Bailouts, Perferences and Industrial Policy

The White House says if Democrats can get their act together it's "very likely" the Big Three automakers will get massive federal assistance. But auto workers are on a caravan from the Midwest to Washington, complaining they have to make more concessions than Wall Street financiers. The Bank of America, which got $25 billion in taxpayer bailout funds, cut off credit to their employer; the auto workers got three days notice of termination, when federal law requires 60 days. They've become a symbol of the complaint that the bailout process favors the white-collar financial sector at the expense of blue-collar workers. Is Wall Street more important than other sectors of the economy? Does the US need a policy for manufacturing, too, like Barack Obama's jobs-creating stimulus plan?