Who's Sorry Now?

Wednesday, June 3, 2009



In thinking about the decline in the U.S. automobile industry and the demise of GM and Chrysler, the old Connie Francis hit song from 1958 comes back to haunt me with the lyrics she poured out so mournfully:

Who's sorry now? Who's sorry now?
Whose heart is aching for breaking each vow?
Who's sad and blue, who's crying too?
Just like I cried over you.

Right to the end, just like a friend
I tried to warn you somehow
You had your way, now you must pay
I'm glad that you're sorry now


This could be right out of the old John McCain song book or a Republican sympathy card for the last election. But it really hits at the heart of a paradox for Americans: We knew this day was coming during the last election and yet the majority of voters either accepted the inevitable outcome or didn't understand it. Now they lament the passing of GM and the loss of all those well-paying union jobs (presumably held by many of the same voters or their friends and relatives). Some are even cheering that the government now owns GM.

The automobile industry takeover follows closely on the heels of the bailout and takeover of a large segment of the financial and insurance sectors of the economy (remember AIG and Citibank?). In the process, the robust American capital model that rewards success with capital gain and failure with loss has been thwarted by the administration and congress who are bent on having government running major parts of the economy. It can only be assumed that the purpose is to consolidate control of major capital segments of our economy under the hand of government.

But it wasn't as if we were not aware of the warning signs. Remember Joe the Plumber asking about redistribution of the wealth during the Presidential campaign? Or the supposedly casual relationship of then-candidate Obama with known domestic terrorists and avowed Marxists Bill Ayers and wife Bernadette Dorn? Or the assertion of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that no crisis should go unexploited?

There is an emerging pattern to the administration's actions:

1. Create a new crisis or enrich an existing one
2. Blame it on the previous administration or global climate change
3. Enlist the congress in passing enabling legislation to provide federal funding for a "fix".
4. Create a diversion
5. Spend the money quickly on something else while the press provides cover for #4
6. Repeat step #2
7. Reassure the stunned American public that this is just another sacrifice they have to make and that they should be proud that this provides a solution for others less fortunate.
8. Kick the can down the road.

So who's sorry now?

-The troops in the middle east who will need Hummers, spare parts and armor refits. Lots of luck getting those from the Chinese.
-Anyone in the American automobile industry
-The DOD, since the major manufacturing facilities and capabilites of GM and Chrysler form the backbone of wartime manufacturing capability, just as it did in WWII when GM made averything from rifles to tanks and bombers.
-The American public which will see a huge shift in jobs and manufacturing dollars going offshore, something even the democrats have argued against for decades. Staggering inflation iwill not be far behind.


Who's glad you're sorry now?

Washington bureaucrats. Because they had their way and now you must pay.

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez who had this to say yesterday to Reuters about the matter:

"Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right."


Good grief!

The Wild Weasel

Posted by The Wild Weasel at 10:56

0 comments:

Post a Comment