I thought this New York Times op-ed by Mitt Romney was really interesting. I'm not sure, but it seems like this might be an indication that Mitt's not planning on running for President in 2012 or 2016. I doubt his sentiment will be very popular in Michigan.

If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers.

It seems pretty evident from the outside looking in that the American auto industry is broken. I guess the question is really whether to give them billions of dollars to continue business practices that don't work or to force them into drastic change to reflect the reality of their industry. Government intervention to prolong these destructive business practices may save the jobs of current employees but it will just delay the inevitable collapse of these companies. They're not going to be able survive in the long run unless they can become competitive with the foreign alternatives. Congress needs to let them fail so they have a chance to rebuild.