Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Buddy Can You Spare $25 Bazillion!

House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi is eager to give the auto industry $25 billion to help them avoid looming disaster. And why not? How about we simply give them blank checks and have them tell taxpayers what they need? At this point it’s all funny money and it’s all a joke anyhow.

If Conservatives are going to come back from oblivion, support for this type of spending needs to end. I am hopeful that President Bush will not mark his final two months by approving a bailout for Detroit on top of what’s already been done for Wall Street.

Companies who produce poor products that don’t sell tend to fail. And that is as it should be. Bailing companies out will only prolong the agony and delay the inevitable.

The previous bailout, which I absolutely did not support, at least had a case. When credit markets freeze up, an economy can go into a tail spin very rapidly. A credit freeze negatively effects business across industries. It has potentially wide ranging consequences. Having said that, again, I did not and do not now support it. I don’t know where the $700B figure came from for that. And I don’t know why it had to be done in warp speed.

However, bailing out specific companies and industries is beyond indefensible. Jobs will be lost in the American auto industry and they should be. They lack vision, produce poor cars, and have too high a cost structure to compete. Government bailouts of this sort sets a precedent that is frightening. This is not bailing anybody out. Instead it just prolongs the necessary pain and delays the eventual remedy.

1 comment:

Greg Kern said...

Hi Dennis!

I agree with the general message of the last several posts, and I (to disagree just a tad) am adamantly Reagan-esque with the declaration, "Government IS the problem!!" Just about every time the Fed gets involved in some problem or other in our society, they EFF it up... I for one hold to the Conservative principle of LESS government, ACCOUNTABLE government, and a decentralization of MUCH of the Federal powers back down to the States... I am, as McCain claims to be, a Federalist, and I often say, "the South was right!" when it comes to a deep distrust and disdain for what we see coming out of Washington. These "bail-outs", as you have noted, are doing nothing more than CHEATING Americans by propping up business sectors that should be ALLOWED TO FAIL... This is why I also often say that the now-Democrat controlled government has us on a course for "the Matrix Society" where businesses and citizens are encouraged to forgo any sense of independence and "jack in" to the government feed trough... You can almost hear Nanny Sam saying, "there now, it'll be okay... Just close your eyes and relax as the Machines drain your money, and your liberties, away from you..."

I am troubled by the idea that as our nation becomes catatonic in this new Socialist regime, there will be very few of us left who say to the government, as Dave Ramsey says, "Just leave me ALONE!"

And it would not surprise me in the least to begin seeing an Obama administration launch some kind of "citizen watchdog crew" that makes it a crime to dissent from his "vision" for America... We may even have citizens ratting out other citizens who speak out against the System...

We need you, Neo...