The frustrating part about auto executives' presumptuous attitude toward a taxpayer bailout is that they probably are right — they are too big to fail.

But the chiefs of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford didn't help their cause by arriving in Washington in private jets to ask Congress for a handout. The move typified the industry's cluelessness.

Lawmakers didn't promise to rescue Detroit, but they didn't rule out a bailout, either. Congressional leaders said they might return to Washington on Dec. 8 to consider $25 billion in emergency aid, provided the automakers come up with a workable plan to become competitive.

Many taxpayers don't want their money to reward Detroit's perennial habits of corporate greed, union demands and shortsightedness. Taxpayers' reluctance is justified. But here's the problem: A collapse of the domestic auto industry will cost the public much more than a short-term bailout.

A liquidation of GM could cost the federal government as much as $200 billion in unemployment benefits and other aid to such states as Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

Federal, state and local governments would lose tens of billions in tax revenue. And the federal government might be on the hook for pension costs and health benefits of workers who lose their jobs.

Job losses from the failure of one automaker could total 2.5 million, a shock that this slumping economy can't absorb.

Lending the Big Three $25 billion now would be worth the expense, if it staves off those dire forecasts. The question is how to ensure, to the extent possible, that a bailout helps to get the companies back on their feet permanently.

Part of the problem is the Big Three don't make enough cars that consumers want to buy. So will the bailout funds transform the companies or just put off the inevitable?

President-elect Barack Obama is said to be considering a so-called "prepackaged" bankruptcy, which would allow the automakers to restructure more quickly than normal Chapter 11 proceedings under a judge's supervision. Under this option, the companies would go into court with financing, a business plan, and concessions from unions and suppliers.

Included in any such deal should be replacement of executives and directors of the failed companies, renegotiated labor contracts, and trimmed pension obligations. The government could provide low-interest loans to allow the firms to keep operating during the restructuring. And Washington would control the automakers' boards until the loans are repaid.

The Big Three reject this solution, as does House Speaker Nancy E. Pelosi, D-Calif., who said even a fast-track bankruptcy would be "digging a hole too deep" for the automakers. Pelosi wants the car companies to devise a restructuring plan as a condition of a bailout, but a modified bankruptcy would offer taxpayers more protection.

It's mystifying to think that the Big Three chiefs didn't bring with them to Capitol Hill detailed plans last week for reviving their companies. That's another conceited symptom of their hold over the national economy.

If taxpayer dollars are going to be committed to this bailout, Washington needs to obtain ironclad guarantees from the automakers that they will change their ways.