Thumbing its nose at the American people, who have opposed a bailout for automakers by a two-to-one margin in public opinion polls, the Bush Administration is pushing a $17.4 billion bailout for automakers General Motors and Chrysler, even though a similar bailout plan was rejected by the Senate earlier this month, on the ground that it would do nothing to fix what ails the auto industry.
Many of the beneficiaries of the bailout are well-to-do special interest groups who have been exploiting American consumers for years but would lose out if the automakers cut their costs by filing for bankruptcy: the United Auto Workers union, whose members receive $70 an hour in compensation (more than double what most American workers earn), and redundant auto dealers who can’t be terminated to cut automakers’ costs, thanks to state dealer franchise laws.
In an insult to voters’ intelligence, the Administration claims that the bailout is merely a loan, which will have to be paid back if the automakers turn out to be “unviable.” Of course, if the automakers are unviable, they will, by definition, be unable to pay back the massive loan. The only reason for the loan in the first place is that the automakers are verging on bankruptcy. The so-called “conditions” that the Bush Administration placed on the “loan” are “non-binding” and a joke.
Even if the insolvent automakers did manage to pay the ”loan” back in the event they were found to be “unviable,” it would only be by failing to pay their other obligations, like moneys owed to the auto suppliers who increasingly do most of the actual auto construction in this country — and whose survival is one of the stated reasons for the bailout!
We earlier argued that the Bush Administration’s plan for an auto bailout was illegal, as are some other federal bailout measures in response to the mortgage meltdown and financial crisis.
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Obvious Questions here (or non-obvious since I've not seen it asked): How can the prez make this loan happen without Congressional approval?
Watch this Detroit News Video
http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=1189
Explain to me again why we are asked to bail out the UAW jobs? Only Ford seems to have a grip on reality but they can't do what they want to in the USA! The UAW won't permit it. Ford also has very fuel effecient autos but, again, not for America. Why? Because they're diesel.
So tell me again why I want to subsidize the auto industry!
In the video you heard right — The U.A.W. voted against this ????
This is a short video of a new Ford plant in Brazil . One look at this and you will be able to tell why there will probably never be another one built in the USA or Canada.
And… pay attention to the last few words. That sentence says a lot!
This is the new “How a Bill Becomes a Law.” Streamlined, and without all that bothersome legislative interference.