An MG post

Remember MG Rover? Well, if you own a Rover don't count on your warranty -- there may not be enough cash to cover repair bills as promised.

But that's not the kicker in this article (and here you should prepare yourself for some more Airbus bashing): The punchline is that the European Commission is raising a stink about the prospect that the British government will pour money into MG to keep the doors open. Quoth AP (via Forbes.com):

Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt said the government will review a 6.5 million pound (US$11.7 million, euro3.2 million) loan it granted Rover's administrators earlier this week after production was shut down at the company's Longbridge factory. The loan enabled PwC to pay workers for a week, but the administrator has warned that without further assistance mass layoffs are likely.
...
However, strict European Union rules regarding government subsidies to private companies could prevent any extension of the loan. The European Commission said Wednesday that regulators needed more information from the government about its plans for Rover.

So let's get this straight. The Commission is perfectly content to allow subsidies for a bloated but competitive company (remember, Airbus actually surpassed rival Boeing in orders filled last year). But when it comes to assistance for a bloated but failing company, something has to be done to stop the market distortion.

The issue here isn't even the subsidy -- it's probably a bad idea in both cases. While we all need to be sympathetic for the plight of MG Rover's workers (and as a soon-to-be-displaced worker myself, I certainly am), the fact is that it's probably better to help them by working out direct income transfers via an unemployment compensation program than it is to prop up a company that will go bankrupt either sooner or later.

The real issue is the weird decisions emanating from Brussels. Really, did I accidentally wake up in some Bizarro World this morning? How can they go to the mat for Airbus subsidies but deny the same assistance to Rover? Some things I will just never understand.