US automakers renewed pleas Wednesday for a government bailout to avert a “catastrophic collapse” of the economy but the eurozone dismissed fears that it faced the specter of deflation. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler return to Capitol Hill a day after issuing the doomsday prediction of what would happen if the government does not come through with $25 billion in loans. But a speedy passage seemed unlikely amid opposition from the government and skeptical lawmakers. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has ruled out dipping into a giant Wall Street bailout package to help the struggling US automakers. Both GM and Chrysler have warned they could go bust without immediate aid. Ford is in better shape, but warned that a failure at its competitors would devastate the industry's interdependent supply base and potentially grind production to a halt at all US auto plants. That would result in the loss of three million jobs and more than $156 billion in government tax revenues in the first year, a recent study found. German car maker Opel, a unit of US giant General Motors, will cut production by around 10 percent next year and is mulling a 30-hour work week, a director told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. Opel had urged the German government to guarantee loans it might need if the US parent group goes bankrupt but Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will make a decision before the end of the year. Despite the gloom pervading the auto sector in leading economies, the head of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, said he had not seen signs of deflation - a fall in prices that can stifle growth
