George Will is even more blunt:
The answer? Do nothing that will delay bankrupt companies from filing for bankruptcy protection, so that improvident labor contracts can be unraveled, allowing the companies to try to devise plausible business models. Instead, advocates of a “rescue” propose extending to Detroit the government’s business model for the nation — redistributing wealth from the successful to the failed, an implausible formula for prosperity.
Some opponents of bankruptcy say: GM must not be allowed to fail before it perfects batteries for its electric-powered Volt, which supposedly is a key to the company’s resurrection. This vehicle was concocted to serve GM’s prolonged attempt to ingratiate itself with the few hundred environmentally obsessed automotive engineers in Congress. They have already voted tax credits of up to $7,500 for purchasers of such cars — bribes that reveal doubts about consumer enthusiasm for them at a price that would reflect cost.