car street
wall street thrives on change. stocks go up, wall street makes money. stocks go down, wall street makes money. change is good. so when the bailouts hit wall street with strings attached, wall street played the game. govt: make these changes. ws: ouch! {bluffing} that will ruin us if we have to hold this toxic debt too. govt: we'll buy it. ws: deal. govt: here's your money. compare and contrast with detroit. manufacturers hate change. they want to sell the same car built in the same factory forever. change means new designs, factory changes, marketing, etc. all this crap is expensive. govt: make changes. detroit: no. govt: fine, go bankrupt. detroit: hey! where's our handout?!?! wall street got one! blah blah blah boo hoo hoo. man, i'd love to see new blood in the auto industry. i've blogged before about how the us car industry sucks at making deals. nothing's changed. they really need new leadership. will that be doom of the us auto industry? no, of course not. the surviving companies will pick up the slack. they'll buy the factories and hire the workers. they'll negotiate healthy contracts with unions. and all of us will be the better for it.