George W. Bush is announcing his plan to bail out the auto industry, and it appears that the UAW will win.

Under the plan, the UAW will be required, by the end of 2009, to reset work rules and wages to be "competitive" with costs to foreign-owned auto companies manufacturing in the U.S. That doesn't mean total costs, just work rules and wages -- pension and legacy healthcare costs don't count. Also, it doesn't mean dollar-for-dollar parity, just "competitivenss." In addition, this agreement could be renegotiated with the Obama administration.

Other provisions: Loans will be made from the TARP. GM & Chrysler must develop viability plans by March 31, or repay the loans. In developing these plans, everyone involved in the auto industry (not just the UAW) must come to the table. The loans will take precedence over other debts.

Apparently, Bush's statement yesterday that he doesn't want to dump a crisis on the next administration isn't totally bunk. Yes, he's leaving with 150,000 troops bogged down in Iraq, and tens of thousands in Afghanistan, and there's that pesky recession thingamajig, but at least the auto crisis is being dealt with.

When the details began emerging, the stock market futures rose significantly.

One more note: For once, George W. Bush has put practicality over ideology. In his speech he stated his preference for letting the market go its own way, but decided that this ideology wouldn't be a good thing to follow at this time. Pity he couldn't put practicality over ideology any other time over the past eight years.