The ill-conceived auto industry bailout bill passed in the US House last week, but was rightly rejected by the US Senate. Special interests aren’t giving up, however. Now they are looking for huge handouts from the Treasury Secretary and the White House. While this situation is being portrayed as a bailout of the auto industry, it is, in fact, a ploy designed to delay the inevitable implosion of the unsustainable United Auto Workers (UAW) union contract demands.

This bailout will only temporarily prop up UAW’s dysfunctional relationship with the auto companies. Union contracts with the manufacturers that require paying 700,000 people nearly full wages for not working plus the extraordinary legacy costs of health care and pensions have crippled US automakers’ finances. Reports indicate that GM currently looses $326 for each car that rolls-off the end of its assembly line while Toyota makes a profit of $1266 per vehicle it sells.

UAW contracts have effectively killed the “golden goose”, so now they are demanding “golden eggs” from American taxpayers. The proposed bailout would only delay the inevitable and at significant cost. Today’s US automaker business model is simply not sustainable. The only chance to rescue the US auto industry is to allow companies to enter bankruptcy, restructure and emerge leaner, stronger and more competitive.

The money demanded for the bailout doesn’t even exist. What’s being proposed is massive deficit spending. When the government creates money from thin air, everyone’s dollars are devalued. Government bailouts are stealing wealth from American families.

TAKE ACTION: Click here to send a message to President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson demanding that they not use money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to be used to bailout the auto industry.