GM BANKRUPTCY WOULD BE A "ROACH MOTEL?"

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The financial industry skeptics and vultures are circling over the swooning corpse of General Motors. Some see no happy ending regardless of whether the OBAMAcrats put together a viable "bailout" deal.

But would bankruptcy be worse?

Some think so.

"'Consumers would flee to competitors, mostly foreign brands, rather than make purchases from a company they fear might not be able to financially support its products, . . . After all, we are not talking about a $200 airplane ticket.' Or, as Gimme Credit fixed income analyst Shelly Lombard put it: "Bankruptcy could turn into a roach motel - they go in but they don't come out.'"

What would America look like if what was left of the entire domestic auto industry consisted of a handful of Japanese-invader assembly plants (building cars out of imported parts?) Are America's consumers, taxpayers, bankers and politcians to so myopic as to let it happen?

And what would it have been like if government policies had not handed over a huge cost advantage to the imports and the non-union transplants?

What if Japan's five decades of hyper-protectionism had been challenged when the Detroit 3 still had enough muscle and marketshare to benefit?

What if federal regulatory policy had been more market-based and had not forced the shift to trucks, vans and SUVs?

What if federal tax and trade policies had encouraged more investment in domestic production resources?

If GM and the rest of the Detroit 3 are forced into a "Roach Motel," it was constructed by the "auto experts" in Washington D.C.