Will Obama help the US Auto Industry or is he too late?

We are in a very time sensitive and scary economic situation with the US auto industry. Every day we hear talk about bail-outs and solutions that may or may not happen to assist the big three, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler.

Among the top news stories in the country are General Motors and their chances for survival. Today the headlines read that “GM stock is at a 65 year low“. Further research into the news shows us that if change does not happen soon GM may not survive till the end of the year.

This brings me to my question and the headline of this post. Will Barack Obama be able to make a difference in the US auto industry? Or is the path of the industry on an unchanging course and headed for certain disaster? I for one think that something needs to happen and fast. There are whispering in the winds that they should just file for bankruptcy protection much like the airlines. Others say that they should part of the 700 Billion dollar bailout. The fear for many of those involved in this decision is that it will act like a band-aid. When the band-aid comes off the wound will open back up and will fall into the same course.

It seems that in a recent article discussing talk between Obama and Bush, which Obama is entertaining the idea of having someone appointed to be over the auto industry. Bush while not opposed to this idea is behind giving the auto workers help now. (to read about this click here)

I think that waiting for someone to be appointed in January under the Obama administration is a great idea that will do a lot of good. This author however feels that it would be in the best interest of the country to give the big three a loan. What I mean by this is let the government step in and help the auto industry become solvent. Then instead of a bail out let the auto industry pay it back. This has worked in the past just ask Lee Iacocca! For those not familiar he was the President of Chrysler Corporation and brought them back onto the playing field in the early to mid 80’s. One impressive note here is that he did not draw a salary from the corporation until they were profitable