I do so wish she would go back to Canada.

Buy a Hyundai, Jennifer.

Isn't she holding a single state depression?

I'm an American, and I don't approve of the government taking money extorted from me to give to companies flailing because of their own mismanagement coupled with uncontrolled union rapaciousness.

The banks I can see, as much as it stuck in my craw, since we have to keep credit liquid. The auto companies... well, where they are right now is precisely what Chapter 11 was designed for. They need to restructure, renegotiate labor contracts, jettison bad practices, and dump incompetent management. They don't need my money to do that.

The sad thing is, I'm about ready to buy a new car, which is what the automakers need to have happen a lot more times. GM and Ford are way down on the list for me.

Funny how it is that the states in the worst shape, are all run by democrats...

Chapter 11 is the only long term salvation.

Gov. have you ever read THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UINITED STATES? These bailouts are totally unconstitutional. But what the H___ that doesn't matter to Democrats!

As a resident of Michigan Jenny Granholm is the worst governor. She takes all the tax money from those of us on the west side of the state and sends it to Detroit. She singlehandly along with democrats in the state house are digging the recession deeper. The Democrats in this state have raised business taxes to the point buisinesses are leaving or closing in droves. One of her latest plans is to raise the state gas tax higher than what it is.
Those of us in Michigan keep hoping the Obamamessiah would take her to DC.
When she railed against the senate for not bailing out the big 3 it just shows how far in the pocket of the UAW she is. Someone please take her away before she totally destroys Michigan.

Granholm really believes what she is saying and, like most liberals, does not believe in the Laffer curve. Here's what I blogged about her back in May (based on a Wall Street Journal article) in a post that was actually devoted to slamming Mike Huckabee:

"Mike’s solution, massive tax hikes and greater government control of the economy, is being tried out right now in Michigan, where Democrat governor Jennifer Granholm shut down the state government last year until the Legislature approved Michigan’s biggest tax hike in a generation.

What are the results? Six months later one-third of the expected revenues have vanished as the state’s economy continues to struggle. Income tax collections are falling behind estimates, as are property tax receipts and those from the state’s transaction tax on home sales. Michigan is now in the 18th month of a state-wide recession, and the unemployment rate of 6.9% remains far above the national rate of 5%."

I agree 100%.

At the same time I wish the government would stop trying to tell the automotive industry what it should make. Safety is one thing, but requiring a fleet mpg rating? The saying: "Too many cooks spoil the broth," has real meaning here.

I also wish the Big 3 had had a little larger cajones when they negotiated with the UAW. Having workers paid full salary to sit around and do nothing or work rules so strict that a worker can't be moved from one area of a plant ot another where he is needed more is beyond ridiculous. But then is 2200 pages of labor rules.

My sister worked in a non-union position (the Medical Dept.) of a GM plant which closed 2 years ago.

All you need to know is that the "right" to smoke on the assembly line and free tampons in the ladies' rooms were among the things included in the contract. If a worker came in with a scratch and demanded paid time off, my sister learned not to raise a fuss. If she did, the union rep would be in her office screaming in her face 10 minutes later. When the workers had to start paying a $5 co-pay for doctor's visits, they complained bitterly. People turned up to work drunk and stoned and weren't fired - because they couldn't be fired. These were high school graduates making $70,000 a year when you factored in the benes. My sister said they seemed to not have the slightest idea of how the rest of the country operated.

Fat-cat Wall Streeters running Ponzi schemes and corrupt pols are coming in for a well-deserved drubbing these days. But they're not the only ones with king-sized senses of entitlement. The members of the UAW were just as insulated from the realities of free-market economics.

"As a resident of Michigan Jenny Granholm is the worst governor."

I'm in Illinois. Sorry, we have a lock on that position. ;)

I'm a conservative but I say bail 'em out. Everybody whines about the union, and they have done their part, and supposedly poor decisions by management, and they have done their part too, but the government itself is partly to blame.

I don't think our government is smart enough to help them, temporarily, without creating another mess, but the fallout from a failed domestic auto industry would be FAR worse than whatever the government can cook up.

Sure, chapter 11 is designed to help a failing company restructure, so, where are all the successful companies that have gone through chapter 11? There are far less of those than companies that became irrelevant or eventually closed. Chapter 11 may keep you going for a little while longer, but for something as massive as the automobile industry the consequences would be dire.

The government eventually made a profit off of Chrysler's bailout a decade ago, there's hope (how's that for a buzzword?) that they can do something we won't regret this time.

Doorhold,

Sorry when I wrote that I was so sick of seeing Jenny G on all the local newscasts that I forgot about the Helmet-haired one. My condolences to you. Maybe you can take Jenny for your new governor. We just want her the hell out of office and preferably out of the state.

I have relatives who are yoopers in in da UP and Jenny totally ignores that part of the state. They live in Houghton and identify more with Wisconsin than Jenny and her Detroit only politics.

The bailouts will fail utterly. The only good things they could possibly achieve for the economy at large is to make the economic pain shallower but longer lasting. These things intervention can achieve only with the utmost skill, knowledge and virtuous intent. These necessities do not obtain. DO NOT support the bailouts; NONE of the 23-odd acts of piracy going by that name. They are a monstrosity and nothing else. If you know this now without having to be re-instructed in the facts of economic life you will lose less and earn more. If you must be instructed AGAIN in the poison of socialism you burden the nation at large with your stupidity. Looks like that is the way things are going across the board which is unsurprising given the state of ignorance today but if you think you are a conservative and are pro-bailout you are in total and systemic contradiction and will regret it terribly, the sooner the better.