Back in the 1950s the American car manufacturer General Motors was the biggest company in the country, prompting the dictum: "what's good for General Motors is good for the country."
And that thinking, it seems, still persists. GM, along with two other major car companies, Chrysler and Ford, is hoping to get a bail out from the US government.
At US Congressional hearings, the chairman of the US Senate banking committee, Christopher Dodd, said that while car makers were partly to blame for their own problems, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be lost if they were allowed to collapse.
Listen Listen to Christopher Dodd (23 secs)
The chairman of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, said the car makers were casualties of the worldwide economic downturn.
Listen Listen to Rick Wagoner (14 secs)
The heartland of the US car industry is Detroit, Michigan, otherwise known as Motortown or Motown. The BBC's Greg Wood went there to investigate.
Listen Listen to his report (5 mins 33 secs)
Martin Leach is a former head of Ford Europe, Maserati, and Mazda, so he has lots of experience.
Does he think the car industry is different from others, and should get a subsidy?
Listen Listen to Martin Leach (3 mins 28 secs)
First broadcast 19 November 2008