Republicans: Time For The Automakers To Go Bankrupt
House Republican Leader John Boehner is still making noises about the automakers meeting government conditions before they get any more money, but other Republicans are saying it’s time for bankruptcy.
And they’re right. Boehner needs to get on board.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The House’s Republican leader said Sunday he did not support giving General Motors any more federal funds until the company can show it will be able to survive in the long-term and pay back the government, as two of his GOP colleagues in the Senate said it was time for the automaker to declare bankruptcy….
Sen. Richard Shelby, who opposed the idea of a domestic auto bailout, told ABC’s This Week that GM, Chrysler and Ford should only receive further federal funds as part of Chapter 11 reorganization: “Short of that, the UAW will run those companies and run them into the ground,” he said.
Sen. John McCain agreed, telling Fox News Sunday that bankruptcy would be good for GM. “I think the best thing that could probably happen to General Motors, in my view, is they go into Chapter 11, they reorganize, they renegotiate…union management contracts and come out of it a stronger, better, leaner and more competitive automotive industry,” he said.
I don’t think the automakers should be accepting any conditions from the federal government. I also don’t think the automakers should be getting any more money from the government.
Much as with the bank bailouts, the government is just going to use conditions attached to bailout money to exert more control over the auto industry. And that’s not what we want. We don’t want more government in any industry in America, and particularly not one as large and important as the auto industry. But that’s the endgame with these bailouts. The government rides in on its white horse and bails out these companies, but then the companies are dependent on government. And thus the government has more control over them.
It’s really pretty insidious. It is, in fact, how government expands power everywhere. Big government types are like drug dealers. They put a little bit of their drug (bailouts, entitlements, welfare, etc.) out on the street. Then they get some people addicted. Then those people start coming back for more and more. And then the government has them.
In the long run, these auto companies would be better off declaring bankruptcy and building their way back on their own. Better than than being quasi-nationalized.
