James Poling

The Big 3 auto industry execs just hit the lottery with taxpayer money.  After nearly all of America crapped a brick this morning at the news that the economy lost over a half a million jobs in November alone, Congress and Bush, firmly wedged in their self-created corners came to a tentative agreement to bailout (not buyout) the the Big 3 American auto manufacturers.

The damnable part is, there seems to be little to no stipulations for the auto industry.  Just, “Here’s our $15 billion, keep going, business as usual.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement that was direct enough to allay concerns but vague enough as to not actually be able to hole anyone to actual standards.

“Congress will insist that any legislation include rigorous and ongoing oversight to guarantee that taxpayers are protected and that resources are directed to ensure the long-term viability and competitiveness of the American automobile industry,” Pelosi’s statement said.

The bitch of the entire fucking thing is instead of demanding that this money be used to restructure the auto industry and include smaller manufacturers that are light years of ahead of the Big 3 in alternative fueled vehicles, they make no mention of that.  You can’t “ensure the long-term viability and competitiveness of the American automobile industry” and allow the same greedy fucks that ran it into the ground in the first place to stay in charge.

We need auto industry executives that are more concerned with building reliable, fuel efficient and alternatively powered vehicles than with raking in millions upon millions of dollars for themselves while their industry gets flushed down the toilet and passed in quality by virtually every single foreign market.

Let me be very clear that in this capitalist society we live in I have absolutely no problem with people making millions of dollars and living the dream, with two small stipulations of course.  That wealth needs to be spread out a little more between the suits that sit in their office and the men and women who’s blood and sweat actually keep the industry alive.  And the second being that if you are so completely inept at running your business that you need a government bail out, it’s time to find a new line of work.

I will get up on a soap box and waving my American flag guarantee that if you were to replace these greedy corporate whores with actual men of integrity and a passion for automobiles that within 10 years time every car manufactured in the United States could boast a 10 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty and getting at, or close to, 100 mpg.

Instead, we get this lame duck bailout which is actually being funded by “billions originally ticketed for development of more environmentally friendly cars”.

In a subsequent statement, she added that the billions originally ticketed for development of more environmentally friendly cars would be repaid “within a matter of weeks.” Democrats said her hope was to include the funds in an economic recovery bill that lawmakers are expected to prepare for President-elect Barack Obama’s signature shortly after he takes office.

We shouldn’t have to have a seperate stack of billions to fund development of environmentally friendly cars.  This money should be absolutely dependant on the fact that automakers meet stringent standards and create environmentally friendly cars themselves.  Then they can pay back our billions of dollars and we could use it on something zany like education or health care or something.