Bailout Watch 463: Detroit: "Just Shut Up and Give Us the Money"
Unbelievable. And yet, there it is, in The Detroit News‘ unsigned editorial: “President Barack Obama’s promise of aid to the auto industry is welcome, but it would also be helpful to the Detroit automakers if he stopped badmouthing them. The president late last week said he expected to provide additional assistance to the struggling manufacturers, but he added that they couldn’t expect to rely on building more sport utility vehicles and depend on continued low gasoline prices.” Yeah, we pointed out the fallacy of President Obama’s pandering to the “Detroit’s comeuppance is due to the fact they were (are?) greedy bastards who forced Americans into SUVs” shibboleth. But we (and by that I mean and I) don’t support the Motown bailouts. Never have. Never will. And, as far as I know, I don’t live on Planet Claire. “While Obama acknowledged the huge slump in auto sales that is hampering the recovery of the auto firms, he still implied that they’re not making vehicles the public wants. That’s just not true.” A genuine WTF moment, n’est-ce pas?
If the president is serious about seeking to preserve a domestic auto industry, he’ll slow the administration’s rush to impose more stringent fuel economy rules on the industry than currently required by Congress, and he’ll reject bids by California and other states to impose their own piecemeal emissions and fuel economy regulations.
Obama is right to worry about throwing “good money after bad” in aiding the auto industry and Detroit firms should be held accountable for their use of assistance funds.
But his repetition of conventional but erroneous views of Detroit automakers and their products won’t help the cause of preserving the industry.
Well, yes; I mean, no. I mean, yes, Obama is using FUD to git ’er done. But he’s doing it for Motown or, at least, its unions. The DetN’s bite-the-hand-that-feeds attitude is an affront to all the hard-working taxpayers outside of fortress Detroit paying for this absurd bridge to nowhere financing.
And since when has anyone at GM or Chrysler been held accountable for their epic mismanagement? Isn’t that the reason they’re snuffling at a $60B+ taxpayer trough? Clearly, nothing short of bankruptcy will force Motown and its camp followers to face reality. SOS.
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You shouldn`t have voted for a presidential candidate according to what he promised during the primaries. You should have voted according to the candidates record , what the candidate had actually done prior to the primaries. Obama has not physically enginered a single part ,detail or run a single company, and his solutions of bailing out everyone with fiat money, just shows what kind of CFR bird he is. His promises of `we will do this, we will do that ` are just annoying. Obama, why don`t you open your wallet and pay with your own money for what you offer. Otherwise he probably even doesn`t know that money doesn`t grow on trees ( or Bushes). Has he ever asked where do those trillions come from? Why not starting export of real manufactured items instead of inflation? So how do you restructure an auto industry? How do you make your products more competetive? just kick in ass your engineers and expect them to crank out 8-speed robo-gearboxes or what? It doesn`t matter that the industry will be restructured, if the real products won`t be as good as european or japanese, there are no chances. So before some Bob Putz or Dick Wagoneer ask for some cash, why not ask them how exactly, dollar by dollar they plan to spend the money?