Bridge loan to nowhere

Sean and I decided to stop listening to the news. We can only hear, “GM’s dying” so much and we realized hearing all the negative (and often ignorant) newscasts was really bringing us down. But tonight I was watching ER (I still cannot believe this is its last season – although after tonight’s lousy episode I’m less sad than before) and a teaser for the local late news came on, announcing the bailout bill was DOA in the Senate, so I kept the TV on.

I really wish I hadn’t. But I did, and I heard Mr. Messy-hair-anchor-guy say the bridge loan bill stalled in the Senate over UAW wage concessions.

I cannot listen to this any more. And by “this” I mean seemingly uneducated senators and congressmen and news anchors with great hair waxing poetic about the car industry, having no clue what losing a manufacturing base would do to our economy. You want to see a major disparity between the rich and the poor? Get rid of manufacturing. Actually producing a product is what brought a massive middle class population to America. You want the middle class gone? Get rid of manufacturing.

My libertarian leanings make this situation hard for me to swallow. I do not want GM bankrupt – I enjoy Sean bringing home a paycheck, after all. But is giving loans to businesses the proper function of government? Of course the answer is no. But it is also not the proper function of government to impede businesses from running their businesses and that is exactly what has happened to GM and millions of other companies as a result of an onerous tax code and unfunded mandates passed by representatives living and working in their own ivory towers.

This wake-up call is long overdue. Perhaps the situation with the Big 3 can provide the alarm that is needed to let Congress know that regulating and taxing companies is not helping anyone.

There has never been a greater need for the FairTax.

Nor have I ever needed my iPod more. I’ll just keep cranking out the Christmas tunes and go back to ignoring the news.