My Official Position on an Automotive Bailout

You Have Got to be Kidding Me.

 

Of course, they’re not kidding anyone.  They’re deadly serious, even as top officials at UAW insist Detroit was making money like gangbusters.  That’s the saddest part – they seriously think this isn’t their fault.  The “big 3” have been inching closer and closer to oblivion for decades.  It was common knowledge, at least until involved parties turned the spin machine up to 11.  We’ve always been at war with Eastasia.  Duh.

 

And this is why the other bailout was a bad idea.  You can’t arbitrarily fork over billions of taxpayer dollars to a relatively few institutions and not expect every single corporation in the country to find a good case for jumping on the gravy train.  ”Too big too fail” isn’t a slippery slope, it’s sheer cliff.  Newsflash:  Companies have to fail in the competitive marketplace.  Not just little ones.  When a company – or an industry – fails, it’s not just “the times.”  It’s also, without exception, a combination of a bad idea and bad management.  If you prop up failing companies, they continue to fail.  They just do it at our expense.

 

Let us suppose, for a moment, the United States guarantees the success of any company in this “too big to fail” category.  What exactly do you think the executives of those companies would do?  Magically become self-motivated to wean themselves off the public breast, find new revenue streams, and prove to everyone they’re financially stable?  Or perhaps they’ll discover they find the taste of free federal milk delicious?