Conflicted on the Auto Bailout (Updated)
BarbinMD at Daily Kos excerpts the washington post on the Democratic “compromises” on the auto bailout (which is now almost certainly dead):
# Democrats bent to the will of the president on several key demands, most notably in agreeing that the emergency funding would be drawn from an existing loan program aimed at promoting fuel-efficient technologies.
# Democrats had hoped to take the money from the Treasury’s $700 billion financial rescue program, but the White House objected. A breakthrough came Friday, when Pelosi dropped her opposition…
# The Democratic proposal makes no provisions to replenish the loan fund, as Pelosi had hoped.
# Democrats flirted with the idea of naming a seven-member board to oversee the auto bailout but decided instead to have the president name an individual, as Bush had suggested.
Although I very much support a bailout for Detroit, this is not a good bailout. It’s really a capitulation, and so in one aspect at least I am glad this was blocked.
As atrios says, the Democrats are really pretty clueless:
Every time they place nice with the Republicans so they don’t start in with their patented “Well, we wanted to pass this bill but then the Democrats hurt our widdle feelings…” But then they don’t actually pass anything and the public has no sense of who the good guys and bad guys are, especially when the compromise bill that fails to pass also kinda sucks.”
And suck it did.
On the other hand if Detroit goes down, we are well and truly fucked. You’re not just talking about UAM workers being laid idle, you’re talking about the entire supply chain, thousands, maybe even millions of jobs. The CEO of Ford articulated as much a few weeks ago.
So is no bailout better than a bad bailout? I’m honestly not sure. John Aravosis begs the Democrats to grow some genitals:
Folks, this is a bill supported by George Bush’s White House, for Christ’s sake. The House and Senate Republicans are playing politics, just as they always do, as the economy is about to take an even more serious dive. This is when Democrats had better grow a pair of balls and do something, public, fast to tell the American people about exactly what’s coming if we let the automakers go bankrupt. I don’t like the doom and gloom talk, as I think it generally makes things worse as you freak consumers (and Wall Street) out. But if it means telling folks that we risk plunging the country into a Depression, and if it’s true, then tell people, now.
This is what happens when you become a political party with no spine. Bullies stand up to you because they know they can. It’s time to show them that they can’t, or the next 4 years of the Obama administration are going to be one GOP filibuster after another, just hoping to send us into a greater and greater Depression so that the Republicans can win the Congress and the White House back. That appears to be the GOP plan – send the country into chaos, just as they did when they shut down the government during Clinton’s presidency. The Republican party is run by maniacs. It’s time to call them on it. Or seriously, there’s no reason for Democrats to control the government if they can’t learn to lead.
Unfortunately, to paraphrase one of Satan’s minions, “you go to DC with the Democrats you have”, and folks the Democrats we have… are not very good. Not only are many of them not very good Democrats, which is bad enough, but the majority of them aren’t very good politicians. Bob Casey? A BOOB. Sylvester Reyes? A DOPE. Chuck Schumer? Clown. And don’t get me started on the execrable Harry Reid.
As someone who has been a Democrat his entire life, I remain convinced that the only reason the Democrats won the past two elections is because the Republican Party led by George Bush just got so out of hand, there was no other choice. That is not to say they are somehow better, or smarter or have better strategies: rumor has it Dean’s 50-state strategy, the one smart thing anyone’s come up with in a loooooong time, is dead. And unfortunately, I do not think we have the kind of Democrats who are willing to meet the Republicans they have just defeated head on, and hand their bullies their obstructionist asses.
If no bailout means the Democrats point out the GOP is trying to start a Depression, and push through a real plan with real conditions that help stimulate smarter cars, preserve benefits and pensions, and have a solid repayment plan in place, I am all for it.
But sadly, I suspect that this defeat probably means that Democrats will try even harder to meet the Republicans’ demands even more, the union will be broken, and the car companies will go down anyway.
You can see this bullshit coming a mile away. And friends, I suspect it’s going to get really ugly, really quickly.
UPDATE: What’d I tell you?
In a last-ditch effort to revive a government rescue for the American auto industry, Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, was trying late Thursday to persuade Senate Democrats to back an alternate plan that would require steep concessions by the United Auto Workers union and by creditors to General Motors and Chrysler.
The majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, said on the Senate floor at 5:20 p.m. that a negotiated deal based on Mr. Corker’s proposal was the only hope for a $14 billion in emergency short-term loans for G.M. and Chrysler, which are in danger of financial collapse. Mr. Reid said he hoped that the Senate would vote on Thursday night….
That proposal would impose even tougher requirements on the automakers than the bill approved by the House, and it would mandate the “auto czar” overseeing the rescue plan for the federal government to force the companies into bankruptcy should they fail to meet the requirements.
Under his plan, which was the subject of intense negotiations with Democrats, the automakers would be required by March 31 to cut their debt obligations by two-thirds — an enormous sum given that G.M. alone has more than $60 billion in debt.
The automakers would also be required to cut wages and benefits to match the average hourly wage and benefits of Nissan, Toyota and Honda employees based in the United States, and the companies would have to impose equivalent work rules. The plan would bar any pay for idled workers other than “customary severance pay.”
So it’s an even worse bill, just like I said. Is ANYONE getting fooled by this bullshit anymore? Anyone?
I understand why the Republicans are trying to drive the country into another Great Depression, which is exactly what they are trying to do.
I do not understand why the newly elected party that now controls two of the three branches of government, with a broad popular mandate, does not only refuse to crush the disloyal opposition like the cockroaches they are, the leadership is openly collaborating against American workers.
It’s disgraceful to watch.
December 11th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
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December 11th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
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