Kevin R. C. Gutzman

May 06, 2009

Over at The Volokh Conspiracy, there are some ruminations on the fact that it’s now official:  Chrysler won’t be repaying any of the “loans” it was given by the Bush Administration in its waning days or by the incoming Obama Administration since.  Congratulations, Suckers (that is, Taxpayers)!

By the way, any fool could see that the idea wasn’t a loan, but a gift—actually, the first of many gifts from the taxpayers to the UAW membership and the Formerly Big Three’s shareholders.

In fact, I think you had to be wilfully blind to call those gifts loans.

I wonder whether the people who called the “loans’” opponents “stupid,” “selfish,” (implicitly) unpatriotic, (implicitly) classist, etc., will now recant.  But I’m not holding my breath.  The fix was in from the beginning, as clear as the nose on your face.  Kudos to the rare politicians who dared stand up and say “No!” to this giant special-interest rip-off of the taxpayer; let’s hope there are more such voices in the coming months.