Stop the presses!

It only took a few months for $15 billion of bailout money to be officially wasted. According to a report on April 13, the U.S. Treasury Department is directing General Motors to prepare itself for filing for bankruptcy by a June 1 deadline.

This is the same General Motors that President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and their crew of flunkies have continuously and firmly said we can’t afford to let go into bankruptcy. That’s why we were told they were getting the bailout money in the first place.

Apparently this is what Republicans were talking about when they said you have to look beyond Obama’s rhetoric. He says one thing, and then he does something completely different. He said we couldn’t afford to let GM file for bankruptcy but now he is basically telling them to do so. Big surprise.

I actually am happy we aren’t giving more taxpayer money to GM and the rest of the automakers. I don’t think we should be throwing more good money at failing industries. I’m happy Obama is making himself look bad again, like Republicans said he would. That just betters the country’s chances of understanding liberal policies toward the economy that never work, have no precedent for working and never will work.

What I am annoyed with, however, is the fact that we have already sunk $15 billion into this thing when any reasonable person like myself could’ve told you from the get-go that bankruptcy was always an option for them.

One of the arguments made by liberals in defense of the bailout for the auto industry was that no one is going to buy a car from a bankrupt company. But, there is literally no precedent to make that kind of statement.

There are, however, plenty of examples throughout our country’s history of companies filing for bankruptcy, re-organizing and then moving forward successfully. Take the airline industry, for example. About four years ago, major carriers including Delta and Northwest filed for bankruptcy. Now, a few years later, these same companies are doing fine and are in a much better position then they were before bankruptcy.

People didn’t stop flying on the planes of airlines that had filed for bankruptcy, just like they wouldn’t hesitate to buy cars from bankrupt auto companies. Obama and his administration know this now, and they knew this before this bailout. So why have waited to act on this common knowledge $15 billion later?

I have a few guesses, but I can only speculate. One is just the obvious corruption reason. The labor unions were a strong supporter of Obama during the campaign and they stand to take a big hit if the automakers go broke. Obama would’ve rather seen taxpayer dollars postpone this inevitable conclusion for the auto industry even if it meant that wasn’t in the best interest of taxpayers or the banks making the loans.

It’s actually funny to me that people are making the argument that the reason the auto industry is failing is because the banks that have received bailout money aren’t making loans to the auto industry.

Excuse me? Why would the banks, who are trying to be wise with taxpayer dollars, throw money at failing auto industry firms? These loans would never be paid back. Money isn’t the auto industry’s biggest problems ‘- it’s just one of them. We have already seen $15 billion do nothing, why should more money be wasted?

The banks here are actually being responsible and recognizing that the loans they would make to the auto industry would never be paid back and therefore would be bad for both taxpayers and the banks.

The same liberal nuts who criticized the banks and the CEOs for being irresponsible and reckless with their loans are now the ones demanding they give money to failing businesses. These people have to listen to themselves talk.

The other reason I think Obama insisted on bailing out the industry even though he knew it wasn’t going to work is simply what I have stated previously, he wants government to have even more power. He wants government to control the auto industry ‘- what cars they make, and what cars you drive.

He wants to be able to determine who should be a CEO and who shouldn’t be. Ultimately, as I have stated before, I believe Obama’s overall goal with regard to the economy is to get it moving forward again ‘- but he thinks the only sure-fire way to do that is to give government as much control over the economy as possible. I just fear this plan is going to bust too.

Alex Perry is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at amperry@student.umass.edu.