Freebie Jeebies

President-elect “Here’s Your Pony” and the open checkbook nightmares controlling Capitol Hill can’t wait to find new sinkholes to throw your money down. The Botox Hag and her pal Harry want to make an end-run around common sense and try to salvage an auto industry that for decades has had no interest in salvaging itself. The good news is that they might not have time to do it before The One ascends to his throne.

It seems that Republicans in the Senate are finding some of the guts in defeat that they couldn’t back in September, when they were working on building a “Super Minority” presence in Washington. The Democrats don’t quite have the majority needed to shove anything they want anywhere they want…yet.

The auto industry’s problems go way beyond the current financial crisis. Plagued by greedy, strong-arm unions and greedy, weak willed execs who are so shortsighted they can’t see beyond lunch, it’s been snowballing towards oblivion for some time. The snowball just happens to be hitting peak speed right now. If it finds a way to hold off until January it will receive Federal Failure Reward package, courtesy of Chris Dodd (D-The Titanic) and the new president.

Continuing a theme of mine…these price tags keep going up. The automakers were already guaranteed $25 billion in low interest loans. Billions? That’s so two months ago. Round One is a feint to get the taxpayers to bite on a number. Once they’ve numbed us with an amount that already seems ridiculous they come in with Round Two, which is a variation on the “What’s a little more?” theme.

You will constantly be reminded that you’re too stupid to understand this complex economic stuff. Here’s all we need to know:

1)Again, the price tag will continue to go up.

2)The Secretary of the Treasury is making the rules up as he goes along.

3)If a small business ran itself the way these large industries do, it would be allowed to fail without anyone in Washington blinking an eye.

When Barack Obama gets into office, let him know loud and clear,

No, se puede.

(Cross-posted from America Needs Me)

Tell your Senators to vote, “NO!” on the Senate Bailout Bill (Updated)

UPDATE: Eric Odom just let us know about this Twitter stream, which is scanning today’s Senate Bailout Bill for Porkbarrel Spending – and finding lots of it. Examples:

…pages of natural disaster relief. fine and dandy cause. but should anything but housing relief be in THIS bill?

…budget for mine reclamation fund gets an additional $9,000,000 in 2010

…an amount equal to the annual average of 25 percent of all amounts received for the applicable fiscal …blah blah blah. FOREST RECEIPTS?

Also see: Blue Collar Muse – Congress and the Bailout’s Frankenstein Fix

---

ORIGINAL POST: Remember that bailout bill that was soundly defeated in the U.S. House on Monday, thanks to all of us calling our representatives? Well, it’s time to call your senators.

ABC News is reporting that Senators McCain, Obama, and Biden will all be leaving the campaign trail long enough to go back to Washington D.C. and vote for the bill.

Phil Kerpen, of Americans for Prosperity has an interesting suggestion for “Rescuing the Rescue Plan,” here:

“…A Treasury facility could be set up to operate exactly as suggested by the original Paulson plan. As such, it would buy troubled assets to provide markets liquidity and serve a price-discovery function. However, instead of funding the facility by selling Treasury bills that would impose a debt on future taxpayers, some or all of the fund could be constructed of capital that is voluntarily committed by private entities.

And here’s the tax-cut sweetener: All funds invested in the facility for a five-year holding-period would be tax-free, exempt from the capital-gains tax, the corporate tax, the death tax, the repatriation tax, and any other tax that would otherwise apply….(more)”

Here is a copy of the Senate Bill: Click image to the right.

Hat-tip, Michelle Malkin, and the Senate Conservatives Fund