Auto bailout could be harbinger for Obamacare
By Dana Milbank, WashPost, Published: December 16
When will the criticism of Obamacare finally end?
I’ve done some research on the question, and by my calculations, judging from current trends, this will happen approximately . . . never.
I base this on the criticism of the auto bailout of early 2009. Almost five years later, the industry is healthy again and large swaths of the Midwest have been spared what would have been certain economic devastation. All this was achieved for a relatively modest sum: When the government’s last shares of General Motors were sold last week, the total cost to save GM and Chrysler came to about $12 billion. It would seem that the argument against the bailout has been settled. Yet opponents continue to argue their case — if anybody will listen.
On Monday, I resolved to listen. I went to the National Press Club, where the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative group, was arguing that the GM bailout was a big mistake. When I arrived two minutes before the start of the news conference, I was the only reporter in the room; eventually, two others joined me.
(More here.)
When will the criticism of Obamacare finally end?
I’ve done some research on the question, and by my calculations, judging from current trends, this will happen approximately . . . never.
I base this on the criticism of the auto bailout of early 2009. Almost five years later, the industry is healthy again and large swaths of the Midwest have been spared what would have been certain economic devastation. All this was achieved for a relatively modest sum: When the government’s last shares of General Motors were sold last week, the total cost to save GM and Chrysler came to about $12 billion. It would seem that the argument against the bailout has been settled. Yet opponents continue to argue their case — if anybody will listen.
On Monday, I resolved to listen. I went to the National Press Club, where the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative group, was arguing that the GM bailout was a big mistake. When I arrived two minutes before the start of the news conference, I was the only reporter in the room; eventually, two others joined me.
(More here.)
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2 Comments:
I wrote a paper in college explaining why the Chrysler bailout of the time was a bad idea, one of my points was that government bailouts only allow poorly managed companies to limp along until they need another infusion of taxpayer cash. It took longer than I would have predicted but... On a related note, my primary reason against bailouts is that the government should be an umpire (only) and not a player. When government is allowed to both rule and participate in commerce, we see things such as the union preferences with the latest round of auto bailouts.
we can repeal dodd-frank and replace it with The Dempsey Bill which states the following:
"The Federal Government will never again bail out another company facing bankruptcy"
Who needs Dodd-Frank and the millions of words of text and thousands of pages when all you need is 'no more bailouts'
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