They’re crying wolf again.

After receiving $25 billion in early October for “retooling” to meet fuel-efficient vehicle demand, the Big Three automakers (General Motors, Chrysler and Ford) want more. After all, what’s another $25 billion to allow them to cope with crappy credit markets?

The arguments for this new bailout are apparent. After all, the auto industry has long been a symbol of American pride, no matter which side of the Hatfield-McCoy like Chevy-Ford rivalry you sit on.

Automobile manufacturers have built cities, and the disappearance of factories and the outsourcing of factory work to places like Mexico have put local economies in near-ruin. Flint, Michigan is a prime example: The number of people employed in Flint by GM has been reduced from 80,000 in the 1970s to 8,000, and the city was the focus of leftist documentarian Michael Moore’s first film, “Roger & Me.”

If these companies fail, a continued drop of employment is inevitable. But how bad will it really be?

According to the Center for Automotive Research, 2.5 to 3 million jobs would be lost if all three contracted. That’s a big number, one that would surely have an impact on the real economy. Many of those people have large pensions built up after many years of work, and the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation likely doesn’t have a large enough fund to save them all.

So, given this information, why do I think maudlin GM should be allowed to fail?

As I wrote a few weeks ago, American car manufacturers shot themselves in the foot by trying to bank on the SUV craze instead of anticipating changes in consumer tastes. These businesses were poorly run, and now a credit crunch has hurt their chances of recovery, they want more help.

No matter how deep the shade of red, it will never turn back into black.

That said don’t forget about the people. The unions won’t budge in negotiations, but they are already contributing to their own demise by demanding wages as high as they do — GM, Chrysler and Ford workers receive nearly $30 an hour more in total compensation than workers in American plants run by Toyota, Honda and Nissan, according to Harvard economist Greg Mankiw’s blog.

Viewing the wages (about $72 an hour), one can assume many of the employees indeed have large pensions built up. If the companies fail and the PBGC doesn’t have enough money to hand out what they guarantee, a different problem arises.

The solution: bail out the pension fund instead of the corporations. This lets the people keep what they’ve earned while dissolving unions, which have distorted labor markets for years and will cost less.

The failing firms will also leave open room for foreign automakers to expand operations within the U.S., replacing old jobs with new, making net unemployment much lower than the shocking number given above.

The fall of the American auto industry would most definitely be painful, but it is necessary to uphold the integrity of our country’s top executives. If we bail out the Big Three, there’s no telling where it ends.

In fact, I may have to lobby for a bailout of students’ due to rising tuition.

To join the tuition bailout uprising, reach Ryan at ryan.oneal@asu.edu.