Should the US big three motor manufacturers be treated like startups?

This article is a throwback of 2009 US bailout of big three motor manufacturers, fast forward the current US president Donald Trump killing world economy with his steel tariff. What should world leaders do with their big steel farms that will die like a start-up business?

What China must do with their big steel manufacture dying slows from Trump tarriff?

Also read my previous article: Trust vs Control: Is control merely a substitute for trust?

Creeping out from under our metaphorical rock, we could be forgiven for thinking that every politician, economist and hedge fund manager in the world has been hit with a severe case of mad cow disease.

So when we see a bit of sense prevailing, its time to sit up and take notice. However, what just a few months ago was easy to understand and proclaim is common sense is now not.

Voltaire once said “Common sense is not so common”.
The concept of common sense is a long-standing term, based on human experience and people's individual perceptions. Thus, common sense is different from person to person – common sense is not common.
Thus, when discussing issues of importance to projects on Wikipedia, don't consider your position, or the position that you agree with, or even a position that has consensus, to be "common sense," because it's nothing more than your perception. Your idea of "common sense" is likely to contradict someone else's idea of "common sense."

Instead of relying on "common sense" to make decisions, you should instead rely on building consensus for your position and perception, and work with other people to reach a conclusion most people can accept. By assuming your position is "common sense" and acting upon it, all you're doing is insulting the people who disagree with you.

Frankly, I don’t think that there’s much sense in common sense either anymore.

Let go back in 2008 saga, consider the big three motor manufacturers in the USA and their highly anticipated $25 billion bailouts. You know, the one that didn’t go ahead.

Here’s a summarised version of why: “Until we can see a plan where the auto industry is held accountable and a plan for viability on how they go into the future - until we see the plan until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money.” [via Dealbook]

On the face of it, it makes perfect sense [?]. I think I actually breathed a sigh of relief when I first read it. They’re not totally mad. They’re still looking at viability rather than throwing good money after bad. Phew.

But then I thought about it a little bit more. So they don’t get the funding. Sure, it’s just like evaluating a startup - you can fund it as long as it has a sound business model, right!? Yeah, why not treat an industry that’s been going for around a century just like you would one that is barely off the ground. [so much for that common sense thing].

But there’s one more tiny little eensy weensy factor at play here. How many thousands of jobs are at stake? Families and communities affected? It could bring a grinding halt to a significant portion [relatively] of the USA’s population. And what’s that worth?

$10 million?

$100 billion?

$1000 billion?

Your guess is as good as mine. I’d like to think they’ve taken that into account in asking for viability models before agreeing to the proposed funding. Maybe it’s a calculated risk, it's perhaps a flat out gamble [keep in mind that these companies have a global presence, meaning the impact will be felt almost everywhere].

Fact is, surely value is just as significant [if not more so] at a macroeconomic - BIG PICTURE - level as it is in a slightly bitty microeconomic small-scale example.

I know there are a lot more factors at play here [one of the main ones being how they scaled up when the going was right when it could apparently not be sustained]…

- and apparently, now it will cost everyone in some form or other [whether taxpayer money or people's jobs] -

… but I have to say that I think they’re overlooking something. Yes, it has to be viable. Yes, there must be a plan! But for crying out loud, if your unemployment levels jump exponentially and the ripple effects drive right throughout your nation… maybe the common sense answer isn’t the right one.