16th August 2010, 8:10 PM
Quote:Oh, and as far as the government goes, under government control GM has turned itself around and is going to post its largest earnings ever this year.
Largest earnings since 2004, anyway. I'm sorry to split hairs, but "largest earnings ever" set off my bullshit-o-meter and I had to look it up. Unless you just meant "highest earnings so far this year only", though it would mean a worthless argument.
Quote:The only way jobs can be created is if signs of economic stability and consumer spending stabilize long enough that companies begin to think about expanding their operations instead of contracting them. You simply cannot create this effect artificially.
It depends on how you invest the money, I think. If it's something that can sustain itself and be handed off to the private sector, that'd obviously be ideal. If it's something temporary, you're only delaying things and hoping the economy will improve by the time it finishes.
I'm not against all job-creation-targetted spending, but obviously it must be done intelligently. The jobs-creation bill proposed by Democrats would lend 30-billion dollars to banks to aid them in lending to small businesses. It sounds like a good idea, but it isn't necessarily effective. I'm a bit on the fence, but I lean towards "yay".
Quote:Even if the bailout is a short-term success, it lays down a bad precedent for large corporations in America. They can operate with the assumption that there will be a government safety net to catch them if they falter badly. And, if enough falter badly at once, it could be catastrophic in too many ways to count.
Which is why we need to put forth stronger economic regulation to prevent these kinds of catastrophes. I don't like the government bailing out industries, but I think it was the right decision in the case of this recession. Things would have spiraled even further out of control if no action was taken.