There are 24 non-stop commercial flights daily between the two cities, but those who have ascended to the pinnacle of corporate America do not fly like the rest of us when they travel on business.

The three men, GM's Richard Wagoner, Ford's Alan Mulally and Chrysler's Robert Nardelli, all arrived separately on corporate jets and for their profligacy they earned a well-deserved public flogging.

"There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off them with cups in their hands," observed Representative Gary Ackerman, a Democrat from New York. "It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo. Couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled ... to get here?" The optics of this public display of opulence were terrible and it's not hard to understand why. For weeks now, these executives and a chorus of auto-industry analysts, experts and hangers-on have been bombarding us with warnings of an imminent economic catastrophe if the Detroit Three don't get their money.

Canadians have been told that they may have to come to the rescue of the subsidiaries located in this country. We may have to cough up $2.5 to $3 billion based on the population differences in the two countries.

Well, if times are tough, it's time to change your behaviour. This simple truth has obviously eluded the chief executives of the car companies as well as their teams of managers and public-relations professionals.

Nor has it sunk in with union leaders on either side of the border. Both the United Auto Works and the Canadian Auto Workers have rejected pay cuts or contract concessions as conditions of tax-funded bailouts.

But times are tough for the carmakers. North American vehicle sales have averaged 17.5 million per year throughout this decade, according to Dennis DesRosiers, Canada's foremost industry analyst. This year they are expected to slump to 10.6 million, the steepest drop in history.

That is a cyclical problem and it affects all manufacturers. But the North American industry has undergone a major structural change in the past decade and the big losers have been GM, Ford and Chrysler.

As recently as 1996, the Detroit Three held slightly over 70 per cent of the market. Their share has fallen every year since then and they now account for about 42 percent of sales. Foreign-owned competitors now hold the balance.

DesRosiers notes that the American-based companies have been going through a painful restructuring. They have closed plants and laid off workers - moves that have reduced their manufacturing capacity by some four million vehicles per year. They have squeezed suppliers for cost savings and have probably achieved as much as they can in this area.

However, their labour costs remain a big problem. "Someone has to convince the UAW and CAW ... to get real," says DesRosiers.

The American autoworkers in 2007 accepted a two-tier wage structure in which new hires will earn a lot less than established workers. When fully implemented, this arrangement will bring their all-in costs (wages, benefits, pensions and vacations) down by about $25 an hour. That still leaves them $10 to $15 per hour above the foreign-owned domestics such as Toyota and Honda.

The discrepancy is even more glaring in Canada. Earlier this year, CAW rejected a two-tier compensation structure. Their all-in costs are about $70 an hour, which makes them among the most expensive autoworkers in the world and puts them $25 to $30 per hour above the foreign domestics.

The car companies have warned that - without a bailout - they will be forced to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and that could mean their demise because no one will buy a vehicle if the future of the manufacturer is in doubt.

Various analysts and experts have forecast ruinous consequences if this happens - up to three million jobs lost and whole communities in ruins.

They are likely correct. But the car companies and their unions need to sell the bailout politically. That would be a lot easier if auto industry executives were prepared to abandon luxury private aircraft, as well as some of their lavish compensation packages, and if the unions signalled that they were open to sensible and sustainable wages and benefits.

(D'Arcy Jenish can be reached at jenish@businessedge.ca)