If General Motors (GM) marketed cars with the same smarmy skill it shows in begging Uncle Sam for a handout, it would kick the Japanese automakers back across the Pacific, and its stock price would be in triple digits.

GM’s message is simple: A $25 billion loan now will save a $398 billion hit to the US economy over 3 years.

Maybe, but the 3-minute and 57-second video, featuring stark images and starker captions, certainly makes you question GM’s assumptions. The video includes what’s no doubt intended to be a haunting musical soundtrack and -- this is the real grabber -- no spoken words.



Mr. Goodwrench, where are you?

But the message is clear: Without the bailout, kittens and children won’t live up to their potential, retirees will continue to go bald (and maybe will starve) - the result will be nothing short of apocalyptic for the land of baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.
“Think a collapse of the US auto industry will just affect Detroit and the Midwest? Think again,” a panel reads.

A mere 0.3% decline in GDP has gotten us into the current economic mess; the video invites viewers to contemplate the desolation let loose by a 4% decline in GDP caused by losing the domestic auto industry.

But that assumes that GM can’t reorganize in bankruptcy; instead, it’ll just turn off the lights and sells everything at pennies on the dollar.

That’s a fate more frightening than Japanese quality control, and would pose a major threat to national security: There’s even a video sequence showing production line churning out tank turrets, just the thing for taking on terrorists in Lower Manhattan.

A following panel warns, “Collapse is imminent if we do nothing.” The video ends by urging viewers “to call or write your member of Congress now.”