Auto Industry Crumble

[SilverFox]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/meltdown_autos

Finally some interesting news, I thought the Senate were going to give them the money and all would be forgotten in a month, very boring.
But now there's some news we can combine with popcorn, white house will probably give it to them though...

[MrsSallyBakura]

Gettelfinger blamed the defeat of the auto industry bailout bill in Congress on southern Senators who he said are anti-union and anti-Detroit.
Do southern states like buying foreign or something? :P
What affects Detroit affects Michigan, and what affects Michigan probably affects the rest of the country too, at least in some way. If these people are really "anti-Detroit" then they obviously need to reconsider a few things.
Many congressional Republicans and some economists said the companies would be best to pursue a prearranged bankruptcy that would allow them to restructure quickly. But most Democrats and the carmakers rejected that, arguing it would quickly lead to liquidation because consumers would never buy cars from a bankrupt auto company.
Now, I don't know crap about the economy, at least not in these terms, so would someone mind telling me what this means? From what it sounds like the Republicans are trying to come up with something that has probably worked in the past but may not necessarily work in this situation, while the Democrats are asking the government for more money. Surprise, surprise.
But that's a vague description. What does it mean to have a prearranged bankruptcy? What are the pros and cons? And what exactly is liquidation?
I do think that the Democrats are right that people won't buy from a bankrupt car company. I think they're already winning this debate on a practical level.

I'm saying this as someone who usually votes Republican...

[RationalInquirer]

I don't think Congress is going to accomplish much. The fiscal year is nearing it's end (or has it already ended?), and the Democratic led Congress has proven itself to be quite inactive in the past years. Even Bush criticized Congress for being to slow in drafting, revising, and passing bills. For once I agree with Bush on that one. Last time I checked, Congress had much disapproval from the American public.Even lower than Bush, but approval ratings can only reflect so much. As for the auto companies, I sympathize for the workers who were layed off (tens of thousands if I remember). If they have union membership,they could probably pull themselves along until Obama's rescue package hits home.. The 700 billion previous bail out failed to implement properly, I hope Obama's plan will do the trick.