As you may recall from past posts, I was opposed to the $700 billion bailout.  Not only did the amount seem to be pulled out of thin air, but there really was no plan to spend the money, just lots of ideas that are being batted around.  Well, in another sign I was right, U.S. automakers are asking for $50 billion in loans, which comes on top of $25 billion in loans that were given in September to retool their factories. 

     House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid support extending the bailout to automakers.  GM has billions in losses, may run out of cash by the end of the year, and is possibly looking at bankruptcy.  The potential job losses are worrisome, but government intervention raises a serious question: Where does it end?  The Government is helping the financial industry, and considering helping the auto industry.  The slowing economy will likely hurt the retail sector, do we bail out retailers?  The construction industry isn't doing well, partially due to the credit crisis.  Do we bail them out?  These may seem like ridiculous questions, but where does it end?  It isn't healthy for the Government to continuously borrow money to bail out companies which made huge blunders.  We are balancing the books on the backs of American tax payers.

     Our National Debt is increasing, we are in a recession, our government is taking ownership stakes in privately owned companies, and congress has approved a $700 billion hand-out to solve a problem they are partially responsible for creating.  With Barack Obama as our next President and a heavily Democratic Congress, I fear both the frequency and degree of future bailouts.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081108/ap_on_bi_ge/bush_automakers