Despite a couple of reported agreements on bailout packages for Detroit’s three automakers, Congress has sent their CEOs with homework assignments instead.  Once Harry Reid realized the level of hostility towards expanding the bailout to Detroit among the general public, he called a halt to the effort for now.  Nancy Pelosi blamed the executives for not doing their homework first:

The Big Three are on their own for now.

Congressional efforts to rescue Detroit’s auto makers collapsed Thursday, with lawmakers saying the industry lacked credible plans to return to profitability. …

Democrats in Congress offered only a glimmer of hope, saying they would reconsider a rescue if General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC submit convincing turnaround plans by Dec. 2.

“Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat.

In other words, don’t ask the American taxpayers to subsidize insanity.  One popular axiom holds that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  The Big Three’s CEOs came to Washington on expensive private jets, with no plan to rework their financial model which they admit has them on the brink of failure, and asked for $25 billion to continue pursuing the same model that brought them there.  The only shock is that Congress didn’t fall for it … this time.

But don’t fret — Congress won’t shock us for long.  The Wall Street Journal reports that Congress may offer a “small” aid package, between $5-10 billion, just to get the automakers through to the spring.  That “small” aid package equates roughly to the entire market capitalization of all three companies put together.  In other words, Congress could just buy out the Big Three with that money.

The UAW chief, Rich Gettelfinger, has a courageous proposal to resolve the standoff:

In a news conference in Detroit, Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers, said the Big Three CEOs should consider resigning if that would help win backing for a bailout.

Why doesn’t Gettelfinger offer his resignation as well?  Why wouldn’t the UAW offer to help by restructuring its contracts with the Big Three, which shoulder far greater labor costs than its competitors, making them less competitive?  It takes a big, big man to offer someone else’s resignation.

The reasons that have brought the Big Three to the edge of failure are not limited to just management, or just labor, but a combination of both.  A bailout would allow both to continue to shirk responsibility.  Only when they realize that Daddy Government can’t and won’t rescue them from their own debacle will they make the necessary changes to restore themselves to viability — if they ever will at all.  If they refuse to do so now, they probably won’t in the future, either — which makes them a bad investment for taxpayers.