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I’ve only been catching the highlights of the hearings this week from the “Big 3″ automakers, mostly because I can’t seem to get my mind around the justifications. I understand the importance of remaining in business. Regardless of the layoffs they’ve already incorporated, closing their doors only ensures those remaining would be unemployed. But what I can’t understand is how to plan to remain in business six months from now. The new unemployment numbers come out later today and with last month’s numbers above 6% coupled with words like, “frightful”, “skyrocketed” and other adjectives used to tease us from those who’ve already seen these numbers, I’m doubtful any of us will be shopping for new cars. In fact, my own personal list of priorities go something like this:

· Keeping myself with a roof and four walls

· Ensuring Christmas happies for my family

· Keeping groceries in the cabinets and diet Coke in the fridge

· Keeping the utilities going

I’m sure my priorities are no different than any other Americans’ own lists. If you’ll notice, there’s no mention of any contributions via the purchase of a new car to any of these troubled auto manufacturers. Again, I tend to believe that’s applicable to other Americans too. My question is, even if we bail these companies out, and we’re currently not buying new cars, what makes Congress and these CEOs believe this is their “cure-all”? If folks aren’t running to their local dealerships now, they certainly won’t be doing so six months from now either. In fact, here are the major headlines this morning:

· Viacom to slash 850 jobs in response to the economic downturn (Yahoo News)

· Employers shedding jobs as recession deepens (Drudge Report)

· Employers cut 533k jobs in November, most in 34 years (Associated Press)

I’m just incredulous this is even being entertained. In fact, I’m amazed it’s even a priority at all. Even with their claims of keeping employees with jobs, it simply doesn’t ring true. And for them to threaten us with bankruptcy is a joke. It’s as though they’re saying, “Well, if you don’t help us, we’ll just file bankruptcy” and deliver this statement with an undercurrent of “do it or else”.

My favorite late night jab, courtesy of Jon Stewart, asks if these executives were schooled in how negotiations work. He said (and I’m paraphrasing) if they didn’t receive the 25 billion last month, what made them think they could come back this month and request 34 billion and were they under the impression Congress declined their earlier request because it was too low a number? I think many of us are wondering that very thing.

So as the vast majority of Americans are preparing to head off to their jobs and have redefined a “productive day at the office” as the absence of a pink slip, the head honchos of the automakers prepare to face Congress yet again so they can resume their martyred presences with declarations of “I carpooled here and we split the costs about fifty-fifty”. Welcome to the real world, gentlemen. Carpooling has been an acceptable cost-cutting measure for years.