Who’ll Bail US Out?

by Kerry Thomas

December 5, 2008

It has to be the epitome of chutzpah to be a Member of Congress these days.

Congress has the audacity to lecture the CEOs of the big three American automobile makers on how they should be doing business. The CEOs were told to bring a plan to Congress that would show Congress how the car companies plan to stay in business.

We all know one of the biggest problems facing these car companies is their union labor agreements and the legacy health care and pension costs of their retirees, that add more than $2000 to the cost of every car they make. Bankruptcy would get these companies out of the union agreements, but the UAW and liberal Democrats say this is not an option.

What Detroit is asking for is actually a union bailout.

It’s all for show. The UAW will get their money. Their liberal Democrat friends in Congress will see to that.

All this during the same week when the long awaited Capitol visitor’s center finally opened, three years late and millions over budget. This was a building project that was originally supposed to cost $71 million, then $265 million, and finally cost taxpayers $$621 million.

This from the same Congress that spent $168 billion earlier this year on an “economic stimulus package” in a not-so-veiled attempt to buy votes in an election year.

In an election year where “change” was the magic mantra, it’s sadly ironic that a Congress that had an approval rating in the single digits saw almost every Member of Congress who stood for re-election get re-elected. Foolish choices or wise, we get the government we deserve.

Earlier this year, Congress passed a bailout bill with no oversight provisions, a bill that gave the Secretary of the Treasury complete and total discretion as to how the bailout money was to be spent. The Secretary can literally do whatever he wants with that money. Congress passed the bill, then had the temerity to question the Secretary about his judgment in selecting recipients of the largess.

This same Congress managed to turn that 3-page $700 billion bailout bill into more than 450 pages, and a cost that has now ballooned to more than $7.5 trillion. (This was due in large part to the Federal Reserve’s creditors calling in their loans that financed America’s $10 trillion national debt, a move that threatened the very solvency of the U.S. dollar.)

And now they want more.

The Democrats who control Congress are already talking about spending another “$700 billion” on another “stimulus package.” Our newly-elected liberal President has announced new 4-year spending proposals that exceed $1.2 trillion, above and beyond the $3.1 trillion 2009 federal budget.

How do they expect us, the American Taxpayers, to pay for all this?

Where’s Congress’ plan to pay off the other $10 trillion national debt they’ve rung up? Where’s their plan to pay the Social Security benefits for the Baby Boomers and their children and grandchildren? (The so-called “lock box” for surplus Social Security trust funds never materialized.) Where’s their plan to pay for all the benefits promised under the Medicare program?

With Congressional Democrats so eager to bail out every sector of the U.S. economy, it’s time we ask Congress, “Who’s going to bail out the American Taxpayer?”