Auto bailout vote could come tomorrow
The Senate could vote on a bailout for the auto industry as early as tomorrow, but it doesn't look like they'll have the votes:
The Senate is slated to vote as early as Thursday on a rescue package to aid the U.S. auto industry, but even supporters are casting doubt on the package's fate.I should say that the Senate is about to vote on another bailout because the Congress already gave the auto industry a $25 billion "loan" in September.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced a proposal Monday to extend $25 billion in loans to the auto industry. The loans would come out of the Treasury Department's $700 billion pool to shore up financial markets, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
[...]
If the loan package's supporters don't have enough votes, Congress likely will return home without offering any relief to troubled automakers including General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F) and Chrysler LLC.When Reid was asked what he would do if he didn't reach the 60-vote threshold, he said: "It's not a question of Thanksgiving approaching. It's a question of whether we're just wasting our time here."
Let them fail. You can read the case against the bailout here.
Comments
I should say that the Senate is about to vote on another bailout because the Congress already gave the auto industry a $25 billion "loan" in September.
Thank You!
Posted by: Daniel N. Adams | November 19, 2008 01:50 PM
Tony Trauring, LPGa's operations director, wrote the following on the subject. I thought it was pretty good:
Government Admits The Bailout Isn't Working
POSTED ON: 11/19/2008
It was bad enough that four of Georgia’s Congressmen and both US Senators voted for the bailout bill. You and the Libertarian Party of Georgia fought it; we were able to delay it, but the horror passed.
Now, less than two months later, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake are lamenting that the bailout isn’t working -- as if that’s a surprise to any Libertarian! They are testifying before Congress, tapdancing to explain why their plans seven weeks ago were wrong, and why their newest idea -- to throw taxpayer money at the Big Three auto makers -- is right. (They also are being asked why they used some of the bailout money to nationalize all or part of some banks when they had assured Congress the money would go to buy “toxic assets,” the securitized sub-prime mortgages that had lost so much value.)
You can read the rest here
Posted by: Daniel N. Adams | November 19, 2008 03:13 PM
As said before, throwing money at this problem is not going to solve the problem. The automakers are coming along as others like some of the large cities asking for a bailout.
The first bailout isn't working as the stocks fell another 427 points today.
Throwing taxpayer money at this problem is like throwing gas on a fire to try and put it out.
Artie
Posted by: Artie Gray | November 19, 2008 08:47 PM