AutoExtremist is Wrong. Again. Still. 61% Oppose Motown Bailout

Ken Elias just emailed me, asking why I’d neglected to blog Peter DeLorenzo’s Wednesday rant. Ken was irked by Sweet Pete’s claim that a 20 percent decline in car-related California sales tax proves that America ought to bail out his pals in Detroit. DeLorenzo writes: “‘This is very bad for states,’ Donald Boyd, senior fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government told the Times, who went on to point out that sales taxes are the first or second most-important revenue source in almost every state. And to think there are people still out there who suggest that the collapse of the domestic automobile business somehow ‘won’t affect them.'” I also thought that passage was a pan-Pacific-sized stretch. But its was the self-styled Autoextremist’s “the fat lady done sung” triumphalism that caught my attention. “In just this past week, the true value of the domestic automobile industry is coming to the fore, and people all across this country are starting to take notice.” You bet they are—but not in the way that Pete fervently desires and hysterically promotes. A new CNNMoney poll suggests that 61 percent of Americans are opposed to a federal bailout for the AutoExtremist’s hometown heroes. And that’s not all . . .

“A full 70% of respondents indicated that a bailout is unfair to taxpayers. In addition to being unfair, the poll showed that a majority of those surveyed think a bailout would not help the economy.”

Common sense? Bailout fatigue? Blind, pig-ignorant Detroit hatred? Whatever the reason for those numbers (and you can guess which one Mr. D would choose), that’s a $40 billion bucket of not good for the D2.8’s call on the public purse. Politicians are politicians; there are only so many times their going to vote against an opinion held by 70 percent of the electorate. Especially if they think this thing is going to blow up good. Which it will.

Ken reckons we’re looking at “a [bankruptcy] with an expedited reorganization with a Government trustee to speed things up given that the money is coming from the Feds.” Hell Congress might even tell Chrysler and their private owners to go fuck themselves (although Ken would NEVER let those words escape his lips). Bottom line: this is going to be one Hell of a show. And no matter what happens, someone’s gonna get hurt. And everyone knows it.