You can only cry "Wolf, Wolf" a certain number of times. -- Rescue Bid for Detroit Collapses in Senate
My 9-24-08 post entitled “It’s financial socialism, and it’s un-American” expressed the feelings of many and set the stage for what happened in the U.S. Senate on Thursday. That post provided:
[An] expression of disgust came from Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, who said the plan would “take Wall Street’s pain and spread it to the taxpayers.”
“It’s financial socialism, and it’s un-American,” Mr. Bunning said.
Although I had many posts on the subject, one of my favorites was done on 9-27-08 and was entitled "The bailout bill probably will be passed Sunday or Monday. Here is someone Omaba should consider to be his Secretary of the Treasury."
It featured the above photo of Sen. Shelby, and provided:
Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) is the highest-ranking Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee, and the initial, one of the few, and clearly the most outspoken voices of dissent in the U.S. Senate on the bailout legislation.
This sentiment is part of what is behind Thursday's action in Washington. As reported in The Wall Street Journal:
A frantic, last-ditch attempt to forge a relief package for the auto industry collapsed in the U.S. Senate, dealing a giant blow to the immediate hopes of the Big Three.
General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC . . . both hope the White House will now relent and allow the Treasury to provide emergency loans from the $700 billion Wall Street fund . . . .
[GM in a statement said] that it will "assess all of our options to continue our restructuring and to obtain the means to weather the current economic crisis."
GM has already hired some of the U.S.'s biggest names in restructuring to consider whether to file for bankruptcy protection . . . .
Only a handful of Republicans in the Senate had been willing to support the rescue package. Some raised concerns about government intervention in the marketplace.
Congress also remains bitter over the handling of the $700 billion financial rescue, which lawmakers on both sides feel they were pushed into approving and are displeased with the results.
"We simply cannot ask the American taxpayer to subsidize failure," said Sen. McConnell, suggesting the Big Three would have to find a way to survive without congressional help.
Congress -- at least the Senate -- listened to the taxpayers on this vote. Congress was pushed into approving the $700 billion bailout plan, and you can only cry "Wolf, Wolf" a certain number of times.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 1:27 AM
2 Comments:
Time is going to tell what effect this will have on the economy, but my guess is that it is going to be catastrophic. Either GM and Chrysler will sell to China or simply go under. They will have to get money from somewhere to stay afloat. If not, hundreds of thousands are going to lose jobs. I'm infuriated at Bunning, Shelby, and the others, who aren't really concerned about the socialistic aspect of this. They simply want the big three to go under to benefit the foreign manufactureres in their states. Quite a change from a few years ago, when these same men would have decried the death of a U.S. industry for the benefit of foreign companies and railed against a liberal bias.
One other point. If Detroit does fail and isn't crying wolf, there is a good chance the foreign manufacturers will depart our shores for warmer climes to the south. At the moment their labor costs are approximately $30/hr, not much different from Detroit, regardless of what the Repubs say. If they have effectively killed off the competition with the help of U.S. politicians, then they have no reason to stay here.
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