GM Bailout?

A pretty good argument for bailing out GM can be found here.

Several articles have pointed to the fact that President Carter bailed out Chrysler with loans, and the loans were paid back. And several articles (such as the one linked to above) have argued that the cost of letting GM fail would be far greater than the cost of rescuing it.

Real Virginian says, in a comment below:

One reason the car companies don't want chapter 11 bankruptcy is their reasonable fear that nobody will buy a car from a bankrupt Ford or GM because the warranty is compromised. Listening to Obama on 60 Minutes tonight, I'd say he seems to recognize that a "bailout" of the car companies would require some concessions from labor as well as management in order to protect the taxpayers' investment. This is no knee-jerk Democratic concession to the unions. Let's hope.

Indeed, the Chrysler bailout required concessions from both management and the labor unions.

One reason some "economic purists" want to let GM fail is because it will result, they believe, in the destruction of the United Auto Workers. This will allow Adam Smith's free market (i.e., anarchic) principles to reign, a prospect they look forward to with delight.

It was surprising to some (okay, to me), to see Paul Samuelson supporting a GM rescue.