I think all are valid points, but I think that the auto makers and the Unions are not the real problem here. Sure, it didn't help that expenses had been going up, but that will happen with inflation, always has. I think the root of the problem has nothing to do with the auto industry, it has to do with the consumers. For the past oh I don't know, maybe ten years or so (probably more now that I think about it), people have been charging up there credit cards and then being unable to pay for the charges. Why do you think there have been all these bankruptcy commercials lately? A while back I learned that the average American has something like a negative (-) income of $1000 per year. No one cared about just charging big item purchases. This inevitably caught up, and caused the banks to go under.

I am fairly sure most of you guys already know why the banks went under.

And now that the banks have stopped giving money out, people are no longer buying cars, they just can't afford it.

I guess what I am really trying to say is that the big 3 might not have been making the "best" cars for the current economy, but that is not the real problem. People would still buy those cars except for the fact that getting a loan today is a hell of a lot tougher than even just 7 months ago.

By the way, welcome to the site.