This is my article from the George Street Observer at the College of Charleston. It was published on January 16th, 2009.
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to San Jose is a long flight to say the least. Things were odd enough being in an unfamiliar country, but were even worse upon leaving towards ground transportation.
As I stared into the bustling crowd the truth about the American auto industry came to my head and reverberated loudly, this country’s car industry has died and there is little a bailout can do to stop it.
There in the ground transportation thoroughfare were Mazdas, Hondas, Toyotas, Mitsubishis and just about any other foreign car one could think of, but not a single American-made automobile.
Not a single Ford, GM or Chrysler as far as the eye could see.
Given the current economic crisis, bailouts seem to have been handed out like Halloween candy throughout our great American financial infrastructure. Naturally, the American auto industry stepped up to the soup line with a request for a whopping $14 billion lifeline.
No big deal right? Wrong.
The Big Three Detroit automakers didn’t wait long as President Bush agreed to a bailout of $13.4 billion in emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler, along with an additional $4 billion that will be available in February.
The bailout now going to General Motors is virtually identical to the one that passed through the House of Representatives yet failed to pass through the U.S. senate and now with a possible $13.4 billion going to automakers in the Midwest, this leads to serious questioning about how fiscally responsible the U.S. Government is currently acting.
In the past year, state governments around the country have had to make drastic cutbacks across the board to ensure a balanced budget as is required by most state constitutions in the U.S.
At the same time however, the national government is increasing spending astronomically and not giving funding to the people and businesses that need it the most.
State funding in South Carolina has decreased drastically as of last year. Most recently, Governor Mark Sanford released at 300-page document outlining his plan for spending for the State of South Carolina which would cut spending for the next fiscal year to $5.8 billion.
That is less than two corporations are being loaned to save an industry that is already dead in the water. Sanford’s proposals all suggest one thing, decreasing government spending, something the federal government seems to have no interest in doing.
Whether it is General Motors, Ford, Chrysler or now more recently the adult entertainment industry, bailouts are increasing spending and using money that the U.S. does not have. It makes little difference whether the money is used to help an industry recover or not, deficit spending is dangerous and the United States cannot afford to entangle itself in a financial disaster.
With an ever-climbing national debt and an economy that many describe as reminiscent of the Great Depression, it is time to let the giants fall.
Corporations fold over time and new ones come to be, as the natural economic cycle suggests.
It is not only inappropriate for the bailouts to be springing up across the board, but the use of American taxpayer dollars towards saving fiscally irresponsible corporations is an act of violence against the citizens who stand unwilling to support the same companies they are forced to bail out.
So the next time you walk down the street, take a look at the cars in sight and count how many are American and how many are foreign. You will quickly realize that the number of American-made cars is decreasing because the industry in this country is dying and there is nothing that can stop it.
A bailout is as useful as performing CPR on a man who has been dead for a day, and frankly, the American people don’t have the energy or money for any more mouth-to-mouth.
