What happened in the automobile industry and what’s the future ahead? None of us knows the right answer right now, just like 50 years ago, everyone was eagerly looking forward to a job opportunity in that industry for no reason.

Car-makers around the world have been announcing lower forecast of sales and profit together with job cuts, and leading US car-makers have been trying to persuade the government to approve a car industry bailout plan.

Everyone is talking about clean energy new model for automobile industry. But after every big manufacturer has Hybrid car series, no one knows if the clean energy cars

can rescue the automobile industry out of trouble.

I’d support the bankruptcy plan of the Big Three, since only on this way, they can get rid of the heavy pressure of retired employees’ compensation and medical aid packages. I’m no idea why in a free market country, there are companies who have to take responsibilities to cover all the retired employee’s compensation and their medical care packages for such a long period.

Additionally, the Big Three haven’t focused on automobile industry for a long time, but investing in the finance field, which made them slump with the crisis. In our impression, automobile industry should be the representative of the real economy, but recent turmoil disclosed that they’ve been involved in the finance economy for a longer time than we expected.

Eventually protesters, journalists and onlookers began gathering at the site. The crowd of demonstrators included Socialists, members of Code Pink and other anti-war groups, and individual New Yorkers angered by the proposed government rescue of financial institutions. Spectators looked on curiously as cops advised people to stay out of the street.

Chants erupted spontaneously, such as, “We are pissed! Bail out this!” One man repeatedly yelled, “Don’t believe Bush’s lies! Don’t believe Paulson’s lies! Don’t believe Bernanke’s lies!” After about 40 minutes of chanting, mingling, drum-pounding and sign-waving at the terminus of Broadway, the protesters began to march toward Wall Street. For the most part they stayed on the sidewalk and the police didn’t hassle them. As they walked, many chanted “No deal for Wall Street, new deal for Main Street!”

I spoke with a woman who was walking from work to the subway in the midst of the crowd. Diane K., as she asked to be identified, empathized with the cause. “This is one protest I agree with, and I’m a conservative,” she said. “I’ve had it.”

Zelig Stern of the Socialist Party of New York City

Several protesters linked the economic crisis with the war in Iraq. John MacDougall, a member of a group called Peace Action and a veteran of the Korean War, said he was concerned that most Americans seem unaware of the economic consequences of the war. “I get worried about where the country’s going,” he said.

When the group arrived at the intersection of Wall Street and Broad Street, moving up the steps of Federal Hall and filling up the street between that building and the New York Stock Exchange, many yelled “No bailout!” repeatedly.

Protester Bobby Rodriguez, American flag in hand, criticized the federal government for its handling of the economy and other issues. “I think our founding fathers are turning over in their graves, and no one’s even reading the Constitution,” he said.

As the protesters held their signs aloft and chanted various slogans, a few Wall Street workers rushed to nearby subway entrances, some looking distinctly uncomfortable, others amused. One twenty-something guy in a suit yelled “Get a fucking job,” though this sentiment was drowned out by whatever the crowd was chanting at that moment.

Shane Miller, who works for a boutique trading firm, remarked that the stock exchange had already closed for the day before the protest arrived there. “They’re doing something for nothing,” he said. “They need to go to Congress — that’s where the bill is being worked on.”

A member of Billionaires for Bush who identified himself as “Rob DaPore” sipped what appeared to be champagne and responded to the protesters’ chants of “You broke it, you bought it!” with “We broke it, you bought it.”

Until I watched Rachel Maddow’s post-debate analysis show Friday night, I assumed that the protesters represented a small sliver of American public opinion. As a relatively cynical guy, I’ve come to see the population of this country as overwhelmingly apathetic even in the face of developments that affect their lives profoundly. However, I learned that the sentiments voiced by these street marchers actually reflected a wave of solid opposition to the plan among average Americans.

Now that Congressional leaders have apparently reached a deal, it remains to be seen whether this action will revive the financial services industry and the economy as a whole. If economic conditions worsen, Americans who view this deal as a handout to wealthy Wall Street institutions at the expense of taxpayers may not look too kindly on politicians who supported it.

UPDATE: The bailout bill did not pass on Monday. Some Republicans blamed partisanship, and Barney Frank ridiculed them. What I’ve heard from conservatives over the past week, including those who cried foul at Pelosi’s speech, is unbelievable. They don’t want to admit that their anti-regulatory ideology directly caused this crisis. Instead, some are blaming minorities.

