Bailout Watch 148: Dems Plan on $25b Detroit Bailout. For Now.

by Robert Farago

November 5th, 2008 4:43 PM

bailout watch 148 dems plan on 25b detroit bailout for now

Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that freshly emboldened Democrats are looking for Uncle Sam to underwrite another $25b worth of no- to low-interest loans for embattled American automakers. And they hope to get the cash money to GM, Ford and (if they’re still around) Chrysler by year’s end– without any of those pesky strings that made the Department of Energy’s $25b no- to low-interest “retooling” loans such a PITA. Yes, “The source [“familiar with the discussions”] said Democratic lawmakers want the second $25 billion in loans to be more flexible than the first batch. The loans would be part of a proposed stimulus package of $100 billion to $300 billion to be considered in a lame-duck session of Congress. The size of the package would depend on what outgoing President Bush finds acceptable.” While we’re not big on AN’s speculation– I mean “source”– the unnamed spy offered an interesting codicil to the down-low. “The source said Democrats are not inclined to provide loans to support a proposed General Motors purchase of Chrysler LLC.” Not inclined? Does that mean, oh go on, twist my arm?

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4 of 9 comments

Jacob on Nov 05, 2008

100% agree. American unions are driving the domestic industries out of business (or country) and bankrupting (the heavily unionized) state governments. Despite being one of most unionized in the world, our education system churns out students who perform worse than those of most other developed countries.

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Ihatetrees on Nov 05, 2008
Voice of Sweden: And despite that I’m not against unions as a concept, done right, the unions in the USA seems to be no good at all. These badly run unions are the real traitors of and threat to the american working class. Excellent point. Of course, Euro unions have their downsides. But somehow they've incorporated excellence in mid-level technical skills into their unions. It may have something to do with Euro K-12 education. Euro national governments enforce a testing and tracking education system that would make most progressive USA Democrats physically ill.

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210delray on Nov 05, 2008

I hope this bailout madness is stopped one way or the other, by Bush veto if necessary (not that I was ever a fan of Bush). We (as in collective "we") need to live within our means, which means no taxpayer dollars to support failing auto companies. They made their own bed; they can sleep in it.

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Voice of Sweden on Nov 05, 2008
ihatetrees) I would never claim swedish schools are perfect, but from what I hear about schools in the USA, they seem more like DDR or USSR than USA. As a funny link to the car bailout, and unions, read this quote about our school voucher system: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3717744.stm In some urban neighbourhoods, 10-20% of students now use the voucher scheme to attend private schools - leaving empty spaces at state schools. [me: read as: people ain't buying domestics no more] "Of course there are losers", says Mr Hultin, "because schools which do not attract parents lose out and they should be losers." [me: read as: so they should go out of business] Union co-operation Any scheme like this in Britain would attract fierce opposition from the teacher unions. Not so in Sweden. The Swedish Teachers Union, Lärarförbundet, supports the school choice policy. According to its president, Eva-lis Preisz, members were "a little suspicious at first" but are now satisfied by the restrictions which prevent private schools from charging top-up fees or selecting students. regards, Ron Paul for pres 2012

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