More Corporate Socialism

As much as I rail against traditional socialism, there is another type of socialism which is just as repugnant, corporate socialism. This is when some company who can't run itself goes running to the government for a handout. These are usually big companies which are far removed from it's founders, who were usually entrepreneurs, not beggars in Gucci. Though the Market Stabilization bill was characterized as handouts, most, if not all, the money was used either for legitimate transactions or loans.

The prime example of this is the $10 billion that GM and Chrysler are asking for to allow them to survive long enough to merge. This is on top of $25 billion in loan assistance they already got. This is repulsive. These are two companies that have been absolutely run into the ground by pure incompetence by everyone involved, from the greedy, idiotic unions, to the brain dead executives who couldn't run a mint profitably. So they come asking for another handout, and they'll probably get it. Which means another decade or so of whining while companies who aren't run by idiots beat them by running a business instead of a charity, before they finally go under.

In a perfect world, they would be bought out by Toyota, so the factories would be run efficiently, the non-worthless jobs would be saved, and the handful of good models would survive. But instead the big 3 will become the big two, and continue to be showcases of poorly run corporation losing tons of money. This is making a mockery out of capitalism, and everyone involved should be ashamed, from the dirty politicians buying votes and campaign contributions, to the incompetent executives, to the short-sighted unions who sealed their own fate.

Don't lecture me with the Buy American! nonsense. First, the Japanese car companies provide plenty of American jobs, while the Big 3 outsource plenty outside the US. Second, Japanese car companies pay their workers competitive wages, and those workers are happier with their jobs than the those that work for the Big 3.

More to the point, since I believe in the market, I buy the best product, period. There may be a few extreme exceptions, but for the most part, that is what makes the system work. What, really, are you saying when you say that American industry will survive only on charity? If they can't run a profitable company, they should shut down or sell it to someone who can, not survive on pity sales built on protectionist nonsense.

Mark my words, we will be asked to bail these idiots out again before long. Corporate welfare is just like regular welfare, it destroys industriousness, and makes slaves out of workers. It is an addiction which can only be fixed by first admitting the problem.