Constant Conservative

I’m thinking that most of you are just about ready to switch the channel or station when you hear the word “bailout.” I certainly am. However, there is some good news this morning, at least from my perspective, regarding that very topic. The following thoughts are from Senator John Thune:

. . . I still think the best thing that can happen to the American auto manufacturing industry is for them to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reorganize, and deal with some of these issues that they need to deal with that will get their costs under control and then they emerge as stronger companies.

I think the issue I have with providing taxpayer assistance is: 1) does that solve the problem? Unless they are willing to make changes and fix their way of doing business, we’re probably just delaying the inevitable. We’re going to end up coming — they’re going to come back six months from now, a year from now asking for more taxpayer assistance. So, they have got to make changes in the way they do business. If they don’t nothing is going to work.

And secondly, where does this then end? Because you establish a precedent. If you’re willing to come in and bailout one specific industry in our country, what’s the next one? We could make a very strong argument here in South Dakota that a lot of these ethanol companies that are experiencing difficulty oughtta have the same assistance. And I just think that when you, when the federal government starts picking winners and losers — who’s going to get assistance and who isn’t – that’s the very dangerous precedent to set.

He’s absolutely right. Of course, I think we already set a precedent with the bank bailout, but that previous poor decision should not prevent us from doing the right thing now. Senator Thune voted for the $700 billion bailout, but I think that he may well have seen just how little good that did. May he hold firm with Detroit on the current mess and encourage his colleagues in the senate to do the same.