Save Polaroid!

It was reported yesterday that Polaroid is going bankrupt.

Now, not as many people work for Polaroid as the automakers, but a lot still do, and they deserve to keep their jobs. The US government really needs to come in and save this company, after-all, its not the employees fault that the business didn't adapt quick enough to a changing industry and can't borrow any more money to keep itself out of bankruptcy! One could call this a TRIPLE WHAMMY! Stupid management, obsolete product, and a credit crunch!

THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

Polaroid was purchased for $426 million in 2005, so one can assume the amount to bail out this failed company is PENNIES compared to the $17 billion being given to the automakers. The government should work out a ratio for how much money they're willing to print to save each job. Given that formula, any business should be able to apply for government loans instead of going bankrupt, the government can determine how many jobs would be saved by loaning this company money and then based on that number, print the needed dollars! And then MAGIC! POOF! No one EVER loses their job without any negative side-effects.

The reality of these policies though are that many people will lose their jobs anyway. GM is going to be forced to cut down their product lines and liquidate a lot of assets to restructure and unemployment will soar in the US. Just like the 30s though, the number of people kept out of work won't be considered a problem as long as the government can prop up union wages through price fixing.

Amazingly enough though, as the article mentions, Polaroid will continue functioning through the bankruptcy and no lay-offs have been announced. Filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy will not be the end of Polaroid's existence, just as it would not be for GM. Polaroid is even planning new product launches in 2009!

I was led to believe that if GM filed for bankruptcy EVERYONE would be destitute; GM's infrastructure would just disappear into thin air and tens of millions of people would be on the street begging for money.

Of course this isn't true.

One has to wonder who carries the hundreds of billions of dollars of debt GM has and how much influence they have in Washington, D.C. I'd bet they've been lobbying for this bailout hard to prevent GM from filing for bankruptcy protection just like Cerberus has been lobbying for Chrysler.