Another View of the Chrysler Bailout

From this Atlantic piece by Megan McArdle:

When the government gives money to favored constituencies--well, I don't like it, but as PJ O'Rourke says, that's basically what our government does. "It ought to be right there in the constitution: 'We the People, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and give money to jerks . . . ' " But when it starts stepping in and trying to bypass the bankruptcy rules in order to make someone else give money to jerks, that's different in magnitude, and in kind.

I concur. What we needed to do was let our legal system run its course (and it can be expedited if need be). Of course the other piece of this I didn't quote was the notion that the institutions that have received TARP funds (and who now find the rules for repaying those funds changing) are on the hook to do their masters' bidding.

What we don't want are extra-legal reaches and grabs for our money - remember who ends up paying for all of this. We now own, thanks to our taxdollars-at-work, Chrysler and GM - we must want them to succeed. But what control do we have?