Well it looks like the United States isn’t the only country that is getting ready to bail out an auto manufacturer.  Germany’s Adam Opel GmbH is now looking for a federal bailout package from the German government.  The AP is reporting the following, which may sound familiar:

Chief Executive Hans Demant said that the guarantees would help not only to secure jobs in Germany, but ensure the company’s future across Europe.
“The goal is to safeguard Opel’s competitiveness even in this difficult global situation,” he said.
The Economy Ministry in Berlin said it was already in contact with Opel, which employs approximately 25,000 workers in Germany.

The song and dance is exactly the same in Germany as it is in America: “we need to save these jobs.”  My gripe with this position is that saving jobs is fine, but saving a company that obviously needs to fail is not.  Capitalist economies were not made to keep all companies running all of the time.  The whole idea of competition forces the bad apples out to keep only the good manufacturers.  In turn, we the consumer, benefit from lower prices and better products.  One last thing I intentionally neglected to mention: Adam Opel GmbH is a unit of General Motors.  Now we have the Germans taking part in our dirty bailout work.

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