The U.S. auto industry is in real trouble, said The Washington Post in an editorial (free log-in required). Auto sales dropped 26.6 percent in September, to below 1 million sales, the worst month since 1993. Bankrupycy-threatened GM, which is mulling a merger with Chrysler, is bleeding $1 billion a month. Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian is dumping his tanking Ford shares. But the U.S. should think hard before extending more “welfare” to Detroit’s well-paid workforce and short-sighted executives.
Congress should not only speed up the disbursement of the $25 billion it has approved for Detroit, said The Baltimore Sun in an editorial, but it should also consider another $25 billion. The Big Three need “a 21st-century makeover,” based on fuel-efficent cars, and they can’t do it on their own. They messed up, but they’re “worth saving.”
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