Reply #20: What I *am* philosophically opposed to is government enabling of a status quo.

[oceanman]

Amen to that. Why should we the taxpayers be obliged to giveaways to the same management team that ran the bloody companies into the ground because of their bad decisions in the first place? If these fools were actually as smart as they thought they were they should have seen at least a hint of what was coming. Its not like the need for better fuel efficiency or better emission standards is anything new, they've been fighting this stuff tooth & nail for years - which now leaves them at a major competitive disadvantage. They screwed themselves for short term profits. If we're going to bail out the companies, then we should also require the replacement of the boards and management teams. This goes for the financial institutions as well.