Posted 7:36 AM by steve

With GM soon to follow Chrysler into bankruptcy, I figure it's as good a time as ask just what was gained by the Bush Administration giving billions of dollars to GM and Chrysler?

Supposedly, the money was needed to keep GM and Chrysler from having to go into bankruptcy, that the money would buy some time for GM and Chrysler to work out their problems and get their act together.

Obviously, that didn't work out. Neither GM nor Chrysler came up with a reorganization that came even close to restoring them to profitability. Neither came up with a plan that satisfied their various creditors and constituencies that they should go along with GM and Chrysler's plans.

In other words, the money the Bush Administration gave to GM and Chrysler was wasted.

But, you say, Bush gave money to GM and Chrysler not so much to keep them out of bankruptcy but to keep them out of bankruptcy at a time when doing so would have caused even more problems for the economy as a whole.

But, I answer, even if that was their motivation, that is based on nothing more than pure unadulterated guessing, there was (and is) nothing to indicate the economy would have collapsed if GM and/or Chrysler entered bankruptcy early last winter.

And since nobody can prove the economy would have cratered, I stand by my assertion that the money was wasted.