So much for change and a new beginning.  Nancy Pelosi is giving directives to the auto industry to come back with a plan.  This morning I read that David Axelrod has joined the “us versus them” camp rather than the “we” camp.  As I read about the new appointees to government and the change that Barack Obama hopes to bring to Washington, hope grew.  But the statements or better the directives to the auto industry causes my hope to quickly fade.

Why is it so hard to work together?  There is no question that a healthy domestic auto industry is critical to a healthy economy.  Why are we making the industry pass some test?  Why can we not be working together to find a solution that is good for the taxpayers (the government does represent the taxpayer right) and the industry as a whole?  Should this not be about we the people?

My disappointment and fading hope for change is heightened not only by this “us versus them” but by the auto industry’s inability to communicate and share what should be available work product.  It is incomprehensible that the big three have not completed long-range plans.  And that these plans would not include detailed scenarios covering financial, competitive and future economic outcomes.  And that these plans would not include a simple “sources and uses” exhibit.  What funds they would need, where would they come from (not just from the government) and how would they be used.  A common and most basic business planning document has to exist.

Why are members of Congress and the Obama transition team not sitting down with a strategic planning team from the auto industry and working on a plan that is a win-win for the American public.  It seems apparent that everyone knows what the problem is and it is not just a problem with the auto industry.  People cannot borrow money even if they want to buy a new vehicle.

It is not in anyone’s best interest to keep testing the industry.  If they do not have any of this work done it will become immediately apparent and then that problem could be solved by getting management teams that can assemble the appropriate information.  Why are we wasting time pretending this is not everybody’s problem to be solved?  It is strange that we want so much change but cannot work together for a change.