The big auto companies are back for more money. Color me shocked. Really, just stunned in surprise.
It seems as though the only rationale for giving them more money at this point is a jobs welfare program. That is not necessarily a bad move; the fallout from the disentegration of Detroit could easily undo all the positive impact projected from the stimulus program. But the notion that we should be dedicated to using federal money to preserve these companies in anything like their present form is, on its face, ridiculous.
It was pretty obvious, as of the first auto bailout, that that money would do nothing besides patch their budgetary holes for a short time. Every single penny of the first bailout will be gone by the end of March. The idea of continuing to throw billions at these companies every few months to lay off workers seems economically and politically infeasible; and the only long-term plan these companies seem to have is to try to cut their way down to profitability. Which obviously won’t work: no one is going to buy your cars if they think your company is defunct, no matter how many jobs you cut. We’re going to have to cut the automakers loose sooner or later, and figure out a more productive way to stem the damage.
Sidenote: Detroit has two issues: no one wants to buy their cars, and retiree health benefits are a huge burden. National health insurance could have prevented the latter before the former became an issue. I worry that in such times as these, effective pragmatism calls for radical action such as Obama might be nervous to provide.