AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Bailout Dies in Senate
It's in Bush's hands now

Last night marked the two-minute warning for GM & Chrysler. The good news is that they still have the ball, but the bad news is that it's 4th and long, ball on their own 4 yardline, Garo Yepremian is their quarterback, and anyone who could block has already taken a bailout.

There was never strong support for the bailout in the Senate, and last night, the bailout died there. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker tried to do weeks worth of work negotiating a cramdown in one night, but it didn't happen. The UAW balked at having its contract immediately crammed down to wages akin to the transpant automakers.

Here's where it stands this morning. General Motors finally announced that it had hired bankruptcy counsel. Now, it's all up to Nero, I mean President Bush, if there is any chance in avoiding an imminent bankruptcy. The President has the authority to release TARP funds, just as he always has. If he ends up releasing the funds, this means that he has let the country go through a month and a half of added financial turmiol to get to where we should have been all along. I wonder how many billions will be lost in the stock market today?