Thursday, December 11, 2008

700 Billion for Banks. Nothing for Jobs

It's not immediately clear which of the following the Republican's scuttling of the auto bailout deal falls under:

A) Rank self-interest in giving an advantage to their foreign-owned auto industry in Southern states.

B) Pure political obstructionism and a long-term strategy to destroy the economy, and with it, plan a political resurgence for 2010.

C) An attempt to break the unions (while opening up the wallets for Wall Street managers parachuting out with taxpayer billions).

D) A genuine "enough-is-enough" feeling of capitulation for any more bailouts (since Wall Street is coming back for more, this one seems highly unlikely).

E) Hard-ball negotiating from a genuinely commonsensical business equation that unless the credit burdens of the companies are better relieved, the bailout is a waste of money.

F) An attempt to structure a deal that is closer to a government managed bankruptcy, that effectively restructures company obligations and allows a working corporation to emerge.

G) All of the above.

While E and F are commendable, D is laughable, A is typical political corruption, C is detestable, and B is...dare I say...borderline treasonous.

If it's G, all of the above - well, all I can say is, I hope this gambit works: because if the economy gets much worse, I wouldn't want to be them.

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