I thought this would be posted by now:

But the dramatic move means that at least temporarily the U.S. government would have the right to call all of the shots at the Detroit automaker -- as part of its $15.4 billion in loans to GM to date. GM said today it expects to receive another $11.6 billion in loans from the government this year.

Ted Evanoff writing for the Indiana Star

That has drawn protest from autoworkers, including Michigan union activist Gregg Shotwell, whose Bait & Ammo newsletter Thursday noted the trust fund already is underfunded and would be weakened by the concessions:

And if it's not just Detroit then it can't really be the fault of the UAW now can it?

Europe's motor industry is in a panic. In boardrooms across the continent the talk is of the biggest emergency for 60 years -- or at least since the 1973 oil crisis.

As executives ask the European Union for a €40-billion bail-out to match or surpass the $25-billion sought by the American Big Three manufacturers -- General Motors, Ford and Chrysler thousands of staff are being laid off. Sales are collapsing as the recession bites, with vehicles stacking up at ports around the world.

Black Agenda Report

Should the auto industry get a Wall Street style blank check bailout? Or is this the ideal time to make US auto and other industrial jobs globally competitive by enacting the kind of single payer health care system every other wealthy industrial nation on the planet uses?

As I have said before, it is not a coincidence that the chief sponsor of single payer represents Detroit.

Powerline Proves Universal Health Care Makes GM and Chrysler Profitable

The chart to the left shows the losses and profits per car of some major car companies. John over at Powerline uses it to argue that there should be no bailout, because the Big 3 are so unprofitable it's just pointless. Let's do some simple math. Take a look at GM's loss per car, about $700. What is GM's cost per car for health care? $1,500. What happens if you add $1,500? A profit. Of $800/car.

How About We Take Health Care Off Their Books?

Whether it is an aging manufactuer, struggling entrepreneur, or small business, health care costs represent a crushing burden. Conyers' Medicare for All would free up millions of dollars for invesntment and save our country $350 BILLION a year.

Atrios has come out for this, Fire Dog Lake has come out for this, who will be the next high traffic blogger to embrace HR 676?

Survey: Most auto execs support McCain

Automotive executives overwhelmingly support Sen. John McCain for president and have a negative outlook for the industry, according to a survey released today by the law firm Dykema Gossett PLLC.

The people who ran their industry into the ground want McCain, because they know a failed executive when they see one.

Irony, it's what's for dinner. Heh, how funny is it that a story about declining American automotive groups (for the unions and GM are both technically in decline) is opened with an ad by one of their more insidious competitors. That made me giggle.

More seriously, you should pay attention to the strike. You're going to see more of this sort of thing, and it could even someday include you and the people you work with. The bottom line is the question of which promises are going to be kept.