We won’t bore you with any personal opinions about whether or not automakers deserve a bailout; that’s kind of a judgment call.  But it seems the industry could almost definitely use one, with bad news for GM, Chrysler, and Toyota cropping up.

Let’s start with the General.  More than a month ago, some analysts gave it a target price of at or near zero dollars.  Credit Suisse joined that group today, and so GM’s stock fell 21.6 percent during trading.  Not the best way to start the week.

Chrysler’s also in trouble, according to a Standard and Poor’s analyst.  Since it’s privately owned, the effects of his words are harder to measure, but Cerberus Capital may well be wondering what it’s gotten itself into.

Finally, it seems that even Toyota is having some problems.  The Japanese automaker announced that, although it should see a net profit for the year, it expects to experience its first operating loss since 1950.  Scary, storm-of-the-century stuff.

A bailout might not make things better, either, if it caused consumers to lose confidence and buy less.