General Motors stock fell below $3 per share at the close of trading yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange. The price was the lowest the stock had sold for in 65 years, pushed down by the economic crisis, record low consumer confidence and the inability to access credit for auto loans amongst those rare few who do want to buy a car.

The flailing American auto industry is in such dire shape it has prompted calls from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to hold a special lame duck session of Congress in order to address the needs of the troubled sector and provide it with emergency aid, as the Big 3 Automakers join the seemingly neverending line of American companies jockeying for a Government bailout.

Letting the Auto Manufacturers fail would unquestionably cause tremendous harm to the future economic prospects of the United States. However a “cash and carry”, “take the money and run” corporate gimme is not an option either. If the American taxpayer is going to fund the failing of the Big Three auto manufacturers, an ownership interest as well as major concessions by the companies will have to be part of the deal. Chief amongst these concessions should be a contract, signed by all companies to drastically improve their fuel efficiency standards and focus on alternative energy vehicles, chiefly electric cars. This is a historic opportunity to change the way Detroit operates that we cannot miss.

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“As GM goes, so goes the nation.” the old adage goes. So perhaps it’s not surprising that with the United States economy teetering on a precipice amidst record high oil prices, that Merrill Lynch analysts described a General Motors bankruptcy as “not impossible” yesterday. The Wall Street investment bank said that the American automaker could need to raise up $15 Billion in capital to stay solvent should the auto market continue to slump. In accompanying news GM’s share price slumped to a 54-year low on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday.

Honestly, I’m having a hard time feeling bad about this. GM is now experiencing what’s commonly known as a market correction. The company that for years pushed big, boxy, unconscionably low mileage SUVs onto the American market and stifled any sort of innovation whatsoever when it came to fuel efficiency in their cars is now getting the brunt of what analysts for years have been predicting; increased demand and declining supply in the oil market. Who could miss the GM of today? Gone is the ‘57 Chevy and the other dream cars of America’s postwar boom with their gorgeous tailfins and brilliant designs. In their place we’re given gas guzzler boxes with lower average mileage than even Chinese automakers produce.

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