You see, forty years ago I’d had my fill of poorly designed, shoddily built, bloated gas guzzlers that spent an inordinate amount of time in the repair shop, and vowed I’d never purchase another American-made car. To me, it makes no difference whether the US automobile industry survives or not—I won’t ever be their customer.

By far the majority of guilt rests with the industry’s management and employees. Both factions have been in a race to exhibit the most greed, to the detriment of shareholders and customers.

According to General Motors’ April 2008 proxy statement, in 2007 the corporation’s CEO Richard Wagoner received in salaries, bonuses, stock options, and other compensation an obscene $14,415,914 for running the company into the ground. Lesser GM officers earned from $4,944,167 to $7,608,011. Salaries are similar at Ford and Chrysler. Does anyone deserve that kind of pay for a desk job?

Thanks to the UAW, the average earnings (including benefits) of Big 3 factory workers is over $70.00 per hour, nearly double that of their non-union equivalents in the United States and Japan. Why the extreme disparity?

Per-hour wages don’t tell the whole story of production labor costs, however.

American automobile production lines are antiquated and inefficient. Industrial robots not only reduce labor costs, they improve quality of the finished product. Japan has 2,100 robots for every 10,000 production workers; in American factories, there are only 997.

Over the years, Detroit has been incredibly nonresponsive to the changing needs of car buyers, despite increasing evidence that Americans wanted products vastly different from those which the Big 3 offered.

The first wave of auto imports came from England: small, sporty, easy-to-handle fun-to-drive cars such as Hillman-Minx, Sunbeam Alpine, MG, Triumph, and Austin-Healey.

Next came a swarm of Volkswagen beetles—inexpensive to buy, economical to run, ugly as sin, but lovable. They were immensely popular, but Detroit didn’t take the hint.

Along came other nameplates, each with its own set of attributes and loyal customer base—cars such as Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, BMW, and Jaguar.

And then the Japanese and Korean imports, which were closely attuned to the needs and wants of American drivers: Toyota, Datsun (now Nissan), Honda, Hyundai, and others. All offered exceptional quality and value, attributes long missing in the US competition.

Conversely, American manufacturers appeared blind to the desires of the American public, and succumbing to the UAW’s incessant demands for more-more-more made the companies less and less competitive.

Now that China is producing a nimiety of goods bought by American consumers, how long do you think it will be until the Chinese invade our shores with automobiles?

Chery Automobile is the largest independent car manufacturer in China, and one of the fastest-growing automakers in the world. The company is presently designing a line of cars for the American market—stylish, high-quality vehicles that will be very competitively priced.

In the future, how will the Big 3 be able to compete with imports? The fact is, they won’t, unless substantial changes can be made in their operations.

The $19.4 billion federal bailout money given to prop up the auto industry ($10.4 billion in loans to GM; $4 billion to Chrysler; and $5 billion direct investment in GMAC) will only delay the inevitable.

Without drastic changes in the companies and major concessions by the UAW, the US auto industry will be in an untenable position by early Spring and back at the trough looking for more. I don’t want them to get the first bailout money, and I certainly don’t want to throw good money after bad..

Chapter 11 reorganization is the only realistic way to save GM, Ford, and Chrysler.

A new slate of corporate officers must be brought in to replace those who have proven that they are not fit to manage their organizations.

Union contracts need to be rewritten. UAW workers will have to decide whether they want to work for more reasonable salaries and benefits or be without jobs.

Perhaps GM and the others might find it necessary to outsource most of their parts overseas and do only final assembly in the United States—or even import cars completely assembled. GM is already buying engines from China for the Chevy Equinox, and Chrysler has inked a deal with Chery to produce a Dodge sub-compact.

It’s important to note that outsourcing and the resultant balance of trade deficit is a prime cause of our economy’s present woes, and an extremely serious situation that will have to be addressed by our government sooner than later—but that’s a different issue.

Summing it up: For an American automobile company to succeed, it needs to reduce labor costs; get out from under onerous union obligations; provide the smaller, fuel-efficient and hybrid cars that buyers want; improve quality and safety; and become more price-competitive. If a company cannot do those things, it should close its doors and make way for others that can.

I hope that Congress turns down any future auto industry requests for cash. I don’t like my tax dollars being used to bail out a bunch of greedy losers.