...on being an ex post facto capitalist

Not that I would have before, but let me make it official now: I'll never own a GM or Chrysler automobile.

The things is, they should have been left to die, victims of their own dysfunction, decades of poor management decisions, unsustainable labor agreements, and the inability to compete. Instead, they've been bailed-out. They're like the kid who only makes the team because his dad is the coach. He may be tolerated, but he'll never be respected. Likewise, I'm not going to drive the product of a company that I don't respect; a product that shouldn't exist because the company that made it should no longer exist.

But they're an American company, you say. Nonsense! American companies compete or die, it happens every day. GM and Chrysler should be out of business. But instead, and thanks to a socialist-leaning government and hundreds of billions of dollars, free market capitalism is the only thing that has died. That and common sense. And dignity.

I've never been a Ford fan, but have recently developed a grudging respect for them. Unlike GM and Chrysler, they rejected government bail-out money and have thus far managed to avoid bankruptcy. That may change, but for now I truly admire their "live free or die" determination not to become a government lackey.

GM, on the other hand, has had its CEO dismissed by President Obama and now has a new, government appointed CEO who's first memorable quote after taking the job was, "I don't know a thing about cars." Not to worry, neither do the politicians who appointed you. Neither did the politicians who ran Yugo. Sure, the Yugo was voted "Worst Car of the Millennium," but...um...this is a new millennium.

Why on earth would anybody want to purchase a car made by people who "don't know a thing about cars?" Why would anybody want to buy a car from a company that is owned by the government and whose decisions are heavily influenced, if not outright made, by politicians? Politicians can't even run the government, much less a profitable business.

The punch line to all this is that the government claims that GM is owned by the "taxpayers." Oh really? Is that where the government got the hundreds of billions of bail-out dollars? From taxpayers? No, they borrowed it from China. So the sad truth is that GM is owned by China and is being leased by the U.S. government. And who will be paying off that lease (and several others) for generations to come? Ah yes, this is where the American taxpayer comes in...at the butt end of the joke.


BTW, if you like the pictures on this post, they came from Despair.com. Check out their hilarious website and excellent product line here.