As Glendale attorney Bruce Ehrlich filled up his gas tank in Los Angeles last week, he told me he wasn't happy about the prospect of a multibillion-dollar bailout of the U.S. auto industry. But he understood the need for some taxpayer aid.
"It would be hugely catastrophic if Detroit went under," said Ehrlich, 60. "Some level of assistance would be helpful."
Then he climbed into his German-made Porsche and roared off.
It's a tricky business, this latest bailout. Many of us are deeply concerned that millions of workers would lose their jobs if General Motors, Ford and/or Chrysler collapsed.
Yet many of us contributed indirectly to the automakers' financial woes by choosing "foreign" vehicles -- a choice influenced by a perception, warranted or not, that Japanese and European cars are better than their American counterparts.
"U.S. automakers have put out subpar products and didn't do anything to improve," said Los Angeles resident Jimmy Mastandrea, 39, a Volkswagen owner who was one of dozens of drivers I met at gas stations throughout the city. "They made the problem themselves."
This week, Congress is expected to take up whether to fund $25 billion in emergency loans for the Big Three. The United Auto Workers says it supports an additional $25 billion to cover employee health benefits.
President-elect Barack Obama has voiced support for up to $50 billion in bailout funds for the industry.
The credit crunch and slumping economy have depressed U.S. auto sales to levels not seen in about two decades. Once-mighty GM says it could run out of cash by next summer. Ford has a slightly better prognosis, but only because it arranged a hefty line of credit in 2006.
Privately held Chrysler is playing its financial status close to the vest. But the company's chief exec, Bob Nardelli, said last week that it would be "very difficult" to survive without Uncle Sam's assistance.
Though a number of people I spoke with said they'd reluctantly support a bailout of Detroit rather than see the companies disappear, most said this would be rewarding failure after decades of mismanagement and poor decision making.
Orange resident James Rowe, 23, said he graduated from UC Irvine with an engineering degree a couple of years ago but was unable to find a job in his field. He now works as a truck driver.
"Where was my bailout?" Rowe asked. "I took care of myself on my own. The carmakers should have to do that too."
