US autos: Teaser loan

After asking for $25bn in handouts last month, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were told by lawmakers to return with a more persuasive case for government largesse. But the automakers’ second turn at the trough doesn’t look very encouraging if Ford, the best-off of the Wobbly Three, is much to go by. It wants $9bn worth of 10-year loans at the government’s borrowing rates. That’s outrageous. Time for the carmakers certainly does appear to be growing short. US auto demand was ghastly in Nove...