Today, I found that the bank I keep my money in, Washington Mutual, has fallen. The government seized the enormous thrift on its birthday and quickly sold it off to JP Morgan & Chase. This is the biggest banking collapse in U.S. history.

The recent failures reminded me of stories of earlier decades, about how people would gather on a mesa somewhere and watch the U.S. military conduct nuclear tests. First there was the flash, then the picturesque cloud formation. Then the echo of the blast wave struck, dousing the hapless observers with radiation.

The Washington Mutual collapse is nothing I didn’t see coming. But before, I was merely watching the devastation from afar. Now, I finally feel its heat.

The FDIC says that my money is secure. They did not have to reach into their coffers for the (how strange it is to say this) measly $45 billion. Though consolidation continues on Wall Street with JP Morgan and Bank of America reaching supergiant status, I wonder how long the mightiest pillars can continue to stand.

It’s strange. I’d heard about panicked citizens standing in lines, waiting for their money in the decades gone by. I could never imagine what that must be like. Now, that situation actually has a chance of happening. Today, some of WaMu’s legion of customers will be at their branches, pulling out hard. I will be among them.

Other questions smolder in my mind – what will happen to my student loans? Will I be able to receive the amount I need? How will New York handle the cut in social services? And will other nations, tired of United States’ fading superpower status smell blood in the water and assert themselves?

I don’t know. No one knows. The bailout is in limbo with Democratic and Republican opposition to Paulson’s plan. Apparently the treasurer got down on one knee in front of Pelosi, which, while a joke, symbolizes the entire predicament of taxpayers being asked to pick up the unfortunately necessary bill.

Allright. Enough doom and gloom out of me. Here are some cheering news about smaller banks apparently thriving through the crisis. If we survive this one without a depression, the fall of the investment banks and centralized risk players may even be a good thing. With all the consolidation, however, the number of players had diminished and their power, greatly increased.

Speaking of wages…in 2007, Forbes put together this nice little chart listing the salaries of bank CEOs. Bank of America’s Kenneth Lewis raked in $99.8 mil in ‘06.  I don’t know about you guys, but I was making $6.90 an hour that year.  Maybe while us taxpayers save the financial markets, Ken could pay off a few of my student loans.

Or, perhaps the $700 billion could be used in one of the scenarios Jeff Jarvis proposes, such as sending 23 million Americans to public universities.

The announcements came late on Sunday, after a weekend of nervous meetings between the Federal Reserve, Henry Paulson and the country’s top bankers. Paulson and Bernanke had already made it clear that they had reached their quota on bailouts. Despite the Wall Street heads’ agreement on an emergency fund, the fate of both firms was sealed. Merrill Lynch, the more fortunate of the two, is being bought by Bank of America for $50 billion. Lehman Bros, already $60 billion in the hole for the first time in 158 years, failed to close any buyers.

All this a mere week after the fall of Fannie and Freddie makes for a situation that the country hasn’t seen in decades, according to Peter G. Peterson and a certain Alan Greenspan on ABC news. Greenspan referred to the bailout of Bear Stearns alone as a “once in a half century, probably once in a century type of event.”

While Bernanke and Paulson are not bailing out Lehman, they are relaxing some regulations to calm the wild-eyed hordes of frightened investors. For instance, the purchase of Merrill drops Bank of America below minimum required funds – a condition the Fed is planning to overlook. The Fed may also start taking junk bonds and other previously unacceptable assets as collateral.

Predictably, thousands of workers were laid off during the process. Right now is the worst time on Wall Street to be unemployed.

Are we scared? Perhaps we ought to be. AIG’s stock went down 30 percent and Washington Mutual is allegedly teetering on the brink of failure. With the federal government already balancing the fate of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders on the heads of the taxpayers, no one knows which firm will implode next. Ironically, a major factor in keeping the players alive, is our confidence as consumers.

Update: Washington Mutual has $143 billion in insured deposits according to Financial Times. The FDIC – the corporation responsible for giving citizens their money if the banks fail has just about $45.2 billion. If Washington Mutual fails, it can drain the FDIC or force a redirection of funds from the treasury.