GM discusses shedding Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn and Saab

Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., working to cut costs to win $12 billion in government loans, is studying whether to shed its Saturn, Saab and Pontiac brands in addition to Hummer, people familiar with the matter said.
Selling or dropping brands would save money and reduce overlap as the biggest U.S. automaker struggles to avoid running out of operating cash by year’s end, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified because no decision has been made. GM’s other U.S. brands are Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac.
The review of the 82-year-old Pontiac division, one of GM’s earliest, shows the scope of the survival plan being given to Congress on Dec. 2 to show GM can repay federal aid. GM also seeks to cut debt levels and reduce costs for active and retired union workers, people have said. For more of this story:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=home&sid=amIqBBYGRh5Q

Maybe I'm missing something here, but GM wants $12 billion so they can ELIMINATE 120,000 to 230,000 direct and indirect (suppliers, diners, home construction, local businesses) US jobs and then have to BUY OUT these dealerships at an estimated cost of $6 billion and then the government (me the taxpayer) is on the tab for another $2 billion a year in unemployment payments as well as the estimated additional $3 billion a year, when GM pensions fail because of more early retirements and less income due to this, and the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) takes them over. On top of it all, my beloved Hummer brand would disappear. It's like watching the slow death of a good friend - the doctor comes in and says sorry, Mr Hummer has suffered more complications and the outlook is bad.

Economically this shows how short sighted our government bailout programs are. They are quick fix, band aid approaches that will cost jobs and money in the long run. Why not just give the taxpayer that $12 billion in incentive cash to buy US cars with? Give me $4000 cash and a tax incentive to buy a Hummer and I'd be at the dealer tomorrow - CREATING US JOBS, not welfare. I guess that would be politically incorrect and offend Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.

Is there a bright side to all this? Hummers, which you don't see that often now, are going to become even rarer and many will start collecting them and eventually increase in value. There are already suppliers stocking up on unique Hummer parts. That's shameful in some ways, because Hummers are made to be driven hard with mud up to the axles and water to the door sills!