NYT: $25B loan to near-bankrupt auto manufacturers while the entire sector is in rapid decline? Approved!
September 18, 2008
Well not quite approved, but getting there (and I have a feeling not bailing out the auto industry during an election year could prove a tad complicated for the party who finds themselves with the most representatives against it).
Boy, do I feel like an idiot for forecasting this for 2009.
“Even as lawmakers in both parties unleashed a barrage of questions about the wisdom of a government rescue for the American International Group, support seemed to be growing quickly on Capitol Hill for $25 billion in loan guarantees to assist the ailing auto industry.”
The good-times quote of the article comes when the CEO of Ford is asked if the loan guarantee is a bailout (a fair question when lending money to deadbeats):
““I would characterize it as an enabler.”
Sharp as a tack, this man. You wonder how his business could be floundering.
Both presidential candidates are supporters, but some are more straightforward in their reasons:
“Mr. McCain, the Republican nominee, had seemed cool to the idea of loans for the auto industry last month, but at a campaign stop on Wednesday at an auto plant in Orion, Mich., he sounded like a staunch supporter.”
I’m actually beginning to think that the refusal to bailout Lehman was the best choice the Fed and Treasury have made so far in this crisis (it seemed to slap MS, WB, WM, and others to their senses a bit, though the AIG bailout may have muddied the waters once again). It would be disappointing to see such Detroit’s Giant Failures let off the hook again.
We’re looking more and more like late-90s Russia every day.
… and the cow goes moo
[...] again, I am embarassed to admit that I projected the automaker bailout for 2009. But technically, I’m still right since we’ll probably have another $175 billion to [...]