Romney on Auto Bailout

I missed this in The New York Times over the weekend but it’s an op-ed piece from former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney which provides a really well argued overview as to why the auto industry in the US should not receive bailout money.

I’m inclined to agree with him on his points in essence. Essentially, Romney argues that saving the big three will doom them as they will never learn from the mistakes made, a central component to their eventual evolution and survival. By not bailing out the industry, the US would send a clear signal that they need to provide better cars and assimilate into the modern automaking industry rather than relying on the government to pay for years of neglect and laurel-resting.

In principal he’s right. But he’s saying the words in an America which has seen the crash of Lehman Brothers, the near-demise of AIG and the essential evaporation of its investment banking industry. Allowing these automakers to fail at this time in history just doesn’t seem viable given that, should they indeed fail and not manage to evolve into modern entities which can survive the downturn, the job losses would be so enormous and wide-ranging that any stimulus package from the Obama administration would be unlikely to provide any stability. It’s a tough question which has an impossible answer and we’ll see what that is in coming weeks.

Morsels

Obama is planning to veto Bush on stem cell restrictions and policies on oil drilling.

Who is the leader of the GOP now?

Boom! F-bomb on MSNBC from Joe Scarborough, the host of the channel’s ‘Morning Joe’.

American International Group (AIG) is getting further leeway from the US state as the government purchases $40bn in preferred shares in the company.

Nice piece here about political reform in Bolivia.

Is the US really a centre-right nation? Many now disagree.

Circuit City has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Uh oh…