Maybe shelving the auto industry bailout for now is a good thing.

[backscatter712]

Don't get me wrong. In the long term, I'm all for a bailout. We need an auto industry in this country. Or more accurately, we need the skilled work in this country. Maybe later on, it could morph into manufacture of wind turbines, a renewed passenger train infrastructure, etc.

But we don't want a bailout under Bush's rules. No free lunches, no scalping the taxpayers so the bigwigs can get their corporate jets and golden parachutes. No half-assed bandaid solutions while looking down the barrel of a Shock Doctrine gun.

Also, IIRC, weren't the auto executives wanting the money just so they can declare bankruptcy? They'd take our bailout money and use it to pay for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Kiss goodbye to those hard-fought union contracts. Time to eat paycuts, layoffs. Wave bye-bye to your health care. Retiree pensions are down the toilet. That's why they want the bailout now, and are trying to Shock-Doctrine it down our throats.

Make 'em wait. Specifically, make 'em wait until Obama takes office and can lay down the law. Then, maybe some reasonable ground rules can be put in place so the auto industry can be rebuilt. Make them spend the money retooling to build green cars. Audit the hell out of their books, and get ready to throw the thieving fucks wearing suits and ties in prison. Do some layoffs - of the top executives and the higher-level management that's been driving those companies into the ground.

It's time for a new strategy. Yes, we should be sparing no expense in keeping America's industrial infrastructure alive, but we need to do it wisely, and we need to dodge those Shock-Doctrine bullets.