A ‘bridge loan to nowhere’ for Big Three?

Congress may – no guarantees yet – pass some sort of bridge loan for the Big Three. It would be part of a tacit, or not-so-tacit, agreement with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson allowing him to tap into the second part of TARP lenders’ bailout money.

And, in the spirit of Christmas cheer, Congressional Dems have caved one more time to Bush, as the $25 billion Congressional loan guarantee fund will be tapped for the bridge loan. And, this is without the formerly-Big Three putting restructuring plans on the table.

There’s other things to remember here. It’s no fault of Chrysler’s workers, but being owned by a private capital management company with friends in high places engaged in suck-up lobbying could backfire. Nobody put a gun to Cerberus’ head and forced it to buy Chrysler last year.

And, the New York Times rips GM a new one saying Rick Wagoner’s mea culpa earlier this week didn’t tell half the story of its past mismanagement.

G.M.’s biggest failing, reflected in a clear pattern over recent decades, has been its inability to strike a balance between those inside the company who pushed for innovation ahead of the curve, and the finance executives who worried more about returns on investment.

Among specific failures? Not continuing its early studies of hybrid technology way back in the 1970s. Dropping work on minivans, where it started before Chrysler.

So, why would we bail out a company that has such hugely entrenched mismanagement?

We shouldn’t. Not anywhere near it currently stands. You’d have to cut management so deep the government would have to actually run GM. No thanks.

Nor should we bail out a privately held company. If Cerberus wants to thoroughly open its books – which I’m sure it doesn’t, that’s why it’s privately held – maybe then. Only maybe. Better, if it wants to spin off Chrysler as a public company, then let’s talk.

That leaves Ford. We can find out just how good of a liar, or truthteller, Bill Ford Jr. is if GM and Chrysler have to be folded up, shrunk, or incredibly overhauled so as to leave most of domestic carmaking to the Blue Oval.

And, That’s the estimate of the WSJ has more questions.