(Clare Baldwin) - The auto industry could lead an economic recovery in the United States, according to a recent survey by audit, tax and advisory ...

The "creative destruction" argument conveniently forgets that it wasn't the "free market" that created the American Way of life, but a working class that was paid well enough to consume.

If the centralized, organized mouthpiece for labor is destroyed, then so is the only advocacy vehicle available to the nonunion worker.

Congress cannot let the Jeep die in bankruptcy. Congress must not fail the U.S. auto industry. Doing so would be abandoning the core of the American economy -- manufacturing.

Over the last few years, sustaining Ohio has become less profitable for automakers. When the state began to run at a loss, the Big Three began selling off pieces to Germany and Japan.

On their last visit, the auto execs asked Congress for $25 billion in bailout loans. A nice round number. So nice and round that it sounded like it had been plucked from thin air.

We all make jokes about how lazy and lobby-driven Congress is, and as sad as the truths behind those jokes are, when times are good, we can afford to have government operate like that.

Detroit is a place where workers are unionized; Wall Street is not. And right-wing Republicans and conservative pundits have made it clear they want the union workers to suffer.

When Sweden mandated that most fuel stations carry alcohol at the pump, GM's Saab division quickly engineered the model 9-5 to be an advanced flexible-fuel vehicle.

We have watched one bailout unfold, and we have not been impressed. We heeded the Wise Men, and now we feel violated. But how do we now hold failing auto companies to a higher standard?

I was recently asked to participate on a forum with the LA Business Journal whereby six CEO's weigh in with their opinions of the Government Bail Out of the Automotive Companies.

From the fireworks in DC this week, you might think the auto crisis is out of your hands, but we're all complicit: government, CEOs, autoworkers, the public.

Once this grim place was the most alluring in America. The engine of the world was built here in Michigan. And it is hard to believe we are simply going to let it run out of gas.