This is what scares me about the things that have been going on in Washington for the last few months. Think about what has been happening recently, then think about the definition of socialism - An economic system in which the production and distribution of goods are controlled substantially by the government rather than by private enterprise, and in which cooperation rather than competition guides economic activity.
Yeah, I can’t wait to have a car czar. What a brilliant idea.
From what I can tell foreign auto makers, who do a substantial amount of their business in the U.S., have remained silent on this bailout for their American counterparts. The confusing part here is that I would expect the foreign auto makers to be up in arms. They certainly provide enough jobs in the U.S. that their voices will be heard just as loudly as the Failed Three. So why aren’t they complaining about the bailout and salivating at the chance to significantly reduce the competition?
Ok, Derek wrote about the exciting, if you are a libertarian or free-market republican, failure of the Big Three Bailout. Now what happens from here? Harry Reid, and congressional Democrats, are pressuring George W. into using the monies from the TARP program to extend a loan to the Big Three. Read more…
The bailout of the Big Three was shot down in the Senate. The UAW refused to lower their wages (which are currently about $69 an hour including benefits) until 2011. That was not good enough for the Republicans and a few Democrats in the Senate. They wanted to bring the wages down in line with that of the Japanese automakers in 2009. Their American workers are getting paid around $48 an hour including benefits.
A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the potential automaker bailout. Well, now the only real question is who will be appointed to the “car czar” position. It’s sad really, that the taxpayers are going to be on the hook for another 15 billion in bailout money. Apparently that is the amount that Congress thinks will save GM and Chrysler. Ford says they have enough cash to make it though 2009 as long as the other automakers don’t fail.
As Bushes term winds down I had hopes he would cling to some core conservative beliefs and refuse to cooperate on the auto industry bailout. First he allowed the financial industry to be bailed out with tax payer dollars. I think this was the wrong move but I’ll admit there are good reasons for this. Then he makes a speech in November defending the free market and explain why we must allow it to work. “Great”, I think to myself, “Now this is a policy I can get behind”. Now, imagine my disgust at reading this in a recent AP article:
At the White House, Bush declared the economy was in a recession, and he urged a gridlocked Congress to act quickly on a multibillion-dollar [auto] industry bailout _ with taxpayer protections.
It is clear that Bush has no idea what he thinks on the economy or free market capitilism. He can’t even keep his story straight week to week. I should go stand on the corner near an on-ramp with a sign reading “Will Vote for True Conservatives”. Heck, I’d even work for one.
Barack Obama effectively pardoned Joe Lieberman for supporting John McCain for president. Today, the Senate Democratic caucus voted 42 - 13 to let Lieberman keep his spot as the Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, wanted to punish Lieberman, but Obama asked Reid to “let bygones be bygones.” This is a great move by Obama in my opinion.
The United States government has been giving away cash faster than they can print it these days. They just extended the bailout of AIG to $150 billion. Now President-elect Obama, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid want to send money to Detroit to bailout the “Big Three.” GM, Ford, and Chrysler are all burning lots of cash these days, and after the $700 billion bailout to the banks and Wall Street they decided to hold their collective hands out and see what happens. To be honest, I don’t blame them one bit. However, I think that it is ridiculous that the American taxpayer continues to foot the bill for these terrible businesses that can’t seem to take care of themselves.
