"The financial straits that the Big Three find themselves in is not the product of our current economic downturn..."

"... but instead is the legacy of the uncompetitive structure of its manufacturing and labor force. The financial situation facing the Big Three is not a national problem but their problem."

Harsh words from Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, "the senior Republican on the banking committee, [who] said he would not support legislation to aid the auto companies and seemed prepared to let one or all of them collapse."

Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee [said]... “They are producing high-cost products that consumers don’t want to buy. And so now we have Washington on the verge of giving them a bailout simply because we have all heard of them and they have high-priced lobbyists."

Fortunately, it looks as though there will be no auto company bailout. At least not until Obama and the new Congress take over.