I think that I you set up a incubator with $200mln for pre-seed VC, with a priority for potentially labor-intensive and/or automotive businesses, you'd see some significant job creation. Not enough to offset GM layoff overnight, but at least the solutions provided will be sustainable.

And even if they did that, the job creation will do no good to the typical worker whose family worked on the same assembly line for 3 generations. Granted some of the jobs will be back when Toyota or Honda or some other successful car company buys GM's assets. But GM is one of the biggest manufacturers in the world, and right now there isn't really that much demand for new cars. I read that last month Honda(whose stuff pretty much flies off the shelf) sold 25% less cars than the year before.

I would be happier about a bailout with those sort of strings, but in general, reading that Executives at these car co's have been deriding climate change evidence and the need for hybrids/alternative fuels, makes me skeptical that refunding these companies is the best way to fix the car problem.

On another note, this stuff sucks. Everyone loses if we bail out poorly run companies, but there's a very high cost to letting them go under. Good luck, Mr President-Elect.

It sucks for the people in Detroit and Michigan as a whole. Their education system has not yet caught up to the fact that the name of the game is "value added".

Also, now that "peak credit" has hit (shortly after peak oil last december) I do not see the trend of American families buying a brand new car every 1 to 2 years continuing. Much more effort is going to have to be spent making your manufacturing base as efficient as possible -- simply because the car buying cycle will likely be an "every five-six years" trend from now on.