Rep. Price on Automobile Industry Bailout

This week after a lot of theatre by Democrats in Congress appearing to be tough on the big three, the automotive industry is likely to be bailed out.  Congress rejected the initial proposal by the automakers and asked them to come back with a better proposal and not in Leer jets.  They came back with their new proposals by car. 

The current plan makes the companies get rid of their private jets, does away with CEO golden parachutes, allows the U.S. government to receive warrants for stock equal to at least 20 percent of the loans that the automakers would receive.  Ironically the loans for this bailout will be taken from a fund set up by Congress last year to encourage investment in fuel-efficiency technologies in the automobile industry.  The irony is double; 1) not only are these funds being re-directed away from research in developing the technologies that would lead to a saner sustainable (for the environment and industry) business model but 2) this fund shouldn't exist anyway since, back in 1996 with the electric car,  the technology was already created and succesfully implemented only to be destroyed by the automakers and the petrochemical industry. 

The Bush administration has maintained that any plan must include best efforts to guarantee taxpayer dollars are paid back and that the automakers are able to reorganize and compete.

To find out what Representative David Price's stand is on this legislation I called his office in Raleigh and was reffered to an old statement that was issued on Novemeber 25 which is available on his website. 

Similar to the Bush administration Representative David Price in his own words:

I am not interested in pumping dollars into companies that are ultimately destined to fail.  Any provisions for the automakers to participate in the broader rescue plan should turn on a demonstration of 1) the positive and substantial impact of such participation on the broader economy; and 2) the potential of participation to prompt the restructuring and reorientation of these companies so that they may themselves recover and turn a profit in the foreseeable future.

Representative David Price could begin by making his measure, for whether the automakers are destined to fail, to be safeguards for consumers and the environment. Attaining this measure would guarantee not only the short term "turning of a profit for the forseeable future" and the betterment of the broader economy but also the long term survival for all.  Lets be real, the technology already exists, what is lacking is political willpower!

Contact Representative David Price and ask him to be real, don't wait for the auto industry's lame proposals, don't wait for the spineless Democrats tepid solutions:  BE REAL CHANGE! and SPEAKOUT!

Representative David Price's Contact: