The Devil is in the Details, or Who Really Cares About the Auto Industry

From media coverage, it appears like once again only Obama and the Democrats care about the auto industry. From media coverage, it appears that the Republicans and their cut-throat capitalism mentality are about to let the Big Three fail. Media coverage, like usual, is flat out lying wrong.

From the Detroit News comes this story. Apparently, Bush and the Republicans want to use a portion of that $700 billion bail out bill to go to the auto industry, with few conditions or string attached. The Democrats, Obama and Pelosi, are blocking this immediate relief. If they can stall this bill and extend the panic, they may be able to wring more personal and political power out of it, and that's what they want to do.

The goal of this bill is to save the auto companies from going under, but Pelosi wants to turn it into a deal with the devil. In order to get the $25 billion loan, Pelosi wants the auto companies to give the government ownership stake in the companies (of course, if the investment goes bad, you and I get to bail out the investment, and hence it is not the real ownership of putting your hard earned money up in a wild gamble for success).

She and Obama, using their newly found powers of being dictators over companies and individuals, are blackmailing companies with money they took from them in the first place in the form of increasing business taxes, to increase fuel efficiency standards. They want to force the Big Three to knuckle under to the demands of the extreme left environmental groups, and build cars that are expensive for consumers here, and undesirable to consumers abroad.

Furthermore, Pelosi says that "the Democratic plan includes even stronger limits on executive compensation". So let's get this straight- auto companies struggle to be managed well and make money in spite of crippling government policies, the money they make is taxed at ever higher amounts, the auto company is driven towards bankruptcy by the government, the government comes in to rescue them with the money that was taken from them, and demands that for this gift the auto company drive away its management and adopt more crippling government policies.

I can even see the future- the auto companies, under poor management and adopting bad government ideas, struggles further, the government buys a larger stake in the company, further troubles, and eventually the state owns all the auto companies in the US, and to protect them puts up trade restrictions, and then the next thing you know, you are living in China! And in this whole process, the good guy is Pelosi and Obama and the Democrats?!