An excellent thread with well thought out opinions & rants & every single comment has valid points.
My brain is mush tonight so I can't rant like I'd want to BUT:
1.) Government bail outs are welfare for poorly run companies or those companies without common sense or vision.
2.) No government "program" ever really goes away. Well hardly ever; they did finally kill the Rural Electrification Commission a decade or so ago so I guess miracles can occur.
3.) We Americans certainly do/did ourselves in with the "bigger is better" motto. Absolutely true. A SUV was meant to be a vehicle to get me & my gear down to the nearest trout stream not a status symbol. Some people claim that their SUV makes them feel safer. Well, if size dictates safety then we who don't own Giant Detroit Chrome Mountains should be dying like flies.
4.) Funny too, that the profit margins for SUV's & trucks are substantially higher than for automobiles. A truck used to be a vehicle you bought if you couldn't afford a car!

We can't really blame anyone but ourselves. Frankly, we just don't live long enough to learn what the concept of 'long-term' is.