More on the Auto Bailout
Here’s a couple of follow-up pieces regarding the proposed bailout of the auto industry.
First, if you paid close attention to my first post regarding the the auto bailout, you will notice that I mentioned that the UAW was lobbying the Democrats to send an obscene amount of money to the auto makers to delay their inevitable demise.
Looks like I was correct. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger has stated the workers will not make any more concessions to help the slumping auto makers. Gettelfinger called for Congress to act quickly on a bailout plan for the auto industry.
Don’t you just love this? The UAW refuses to make concessions and then demands money from the government. Does it matter that a big reason the auto industry is failing is because unionized employees blackmail employers into paying far more in benefits and salary than they are worth? No. What matters is that unions retain their power. If Ford and GM go under, these unions and union leaders suddenly hold no power and they will not stand for that. So, instead of making concessions from their insane salary and benefits demands, they require that government give the industry money to keep it afloat. They trade the votes of the union membership for money in order to retain their power. Democrats are more than willing to play along since they are also seeking to retain power in the government.
Now to address another article I read regarding the auto industry bailout. I stated before that the Democrats were putting on a clinic on how to buy votes by pushing for an auto bailout. As it turns out, the current administration is guilty of this as well.
Bush is suggesting that the money used to bailout the auto industry come from loans that were approved in September (but not dispersed). He is suggesting that Congress accelerate the availability of these loans. Originally, these loans were earmarked for the purpose of helping auto makers build more fuel-efficient vehicles so that they could become more competitive in the global marketplace (even though they have failed to do this for decades spending their own money). Now these loans will be used to simple keep the companies from crapping out financially.
To sum up – Democrats want to send $25 billion from the financial bailout to the auto makers to secure their votes and Bush has upped the ante by allowing money that was originally set aside for the development of fuel efficient vehicles to be used to keep the auto makers from going under. Looks like the Republicans are going to secure a few votes for themselves in the next election.
Its bi-partisan vote-buying like this that has driven me to libertarianism. And the worst part is that they are buying votes with MY money.
Strike Back at the Bailout
If you’re like me, you’re not a fan of the government bailing out companies who decided to to make incredibly risky bets with borrowed money and companies that have been chronically mismanaged. When it’s all said and done, it’s not the federal government paying to bail-out these companies – it’s you and I. How do you suppose the government is going to pay back the money they borrowed to lend to these companies? Cut spending? Not a chance in hell – especially with Barack in the White House. If you think Bush spent a ton of money, just wait for the Obama Era.
Nope. The government will come to it’s people for the money. And they’ll come to us in the form of taxes. That’s right, they won’t ask us to help them out; they’ll forcefully take our money in the same way that they’ve been taking it since February 12, 1918 – through the income tax and other forms of taxation.
For the time being, you and I are powerless when it comes to avoiding taxes (unless you want to go to prison). However, we do have power over the companies receiving the bailout money. We can refuse to use their products and services. We can refuse to do business with them. If we’re already doing business with them, we can take our business elsewhere. If you’re really bold, you can demand your share of the money in the form of cash or discounts from these companies.
You’re government isn’t looking out for you – you have to look out for yourself. For a list of the companies and how much they’ve received thus far check out ProPublica. And for a blog with bailout news, check out BailoutSleuth.
Don’t just sit around and let these undeserving, foolishly managed companies take your money. Make your voice heard – use your power as a consumer to fight back.