The Automakers and Other Dinosaurs

There has been considerable hue and cry about the way that the govmint has acted during the crisis of the automakers. Now, anyone who has read my rantings on a reasonably regular basis know that I have as much sympathy for the automakers as I did for the soldier who came into the sick bay the third time for the clap. We have to get some issues straightened out here.

There are a bunch of folks out there screaming bloody murder that the government shouldn't interfere with the market. My witty response to this would be "Huh, what the hell are you talking about?" The government has always been involved in economics and the market. Just because Milty (Fuckball) Friedman ran a show on PBS doesn't give "Free Market Capitalism" the imprimatur of holy writ.

Look here guys, business at this level is all political. Everyone knows that the big three are effectively dead. Barry and Timmy aren't stupid, they are just trying to slow the rate of descent sufficiently so that we might, just might, increase our chances of getting through this mess. The chances aren't good that these folks will succeed, but as I see it, they might keep the thing together long enough for us to assume the crash position.

Try reading this. Sure, it is written by a passel of folks that are beholden to the car companies, but whe I try to cross check it, the numbers look like they are in the ball park. Losing a couple of million more jobs would be bad news. Of course the guvmint will want to stick its nose in the mess. The reason it doesn't bother me too much because the only other folks who have sufficient juice to make a difference would be the hedge funds, the big banks, and auto firms from other countries. I trust Obama and his crowd a lot more that that time-proven batch of thieves and rapists.

So stop your damn whining. The end of the day message is that the "car culture" that we have maintained for the last fifty years or so is dying. All we are doing now is figuring out how to dispose of the body so that it won't stink up the place.