Edit: Too many downvotes for my view that this Opel case is yet another symptom of the wrong handling of the panedmic by any governments, leading to inflation and supply chain disruptions. If opinions are downvoted then I do not need to participate.
Also regarding laying off people. Germany kept unemployment below 4% during the entire pandemic because of its more flexible labor market mechanism known as Kurzarbeit that allows people to work less during economic crises. The rigid labor market in the USA encourages employers to lay off entire people rather which tends to fuel recessions, make them worse and delay recovery. Just think about how inefficient it is to lay people off, pay them to do nothing, do massive state intervention through a rent moratorium and then hire them again. The unemployed still need housing and food. The idea that there is something more productive than producing food for them is laughable.
>This would have been "mean" in the short-term, but good for the entire society in the mid- and long-term.
I don't get it. Paying people unemployment benefits is the long term strategy. We give people food stamps because if they starve to death they won't be able to work at all. Even if they stay on welfare their children will have a better shot at life. Abandoning them is the height of short term thinking.