, thanks to better product like the new Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac CTS from GM and Ford's redone Focus, before the credit crunch hit and ruined everything. With all of that in mind, I strongly believe that the Big - er, Only - Three should be given a chance to get back on their feet.

But when their CEOs go back to Washington to present viable plans to Congress next month, don't let them take private jets. Let'em ride Amtrak.