Who is at fault here?

Re the Detroit automakers. Are the problems facing the industry caused by the workers or management, or a combination of both? If workers can only make the cars that come down the line, than those who made the production decisions are at fault for causing cars to be built that went unsold, or those who got into complicated and nonsensical financing schemes to keep a failing industry going. The autoworkers, while they should make decisions knowing that some may end their jobs, shouldn't be forced to give up their hard won protections. They need protection from the bad decisions of management, especially now.

Are people going to continue to buy cars? Without a doubt. For north american auto makers, they need to be different cars than the pickups, hummers and big SUVs that have gone before. Just as we have moved from the huge monster cars with big engines, we now need to move to fuel efficient cars. Detroit has to belatedly get with the program.

Labour costs are high, but it is a tedious job and labour is all most people have to sell. Automakers and all other manufacturers want to have people who can afford to buy the products they build, as Henry Ford knew well. Trying to steal their job security and buying power under the guise of financial crisis will only serve to prolong and exacerbate the same.