Comment by James Scott on December 12, 2008 at 10:24am

Well, so far the markets haven't dropped as much as expected. The White House said they are willing to use some of the financial bailout money to save the car companies.

This seems like the standard political trick where the White House tells the Senate Republicans they can vote against the bailout to save face in their states because the White House will bailout the car companies.

It also works the other way. Sometimes the President will make a grand statement about supporting some issue knowing that the issue will not be supported in the Congress. It allows the President to take credit for something while working to defeat the issue behind the scenes.

These type of political considerations and tricks is one reason why I like politics to stay out of the economy. I know there are some good reasons for the government to be involved with certain regulations, but in general I prefer to have an economy based on math and market transactions rather than being based on political considerations.

Basically, I don't want a company to succeed or fail based on how much money they funnel to the governor of Illinois. I want companies to succeed or fail based on whether or not they are successful businesses.

Comment by paul on December 18, 2008 at 10:51am

Now President Bush is saying he isn't sure what he will do for the auto companies. The news reports labeled it a "soft" or "orderly" form of bankruptcy.

Sounds like the shareholders and executives will be fine while the companies are "reorganized" to shed the health benefits and pensions of current and former employees.

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