| User Blox 4 |
|
- Put stuff here
|
Barack Obama  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rob Kailey is a working schmuck with no ties or affiliations to any governmental or political organizations, save those of sympathy.
|
|
Fri Dec 05, 2008 at 11:01:45 AM MST
|
| First, the video from last night's The Daily Show:
And here he is in print discussing his thoughts: After listening to a newly contrite appeal for billions in taxpayer help for the struggling auto industry, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester said Thursday that there are merits to throwing a tax-funded lifeline to the Big Three, but "the devil is in the details."
"There are grounds to support a bailout, but there are some deal breakers," Tester said in an interview with the Gazette State Bureau on Thursday afternoon. He also gave some criteria:- Taxpayers would be first in line when the debt is repaid.
- The money would be spent in America, on American manufacturing, rather than expanding American-owned plants in Mexico, for example.
- A government board would have oversight of the package and would potentially help craft a bankruptcy package for an automaker, should bankruptcy prove inevitable.
Tester also correctly notes that this bailout is a far better deal for taxpayers than the bailout of Wall Street. It would be stupid of us to stop a smarter bailout because of anger over a stupid one. Ideally, the money for this would come from the already approved $700b anyways.
Final thought: as the newspaper account and the video highlight, Tester is neither bending over backwards to support or to oppose this deal. Rather, he appears to be demanding a good deal and saying he'll support it if it has its ducks in a row. That's a good position -- especially for someone like him who has some real say in how this thing gets crafted (although, even in a club of 100, he lacks the seniority still to be in the driver's seat). |
| Matt Singer :: Tester Keeps Fighting on the Bailout |
|
|
| Poll |
| Voting. Useful or not? |
|
|
|
Results
|
|
