The U.S. auto industry, bailouts and monopoly law enforcement

This petition also calls on more for the U.S. congress and industry to discuss, debate and re-evaluate the way in which the U.S. and U.S. corporations conduct business hoping to establish more moral or Christian business principals in America to the extent that this is possible and avoid further financial crisis like the present one we find ourselves in.

The Big Three like other industries in America appear to have become monopoly like organizations who's general governing principles were seemingly guided by the belief that they had become too big to be allowed to fail by the U.S. government.

This general belief may have led to reckless management principles which caused the Big Three to become lethargic and non-responsive to changes in the world economy, some of these changes were......increased competition from foreign auto producers who had increased the quality and fuel efficiency of their vehicles and the higher demand and reduced supply of oil worldwide which caused the price of gasoline to rise.

U.S consumers also seems to have been misled and came to believe that there would always be an endless supply of cheap oil in the world so they continued to buy and drive gas guzzling vehicles which put further pressures on the price of gasoline/oil.

Also there seems to have been much resistance and dismissal by auto industry leaders and some political leaders to attempts by some in congress to increase mileage standards when climate change became an issue along with worries about the rise in the price of oil because of increased worldwide demand and usage in nations like China and India.

In the U.S. there seems to have developed, over the last few years, an ideology which states that government regulation of business is always "bad" or "intrusive". Some of our government leaders have apparently decided to sit in the bleachers and let business regulate itself and dictate it's own rules. The effect of this lack of government involvement can now be seen in the U.S. lending, banking, investing and auto sector which now lies in ruins.

Can excessive regulation by the government be bad or intrusive.....yes, of course.....but also intrusive is the government owning private or formerly private businesses because they were not allowed to be regulated effectively by our government because certain political and industry leaders seem to have clung to an ideology which stated that government regulation of business is always bad.

This distortion of "free market" ideaology seems to have allowed many U.S. businesses to steer themselves into a ditch, and now.....unfortunately, they may need to be bought or bailed out by the U.S. government/citizens who is now part owner of these "free market" businesses.

So maybe moderate government regulation of business is a pretty good thing.....would the N.F.L. and football exist if the referees and the coaches sat in the bleachers and allowed the players to make up their own rules.....such as using steroids, illegal drugs or using guns to score touchdowns. Would it make sense for the commissioners, coaches and referees to abolish boundaries?.....would that make the game of football more "free" or would that turn the game of football into a game of mindless chaos and violence?

When trade deals are passed that don't regulate the fair and just treatment of foreign workers, their wages, working conditions or don't address the protection of the environment does this improve the lot of the worlds people or do these "free" global markets exploit the poor and desperate with slave wages, hazardous working conditions and possible poor treatment by some owners and managers as well as increasing pollution and abuse of the environment?

Do we need rules and regulations that promote the well being of the poor worldwide in this game of global business or do the governments sit on the sidelines and let the players make their own rules?

With so many countries (governments) competing for business will they be forced to lower their tax rates on businesses to attract more business?.....If so, will governments still be able to function, regulate, protect the poor/elderly and maintain public services with a decreased tax base?

Will the loss of government/state revenue switch the tax burden to the poor and reduce government to the point of non-function?

Do we need laws, rules and government democracies to protect the poor and powerless or do the wealthy have the moral authority to run the affairs of nations without the consent of the public? If so will the wealthy exploit the poor?

Will the wealthy find privatizing the military to be to their advantage?....if so will private militaries be a vehicle for further profiteering and oppression of the poor and vulnerable?

Does anyone remember the torture at Abu Gharaib prison in Iraq?.....run partially by private contractors who reportedly encouraged/ordered U.S. soldiers to torture Iraqi inmates.....did any of us get to vote on that?

The government of the United States took 230 years to build.....should we allow it to be torn down through underfunding and private undermining and give all that's been fought for to a minority of wealthy individuals.....the rich?

Wouldn't this return the U.S. to a state of fuedalism similiar to what existed in the middlle ages?

The United States government is a democracy sustained by the vote of hundreds of millions of Americans every four years......many, if not a majority of these people are Christians and yet many of our leaders who call themselves Christians seem to believe that it would be better to allow a minority of wealthy individuals call the shots and regulate our financial affairs and dictate law to our government......is that really Christian?.....or is that catering to the rich at the expense of the greater democratic good?

Are we in fact a Christian country?.....perhaps a fallen Christian nation that wishes to become a truly Christian nation ruled by morality and love of our neighbors.

Let's ask our government to enforce or re-examine the effectiveness of monopoly legislation in the U.S. and not allow American businesses to become so big that their failure can bring down the entire U.S. economy.

Increased effectiveness and enforcement of U.S. monopoly laws and regulation in the U.S. also can create a more diverse business sector which is better able to react and respond to changes in the global economy and allows market forces to work in a more surgical and effective way.

If monopoly laws had been enforced more effectively in the U.S. we may well have had an auto industry in every state with each seperately owned, managed and producing vehicles in a different way with one or two rising to the top as an example to the others as some fell to the wayside because of their lack of innovation and foresight.....if there were 50 auto producers in the U.S. and 1 or 2 or 3 of them fell, the U.S. economy would most likely not be affected in a significant way......it might actually become stronger.

Will Microsoft and the U.S. computer/software industry be next in line to be bailed out by the U.S. government/citizens?.....some believe that without proper monopoly regulation and enforcememt this may be the case.......surely competition will become increasingly fierce in the future as other countries and people participate in the production and innovation of computers and computer software around the world.

The way to combat this is not to make our economy and it's companies bigger and more monolithic but perhaps smaller.....to a degree.....and more diversified.

We the undersigned realize that U.S. government has, to some extent, not been allowed to properly regulate and guide U.S. business because some of our past and present leaders carry the ideology that regulation of business by a government democratically elected by a citizenry which seems to be largely Christian is somehow wrong or intrusive to business and they seem to prefer that the wealthy run business and dictate to government as they see fit.....in fact many of these political leaders themselves are apparently worth many 10's or 100's of millions of dollars and do not seem to have the best interest of the general public in mind when they refuse to effectively enforce monopoly laws or regulate the actions of lending, banking, investing and the auto industry in a moral and just fashion.....which appears to have led to the present financial crisis which we are now in.

We the undersigned wish for the U.S. to be governed for the greater good and not for the wealthy minority interests and reluctantly ask that the U.S. government bail out the "Big Three" with strong conditions and regulations concerning the above mentioned issues.

Also for the Big Three to govern and manage with a healthy respect for our government, our people and the environment in the future......as well as governments, people and environments worldwide and not let arrogance, greed and shortsightedness guide our decision making and business principals.

We wish for U.S. businesses in general to listen, pay heed to and respect our democratically elected U.S. government who we hope and believe has been elected by a Christian citizenry when it suggests changes it sees as beneficial not only to the U.S. auto industry but also the greater good.

Also for workers, managers, CEO's and majority shareholders to continue to make concessions if and whenever possible to increase the competitiveness of the U.S. auto industry until the present industry crisis is stabilized.