GM and Chrysler are asking for another $14 billion (the WSJ and LAT say the number is closer to $22 billion) in government loans to stay solvent.  While this is a headline running in newspapers all across the country, it's not really news. Anyone who didn't think that these two companies would be coming back to the government to ask for more money were either clueless or naive. The only surprise is how quickly they came back and how much money they're asking for:

G.M. said Tuesday that it had increased its overall loan request from the government to a total of $30 billion, up from $18 billion.

The company has received $13.4 billion so far from Treasury, and the most recent installment — $4 billion — was turned over to G.M. on Tuesday.

But G.M. said that loan would not last long. Company officials said they hoped to receive another $2 billion loan in March and $2.6 billion in April. Beyond that, G.M. is asking for another $12 billion by 2011 — $7.5 billion in loans and $4.5 billion to pay off a credit facility that comes due.

Chrysler, which has received $4 billion in loans, also increased its overall request for funding. In December, it said it needed $3 billion more to survive 2009, but it raised that request to $5 billion.

Both companies said their current federal loans will be "exahusted" by March 31.

So here we are again, asked to foot the bill to keep these companies afloat. It feels an awful lot like throwing good money after bad, doesn't it? And how will we feel a few weeks or months when they return to ask for another $10 billion or $8 billion more? Because as sure as the sun will rise in the East, these companies will need more government assistance to continue operating.

The whole process is infuriating because it feels partly like a scam and partly like a case study in government dependence. Then again, everything pretty much feels that way these days.