Op-Ed Contributor - Let Detroit Go Bankrupt - NYTimes.com
IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
This is a point that isn’t being made often enough, and in this case, the politician making the point is far more knowledgable about the entire situation than any of the bailout barons screeching for a rescue of the UAW.
Romney literally grew up in the auto biz, and I do remember his dad as being something of a Detroit hero for his rescue of American Motors. My very first car was a small Rambler wagon - Tough as an old shoe. It was a product of Romney’s philosophy for American Motors - small, inexpensive, high mileages, quality cars in an era when chromed big iron ruled the American roads.
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Now I’m smiling.
My dad bought consecutively 2 Rambler wagons around the era that I got my first driver’s license. I drove (the hell out of) them.
Yeah, they were tough and could handle terrain that few other street cars could. Drag racing with friends who were driving their dad’s cars, I beat cars with engines up to 70 cubic inches larger. once, we had this game where one kid followed me as I drove around trying to lose him. He ended up stuck in a ditch that I had easily gone through (now I’m laughing). I used to find old abandoned roads and mudholes just to see what I could go through. I had a friend who usually rode along, ready to push if necessary. Imagine having a friend like that.
I’m not going to write about all the stuff I went through in the oldest of those two cars (it was a ‘64 model, I think, I’m not sure - that sounds too old to fit with my age - maybe it was a ‘67), because I don’t think I’d be believed.
Yeah, a lot of people sneered at our Ramblers, but their ’soft’ cars were wallowing boats with no resilience by comparison.
Romney makes a lot of sense.
If the Big Three go bankrupt, if their managment is swept clean, if they restructure themselves to be competitive, then I will consider buying one of their products the next time I need a new car. If they take the bailout, if they take taxpayer money to keep the current mess on life support, I will never buy from them again. It’s time for some tough love.
I’ve been buying Toyotas for years. I decided long ago that bankruptcy is the only thing that will save the US auto industry from the predatory, self-destructive unions.