Is Obama Trying To Convince YOU Or Himself That The Bailout Was A Success?

Whether you feel success was achieved or not, depends on *your* criteria for success. Some people feel the "Clunkers for Cash" scheme and the auto bail-outs were like removing cancer from one part of the body, and injecting it into another. The recipients' corporate debts and losses were not magically erased. They were simply redistributed.

So where the "cancer" was removed, we saved some jobs. For the time being. Where the "cancer" was reinjected, we have added new debt and losses. Debt-holders and tax-payers: Take a hike! This is good for you. (sarcasm intended)

Obama was in a no-win situation. Do the bail-out and have tax-payers and some debt-holders pissed at you. Don't do the bail-out and *maybe* some of the Big Three close their doors, and a lot of workers are out of a job (read less tax revenue for the government).

The Prez is in for a tough ride, no matter what he does :-( So we can all get used to being pissed at him.

Good post. I would add only one thing after adding debt and losses. That being the very real possibility of significant opportunity costs associated with supporting sub-optimal businesses / practices. More clearly- money has alternative uses, and while it may even be productive, its productivity should be measured relative to those other uses- thus even positive growth can represent a total social / deadweight loss.

Anyway, on a not too related subject, Marilyn vos Savant was recently asked who she would spend a day with, and I found her response amusing: "E-Z. I would spend the day with Barack Obama, and I would do most of the talking!"

I am of the opinion that almost all politicians should have a sit-down with Marilyn.

At least he did something - better than having done nothing but talk.

It may well be that Obama has been wildly successful on the economy. Ater eight years of getting bushified by war, tax cuts for the hyper-privileged, destruction of science integrity, etc etc etc. the economy could very well have been on track to fall far below even the great depression.

If only we could run history over and over again to see what would really happen with different actions.

its shows the levels partisanship is taken to, whereby the the mere 50 billion dollars for saving of a national icon, nah the very heartbeat of Industrial America, an engine of middle class aspirations is mocked, While trillions are spent in stupid wars, the military complex, bailing out rich fat cats in wall street is given a free pass.

GM will stand up again and the future will prove Obama was Right.

I find it strange that nobody questions the bailout of the Banks and Financial institutions that operated under Bush's admin and were bailed out no questions asked by Paulson. Were they necessary ... probably yes.
Was the bailout of GM and Chrysler necessary ..YES . They were undone by the collapse of the economy.
GM directly affects you and I. Collapse of an industrial giant and manufacturing base will destroy one of the last bastions of middle class in this country ...
I personally dont care for the UAW and feel they were part of this problem but vehemently stand for and put my taxes where my mouth is to ensure that this country, has a manufacturing base that ensures fair competition !!
The coming Volt and moves by GM show that this was best bailout since Harley Davidson got a reprieve from Ronald Reagan.

Say what you will about GM/Chrysler or the UAW for that matter but the fact remains that middle class jobs that are produced from the Big 3 helps the ecomomy and for every job loss from the 3 there are 3 other jobs loss that are in relation to them. You dont have to like thier cars or their unions but keep in mind just about every other manufactor has a union in thier home country so unions are the norm in the industry and the UAW, JAW or the Sthil union all stand for the same thing, safe jobs and a descent wage for all workers.

You know what I have to say this e got it 009 you dont like Obama you dont agree with the bailout fine but are you seriously that obsessed with it that you have to post a million articles regarding the same thing......get over it!!! it happened its over with finding something else to obsess over really....

There are some posts here with great pros and cons. As far as the posted question. I think Obama is convinced that the bailout was a success. However, with all the pros and cons it is very hard to convince everybody that it was a success. I try to stay pretty neutral on posts politically after me and Lexsucks got into it, but my opinion is that the bailout of the auto industry was needed and the only mistake is catering to the UAW.

Seriously you need to get past it being just for the unions because the loan the big 3 received help far many more people than the union rank and file.

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently..." —Henry Ford

GM failed. Just as Obama has clearly failed as president. The difference? There won't be anyone to bail Obama out in 2012. The independent voters who voted him into the Oval Office have abandoned him in droves. Only the hard-left (including bought and paid-for union members) continues to support the Carteresque Obama.

The billions of dollars used to prop up GM (and the UAW leeches) would've been more productive left in the hands of the taxpayers it was taken from.

Would you like some tea?

I'd agree with you if the tax payers were employed. See that's the real trick isn't it?

What about the bank bailout? Was that successful? Banks are still having issues loaning money to people, businesses and even each other. All they did was take the bailout and balance their books to hide, delete, or cover their debts. So did it work? What if the banks had collapsed?

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem - John Mclain (Die Hard)

Agent009,

I am not surprised at all, I am actually waiting to see how low you can truly go.
I can't remember your vociferous objection to the Bank Bailout- let me guess, it helps your benefactors doesn't it. You want American auto-makers to go belly up so the foreign auto-manufacturers will gain from it thus enriching yourself-isn't it.

I honestly can't understand why you and your fellow clowns alike want to see the demise of this country- wait a minute, you and your fellow clowns are the very people that vote against their own interest. A useless cancer to the society but I guess you and your likes are the price we have to pay for having a democracy

"Clowns", that's funny.

It's kind of like the old adage, "Your ideas suck just because I don't have any". They'd rather watch and help the country go down in flames so they can blame the current adminsitration.

The funny thing is how many of these people support beck, limbaugh, and palin to name a few. What's one thing these people have in common with each other? They all have alot of YOUR money!!! And they're not giving it back to you. Don't you need to eat and put gas in your 96 Taurus? I'm just saying.

Too much politics and not enough auto news these past few days.

Love him or hate him, he is merely a mascot, all other presidents would have done the same thing, he is a good salesman, Actors make the best presidents,lol Kennedy tried to take the power back to the people and look where that got him.

The man made promises he did not keep regarding openess, change in approach and bringing people together. It is Chicago politics as usual and has breed distrust and dissapointment. My own measure of the man is simple...count how many times when he speaks he says "I". Not we, us or you...its always "I". Shame on him. He had a chance to make a real difference in people's lives and is blowing it. Too bad.

This is certainly not the correct venue for this blog but I can understand both sides. But a wise man once told me, "don't ever vote against your wallet or something that could someday benefit you or your family". The bailout has pros and cons sure, but the alternatives were much worse if we can even imagine that. You think housing is bad now, imagine what it would be like if the Big 3 had shuttered their doors?

Don't worry about the debt level because it'll have to get worse before it gets better. Clinton cut the deficit to one of its lowest points in history only to have it run back up by Bush. You can't fight two wars and cut taxes(no president ever did that, incl. Reagan.) So now we have a huge deficit. Hey you gotta spend money to make money and guess what......here come the tax increases. You have to increase taxes.

Wouldn't you rather wade waist deep through crap and eventually get out than to just stand in knee deep crap forever? The Reps want us to stand there forever.

We should only bailout irresponsible Financial Institutions, who make money moving paper, with $Trillion dollar bailouts.
Manufacturing entities (such as GM) which produce stuff we need and generate $120 Billion in annual revenue and generate jobs - we should let fail so we can buy more Asian sh1t.