Michelle Malkin » Obama and McCain both support $25 billion automaker bailout

Obama and McCain both support $25 billion automaker bailout

By Michelle Malkin • September 17, 2008 10:15 AM

The presidential nominees of the Evil Party and the Stupid Party both support a massive bailout of the auto industry.

Tack on another $25 billion to bailout-palooza. And forget conservative principles: Michigan’s electoral votes are at stake!

As I have said many times: God save us from bipartisanship.

If your blood pressure isn’t off the charts, you aren’t paying attention:

Among the few bills likely to actually become law before Congress closes shop for the elections is a plan to give struggling U.S. automakers $25 billion in federal loans.

Opponents criticize it as a taxpayer-funded industry bailout, but the legislation is steaming ahead anyway, buoyed by the support of both John McCain and Barack Obama.

It’s no coincidence that the legislation would help manufacturing states like Michigan and Ohio, whose voters could very well determine the outcome of the presidential election.

The loans would be used to help General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler LLC retool their factories to produce cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles as required under an energy bill passed last year.

The automaker loan program was established — but not funded — under the same bill. That sets it apart from the federal government’s intervention to prevent the collapse of Bear Stearns and a subsequent takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Funding is needed before any loans can be made. The money would subsidize the loans, provide a cushion for possible defaults and absorb the cost of permitting automakers to defer loan payments for up to five years. The Congressional Budget Office says the $25 billion in loans would cost the government $7.5 billion…

…For his part, McCain initially opposed the program, but reversed course after coming under assault.

“Our auto companies are rising to the challenge of building the next generation of American cars,” McCain said last month, adding that the government should “assist Detroit and its suppliers in making it through this difficult time of transition.”

Posted in: Barack Obama, John McCain, Subprime crisis

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#101

On September 18th, 2008 at 12:17 pm, pueblo1032 said:

The CAMEL got his nose under the tent with BEAR STEARNS, now we are sleeping with HIM… The problem is you can not keep afloat a failing SHIP… Nor can you keep afloat a FAILING BUSINESS… Both will take their NATURAL COURSE…
#104

On September 18th, 2008 at 1:24 pm, IndependentTom said:

Actually the camel got his nose under the tent long before.

But a more relevant and more recent example would be the savings and loan bailout of several decades ago.

Anyone remember the “Keating Five”?
#105

On September 19th, 2008 at 1:49 am, ScottyDog said:

The biggest reason The big three are going down the tubes is our own Federal Government. Where in the Constitution does it say the Federal Government has the right to dictate how Detroit builds automobiles.

That is exactly what is happening with CAFE standards and other standards imposed on the big three.In addition,foreign car makers do not pay the VAT tax because of our idiotic Congress. They do not compete on a level playing field.American car makers have to pay the VAT on all foreign exports.

And like another poster wrote, it is the free trade deals hatched in Congress that are destroying the middle class and the manufacturing base in the USA. NAFTA,CAFTA,and the FTA are all unconstitutional trade deals that will destroy our middle class in America.

IMHO-It is treason that we are being destroyed by our own elected representatives.

What amazes me is that Japanese would rather buy a Ford or GM but the cars are not built there with the same Idiotic Federal mandates we have here. Ford has a Diesel Automobile that sells in Asia that gets 65mpg and there is a waiting list of months to get one.

Ford is not allowed to sell that car in the USA because it does not meet Federal Auto Standards.

All Three Automakers sales are just fine worldwide but are down in America because of the Federal Motor Vehicles standards here enacted by our own CONGRESS, and by current, past Presidents.

There are literally millions of jobs at stake that revolve around the US auto industry.

If they would just abolish the regulations and taxes on the big three, they would be able to compete.

Time to vote the Anti American Elites out of Office and replace them with America First Candidates.

VOTE CHUCK BALDWIN FOR PRESIDENT 2008- The only Conservative that is running and is America First.
#108

On September 19th, 2008 at 4:32 pm, RobM1981 said:

We are so screwed, and we did it to ourselves.

Who were our choices for the last 8 years? A simpleton who would pretend to be fiscally conservative, or two simpletons who openly wouldn’t?

What are our choices NOW? Same thing.

Giuliani, who I didn’t like, has demonstrated fiscal conservatism. Romney less so, but certainly more than the fool that we have, or the one that we will get (take your choice). Thompson has no track record, but his stance is extremely fiscally conservative.

And not one of these men could even win the REPUBLICAN primary.

What does that say about us, as a nation?

We truly are getting the socialist government that we deserve. The only difference is who is getting the money – the rich, or the poor?

Either way, it’s the middle class that’s being squeezed.

If I have to pick, I’m having a hard time understanding why financing an investment banker’s mistake is better than financing a crack whore’s. Seriously – what’s the advantage of one over the other?

If I let the investment banker experience his own folly, I’ve got a good chance of him pulling his head out of his butt and earning an honest living again. So why, again, aren’t I letting them crash and burn?

Let them crash. Let them experience the agony that they want me to carry. Let them wake up again, and know what it’s like to work an honest day.

Give the crack whore the money. Let her use it to buy the hamburgers that the former-banker sells.

From a macro level, that seems to make more sense to me.

If we give it to the fool who got us here, without making him feel pain, he’ll just do it again.
#109

On September 19th, 2008 at 10:40 pm, Danceswithdachshunds said:

How much of my tax money is needed to abolish the CAFE standards and the ethanol mandate?
#110

On September 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am, Irish Rose said:

People are starving in Michigan, hunger and homelessness are at an all time high and families are being torn apart.

Should the federal goverment simply sit by and allow the automotive industry (and everything that is tied to it) to go belly up, so that you don’t have to pay a few more dollars in taxes next year? Is that what you’re advocating, Michelle?

You don’t live here, and you have NO idea how bad it is here. The hunger, poverty and homelessness in Michigan is gut-wrenching, CRUSHING… and it’s going to continue to worsen without some type of federal intervention.

This isn’t about corporate greed, it’s about FAMILIES and their ability to survive. Everything here is tied to the automotive industry, Michelle… EVERYTHING.

Please talk to some actual Michiganders or Ohioans and ask them what their families are having to go through, before you put up another post bitching about having to “foot the bill” to “retool the automotive industry”. This is not the same type of “bailout” as the others, we need this assistance from the federal government to survive up here and I resent that you are treating families who live in Michigan and Ohio with such a sneering disdain and callous disregard.

/pissed
#111

On September 22nd, 2008 at 2:38 pm, ScottyDog said:

On September 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am, Irish Rose said:

And what really makes me angry is that people do not understand how Congress has caused the demise of our manufacturing industries in favor of the New World Order and Globalism.

I could write a book on all the regulations that have forced our industries to move to third world countries instead if staying in the USA.