Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Finance, the economy & Economics Bailing out the auto industry - yes or no?

I agree on the over production capacity issue in the sense that it is part of a very large problem with the American economy in particular and increasingly the world economy -- artificial demand. Our marketing geniuses have succeeded in convincing us that we need, in this case, a new car every 3 years.

In fact, cars are easily capable of running efficiently for 10 or 20 years, so the artificial demand is what caused there to be such high capacity production. Then, the constant manipulation fo the economy by lowering interest rates compounded that by making it possible for us to spend more money than is prudent.

So now we have a monster that is demanding to be fed -- a production capacity that is unneeded -- and we are being told that the world as we know it will end if that capacity is not fed with new purchases of unnecessary product.

This is where I have a disagreement with not only the auto bailout but the larger financial bailout. These constant efforts to pump more and more money into the system -- money that we don't have except by running the printing presses -- are only keeping us from facing the real issues.

We consume more than we need. This may be fine for the "bottom line" of the companies that produce this stuff, but it is terrible for the environment, it creates unstable economies, and it distorts our culture in ways that have repercussions we haven't begun to discuss yet.

Of course facing this larger issue means a major adjustment to the economy and culture of not only America but the rest of the world as well.

What we really need is a hard nosed discussion of how to grow up and be adults instead of pampered infants at the teet.