As I listen to the ad nauseum discussion of the big three auto makers it leaves me wondering do any of these "experts" know anything?

First the auto industry business model is flawed at its core and creates much of the financial problems of today.  My Chevy 2500 4X4 extended cab is just fine for what I need and it is a 1991 with 170,000 miles.  The auto industry concept that we need a new car every couple years is the flaw and with tighter credit standards people are going to keep what they have 7-10 years.  Dramatic long-term over capacity in the auto manufacturing industry is the problem and only a dramatic long-term reduction in capacity is necessary.  Compounding the problem is the foreign competition which is good and has taken a share of a shrinking market.   Lastly the market is changing for the regulators and consumers and both are moving in directions away from the current transportation model.  Global warming, cost of fuel, environmental degradation starting with the extraction of the resource, to its refinement and then the manufacturing process, to the carving the landscape for more pathways to drive on are all becoming controversies. 

President Obama before you go tossing tax dollars at the big three, look at the future of transportation in the United States.  What is our long-term transportation model?  We need the President to see beyond the next election cycle because the fixes the United States needs in its transportation system that address the multitude of problems cannot be built and implemented in four years.  What are the values our transportation system should be built on?

• Freedom of movement that is quick and convinient
  
• Safe and accountable
• Person or freight pays its own way
• Accessable to all

I am sure there are other values especially  in the environmental catagories but the time has come to have that discussion and stop wasting everyones time with the big three, they are just companies not icons.