The Three Car Makers - Sure, let's BUY THEM.

This I don't understand. We will give taxpayer's money to auto makers who haven't presented an effective plan to show how they are going to REPAY that money. By the time the government wants to collect, the money will be spent, covering labor, materials, even executive perks.

Here's how that game should be played:

The car makers get their money, in exchange for company stock. That stock is distributed to taxpayers (whose money, after all, is the one bailing them out), proportionate to the amount each person has paid in taxes in the last 2 years (suddenly it makes sense to pay taxes, we can get a bonus uh?) Each taxpayer will hold the stock for 10 years, but will receive dividends.
Now, car makers get their money, and the American people get something they never had before: a good reason to buy American cars. After all, we all want to see those dividend checks in our mailbox dont' we?
Sure, current stockholders will scream, but their alternative is less pretty: the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. I wonder if they want to go that way.'
Think about it: people will see GM, Ford and Chrysler as their own. They will reconsider buying American cars because it will definitely help their own income. And maybe for once we will realize that in this new millennium there is no reason why we could not match quality to that of foreign cars, especially if we all pitch in and buy.

So yes, let's give them the money, and let's ask for something in return. NO MORE FREEBIES to corporations. They didn't share their profits with us in the past, why are we going to share our hard-earned money with them now? Let's become partners and make things the right way.