President Bush told the Wall Street Journal yesterday that he would
take a dim view of bailing out financially struggling U.S. automakers
General Motors

Speculation has been raised about the possibility of a Chapter 11
bankruptcy for General Motors, and that speculation will likely
increase following this morning's announcement by GM of a $4.8 billion
fourth-quarter loss and $8.6 billion loss for all of 2005

President Bush also cautioned GM and Ford not to dump their pension
obligations on the federal government, as some airlines have

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is already reeling from the airline
bankruptcies, and another large corporate bankruptcy and offloading of
pension obligations would likely require a federal bailout of the PBGC

Secretly, most Republicans would not be unhappy to see the demise of
Ford, General Motors and the U.S. auto parts industry -- and along with
them, the UAW and its ability to support Democratic candidates and
policies.

It's not that the White House and Congress don't have a policy on
competitiveness: it's just that it's not about the competitiveness of
the U.S. economy; it's about the competitiveness of the Republican party