Bail out or salvage operation?
When a ship is taking on water, the first thing you do is seal the compartment with the hole. If your row boat is taking on water, then you start bailing. Which analogy better describes the American economy? A row boat with a leak or a ship taking on water?
Even in deep waters a sunken ship can be salvaged. To hear the political experts talk about the American auto industry one can conclude the sky will fall if one fails. Are these the same political experts that felt Freddy and Fanny were “solid moving forward” just six months ago? If so, I think I’d rather have a second opinion.
The big argument for bailing out the be three American auto giants is one in ten jobs are impacted by the auto industry. Please correct me if I’m not mistaken, but there are more than three auto makers building cars in the United States. GM is positioned to collapsed and Ford possibly declare bankruptcy. I remember when K-Mart filed bankruptcy some 15 years ago…Isn’t K-Mart still around? Yup, drove by an open Kmart yesterday.
Lets stop bailing out the stupid. GM’s ship is sunk. Let it sink and allow capitalism to salvage the wreckage. Building cars will not go way of the doedoe bird or the dinosaur (not yet anyway). What’s next, are we going to save all the home builders because new home starts are off? How about medical schools because student enrollment is way down? How about the food industry because people have cut way back on eating out? Where do we stop?
Those who lean towards socialism believe industry failure is permanent. Capitalists believe where there is a void, some enterprising entrepreneur will fill the gap–provided greed is not legislated away!
Let’s hold on to our money, stop borrowing beyond our means and enjoy a modest life style for a while. Yes, lots of people will lose their jobs, but in time, those who want work will find new jobs. I believe in the ideals of America. While I’d rather make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, I can live on very little if need be. Proping up failing companies only delays the inevitable. If GM is going to sink, then it is because there business model has too many holes. If the government becomes a partial owner in the company (as is being proposed by congress) what will be done to FIX the hole currently sinking GM? The government doesn’t have a very good track record at fixing things that are broken, unless it happen to be a real hole in a real ship.
Ed Bejarana