The U.S. House of Representatives approved an auto industry bailout loan package on a 237 to 170 vote. General Motors Corporation, Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Company are seeking $34 billion in loans or lines of credit, but the House bill authorizes the immediate release of $14 billion in emergency loans and a promise for approval of long-term financing if the companies can agree on plans to restructure. The bill includes language that would force the auto makers to comply with state greenhouse-gas limits. A 'Car Czar' is also being considered to 'oversee' the manufacturers.
The $14 billion loan bill failed in the Senate on a vote of 52 to 37, well short of the 60 votes needed in invoke cloture (end debate and allow a vote). The bill died because of inability to get the UAW to commit to a date specific for agreeing to an hourly wage ($50) that would match that of nonunion workers at the foreign car companies in the U.S.
The Center has deep reservations about all of the bailouts, nationalizations and loans. The American people are also getting real nervous about all of this government intervention that does not put money directly into their pockets. Suddenly in America, there are numerous companies that are 'too important to fail.' Doesn't this new ethic perculating out of Washington go against everything that made America great? Can't those Detroit workers move south to the new plants being built there? Can't other mortgage banks pick up where a Fannie and Freddie failed? Ameica is quickly becoming a corporate welfare state. The corporations in these welfare lines should never again hold their noses up in the air about the 'welfare queens' of public housing. They have become her. Insistent and proud of their demands for welfare while their executives run off with vulgar salary payments and stock options.
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