Consumers are victims of the auto industry turmoil in despite of bail out by tax payers

By Armando Garcia

The announcement of another bankruptcy filing by a giant auto maker is undoubtedly another slap on the face of the American consumer. General Motors has started to seek court protection to deal with its huge debt despite the fact the Obama Administration has already provided auto lender GMAC Financial Services with $7.5 billion in additional aid to keep loans flowing to would-be buyers of GM vehicles.

The government has a vested interest in seeing GMAC succeed and the U.S. auto industry revive. General Motors has received $15.4 billion in federal loans and the other auto giant Chrysler has received $5.8 billion, despite filing for bankruptcy protection. Court documents, IN the Chrysler case, showed the ailing automaker plans to close five plants in Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin that employ about 4,800 people.

Also, the new dose of aid marks the government's latest attempt to break through credit clogs and spur more lending, a necessary ingredient to lifting the country out of recession. But it would take generations of Americans to pay the huge amount of rescue, while the consumers would continue to struggle to get auto loans and undocumented immigrants, unlicensed to drive, will not be able to obtain credit, neither get auto insurance.

The global financial crisis that started with the collapsed of the stock market sent the economy into A nose-dive, leaving worried consumers hesitant to buy. No industry has suffered more during the downturn than automakers. From Detroit to Tokyo, manufacturers are cutting production amid the weakest sales in decades and U.S. automakers are getting federal loans to stay afloat. States like Maryland and others who had passed laws denying driver licenses to undocumented immigrants are and will be paying the high price for having many uninsured and unlicensed motorists driving vehicles.

Maryland took drastic steps by demanding that immigrants show proof of legal residence when applying for a driver's license. Community members balk at such a law. Maryland law makers ignored the necessity the use of a car to feed immigrant immigrants. Maryland did not learn the lesson of other states that have similar laws. The State will be paying a very expensive price when highways and streets begin to document automobile accidents caused by immigrants driving without insurance and a license. Laws like the one passed in Maryland and other States will inundate the municipal corridors of the legislatures, city councils and county governments all over the country. Pressure to pass laws similar to the well known Immigration and Nationality Act section 287 (g) that allows the local law enforcement to play the role of immigration agents will grow. State governments are limiting the purchasing power of immigrants who have second thoughts about buying new or used vehicles as a result of detrimental laws. Car dealers whose businesses operate in immigrant communities also suffer.