OK guys, we’ve pretty much exhausted the pros and cons of protectionism and talked plenty about the past.
Here’s my take on the future. The Obama administration and UAW now owns most of GM and Chrysler. Said companies cannot make profitable vehicles when pitted against foreign-owned companies producing in the non-unionized southern states.
Look for OM (ObamaMotors) to tilt the playing field for their union buddies by making American taxpayers subsidize Chrysler, OM, and probably soon Ford car sales by subsidizing them to give them a competitive advantage over non-unionized foreign-owned car makers. Exhibit one is the “cash for clunkers” bill currently whizzing through congress that will pay buyers getting into a slightly higher mileage new car than the one they are trading in, presumably to be junked? (talk about wasteful).
Exhibit Two is the Chevy Volt, the high-mileage, high priced ($39,000 or so), being developed that will only sell with the promised tax credits, state and federal (aka forced gift from taxpayers) amounting to many thousands of dollars per vehicle.
In short, the free trade era in which consumers had choices, foreign competitors forced product improvement in US vehicles, and foreign-owned US plants embarrassed GM, Ford, and Chrysler into facing their own problems is now over. Protectionism won out. Obama is our president and needs to repay his debt to the UAW.
