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BEG-SHOTS AN INSULT TO EVERYMAN
By SAM MYERS
ANOTHER day, another bailout. As I watched at Biddy Early's downtown pub, the Big 3 automakers begged Congress for more of my tax dollars, and I was disgusted to see our leaders in Washington dig the country's economic hole deeper by helping an industry that loses about $1,700 for each car it sells. Isn't this communism by another name? PHOTOS: Auto Execs Plead To Congress OPINION: GM's Fantasy Recovery Plan If the auto industry was able to switch from cars to tanks on a dime during World War II, why couldn't they have switched from gas guzzlers to hybrids 10 years ago and stayed in competition with Toyota? Instead, they wasted money on inflated CEO packages and inefficient vehicles, and now they want my family's hard-earned money to pull them out of the ditch they dug for themselves. Don't get me wrong. I don't think we can save the financial institutions and then let the carmakers and all of their blue-collar workers rot, but this country screwed up by dishing out money in the first place. How about a little economic Darwinism? Leave all these companies to their own devices, and the strong will survive. All I know is, I have kids to raise, and I don't need my wallet drained for some fat cats in Detroit who didn't even seem remorseful as they sat in front of the Senate committee, hat in hand, groveling for money. The one who ticked me off the most was Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford. He had this smirk on his face and didn't seem the least bit humbled by the fact that he had resorted to begging. It all left me thinking: When is the government going to send me a check I don't deserve? Sam Myers, 42, lives in lower Manhattan and is a stockbroker-turned-freelance photographer.

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FDNY'S SLASH AND BURN
By ERIK SHILLING, PETER HOLLEY and TOM LIDDY
The FDNY will be slashing nighttime staff at a handful of firehouses around the city in a belt-tightening move that critics say threatens to increase response times and that has residents and union officials seeing red. The department expects to save $9 million by deactivating three engine companies and one ladder for the overnight shift when the plan goes into effect on Jan. 17. "It's no secret that the city, the country is facing hard economic times," Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said yesterday as he detailed a $60 million cost-cutting package. All of the affected houses - Engine 4 in lower Manhattan, Engine 161 in Staten Island, Engine 271 in Brooklyn, and Ladder 53 on City Island in The Bronx - will lose one of their two units from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m., when covering units can respond faster. Between 80 and 100 firefighters will be reassigned across the city. The companies facing cutbacks - chosen based on the number of calls, response times, the amount and type of work that each unit does, their proximity to other houses, and geography - ranked among the 25 lowest in call volume out of the 350 units citywide. Union officials blasted the move. "More fatalities happen at night," Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy said. "Closing companies compromises public safety." Engine companies are responsible for putting water on fires and assisting EMS in medical emergencies, while ladder companies search for victims trapped in blazes. Chief Salvatore Cassano said the cuts were made "in the areas where we think it will have the least impact." Also facing the ax is the fire station on Governors Island, a unit manned by three Bravest who responded to only 10 calls in the last 22 months. tom.liddy@nypost.com