What happens if the Ford, GM, and Chrystler fail?

I’ve been scanning through the morning news, and keep seeing reference to ‘3 million jobs lost in the auto industry if the Big 3 fail’. At first glance, this seems like it could be accurate if one takes into account 1) people working at the Big 3, 2) their direct suppliers 3) vendors, such as advertising, marketing, public relations,etc. This would of course be bad in the short term for these companies and individuals.

However, as callous as it might seem, let’s ignore for a moment the short term pain of these individuals and consider the long view.

The fact is, these companies have been turning out mostly crap for decades. American car companies, with a few exceptions, produce bloated, fuel guzzling, ugly vehicles that rate near the bottom in reliability (the Chrysler Sebring, for example). On top of that, these companies routinely rate near the bottom in customer service compared to Asian and European automakers.

The primary reason that these companies are struggling is that they produce expensive crap that doesn’t work well. Sure, the economic downturn doesn’t help - but if they’d been producing small, stylish, efficient vehicles then they wouldn’t have billions of dollars in huge, expensive, ugly SUVs sitting around gathering dust on the showroom.

So, what’s the upside of 3 million auto company workers, executives, advertisers, public-relations, and lobbyists being on the job market?

It’s not like all of these folks are going to throw up their hands and go on the dole. Some of them will, but others will work together to start their own companies doing what they know best: making and selling cars. And with gas prices going back up, as they will, what will they produce? Small, efficient, stylish vehicles. Exactly what we need, the environment needs, and society needs.

Let them fail. And fuel a resurgence in green auto design and production.

ADDENDUM: Maybe the best idea, if the government must be seen as doing *something*, is to pay the retraining costs for everyone effected by the big 3 failure.

ADDENDUM II: Good Christ, I have to start proofreading my posts… ‘Chrystler’?