Hooray, Common Sense Prevails...

... for now. The ridiculous bailout for the not-so-big 3 has failed in the Senate. It failed to pass in the Senate because the UAW refused to support a Republican-sponsored bill that cut union wages. I say just abolish it. I suppose I can't really call this bill not passing "common sense" because it didn't fail on the basis of people refusing to pass it, it failed on insignificant minutiae. There is NO reason that a bailout should pass through the Senate (why it passed the House is beyond me), and to me, it is infuriating that our elected officials are acting on their own whims as opposed to the pleadings of the folks they're supposed to support. Even if their constituents are split, the guiding hand in our country is (well, should be) the Constitution, which does not in any way give Congress power to decide to make taxpayers bail out large corporations (in fact, that's called socialism, which is why that power was never given to Congress).

Moving on, the Bush administration (in all their infinite wisdom) has made a statement saying that they will not allow the big 3 to fail, and have plans on using part of the $700B from the bank bailout to keep the auto industry from imploding until Congress reconvenes next month. Sad days ahead for us all. 

I've said it before, but it's the automakers' fault and it's the UAW's fault that this is happening. The automakers fought tougher fuel standards and continued to make sub-par models that drove consumers to more richly designed imports that came with the same features, better design, better fuel economy, and often a smaller price tag. The UAW strangled the auomakers, because they are bloated and overpowered and they could. Now they are both begging to a bailout, though the UAW is too dense to allow union wage cuts to be part of a bailout plan, which cost them today's bailout vote. Oops.

I'd like to say that eventually these companies will learn, but as long as we continue to throw money at them, they never will. In his mad dash to secure a legacy that he hopes will exonerate him in the eyes of historians (don't even get me started), Bush is insisting that we cannot allow the auto industry to fail. Save the American company - the sadly mismanaged company run by greedy SOBs - at the expense of the American taxpayers. 

More to the point, let's call this what it is: socializing this country. Anybody who does not now see this bailout crap for what it is is either completely naive or voluntarily ignorant. Part of the definition of capitalism is that companies that suck go out of business. The simple fact of the matter is that even without the current economic crisis, domestic automakers were well on their way to bankrupting themselves, because the imports were better. By the rules of capitalism, a free market, companies who cannot adapt to keep up with the times should die so that the companies who are more successful can take their place. This is not what's happeneing here with the bailouts (I'm also talking about the bank bailouts). We are very quickly moving away from a capitalist sort of economy, and we are barreling right down the throat of socialism, which advocates the government owning industry and forced spreading of wealth (as seen with taxpayers bailing out large corporations and banks). 

As our Congress sits back and indulges themselves with the feeling that they are doing the right thing, patting themselves on the back for such a hard effort, I can visualize the House floor as they received word of the bailout passing. I picture cheers and whoops, like something amazing and good was actually accomplished in that room. Yet the image sickeningly paralell to another, this out of Star Wars. The new Emperor announcing that he is taking over the government, turning it into a dictatorship, and everybody is applauding. And we see Padme Amidala, and she says, "So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause." It rings so true right now, as we edge closer and closer to that precipitous drop, where the government owns it all and the idea of capitalism, of a free market, of the liberties on which we have prided ourselves on as Americans, blow away, nothing more than dust in the wind.

There is one person, though, who is fighting against the socialization of America, our own Padme, if you will. Ron Paul. At the moment, he's fighting a losing battle (as evidenced by the passing of both bailout packages through the House). I'd like to take a moment here to urge you to call your representatives when Congress reconvenes after the holidays. Your Congressmen are currently throwing your country away, so now is not the time to sit idly by and watch. Contact your Congressmen, tell them in no uncertain terms that you oppose this and all future bailouts. Equally imprtant, however, is that you hold them accountable. If they end up voting for these bailout plans, do not vote them back into office when they come up for re-election. The power of your vote is what holds sway over their votes, and if they won't listen to you, put somebody in office who will

You can find contact information for all Congressmen at campaignforliberty.org (it's on the "States" page). While you're there, check out some of the literature they have posted on the site. It's remarkably educational.

Auto Bailout Update

The news of last night saddens me a bit. The House passed the auto bailout plan yesterday evening 237-170. Dispicable. 

Now the campaign is on to convince the Senate to turn this thing away. There's no reason at all that the not-so-big 3 should ever be bailed out. Period. they are private companies that were mismanaged and overrun by an all-too-powerful union. They should go under, in my most humble opinion. 

Visit Congress.gov to find the contact information for your Senators to urge them to vote "no" on this bailout plan. 

Fun with Bailouts

That title was meant more in an ironic sense...

So anyway, in brief bailut news:

The Big 3 (Ford, Chrysler, and GM) are still petitioning the g-man for a large sum of money to help get their businesses back on track. There is a problem with their proposed business models, however. Namely, it assumes people will buy their cars. As sales trends have shown over the past decade or so, people don't. They buy "imports". I quote imports because more of my Honda was built in the good ol' US of A than any car offered by the Big 3 (at least at the time of my purchase). More than 70% of my car was built and manufactured here. It has US-built parts and was assembled in a US factory. When I was shopping big 3, I was lucky to find a US-built percentage greater than 50%. It's sad, all things considered. 

I've been accused of being heartless by certain people who are supporting this idiotic bailout plan, but if you stop to think about it for a moment, these three companies have had years to fix themselves. I mean this at both the companies' execs and the overpaid union workers who are employed by them. The money-mongering executives rode on the SUV wave and failed miserably to put any money back into R&D to invest in a future where gas wasn't $0.99 a gallon. Gas prices have been trending upwards for at least 8 years, but instead on noticing, the car companies sat on their haunches while the import companies innovated and innovated again. 

The bloated and overpowered Union of Automotive Workers is also to blame though. The car companies have to pay exorbitantly to employ anybody because of the outrageous demands of the inflated union. I read somewhere that GM pay an average of $2400 per car above the cost of the employees' salaries for benefits and other union fees. I won't vouch for the validity of that particular statistic, but if it's true, it's outrageous. Unions have gone past their prime and should have faded out a long time ago. 

Nevermind the domestic vs. import dispute. People aren't buying cars at all. What part of that does a bailout fix? None. When (if) the economy stabilizes, we're still left with a trend of declining big 3 car sales. The collapse of the big 3 is completely inevitable, so I say let 'em burn.

Yet, Congress is still at it. Here's the draft of the bill proposing the bailout as posted by CNN today. Barack Obama, our oh so wonderful President-elect has said that he supports the bailout as well... so long as fuel economy improves. 

Anyway, I'm done ranting. Down with bailout proposals! They won't help anything (and they haven't yet, but more on that in another blog).