Next Stop on the Bailout Express: Detroit.

Bend over America, this will only hurt a little bit.

After The Big Three (even Toyota) posted horrid third quarter numbers, the auto industry has decided to put their bid in on the Government Gold Rush.

Auto executives have been on Capitol Hill for the past week or so telling every politician who will listen that they need a piece of the bailout slated for the financial industry.

And guess what? They're paying attention.

As most economists predicted, it was only a matter of time before other industries in trouble turned to the government based on the precedent set by the bailout.

Its like having a bag of candy around a group of kids...if you give one kid some, you have to give all of the kids some because they'll get on your nerves until they get their share.

Just like the finance industry, automakers' problems begin with themselves. For decades they pushed out gas-guzzling SUV's and trucks and dragged their feet on development of more efficent cars. When gas prices went sky high and the economy went into the tank, automakers couldn't give away a SUV and they couldn't meet the demand for the cars that people did want.

For the third quarter of 2008, GM's sales were dow 45 percent from a year earlier. Meanwhile Ford was down 32 percent, rock-steady Toyota posted a 23 percent decline and Daimler AG and American Honda were down more than 24 percent.

GM barely has enough money to keep the lights on until the ball drops on New Year's Eve.

In my opinon, if a bailout had to happen the auto industry should have been first. Those are the type of jobs that fuel the economy and spark growth, because those are the people who go out and buy houses and max out credit cards.

When a bank closes you might have a little more trouble getting a car loan or you might have to drive a little further to get to an ATM, but an auto plant closure can kill a city.

Now that the auto industry is asking for a bailout though, its only a matter of time before the airline industry comes next with it's hand out.

Have fun running the country Obama.