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However, Timbuktom is amazed to find himself on the same side as Elephantman, even if it's only on one topic.
I quite agree with you about E-man. And I agree with E-man: the US auto industry had been very profitable selling gas guzzlers.
That is, until oil prices made it difficult to sell them. And now the credit freeze has made it difficult for any of the auto makers to sell anything, foreign transplants included.
E-man knows, as Cheney does, as an oil man, that the present economic downturn has been bad for the profits of Big Oil. Fuel-efficient Cars of the Future don't help Big Oil either. More than that, the Bush White House has warned Republicans that crashing the US auto industry would further damage the US economy and that Republicans will be blamed for it, as Republicans have already been blamed by voters for the crisis in the financial economy.
The Bush administration apparently already has more problems than it can handle and isn't in a position to take advantage of the situation. As much as they would like to take down the unions they cannot afford to further damage the US economy in the process. Senate Republicans evidently don't see it that way - including seemingly moderate Republicans, who can't reverse themselves on their demonization of unions by approving of a bailout. If they're going to go down they're going to take the country down with them.
This tends to explain why Democrats didn't put up more than token opposition to the Republicans' defeat of the bailout bill. It helps them politically, even if it damages the country. As usual, the Democrats' hands aren't clean on this either.
Cheney may be every shade of evil but he is anything but stupid. And apparently not operating on the same agenda as his colleagues in congress.
Wheels within wheels, as the Atreides knew. Things are not always what they seem.
