Split don't Bail

Another financial bailout? This time for the Big Three Automakers.

When all else fails, who will rescue us? Saudi Arabia? China? Russia? Ourselves?

You maybe asking yourself, "hey this is a franchise forum" not a political forum, well the Auto Industry is very similar to a product oriented franchise, the Big Three  make the cars and their dealers sell them.

There is no doubt that automakers represent a major piece of the economy and that something needs to be done. Rather than let the Big Three fail, I would rather see the US Government split those auto companies up into smaller companies and create a mechanism to help fund them.

Look what splitting up AT&T did to foster the communications explosion in the 90's.

Smaller companies foster competition and build stronger industries. The Big Three currently constituted are nothing more that a Triopoly.

GM Brands: Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Saturn, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Cadillac, SAAB,

Ford Brands: Lincoln, Mercury, Ford, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar?

Chrysler Brands: Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep

The Big Three would now be 18 car companies, sure, some may fail, but others would expand grow and prosper. The sum of the smaller companies would eventually be much bigger than the current whole!

The problem with de-regulation or no regulation is that eventually we end up with monopolies, mergers and acquisitions often take the competition out of the marketplace. What you need is diligent regulators that look to foster competition and prevent companies form forming monopolies or triopolies.

I was not in favor of the $700 Billion bailout, because there was not enough due diligence or vetting to determine what actually needed to be done and how the $700 Billion should be invested. My fear is the same will happen here, the taxpayer will end up forking over billions and we will end up with the same Big Three Automakers with little to no incentive to get better.