Sen. Cardin proposes bailout for newspapers

Oy:

"With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, [Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD)] on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks."

"Forget the jets" -- Big 3 car CEOs still don't get it

Herb Stetzenmeyer wonders why the three didn't carpool:

They all left from the same town in Michigan with precisely the same room in Washington as their common destination. They all drove similar hybrid cars down the same road at precisely the same hour.

His conclusion:

They didn't get it 15 years ago; they didn't get it five years ago; they still don't get it today.

The auto bailout: an open letter to my congressman & U.S. senators

To: Representative Ruppersberger, Senator Cardin & Senator Mikulski
Re: Congressional hearings on the auto industry bailout

Dear Dutch, Ben and Barbara,

Please vote against any auto company bailout.

The recent congressional testimony of the GM, Ford and Chrysler CEOs and the UAW president have been unimpressive and uninformative. It's been over 30 years since their wake-up call in the 1970s. They've had plenty of time and been given too many chances -- and they have always fallen short .

I've owned two GM cars in the past 15 years and most recently a Ford. With the Ford, I've dealt with too many major repairs, innumerable fit-and-finish problems, and six or eight recalls. My mechanic tells me (over and over), "Never buy a Ford again."

Management at GM, Ford and Chrysler will not make the necessary changes unless they are forced by bankruptcy. This is clear from the CEOs' choice of transport on their visit to DC two or three weeks ago. The US Congress is the last group of people who should be telling car manufacturers which technologies to choose, how many brands they should have, and so on. Such micro-management of an industry by Congress is a disastrous recipe for market dislocations, waste and environmental problems.

Nor will the United Auto Workers make necessary changes without bankruptcy. This is clear from a recent tidbit form Mickey Kaus: despite President Gettelfinger's vague claims of union concessions, the UAW "did not discuss wage and benefit concessions for active employees".

I trust the bankruptcy process to fix the auto industry most quickly and with the least amount of pain. I do not trust current management or union leadership to make changes other than slow and painful ones. If GM is allowed to go bankrupt, the Warren Buffetts of the world will step up, provide funds, and push for quick sensible changes.

Baltimore Sun would put "significant conditions" on auto aid

Amazingly, today's editorial -- "Conditional auto aid" -- makes no mention of union work rules or executive abuses. Here are the conditions they do mention:

Congress should name an experienced, respected executive to monitor GM's performance, and GM's leaders should move quickly to reshape the company. If they falter or courts interfere, federal aid should end.

Some of the steps that GM should take are obvious, such as reducing their brands to increase efficiency and cut costs. Health benefits for retirees, to be financed from an $80 billion trust fund established by the company and run by the UAW, also should be pared back.

The Sun's editorial board might try reading Ryan Grim of Politico to get some ideas:

"Emergency assistance to the automobile industry would be conditioned on executive compensation restrictions, a prohibition on golden parachutes, rigorous independent oversight, and other taxpayer protections

UPDATE: Congressman Ruppersberger talked yesterday about the bailout/rescue on the Ron Smith show. For audio, of Dutch, see the six links on the side.

UPDATE:Brian Faughnan at RedState intuits another purpose for the bailout: to protect the flow of UAW union dues. And Bill Hobbs thinks Congress should stop trying to run the car companies and start fixing laws that handcuff them:

why not figure out how to reform the tax and regulatory structure so that Ford, for example, could make money producing and selling that 65-mpg car here?

The best explanation of the mortgage mess, bailout & stock market plunge

Jeff Jarvis says he's found it.

UPDATE: He's right. Ira Glass and company did a terrifically excellent job.

They give easy-to-understand explanations of mortgage-backed-securities, commercial paper, tranches, credit-default swaps, and an alternative to the Paulson bailout plan called "stock injection". Apparently this bailout variation is preferred by a majority of professional economists.

Jeff also points to a site that tries to pull together the best thinking about the mortgage/credit/stockmarket crisis. It's called TheMoneyMeltdown.com.

UPDATE: The folks who did the explaining for Ira Glass now have a website with daily podcasts called Planet Money.

SNL skit: Pelosi lied about Dems' role in mortgage meltdown

From a "C-Span Bailout" skit on Saturday Night this weekend:

Nancy Pelosi: Let's not forget, Mr. President, that it was the Democrats who first sounded the alarm about the risky mortgage loans that Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac were encouraging. And that your party resisted all our efforts to rein them in.

Pres. Bush: Wait wait wait. Wasn't it my administration that warned about the problem six years ago? And it was the Democrats who refused to listen?

Pelosi: What? No, who told you that? That's crazy. It's completely the other way around.

Bush: Okay.

Barney Frank: Actually, this time, he's sort of right.

Pelosi: Sssh. Don't say anything. He doesn't know.

I was surprised that SNL portrayed Democratic mendacity so clearly and directly.

Here's some real-life video that confirms what the skit was talking about. It juxtaposes Pelosi's recent statements with bits from congressional hearings in 2004. The clips of Maxine Waters ("we do not have a crisis"), Gregory Weeks ("I'm just pissed off at [criticism of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]" ), Lacy Clay ("political lynching of Franklin Raines") and Barney Frank ("safety and soundness ... shibboleth") are particularly egregious.

The real-life video also shows various Republican congressmen sounding the alarm in 2004 and calling for more regulation. Including: Richard Baker (R-LA), Don Manzullo (R-IL), Ed Royce. (R-CA), and Christopher Shays (R-CT).

If there is comparable video that makes Democrats look good on the mortgage mess, I haven't seen it.

UPDATE: Some related links:

WSJ "What They Said About Fan and Fred"

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC and OTS. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing.

Recollections of Paul Gigot.

ANOTHER UPDATE: NBC seems to have taken the bailout skit off its website.

UPDATE: The skit is back up on NBC (with later parts about the Sandlers cut out).