What is the cost of bailing out the auto industry? Well, it may be more complicated than a simple yes or no vote. The real challenge may be coming up with an energy plan that stimulates the economy without destroying the environment. Congress is set to decide this week whether to extend a new $25 billion loan to the Big Three or apportion some of the $700 bailout money to save GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Some say these auto companies are dinosaurs bound for extinction – but if they fold, according to the Center for Automotive Research, as many as 2.5 million jobs could be lost.

On GRITtv Peter Lazes, Director of Programs for Economic Transition at the Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations, Arun Gupta, writer and editor of The Indypendent, writer and filmmaker Mitchell Bard, Jonathan Cohn, Senior Editor at The New Republic, and Betsy Rosenberg, the creator and host of EcoTalk Radio weigh the costs of bailing out the auto industry.

"Morristown: In the Air and Sun," a film produced by Anne Lewis and Appalshop, tells the story of labor and immigration in Eastern Tennessee. To find out more about the film and to arrange a screening go to annelewis.org – it’s available in both English and Spanish.  

Then, on Wednesday a ceremony in Astoria Queens will mark the naming of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. Formerly the Triborough Bridge it connects Manhattan to Harlem, the South Bronx, and Queens. Kennedy himself moved to the North Bronx when he was just a few months old and grew up in New York. RFK’s daughter Kerry says that even as a politician her father believed that strength came from working together as a community. And when he campaigned in 1968 Robert Kennedy stood alongside Caesar Chavez, traveled to the Mississippi Delta, to Indian Reservations, and toured Appalachia as a sign of the kind of community he hoped to build. On GRITtv Kerry Kennedy discusses her father’s legacy and the ongoing work of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Finally, Ellen Kuras on her long awaited film The Betrayal. Thavisouk Phrasavath, the film’s co-director and editor, met Kuras after he and his family fled the war-ravaged country of Laos. The Betrayal, recently shortlisted for an Academy Award, tells the story of Thavi, his family, and the impact of war on our collective memory and sense of history. And a commentary from Greg Denier of Change to Win. 

Thanks to the American News Project for video in tonight’s show. 

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