The three kings overseeing the demise of the American auto industry are back in Washington to plead for $billions in other people's money in exchange for still greater government encroachment into their unprofitable enterprises. The Big Three should be lunging at the opportunity to wriggle out of the extravagant union contracts at the root of their problems. But scooping up free money stolen from our children by the government requires less effort than competing in the marketplace.

Last time around, these jewel-encrusted mendicants were ridiculed for flying into town on private jets to beg for handouts. But they're wiser now:

All three CEOs made the trip to Washington in high-mileage hybrid vehicles — the types of cars critics say the Detroit Three should have been making more of instead of becoming enamored of higher-profit, less fuel-efficient vehicles like SUVs and Hummers.

So according to these critics — who will be making the decisions if the three stooges get the free $34 billion they're pleading for — the problem is that Detroit has been making "higher-profit" vehicles, instead of the overpriced, inefficient moonbatmobiles that the government will demand in return for our money.

Instead of groveling inside the Beltway with a tin cup in hand, Henry Ford would be back in Detroit, making cars people want after using bankruptcy to scrape off the union leeches that have been killing the industry. But then, Ford believed in acquiring wealth by creating it, instead of by begging a place at the government trough.

Cross-posted at Moonbattery.