Detractors of capitalism decry that it caters to special interests. The opposite is actually true. Just look at what’s happened in the last year.

Most of Wall Street came to government asking for a bailout when the government-created housing bubble popped.

The Big Three automakers also went to Washington for largesse when their customers came to prefer Toyotas and Hondas.

Health insurance companies stand to make a killing if Obamacare passes.

T. Boone Pickens and Al Gore would make millions from environmental legislation.

Ludwig von…

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As Frederic Bastiat succinctly noted long ago, when determining the effects of a specific action, it is necessary to consider not only “what is seen” — the observed effects of that action — but also “what is not seen” — opportunities forsaken for the chosen course of action. In public policy, this means that it is necessary to look not only at the alleged benefits of a specific policy after it’s enacted, but also at what would have happened if…

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The federal government is spending more than $50 billion to bail out General Motors, with no end in sight. But the UAW union refused to sacrifice its privileged position to save the company, demanding excessive wages and benefits that are much higher than most Americans get. The Obama Administration caved in to its demands, saddling GM with high labor costs that may doom the company in the long run.

As the Washington Post notes today, the “concessions” that Obama obtained from the UAW were…

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So reads the Washington Examiner’s editorial today about how Obama effectively gave ownership of Chrysler to the United Auto Workers Union (which spent millions electing Obama), rather than taxpayers (who have spent billions to bail out Chrysler) or the institutions that lent money to Chrysler based on the legal right and expectation that they would receive its assets before the UAW union would. Veteran political commentator Michael Barone also calls it “gangster government.” The UAW will also retain “lucrative” pension and health benefits,…

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Contradicting earlier claims, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has switched to the Democratic Party, cementing the liberals’ filibuster-proof majority on most issues in the Senate.

What is strange about this is that the reason Specter gave for leaving the Republican Party was not social issues (Specter is socially liberal, not just on things like abortion, but also on racial preferences, which are unpopular with the general public and moderate voters), but rather his vote for the bloated $800 billion stimulus package, which will actually…

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The Bush administration’s outline of its automaker bailout package lists some seemingly sensible changes in labor practices that GM and Chrysler need to make. (Ford, to its credit, is seeking private financing instead.)

Targets: The terms and conditions established by Treasury will include additional targets that were the subject of Congressional negotiations but did not come to a vote, including:

Reduce debts by 2/3 via a debt for equity exchange.
Make one-half of VEBA payments in the form of stock.
Eliminate the jobs…

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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…

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National Review editor Rich Lowry, who mistakenly supported the financial system bailout because he trusted the Bush Administration, now realizes that he was deceived by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen, and that the bailout was sold to the public under false pretenses.

Having promised to use bailout money to buy up troubled assets, the Bush Administration instead used the money for completely different purposes, and now wants to use some of it to bail out an entirely different industry — the automakers.  The…

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There are hundreds of regulations that Congress and agencies have imposed on the auto industry, driving up their costs unnecessarily. As an illustration, these are the new rules from the DOT identified by Wayne Crews in the 2008 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments:

– Reform of the automobile fuel economy standards program.
– Light-truck Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (2012 model years and beyond).
– Upgrade of head restraints in vehicles.
– Rear center lap and shoulder belt requirement.
– Monitoring systems for improved tire…

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Apple's 1984 "Big Brother" ad

An article over at Ad Age brings up an angle on the whole auto industry bailout probably not considered much before.  The fact that a yet-to-be-appointed “car czar” will have control over a multibillion dollar advertising budget for the big three.  Under the guise of “oversight,” this would effectively “Create World’s Most Powerful Marketing Exec[utive].”  

The draft rescue plan for Detroit sent to the White House by Congress yesterday calls for the appointment of a “car czar”…

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Mickey Kaus, a moderate Democrat, explains how the proposed auto bailout contains little leverage for the proposed “auto czar” to really cut the excessive labor costs that threaten the automakers’ survival, and how it is unlikely that the government will “get its money back,” contrary to what the bailout’s (mostly Democratic) supporters claim.

We earlier noted that auto workers at American-owned plants are paid $70 an hour in compensation, while workers at the U.S. factories owned by foreign car markers get…

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George Will has an interesting column on how the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that many liberal lawmakers want to reimpose in order to shut down Talk Radio squelched discussion of controversial issues in the past, and how it was used as a deliberate tool of censorship by past liberal administrations. (We discussed the Fairness Doctrine operates in practice a few weeks ago). Other liberal activists wish to undermine Talk Radio by imposing “localism” requirements that would eliminate opportunities for discussion of national…

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Jeremy Clarkson on the fall of the British Auto Industry:

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While lawmakers consider whether or not to bail out an industry they holed beneath the waterline, perhaps they could learn from the history on another once-thriving auto industry, that of Great Britain. It’s a salutary tale.

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