Car dump

Today I was much pleased to receive the visit of this friend of mine from Los Angeles, and it's always a pleasure for me to discuss all things American with somebody who happens to have a strong critical mind and a humorous take on everything.

In particular, we discussed this whole business of cutting edge car design-my friend happens to be an industrial designer-and technology. Needless to say, the two of us are following with much interest both the coming up of Tesla Motors and the going down of General Motors.

To my personal view that the U.S. government ought to pull the plug on what is now Government Motors and Chrysler, my friend opposed his own argument that the U.S. government could not afford to not at least try to keep it going, if anything as a form of welfare toward GM employees who would otherwise be laid off.

After thinking it over, here again is my take on what is going to happen to both Chrysler and GM in the next few months: both are going under, both are going to be broken down and the pieces sold off to the highest bidder.

Welfare toward GM employees notwithstanding, keeping GM and Chrysler going at the expense of wads of taxpayer dollars is simply impossible for the following obvious reason, as I have already argued before: at the current rate, GM and Chrysler together are burning through almost as much cash as the U.S. military operation in Iraq, and such level of expense is completely unsustainable at a time when the U.S. federal debt is hovering above $10 trillion.

At this point, it just seems completely impossible to me that either GM or Chrysler could keep on driving after they've both totalled themselves into a ditch.

UPDATE: following the bankruptcy of Chrysler, I now invite the reader to read this excellent commentary in The Economist online, which echoes many of my own doubts regarding the future of the U.S. auto sector.