I'm torn...

...between my family who are desperate for a GM buyout and my personal opinion that there shouldn't be buyouts!

I grew up in Flint, Michigan. We lived in Flint township, not the city of Flint, but our mailing address still said Flint. Without any siblings in my life I had the good life. I wasn't overly spoiled, but I always had what I needed and my family "played" Up North in Michigan with boats, cottages and now horses. The Flint I grew up in was a GM town, but is now just a ghost town. On my last trip home I was appalled at what is happening there. Nearly everywhere you look homes have been for sale for years and more are just abandoned. There are absolutely no jobs to be had anywhere and staggering poverty.

My parents and my grandparents are dependent on GM.

My grandparents live month to month on their $800 GM pension check. They have struggled with money their entire lives. They are not the kind of people who ever treated themselves to luxury or squander a penny. Actually, they are the cheapest people I have ever met. And now their assisted living apartment rent, which pays for the heat, electricity and food is dependent upon GM. They will have nothing if they loose their pension. They are completely dependent on GM.

My parents are dependent on GM. Dad works in the Flint Metal Fab plant and has been there since the day after he graduated from high school. He has been offered every buyout that has come to his plant, knowing full well his plant is terminal. It only has another two or three years left before it is slated to close, if not sooner. He could retire but they can't afford for him to retire. Namely because of their horses.

Now I feel sorry for my grandparents because they scrapped along in their lives just to get what they have. I do not feel sorry for my parents. The writing has been on the wall for years that this meltdown was coming. They have chosen to ignore every warning and continue on the path they have chose. They could have sold horses. Dad could have taken classes and found a "new" occupation. He could have looked for a new job. They could have left Flint...but instead they have chose to stay. And now they have no options.

My mom has the lawn and garden family business that she runs with my uncle. It has also been failing for years. When you live in a town failed by GM your business will fail too. I know my parents haven't given up and left town because the Lawn Shop, but because of their decisions now they are trapped.

If GM folds, as it will without a bailout, my parents are done for. I agree that bankruptcy for a car manufacturer will not work. We are getting close to needing to replace a GM lease and I won't purchase a GM car without knowing I will have a company and warranty to back up my car in five years.

So, I'm torn. I most certainly do not want my grandparents left with no place to live or my parents left with nothing. But I can not agree to government buyouts. I didn't agree with the financial institution bailout and I don't agree with this one. I believe in survival of the fittest and in evolution. I believe that if a company can't figure out over the course of a decade how to pull itself together or evolve, then they don't deserve to be in business. They failed. They have become extinct. My parents believe that GM has made those changes and it is the failure of the lending institutions that has brought this on. Maybe that is true and I'm being too harsh.

If Chris and I failed in our finances no one would give us money hand over fist. I don't believe it is the taxpayers responsibility to bail out a company that plain and simple failed. And I believe that even if the government actually gives them the money, that GM still will not make it. GM will just struggle on for a couple of more years and continue to fail. I even agree with Bush when I read this quote..."he is concerned about providing taxpayer money to companies "that may not survive." Ok, me agreeing with Bush? Come on people, what are we coming to in Washington?

If GM were a horse I would call the vet and have it put out of its misery. I realize how a failed GM will devastate my family as well as this entire country. I get it probably more than most people because I grew up in Flint. But there has to be a better way then giving them our hard earned tax money.

Giving them what they want is only prolonging the inevitable. And, then who is next? Who else wants to go and beg to our government for free money? Steel companies, airlines, states like California? Heck, maybe I should drive to DC in my GM car and get in line?

I wish I had the answers and I realize what a tough job our politicians have on this one. I literally feel torn in half about this. After another blow up on the phone with my mom today I also realize that I can no longer talk to her about it.

I guess I will just watch and see what happens, because that is all I, or any of us can do.