1 millions jobs and 1% GDP growth is at stake

The Big Three directly employ almost 250,000, according to an administration estimate, and also support about one million retirees and their spouses, not counting the vast network of suppliers and dealers whose businesses are intertwined. In all, administration officials estimate that the failure of the U.S. auto makers would cost the economy more than one million jobs and would reduce economic output by more than 1%, significantly prolonging the downturn. "We think that the current weakened state of the economy is such that it could not withstand a body blow like a disorderly bankruptcy in the auto industry," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday. "We'll have to take another look at what they [the companies] might need and how we might be able to provide that as a short-term mechanism to help prevent a disorderly bankruptcy that we think could devastate further an already very weak economy."