Auto bailout should take different route

We Americans are facing the most difficult period of our nation's history. TV news, radio, and printed media keep us up to date with our crisis and the many facets of our dismal status. Or wait! Could it be that America is not shrouded in hardship? Perhaps we have been presented with an opportunity to return to America's position as the most innovative, productive, ethical and advanced society in the world and do so quickly.

That $34 billion that the Big Three automakers need so desperately is being aimed in the wrong direction. That $34 billion (probably more like $50 billion) must be spent purchasing brand new autos and giving them to American taxpayers in exchange for any registered and licensed automobile which would be scrapped and recycled into materials - not used parts.

The American built (100 percent) cars would replace older, less efficient ones thus improving mileage and emissions and safety. We would get the old clunkers off our street and highways. Obviously, the American automakers would need to expand as well as all of their suppliers and with the recycling industry, we may face labor shortages (not a bad problem to have).

We have not had much luck with trickle-down economics. Let's have the courage to initiate "Geyser Economics." Trickle-down is absorbed by the many 'layers of filtration' so that by the time it gets to the bottom, there is barely a drop left. The giveaway car program would be an instant stimulus that would drive up our economy, bring unemployment down to less than one percent, and create opportunities for Americans in every walk of life.

If this strikes you, Dear Reader, as crazy, compare it to an economy driving by war.

Jim Miller

Arlington Heights