Tim Walz Worries Weren’t Warranted
Put aside for a moment your ideological beliefs about the best role of government – whether you believe that government intervention helps things along, or is sure to bring a project to ruin. Let’s look at the facts of the government’s partial buyout of General Motors and Chrysler.
A few months ago, many members of Congress were wringing their hands, worried that the U.S. government would ruin General Motors and Chrysler through negative government intervention. Those who were paying attention at the time noted that General Motors and Chrysler were already ruined, and would have probably failed to survive without government assistance.
Still, U.S. Representative Tim Walz, a Minnesota Democrat, introduced H. RES. 571, a resolution worrying that “public ownership of automobile companies presents a constant temptation to lawmakers to micromanage and unduly intercede in management decisions.” Was Walz right? Has Congress shown much temptation to unduly intercede with the decisions of Detroit’s rotten automotive management? Has there been governmental micromanagement?
The answer is simple: No. Partial government ownership of General Motors and Chrysler hasn’t ruined these companies. They’re more healthy now than they were when the government first bought some ownership. There haven’t been any Socialist plots in Congress to nationalize the auto industry. General Motors and Chrysler have been strengthened through government assistance, not converted into subsidiaries of the Department of Transportation.
The private market wrecked General Motors and Chrysler. Government intervention has rescued them – not through Communism, but just plain common sense.
