by Carolyn Tytler

Created on: January 19, 2009

North American auto makers should not receive one penny of bailout money. They got themselves into this deficit economic position and it should be incumbent upon them to get themselves out.

It they can't, too bad! They'll have to do what ordinary citizens do under similar circumstances: file for bankruptcy. The difference is that ordinary citizens are usually the victims of circumstances: down-sizing, layoffs, illness or accident with no insurance, rising mortgage rates, or drops in sales because of the recession.

The auto makers in North America are completely at fault for the financial mess in which they find themselves. And, they still have learned nothing about frugality, humility, or trying to manage funds more responsibly

How did company executives in the United States arrive at hearings to beg for a bailout using taxpayers' money? In private jets, no less! Maybe they realize that the automobiles they've been manufacturing lately are so substandard, even they are afraid to ride in them. That wouldn't surprise me a bit.

I almost got killed when I first drove my last new General Motors product. The pollution control system hadn't been set up properly, and the machine stalled right in the middle of a busy intersection. If the oncoming cars hadn't been able to stop quickly, I'd have been killed or seriously injured.

I kept the car, which subsequently rusted out and developed other expensive problems, for about five years, then I sold it, and felt vaguely guilty for passing on such a lemon to another unsuspecting soul. You can bet my subsequent cars have been Japanese makes: two Hondas and I'm on my second Toyota. I have been quite satisfied with both these makes of automobiles.

I can't speak for American workers, but here are some of the perks the Canadian GM auto workers enjoy:

* their birthdays off, (no, I'm not kidding).

* spa days, or weeks in some cases, when they have holidays, with pay, to recuperate from their boring on-line duties

* medical, dental, legal fees covered

* average hourly wage of $31.35 an hour for an unskilled worker

* Outlandish buyout incentives: those at the plant 8 years can have $100,000 plus a $35,000 car voucher.

* four minutes into January 2, 2009, the best-paid CEOs in Canada had already earned as much as the average Canadian will make during the entire year. The exact figures for the executives of the big 3 auto makers are not available, but you can bet they are right up there.

How are the auto executives and workers responsible for their

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