Bush greatly increased the already massive subsidies to the farming industry. The U.S. housing sector has benefited from indirect subdidies for decades. The southern-state auto makers have enjoyed considerable subsidies; why has TTAC never published an article about this? Ask Schreiber to write about this and I imagine he will. Aerospace relies on the public teat. Car transportation as such is subsidized; Tom Vanderbilt’s excellent book (reviewed by S Wilkinson at TTAC) describes how car drivers get a free ride. I could go on and on.

So, describing the bailout as un-American is totally unconvincing to me, especially when expressed in such strident tones.

It is true, the bailout ship has sailed. Reason and morality lost. However that does not mean truth should not be reported and facts should be ignored.

Please continue with the site as-is.

Banks got into trouble because they had the inability (or indifference) to determine which customers are able to pay them back. There is no difference between giving money to car companies who make products nobody wants to buy and giving money to banks who will then lend this money out to customers they shouldn’t be lending to. If anything, bailing out banks is worse, because if it fails, you’re throwing bad money after good, and if it works, then you’re just putting more people into more debt.

Excellent point. I noticed it was the hilarious Iowahawk clip that seemed to spark all this angst about bailout posts. Iowahawk has never learned that contemporary satire consists of word plays about Bush and Hitler, or perhaps just playing a news clip and smirking while the audience laughs on cue.
I think the liberal reaction is honest; they actually can’t imagine someone would make fun of Barney Fwank or, gasp, Obama.

Keep it coming. As long as it’s labeled, I can skip over it if I don’t feel like reading it. I would only suggest more descriptive titles, so I don’t get halfway into a post and realize I don’t give a damn.

Great work, either way!

Yes, you were talking about the “situation” before most people knew there was a “situation”. And even at that, it took years to get to GM Deathwatch 200.

You’ve had 300+ bailout watches in a few months, and a lot of the time there wasn’t really anything new to report. Some days there are 3 or more bailout watches – way too much.

I don’t mind that your opinion of the bailout is different than my own – I’m only grudgingly in favor anyway. But the sheer repetition is making for a dull site. I appreciate a snarky comment as much as the next guy, but this isn’t The Onion.

If you’ll forgive the comparisson, reading TTAC is a bit like listening to Rush – same ‘ol, same ‘ol.

I’ve started thinking of this site as THAB – The Harangue About Bailouts.

Be careful of preaching to the choir.

Also as mentioned, some of the editorializing in the non-editorials can get a bit O’Reilly-esque…trying to sound open minded but not disguising your bias too well. But I’ve grown accustomed to your slant, so I think I can put the correct filter on most stuff.
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The truth can’t be told enough. It’s the so called “truths” we need to stop hearing so much. Tirelessly pointing out the truth ALWAYS works. Inevitably, a bunch of numbskulls always wants to shut it down, and they will become a loud minority until they do.

The Pelosi-vilifying video, though, is not bailout coverage. It is right wing noise machine “humor” at it’s usual juvenile best. It wasn’t informative, it has no basis in reality, and I didn’t laugh once. I have to guess that the original audio was swiped straight off of Limbuagh? Right.

Keep up the coverage. It is great – and very necessary – journalism. Your political editorials, though, usually leave a bad taste in my mouth.

It is true that the auto industry bailouts are a small proportion of the total amounts that have been handed out to the financial industry; I’d suspect that there are other more appropriate forums to kvetch about those, such as at Barrons or Wall Street Journal or our congresscritters’ email.

If anything, instead of throwing up 10 bail-out posts per day, keep the amount of content the same, but condense it into half as many posts. This will keep the “keep it up” people happy, while keeping those of us who are bored with bail-outs happy.

The greed, mismanagement and short-sighted thinking in the domestic auto industry has been completely overshadowed by the greed, mismanagment and short-sighted thinking in the banking, housing and investment industries. The federal money going into the domestic auto industry is currently less than 10% of the $700 million that has already been approved. This might be a big deal to you guys, but it is small potatos compared to what’s going on in the rest of the business world. If you want to see real injustice, consider how much money is going to the failed financial managers and executives. These guys make Wagonner look like Stephen Hawking.

Also, we’re going to see a lot more federal money going to preserve and create jobs in this economy. Bitchin’ and moanin’ about the money going to Detroit is going to seem a little silly when there’s going to be money going to Pittsburgh (steel), Seattle (aerospace) and Florida (just because.)

Finally, in addition to trying to maintain some perspective, please try to maintain your sense of humor. This is a lot that is laughable here, in a tragi-comic kind of way and seeing the humor among this madness is one thing that the TTAC writers have always been able to do. Keep it up.

Cheers,

Job well done…and keep it coming.

“I would like to see some discussion on what sort of cars we think they will probably make, what would make them different and hopefully better than what we have now.”

This is a great idea!

It was a link here, http://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/BasEss1.html
where I read one of the Selected Essays on Political Economy by Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) The idea of the state moving money from successful industries to unsuccessful companies to satisfy their political agendas.

Lately, I realized the slippery slope that North America is moving on, away from the democratic constitution. I have been told by someone who lived in eastern Europe that because the State took upon itself the responsibility of finding every one a job it was often necessary for the state to support otherwise failing companies and fund the production of goods – that nobody wanted – in order to secure those jobs. It’s been said that had they, instead, made food a priority, then probably the Iron curtain would still exist. As increasing numbers here are depleting the foodbanks I can’t help feeling that history will repeat.

The effects of out of control production are already becoming visible, as was pointed out in TTAC, in Canada since we have the decommissioned Downsview airbase being used to store hundreds of unwanted Dodge Challengers. Many more will be arriving soon, this time courtesy of the federal and provincial governments, as Cerberus feeds from the $400m of taxpayers dollars to keep plants and suppliers alive – because investors and the banks won’t. All the while We The People have no voice in this with the gates to Parliament continuing to be locked. Parliament is currently shut down until Jan 26th – “prorogued” they call it . That’s right, To heck with the economy, our recently and legally elected politicians won’t agree to work together inside a minority government at this very important time !

Yes we need to be informed and continue to stick our nose in the doings of those close ties between our government and private business. Certainly not to walk away. What’s that old saying ? That evil triumphs when good men (or women) do nothing.

Give me a buzz when you folks start bitching about having to bail out investment banks due to their greed and lack of scruples. Until then, I’ll get my news info from other less obsessed sources, even if those sources come from the mainstream.

When did our relationship start, oh, deathwatch…why? I knew nothing about a deathwatch for the 2.8 until catching your posts (iGoogle gadgets), especially Chrysler as I do like and was trying to be optimistic about their product. Now “Bailout” caught my eye because I do not think that “We the People” need to be financing the 2.8’s lack of foresight. You and I both know these Exec’s are supposed to be the best and brightest. The Fortune 100 Company I work for started cost cutting measures over two years ago and we are still cutting back. All the while 2-3 billion dollar corporate building projects are on-going.

So when you get time do a post on the “2010 Ford Taurus Large Sedan” as I have not searched TTAC for it yet.