Andrew Sullivan posts this little note from Henry Blodget:

Ford, GM, and Chrysler are done for regardless, Obama. Bailing them out yet again won’t fix them. It will just prolong the agony.

Obama is more likely concerned about the 3 million jobs that might be lost if the Big Three auto makers collapse:

The major automakers — G.M., Ford and Chrysler — are each using up their cash at unsustainable rates. The Center for Automotive Research, which is based in Michigan and supported by the industry, released on Election Day an economic analysis of the impact of one or all of them failing. If the Big Three were to collapse, it said, that would cost at least three million jobs, counting autoworkers, suppliers and other businesses dependent on the companies, down to the hot-dog vendors and bartenders next door to their plants. [NY Times]

Granted, that’s an estimate from CAR (.pdf) which is funded by the auto industry. But presume for a second that they are overestimating it 2-to-1; that’s 1.5 million jobs lost. Imagine if that happened as fast as the last round of finance collapses occurred. Frightening.