12-3-08 by dugan
Michael Moore’s been wrapped up for the last several years with failing health care, the failed Bush Administration and the war in Iraq. But the author/moviemaker’s enduring fascination is Detroit iron. He even drives–and hates–a Chrysler.
His take today in the Huffington Post on (not) bailing out the Big 3 automakers is scathing, witty and deeply expert. Agree or disagree, it’ll leave you with a stronger grip on the horrors taxpayers face if they do pay for a bailout:
"Let me just state the obvious: Every single dollar Congress gives these
three companies will be flushed right down the toilet. There is nothing
the management teams of the Big 3 are going to do to convince people to
go out during a recession and buy their big, gas-guzzling, inferior
products. Just forget it. And, as sure as I am that the Ford
family-owned Detroit Lions are not going to the Super Bowl — ever — I
can guarantee you, after they burn through this $34 billion, they’ll be
back for another $34 billion next summer. "
Still, Moore can’t bear the consequences of letting the automakers die while the Wall Street fat cats get a pigout. So, noting that the government could buy the Big 3 outright for about $3 billion at their current stock price, he says why not? It pretty much worked for Amtrak.
I’m not sure that I’m ready to agree… but Moore’s analysis is real homeboy logic.