If Michigan residents can have the patience and stamina to hang in, is it possible that a stronger, albeit smaller, auto economy could actually help revive the state in a few years?

It's quite possible, argues, David Cole, chair of the Center for Automotive Research. Cole, as reported by Gongwer News Service, told a Michigan legislative panel this week that Detroit's Big Three automakers are poised for recovery if they can endure the national recession and credit crunch..

"In testimony to the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee, Mr. Cole said General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are on the right track to recover with the kinds of vehicles under development, development in Michigan of alternative fuel systems, new labor contracts, pent up demand, new technology including green vehicles and other factors," Gongwer reported. "'The long term looks good,' Mr. Cole said. 'It's the short term that's the problem.' He said the companies do need stability they are seeking, noting the costs of the loans pale in comparison to the impact of failure by the companies."

Other memorable sights from a week future Michigan historians will study for decades…

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ON MONDAY: Foreign-owned auto companies in America "operate under conditions imposed by the free market. Detroit lives on Fantasy Island. Consider labor costs. Take-home wages at the U.S. car makers average $28.42 an hour, according to the Center for Automotive Research. That's on par with $26 at Toyota, $24 at Honda and $21 at Hyundai. But include benefits, and the picture changes. Hourly labor costs are $44.20 on average for the non-Detroit producers, in line with most manufacturing jobs, but are $73.21 for Detroit. This $29 cost gap reflects the way Big Three management and unions have conspired to make themselves uncompetitive — increasingly so as their market share has collapsed (see the nearby chart). Over the decades the United Auto Workers won pension and health-care benefits far more generous than in almost any other American industry. As a result, for every UAW member working at a U.S. car maker today, three retirees collect benefits; at GM, the ratio is 4.6 to one."

THE UAW ON WEDNESDAY: "It's going to be hard on the membership, but in the end, it's about economic survival," Frank Fabrizio, president of UAW Local 600 in Dearborn, tells the Detroit Free Press as the UAW announces it will open up its national labor agreements for further concessions, including suspension of the jobs bank (the national lightning rod of 20th Century entitlement).

FREEP'S TOM WALSH ON THURSDAY: "Don't be surprised if a puzzled lawmaker also smells desperation in the GM plan and asks Wagoner: 'Let me get this straight, you have been losing money for years and losing market share to foreign rivals for decades, but suddenly, in just the past two weeks, you've got all kinds of new ideas for saving money and reinventing your company?' A banner ad for Hyundai job openings in Ann Arbor is among the commercial messages rotating above Walsh's column.

COMERICA'S CHIEF ECONOMIST ON THURSDAY: Bankruptcies or no, tens of thousands more auto jobs will be lost in 2009.

FRIDAY: ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS: In a front-page letter to Congress and the Nation, the Detroit Free Press urges financial support for Detroit's Big Three or "there will be bleeding throughout the land." Briefly Friday morning, the online version of the editorial is accompanied by an advertisement for Kia.