Senate Republicans went and filibustered the auto bailout. Kudos to them—something I don’t say often to that bunch of spineless wimps. Unfortunately, the President is trying to resurrect this thing from the dead. Stephen Spruiell kind of sums up my reaction to the last four years of President Bush: “Man, I hate it when _this_ Bush shows up.” He’ll do something good and then he’ll do something absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, the last several months have been more in the “absolutely ridiculous” camp, including this latest bit: trying to use the TARP funds for an auto bailout. The only problem (well, outside of it being a stupid idea to bail out these companies in the first place)? It’s illegal.
If you want a couple of laughs, here is a set of comments and questions from the House Finance Committe and Senate Banking Committee during the auto bailout hearings. I thought the funniest was Barney Frank’s comment regarding a car called the Chick Magnet: “It’s just not something I’d ever want to drive.” Indeed, Barney, we already knew that one… In addition, after all of the auto companies become a subsidiary of the federal government, be on the lookout for the 2012 Pelosi, the hottest (and only) car on the market!
Oh, and if the auto companies are in such good long-term shape and just need a little kick right now, why isn’t Cerberus funding Chrysler more? “Corporate bylaws” is a copout; the real answer is “we want other people to fund our projects for us.”
Finally, Mickey Kaus makes a good point, excerpting from a 1983 Robert M. Kaus (hmm…this sounds suspicious…) article: the rigid, stupid, untenable work rules which have ossified the Big Three are the intended results of Wagner Act unionism! If you don’t destroy the culture which created the situation—and that includes destroying the UAW as it exists, not just a one-time wage cut—you can’t fix the underlying problem. The UAW is a perfect example of a 1930s union trying to survive in a different era. The UAW doesn’t have to cease to exist, but the Standard Operating Procedures for such a union—explicit rules and nothing else (it a’int in my contract), encapsulation of duties (it a’int in my job description), absurd make-work policy (you gotta have a Level 2 electrical technician, a Level 3 equipment specialist, and a Level 2 power management technician to move youse computer across da room), etc. etc.—do not work in a highly-competitive spontaneous order. Go back and read your Hayek…or just observe reality.
