United Liberty

Americans want government to sell of some of the liabilities it has assumed and created as a way to help relieve debt that taxpayers owe due to reckless spending:

New Rasmussen Reports national telephone polling shows that voters are evenly divided when asked if the U.S. government should sell some of the things it owns to help reduce the federal debt. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say yes, but 36% say no. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure.

But just 28% say the government should retain ownership of the Amtrak rail service for a long time. Fifty-seven percent (57%) think the government should sell Amtrak to private investors as soon as possible. Fifteen percent (15%) aren’t sure.

Voters feel even more strongly that the government should sell off its ownership stakes in General Motors and Chrysler. Seventy-six percent (76%) say the government should sell its ownership of the auto companies to private investors as soon as possible. Only 11% disagree and think the government should retain its shares of GM and Chrysler for a long time. These views remain virtually unchanged from June.

Unfortunately, Americans still want the government to run the Post Office, which is in financial ruin, and are opposed the selling of federally-owned land.

Chrysler will not pay the $7+ billion it owes to taxpayers:

Chrysler LLC will not repay U.S. taxpayers more than $7 billion in bailout money it received earlier this year and as part of its bankruptcy filing.

This revelation was buried within Chrysler’s bankruptcy filings last week and confirmed by the Obama administration Tuesday. The filings included a list of business assumptions from one of the company’s key financial advisors in the bankruptcy case.

Some of the main assumptions listed by Robert Manzo of Capstone Advisory Group were that the Treasury would forgive a $4 billion bridge loan given to Chrysler in the closing days of the Bush administration, a $300 million fee on that loan, and the $3.2 billion in financing approved last week by the Obama administration to fund Chrysler’s operations during bankruptcy.

More details are emerging on what the Obama Administration intends to do with GM and Chrysler:

In surprising findings to be outlined at the White House on Monday, President Obama has concluded that neither GM nor Chrysler as they now exist deserve more bailouts. But the White House is sparing them for a month or two, and is promising American consumers that the government will stand behind warranties if the automakers fail.

I suppose that credit should be due to Senate Republicans who made the difference in defeating the Auto Bailout. I also believe that President Bush’s brazen act of shifting money to the automakers is shameful operation.

But then Senate Republicans release a letter pleading with President Bush not to usurp the decision of Congress on the automakers bailout.

So far, so good.

But then these Senate Republicans gave their reason for opposing the bailout as the refusal of the United Auto Workers to agree to a cut in wages.

These folks still don’t get it!

Senator David Vitter of Louisiana used colorful language today to describe the $15 billion loan to America’s most well known automakers:

Louisiana Sen. David Vitter had some colorful language to describe a proposed $15 billion loan to Detroit’s big three, calling the deal “ass backwards.”

Campaign for Liberty and Freedom Works are both calling for help in stopping the bailout of U S automakers using funds from TARP.

From John Tate, Executive Director of Campaign for Liberty-

After the Paulson $700 billion bailout package passed in early October, we knew it was only a matter of time before Congress moved to use your money yet again to bail out a struggling industry.