Read up before shunning auto bailout
In response to a column by Alex Pherson (“Auto bailout is all politics,” Nov. 20):
The imprudent Pherson once again managed to write a column Rush Limbaugh would be proud of. With all due respect, the hypocrisy and intentionally misleading twisting of facts is egregious. Pherson should decide if he is a free marketer or not. If he is, he should not support the original $700 billion bailout as he does in the beginning of the column ““ right before he rejects an auto industry bailout.
In fact, if he is a true student of free markets he would agree that the very concept of essentially not regulating the financial markets (as eight years of the Bush administration believed was the best course of action) is the reason our economy got in this mess in the first place.
Pherson must also do some fact-checking. The Democrats on Capitol Hill are not nearly as enthusiastic as he suggests they are to simply throw money at this problem while Bush is still in power ““ pulling a fast one on the American people.
Congress will convene in December to hear exactly how Detroit’s Big Three automakers would spend government money to restructure and produce cars that actually sell and are better for the environment. Only then will they decide whether to invest.
Yes, I said “invest;” calling it a bailout is simply false. If it goes through, it would be more of an investment or loan. Last time Congress helped out Chrysler in this fashion in 1979, the taxpayers profited greatly.
Gon Carpel
Third-year,
communication studies
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