(CNN) -- The heads of Detroit's car companies -- Ford, Chrysler, GM -- bumper to bumper, are begging Congress for a bailout. Let's start by cutting through the bull and look at how the automobile companies got into this mess.
1. Americans are finally starting to turn their backs on those 12 mile-per-gallon SUVs.
Yes, it took us long enough, but we are finally starting to get it. I know, gas prices have fallen back into the $2-per-gallon range, but we all remember what it cost to fill up last summer, when gas was $4 per gallon. And we all know those days will come again.
2. Why isn't Detroit making what we want to buy now?
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Where are the hybrids? Where are the batteries? Where are cars that get 70 miles per gallon? For years automakers fought tooth and nail against improving fuel efficiency standards. You say they're in the pipeline? You say we'll get 40-mile-per-gallon cars in 2020? Americans need them now. 
GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner earns almost $9 million a year. Some union workers in the automotive industry earn $30 or $40 an hour plus benefits. Retirees get pensions and health benefits that would make anyone jealous. You guys spend millions of dollars a year lobbying to keep everything the same and now you're asking us, the taxpayers, for $25 billion.
Now, I don't know if a government bailout will rescue America's auto industry but I do know that if there is a bailout, it better come with a big, bright stop sign and lots of strings attached.
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