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Contributed by Sam Minervino 2009-03-31

Portland — There are more than a few problems with the auto bailouts. At first, the excuse for pouring billions into the car makers was they were deemed “too big to fail”. In a statement found on money.cnn.com, President elect Obama said the bailout loan was, "a necessary step to help avoid a collapse in our auto industry that would have devastating consequences for our economy and our workers." Now, as reported on wsj.com, “The Obama's administration's leading plan to fix General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC would use bankruptcy filings to purge the ailing companies of their biggest problems, including bondholder debt and retiree health-care costs”. Obama more or less fired the GM CEO Rick Wagoner and we can expect numerous stories about the “excessive” money Wagoner will get for retiring.

In Obama’s book, “The Audacity of Hope”, he says this…

“The bottom line is that fuel-efficient cars and alternative fuels like E85, a fuel formulated with 85 percent ethanol, represent the future of the auto industry. It is a future American car companies can attain if we start making some tough choices now. For years U.S. automakers and the UAW have resisted higher fuel-efficiency standards because retooling costs money, and Detroit is already struggling under huge retiree health-care costs and stiff competition. So during my first year in the Senate I proposed legislation I called “Health Care for Hybrids.” The bill makes a deal with U.S. automakers: In exchange for federal financial assistance in meeting the health-care costs of retired autoworkers, the Big Three would reinvest these savings into developing more fuel-efficient vehicles.”

My theory; Obama wanted to loan the money to the auto industry so he could assert power over them and now that he is calling the shots, he finds it acceptable for them to file bankruptcy. He has said he wants little gas efficient cars built in America but the American auto makers are just building what American's want...

“The F-150 (a pick-up truck) attracted 473,933 buyers this year, making it the No. 1-selling vehicle for 2008--it's been the best-selling vehicle in America for 27 years running. Another 431,725 buyers drove off Chevrolet lots in a Silverado (also a pick-up truck).”-yahoo.com

Another problem; AIG executives got “Robespierred” by Obama because of the legally and contractually obligated bonuses owed to them. Obama, who it was later found out knew about the bonuses along with Democrat members of the House and Senate when the AIG bailout was passed, played dumb and then used his class warfare maneuver to make a show of “corporate excess”. The self righteous members of the Democrat led House of Reps passed special legislation a’la banana republic juntas, to get this money back. A few left leaning folks piled into their chartreuse micro-buses and commuted to the homes of AIG Execs to protest the bonuses. Do you think these same folks or the Dems in the House are going to protest the contractually obligated union contracts that are driving the auto-makers into the poor house? Not bloody likely.

The steel industry was allowed to fail.