ABC News reports that the car bailout bill thing didn’t pass the Senate. And it looks like it’s all because the UAW wouldn’t budge on any contract changes (abcnews). So they’re now considering taking our money that they set aside for the banking industry—

WHOA WAIT HOLD THE PHONE WHAT????

Did ABC News just report that the government is now going to take the money they had set aside to bail out the banks and use it for the auto industry?

*headdesk*

I actually have a couple of beefs and let’s see if I can address them.

Okay, so I’m not really the most educated man here on the planet, but dear God why are they wasting their time and our money like this? Two weeks after the government handed $85 billion to AIG, they went on the most wonderful retreat. Because that, after all, was the responsible thing to do, financially. And, really, that’s only 25% of what they’ve given out so far, and maybe some of it’s been used more responsibly, but that’s not really the point I’m trying to make anyway. The point I’m trying to make is

don’t give the money away to irresponsible parties!

The US auto industry — hey here’s a funny aside: i keep typing undustry — has not exactly been sailing high lately. Leave it mostly to the United Auto Workers union. First off they won so much from American car makers that I wish I could have gotten in on that deal. I remember a fellow who was laid off from his plant in Delaware and was volunteering at the local hospital. He didn’t do much at the hospital, mandated community service. And he always talked about how he had it made. After the community service, he’d drive to Delaware, to some hangout or something, all day, and get paid for it. And why? Because that was in his union contract. And man did he have a sweet 1970′s Camaro.

I don’t know what else the union’s gotten them, but if the benefits are just as extravagant, I can see why American cars cost so much and yet are so crappy.

And another thing about the car companies. The world is going to run out of oil. We as a race are using oil faster than the earth can manufacture it, and I think sooner over later we’ll run out. So the Big Three are going ahead with gigantic cars and SUVs and looking long-term like foreign manufacturers are doing. Granted, they had their reasons. THEY WANTED TO MAKE MONEY INSTEAD OF DEVELOPING A BETTER REGULAR-SIZED CAR.

History happened, there was a culmination of quite a few things that I don’t feel like getting into at the moment, and now they’re in the middle of this perfect storm. The White House made up TARP funds, gave out money to help struggling companies, and eyes lit up in Detroit. Mouths salivated.

Private jet flights were scheduled.

The past couple of weeks the heads of the Big Three—GM, Ford, Chryslter—were pleading on Capitol Hill for money, as if that would save them. Maybe it will in the short run, but these guys are going to have to start doing something all-new to come out of this long-term. I don’t want to waste my money on a company that can’t handle itself properly, and I kind of hope the government doesn’t either—though I did like the “Car Czar” idea, which put many restrictions on the distribution of the money, made it appear so unattractive, that they would only use it as a last resort.