Bailing out Detroit

This is an exercise in futility, and the biggest beneficiary will be the UAW, whose members pass 90% of their dues to democrats, via the union. There being no election for another 2 years, the urgent need for money may be fading a bit. If the Big 2-1/2 get 25Bn, or about 4 times what they're worth on the open market, they will keep producing unprofitable cars for a while longer.

Obamas pick for the EPA is Mary Nichols, head of the California Air Resources Board, an immensely powerful and totally unaccountable agency that likes to keep their offices in buildings off the beaten track, and not visited by public transport. She was behind Cali's effort recently to be allowed to dictate emissions and sales requirements to Detroit. The current EPA told her no, Cali was still a state, and forcing Detroit to make a Cali model to sell there, and a US model that couldn't be sold there would be burdensome.

Obama, however, claims to want to make carbon dioxide a "dangerous pollutant", and make most of our transport run on alternative energy sources ASAP, which should put the big 2-1/2 out of business in a year or two anyway.

Why waste the money. Congress could just give itself 10% of the bailout money, and save the taxpayers the expense of the other 90%. At the end of the day, the effect is the same.