Remember the Great Depression? Good times...

"ok how about 5 billion a piece and we'll throw in floor mats and undercoating for free"

Depressing news from the auto industry this morning days.

Senate GOP Voted Against Bailout To Strike "Blow Against Organized Labor" (jalopnik.com)

Autoworker wage and benefit differences (the associated press)

Bush May Use TARP Fund To Rescue US Auto Makers (cnbc.com)

GM Hires Bankruptcy Advisers: Report (the street.com)

It really sounds like US auto makers just needed better PR people. Over the last couple weeks they've been getting blasted for not making cars fuel efficent enough (even though class vs class comparisons show they do), for flooding the US market with SUVs and light trucks (stupid companies making the cars the US market demanded?) and for paying their workers to much (what, they pay their workers well and give them good benefits? sounds like socialism!). I'm crossing my fingers that they can work things out on their own. It's obvious that they're not going to be getting any help from goverment that doesn't come with huge strings attached. Somehow somewhere the american public decided that 700 billion handed out to financial insitutions without any oversight is an awesome idea, but don't you dare try and give the largest remaining manufacturing industry in the US a small fraction of that money.

Meanwhile in cars you won't get to drive because everyone will be bankrupt news...

Ford Fusion Hybrid Gets Fuel Economy Rating Of 43.8 MPG In Jalopnik Road Test
43.8 mpg and it doesn't look like an alien suppository from the future? Sign me up. On the other hand with gas back down to under 2 dollars a gallon, maybe I'll pick up one of these instead...
"Based on the Focus ST, the Focus RS is made the red-headed step child of the range by adding an aggressive body kit, more power and better handling. Powered by a modified Duratec 2.5-liter 5-cylinder featuring 300PS and over 410Nm of torque, the 2010 Ford Focus RS should give a 0-60 time of 5.9 seconds and a top speed of 164 mph. Modifications to the standard motor include unique camshafts, a revised cylinder head and intake manifold." -jalpnik.com

Forget the Dark Night special edition on DVD, this is what I really want for christmas.