Should the US bailout the big three automakers?

[Tony Radford]

What's the chance that when the dust settles, average citizens will see the ill of their past ways and become more frugal? Back to the WWII generation. Isn't this the first major spanking the baby boomer generation has experienced? I've been on the Dave Ramsey plan for the better part of the year and (assuming I'm still employed) should be debt free by the end of next year. I wish I had started the plan a year earlier so I'd be there already (and still have my roadster). When the mindless / reckless spending by the American consumer subsides (just about there), the retail industry will have to recede. Massive closing of businesses (that grew to facilitate our spending habits) has to shrink, right? As one adopts the philosophy of frugal living, supply and demand will force the inescapable alteration to our commercial landscape. How long does it take for the "system" to re-tool and begin absorbing the masses of unemployed? It all sounds like the end of the world, but it probably isn't. What are the plausable theories? I'm sure no "one" will lead the country to the light. It will just happen like always.