Mitt Romney on why a bailout would hurt not help the Big 3:
If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course - the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support - banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around - and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers…
Peter Hitchens has a great piece from a Brit’s perspective on the Obama frenzy and the most likely outcome of the the upcoming “change”. Excerpts below:
Anyone would think we had just elected a hip, skinny and youthful replacement for God, with a plan to modernise Heaven and Hell – or that at the very least John Lennon had come back from the dead.
The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilisation. At least Mandela-worship – its nearest equivalent – is focused on a man who actually did something.
I really don’t see how the Obama devotees can ever in future mock the Moonies, the Scientologists or people who claim to have been abducted in flying saucers. This is a cult like the one which grew up around Princess Diana, bereft of reason and hostile to facts…
With the election of Obama, I am a bit worried about the direction of Liberty in our country. However, make no mistake, Obama is our president. He won. Congratulations Barrack Obama. The first black man elected to the Presidency. That is amazing and historic. Although I strongly disagree with his policies, I certainly recognize his accomplishment.
The coming years are the time to make some noise for conservatism - to make cogent arguments that win over hearts and minds. These four years will give us ample opportunity. Please don’t fall into the left’s position of the previous four years (or eight). Yelling Commie! at every Obama supporter won’t do any good. As a real example, my own neighbor has begun to receive hate calls because someone found out she voted for Obama (and we live in Memphis). Rediculous.
But I have to be honest. I had a fear on Tuesday. My fear was that Obama would be elected and that the stock markets would rally on Wednesday. This would, no doubt, have been used as “proof of investors’ realization of all the wonderful things Obama was going to do for the economy” or some other drivel. And this would have grated on my very soul.
It turns out I was somewhat vindicated. The market had it’s largest ever post-election drop yesterday, and the markets are down today as well. Of course, it is bitter-sweet, as I’m not satisfied watching the markets drop; I’m just glad that I don’t have to hear about how investors are discounting a rapid recovery under an Obama administration.
It isn’t even noon yet, but I’ve already had my fill today of leftists preaching to me that Obama is our President-elect and I need to galvanize behind him instead of complaining. While I respect the idea of supporting our next President, I have to wonder where that attitude has been for the past eight years. The same liberals chastising me for expressing what I feel is justifiable discontent less than 12 hours after my candidate lost are the same ones who have spent the better part of the last decade blaming our current President for everything from the housing crisis to rain on a summer day. Now that their “Messiah” is set to assume the Oval Office, it is suddenly time for all Americans, regardless of political leanings, to coalesce behind their leader? I’m not buying into the hypocrisy.
The 2008 Presidential candidates (including McCain, but especially Obama) also owe Bush an apology. Far too much time was spent dragging the man’s name through the mud in an effort to appeal to the public’s disenchantment and garner votes. Bush has made plenty of mistakes as President, but he has also done a lot of good for which he has gone largely uncredited. He has kept us safe since 9/11 and rid the world of a lot of terrorist threats. While spending has often been reckless under his administration, we were actually headed the right direction with our budget deficit until Democrats took over Congress two years ago. I don’t agree with every decision Bush has made, but I certainly don’t agree with the idea of blaming him for every perceived injustice and imperfection in this country.
Unlike Obama, I’ve never heard Bush whine, complain, or try to silence anyone who has had something negative to say about him. Despite his flaws, he is a class guy who understands that fierce criticism comes with the job.
In the words of Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy, “That’s all I’ve got to say; makes me wanna puke.”
I was asked the other day about the coming election and what I thought about it.I mentioned that foreign policy has become the main issue for me, and barely got the words out of my mouth before I was promptly interrupted.He could not believe that I wasn’t concerned about the economy.To which I replied, “Not really.”He was incredulous and wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say.So I decided to put to paper these issues and hopefully clarify.
First, I am concerned about the economy.Unemployment will rise, consumer confidence will fall, earnings will disappoint, the market will go down, and times will be hard.But, it’s not the end.We act as though we’ve never seen a down-turn in the markets before.Yes, trillions of dollars have vaporized, and portfolios have suffered, but these things happen.Indeed, if you are not prepared for something like to happen, and are not ready to accept the risk of it happening, then you should not put money into the stock market (or housing market for that matter).And guess what?The markets will come back up again, and then surprise! they’ll go back down again too.As much as they would like to you have you believe, Congress can not repeal the business cycle.
November 20th, 2008
by
Editor: Scott