UNCERTAINTY TSUNAMI FROM WASHINGTON RISES
They have bought into a meme about "accountability" and "viability".
C'mon!
It's not an investment. It's spending, with a chance to meet some other goals along the way, like maybe national healthcare (via the UAW) or a little bit on fuel saving vehicles, okay?
Maybe some smart way to handle it is by quickly setting up a blue-panel board to deal with the details: If you buy some time for creativity (vote $8billion instead of the full amount), such a panel of experts can work on a pre-packaged plan (either inside bankruptcy court or not), that includes tools to manage the dealer network, restore their financial flexibility for consumer financing, and wipe clean as much debt as possible. Big picture items. The idea that someone from a government panel is going to go in and work on individual UAW contract provisions (as questioned by some Senators), monitor the use of the corporate jet, or decide which product lines need to be consolidated, is bunk, however.
Paul Krugman has just very eloquently spelled out how much the immediate future is about jobs, about spending for jobs.
GM is jobs. Ready-made jobs. Jobs that will hold together a regional situation that could become a nasty economic and financial sink-hole, without apt attention.
Just do it, before it is too late. Take up some of the burden of selling the plan yourselves. Don't fall prey to the GOP's shortsighted, wandering musings about frugality and duty to taxpayers - not now.
The markets will now test the lows again...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Bush Refusal Causes Dem Leadership to 'Temporize' on GM Stimulus
