socialmedian: George Monbiot: Use bailout cash for green technology, not failed car makers

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George Monbiot: Use bailout cash for green technology, not failed car makers

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Dec 19, 2008

Summary

It's not often that I find myself on the same side as right-wing Republican politicians. But for the past two weeks I've been cheering the neocon nutcases as they tried to prevent the big motor manufacturers from receiving government money for their failed business model. The Democrats, by contrast, thought the handout was an excellent idea.

So did George Bush, who has just driven the senate's decision, and his own party, off the road. Bush maintained that letting GM and Chrysler collapse "would deal an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans", but as if to show he couldn't give a damn about such people, he insisted that the rescued manufacturers cut their workers' wages and benefits.

There might have been some justification for bailing out the banks – their collapse would have brought the rest of the global economy down – but there is no excuse for this new round of corporate socialism. The potential failure of GM, Chrysler and Ford, like that of Jaguar Land Rover, is entirely of their own making. Long after it became clear that people wanted sm

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Comments (1)

Saxonchap,

Dec 20, 2008

As both a business owner and as an "average Joe", the auto-bailout defies belief. The last act of the worst administration in US history, tax-payers money after bad. As the airlines went into bankruptcy, why shouldn't the auto-companies? I'd suggest losing airlines would be more catastrophic than losing thousands of gas-guzzling SUVs.

As a business owner, am I to expect a bailout now? You know George, my small business could really use a cash injection, and I don't even have a jobs bank in place!

What really defies belief is the fact that the auto-companies have spent literally millions of dollars fighting state and federal initiatives to reduce emissions, to go greener, to increase mpg. They've fought common sense all the way, using money they say they no longer have, and in turn have pocketed billions in profit from damned-ugly hulking vehicles nobody really wants these days. A downright and absolute failure to innovate, to build what the customer wants - that's simply bad business. I want my share of the bailout back please, as a taxpayer, to spend on my own business.