Remember in the 80's the government supplied easy loans to the farmers in the US. It was only about 5 years later they were going back to the same farmers and foreclosing on their farms and auctioning off whatever they could. Giving out money to solve business problems has never worked in the long run with examples throughout history. The whole farm crash stated earlier may have been averted by helping adjust the prices they got at market instead of squeezing them until their eyes popped followed by some cash to smooth it over. This whole bail fiasco is destined to blow up in the face of the following administration and the only real victims of the short sighted solution are the tax payers. It's been write a long time since we have seen any politician who has insight or forethought beyond their term in office. The de facto thinking these days seems to be what can I get out of it without getting caught. Even the getting caught part has become secondary in many cases.

I agree completely the building of a hybrid SUV and excitedly proclaiming it gets 20mpg is insane. The big three have repeatedly purposely built substandard death traps every time the government imposes fuel economy and emissions standards. The cars of today don't get any better mileage than a well tuned car of the late 60's and early 70's. Does anyone remember the old Chevy small block V8's that would make the car jump off the road and still got 20+mpg and without driving like a typical teen of the time would get over 25mgp.