Nationalize General Motors?

Perhaps the best way to fix the troubled auto industry is to treat it like a financial firm and have the government take it over.

There's been a lot of talk about nationalizing banks, but relatively little discussion about having the government take control of embattled automakers General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler LLC.

But some veterans of the government-coordinated rescue of six freight railroads back in the 1970's are arguing that nationalization can work with an industrial firm and might be the best course for the government to follow now.

Larry Kaufman, a former rail executive and consultant, argued in a railroad industry newsletter Monday that the U.S. Railway Association, the special government agency set up in 1974 to deal with bankrupt railroads, is a good model for saving the U.S. auto industry.

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