Auto-Destruct

The Big Three automakers got a cold reception in Congress this week when they asked for a bailout loan of $25 billion. But I wouldn’t count them out just yet. After appropriating over $700 billion to bail out the financial industry -- with nothing to show for it but an ominous precedent and a scary accretion of power in the U.S. Treasury -- members of Congress may be a little reluctant to hand out more money to demonstrably failing -- even de facto bankrupt -- companies. Yet I have a hunch Congress will get over its reluctance, maybe as early as next month. Things just seem to work that way in Washington. Remember the first bailout bill?

The rest of this week's TGIF, "Auto-Destruct," is at the Foundation for Economic Education website.