A spoiled car industry

America's three biggest name in the auto industry -- Ford, GM and Chrysler are asking help from Capitol Hill to keep their business going because "me too" or rather me three are also embattled by the economic crunch like everyone else. The help being sought runs to the tune of $25Bn in taxpayers' money or else deep cuts on jobs will have to be made to keep them afloat.

Had it not for the jobs, I would not dole a dime for a spoiled and heavily-subsidized industry if I were President Bush or Congress. Avalanche of excess exists in the American auto industry that they can afford to pay their fat cat executives more than 300 times than the everyday Joe. And if you've followed the news lately, these very same executives who have been pleading for cash were, by the way, chauffeured all the way to DC in style via their private luxury aircraft as if flying First Class in a commercial airline was never enough to get them there. The roundtrip cost of flying to Washington from Detroit is just $300 for Economy Class or about $900 for First Class versus $28,000 roundtrip ride in their posh jets!

The reason why I never wanted to push myself to buy an American car is not because I don't have the money (although I really don't have the money in the first place), but because American cars are inherently impractical. And even if I had the money to do so, I would rather remain an everyday commuter than buy an American brand if they were the only brands left for sale.

With the way things are going now, I sometimes doubt if they even deserve the help of the Americans taxpayers or the US government. They (American carmakers) had it coming. The quality of the average American car has fallen that much that everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe…I mean everybody knows the kind of car they produce.

American cars guzzle the most gas; emit the most hydrocarbons; take the most road space, parking space and the garage than an average SUV or sedan and; and even cost more to get them fixed. And all you get in return is the conceit and style of owning a car proudly "Made in USA."

American-made cars are symbolic of excess and extravagance, conversely, symbolic of the sheer indifference of their makers to fulfill their corporate social responsibilities. You can't expect an average consumer to buy a car that needed the most stops at the pumps. You can't expect a consumer to support a car industry stigmatized by its heavy opposition to the Kyoto Protocol.

I remember Joel Bakan an award-winning author of The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power made an example of GM when GM released to the market a poorly-designed car model that it decided to just pay for the deaths or injuries resulting from the design flaw than to fix them. The lack of guilt, moral conscience and its inability to adapt or obey social conventions make or confirm that there are indeed corporations that are "relatively and literally psychopaths" according to Bakan.

Further, the American automobile manufacturing is a classic textbook case of an industry whose time has already come. And former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has every good reason to say against the $25bn bailout. Romney, in an interview with the Associated Press says, "There's no question but that if you just write a check, you're going to see these companies go out of business ultimately." It goes without saying that they are gonna be dead anyway that's how Romney thinks.

But of course, there are just too many jobs at stake here and it's likely that Congress will have to give in to the whims of these three spoiled brats in the manufacturing sector. Besides, they know too well that the American government will still be at the losing end to assume the social welfare claims of those who will be laid-off if they (US government) will play hardball. That's how shrewd these car companies are.   

But before they can runaway with the check, the American government should or must force GM, Ford and Chrysler to commit not only to save jobs. It must first commit to making their cars more competitive, more fuel efficient as well as commit to reducing the cringe-factors of their vehicles. And above all, it must also commit to meeting their corporate ethical and social responsibilities and to actively take part in pro-environment legislations.   

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