This is THE END.  The auto industry is dead.  Or just about. 

It's amazing the stories you hear about car manufacturers from where I sit, in an educated mid-Michigan community that is perfectly suited to retrain autoworkers into just about anything technical that is not auto-related.

Governor Granholm was interviewed by the national media all week long, talking about how "the collapse of the auto industry would have a ripple effect throughout the nation."   The entire Michigan congressional delegation -- Republicans, Democrats, Communists, Socilaists, all of  'em -- sent a joint letter to the legislative leaders and President Bush asking for help.  Automaker leaders of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler descended on Capitol Hill, begging for a Lee Iacocca-style loan out of the $700 billion bailout package, to be paid back with interest (of course).

Problem is there are not enough leaders in DC taking the bait.  Matter of fact, neither am I -- and I am also a Democrat from Michigan.   See, we had this discussion at work around the water cooler, and my boss said "people don't realize that the auto industry is so strongly tied to our national economy."  I just thought to myself -- "bullshit."  Sorry, outside of Michigan and Ohio, we might like to think that the auto industry is relevant... but it is not -- it shouldn't be if our future depends on it.  It is a global industry now, with cars being built by different companies from different countries with different parts from all over the world.  Where the hell were the pistons in my Canadian Buick Century made? -- same place as the Brazilian rubber Goodyear tires or the American engine block?  I have no idea...

The problem is that the American auto industry had it coming, and the fat cats at the top have been nothing short of blind, deaf, and dumb... with the exception to line their own pockets.  THE END has been 30 years in the making, and the auto industry missed the boat with future technology.  GM leadership for years have called hybrid cars a "bad economic model."  Problem is, hybrids are all that people have been buying the last year. GM had no models designed, no fuel efficient vehicles glimmering in showrooms.  The reality is that the squeeze of oil has finally been the push that moves advanced countries on this Earth closer to a George Jetson world. 

Now and forever people will be purchasing fuel efficient cars, and not gas guzzling Buicks, Chevys, and the like.  Want proof?  No more evidence than the 45% drop in GM sales last month coupled with a $18 billion (that's billion with a "B") loss this year which has the auto giant on its knees, with the gun of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pointed at their head.  The fact that auto industry leaders never made contingency plans -- or better yet, diversified their offerings --- has spelled doom.  The collapse in the US and international credit economy has done nothing more than hasten the death of this very sick and ill patient.  Even if the auto industry did get the money, there's no assurances that it would help.   Matter of fact, let's call it like it is -- it IS too late.

The only solution?  What this industry needs is a swift kick in the ass.  Leadership is all about taking risk and jettisoning the status quo.  There is no leadership among the fat cats in American auto industry.  Let this industry go bankrupt, which will force the leaders into a restructuring plan that will create Jetson-esque transportation for the 21st century and beyond.  All those workers who lose their jobs... that is a tough issue, but that is why we have COLLEGE and COMMUNITY COLLEGES and RETRAINING.  Get THEM folks EDJICATED.  It's never too late, especially if you want to have a roof over your head and put food on the table.

Pensions?  Retiree benefits?  Come on, welcome to 2008. Anything beyond a 401-k is so 1950-ish. The fact that automakers have been so willing to shell out billions for decades to people not working has finally come home to roost.

There is this little matter of national security -- we do need a manufacturing base to be able to turn to in times of dire need, say if the Canadians or Chinese invaded and we needed our factories to make tanks, bombs, or bombers.  But, bankruptcy can help get rid of all of the issues that have festered for years, and give America a new baseline for the auto industry that can design the industry for a more successful future.

Sure it will hurt.  But so did having my appendix out last week. A few painkillers, and you'll get over it.  And, so will America. It is time to move on.