Fiatch

Cato asks “Cash for Clunkers: Dumbest Program Ever?” and answers:

Farm subsidies are unjust. Trade restrictions are counter-productive. Energy regulations have done great damage. Housing policies helped cause the financial crisis. But for pure dumbness, Cash for Clunkers takes the cake.

How folks respond to this crisis reveals who understands and values markets and liberty and who does not.  Centralized command is a horrible way to (mis)manage health care, automobiles, housing, banking, agriculture, and on and on.  Centralized command is not safe for work.

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The proliferation of czars across the federal government symbolizes the fatal conceit that has taken hold.

Katherine Mangu-Ward writes in “The Lure of the Czars:”

President Barack Obama is taking the practice of naming czars to new heights. As Foreign Policy points out, with the selection of “border czar” Alan Bersin, the Obama administration surpassed the Romanovs in its production of czars. It took those old Russkies 300 years to produce 18 czars. It took Obama less than 100 days.

The czar is a perfect techocratic role—appealing to Obama, who has been much praised for “surrounding himself with smart people.” The appeal of the czar rests on the belief that if we could just figure out the right smart, competent, well-intentioned person to put charge, everything would go more smoothly.

Would you believe we now have a TARP Czar, a Stimulus Czar, and a Car Czar?  We do.

This czarist approach is both conceited and futile.  It will necessarily underperform markets.  Free enterprise simply, clearly does a better job.

It is amazing that our officials idolize the czar position.  It is even more startling that American citizens tolerate such arrogant, expensive folly.

Of course, it must feel intoxicating to become a czar.  Note the full title of Russian sovereign rulers:

“…according to the article 59 of the Russian Constitution of April 23, 1906, ‘the full title of His Imperial Majesty is as follows: We, ——— by the grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Tauric Chersonesos, Tsar of Georgia, Lord of Pskov, and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia, and Finland, Prince of Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Semigalia, Samogitia, Belostok, Karelia, Tver, Yugra, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgaria and other territories; Lord and Grand Duke of Nizhni Novgorod, Sovereign of Chernigov, Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Beloozero, Udoria, Obdoria, Kondia, Vitebsk, Mstislavl, and all northern territories; Sovereign of Iveria, Kartalinia, and the Kabardinian lands and Armenian territories - hereditary Lord and Ruler of the Circassians and Mountain Princes and others; Lord of Turkestan, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Dithmarschen, Oldenburg, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth.’”

Now read about US Auto Czar Ron Bloom who:

according to his not being embroiled in a state-pension-kickback scandal like his predecessor and despite his union ties; by the grace of President Obama, Regulator and Technocrat of all the Automakers, of General Motors, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Tsar of Chrysler, Tsar of Dodge, Tsar of Jeep, Tsar of Ford, Tsar of Pontiac, Tsar of Hummer, Lord of GMC, and Grand Duke of Autoparts Makers Visteon, Delphi, Williams Controls, AutoZone, and PepBoys, Prince of CarMax, Penske, AutoNation and Advance Auto Parts, US Auto Parts, O’Reilly, Pick-Ups Plus, and other Auto-Parts Retailers; Lord and Grand Duke of Genuine Parts Company, Sovereign of LKQ Corporation, The Coast Distribution System, and All Wholesale Auto-Parts Distributors; Sovereign of Conrad Industries, Harley-Davidson, and the Michigan lands and union territories - Heir of Hoffa, Duke of Washington, D.C., Ohio, Indiana, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth.

It is also worth noting that the Obama administration placed a 31-year-old Yale Law School student with no auto industry experience in charge of restructuring GM.  Reportedly, he is a very smart guy.

These arrogant officials should get over themselves and get out of the way.  Entrepreneurship is hope and change that yields an open tomorrow.  Centralized power is an old, sad, terrible road that leads to a dead end.

And so, forth.

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The Boston Globe reports on Government Motors:

General Motors Corp. will delay the closing of a Norton parts distribution center it planned to shutter by the end of the year, according to US Representative Barney Frank.

via Greg Mankiw.
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Entrepreneurship is hope and change.  And these true leaders keep right on driving even as government and the corrupt, out-moded, yet fabulously wealthy industry titans that survive off government handouts and regulatory cons continue to destroy shareholder value and entire communities.

Government Motors tee, via Despair, Inc.

Here we see it again: “With supreme faith in his ability to explain anything to the country, Mr. Obama shrugged…” Read “Early Resolve — Obama Stand in Auto Crisis” in the NYT for more championing of con artistry.

The aggressive, bipartisan assault on economics, markets, and liberty continues.

“[T]o help devise explanations” is just another way to say “to help con.” This man literally has a bullshit job.  Read “The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Dismantling G.M.” via the NYT.

I’m sure the media, as they do with Chairman Bernanke and President Obama, views this man as super smart. It’s a classic that seemingly never fades, The Fatal Conceit, this verse same as the first.

NOTE: I found this video on YouTube. It fits. However, I recommend you watch it without clicking through to ejb. :)

So we’ve been taken for a ride by the US automakers and now the government will come to the rescue, eh?  Think again.

The Commander in Chief of the United States armed forces now runs General Motors.  Oh, no.

Today, he declared (via the NYT):

I am announcing that my administration will offer G.M. and Chrysler a limited period of time to work with creditors, unions and other stakeholders to fundamentally restructure in a way that would justify an investment of additional tax dollars; a period during which they must produce plans that would give the American people confidence in their long-term prospects for success.

This destruction of value is pathetic, futile, and disconcerting. It’s bad morality, ethics, and economics.  I’m not sticking up for the ousted CEO.  It’s just crazy to put the federal government in charge of these decisions.  In addition, this firing is mere PR, a misdirection.

The article continues:

The president said he was designating Edward Montgomery, a former deputy labor secretary, to oversee the auto-recovery effort. His mission will be far-reaching, to cut through government red tape and identify initiatives to support those communities hit hard by the industry’s troubles.

“A former deputy labor secretary?!” Ha!  That’s rich.

“To cut through red tape and identify initiatives to support those communities hit hard…” — Yes, because deputy labor secretaries are well known for cutting red tape.  Ge-ni-us. And of course playing this PR game requires conspicuous compassion (so-called) so there must be some appearance of empathy, of concern for community pain, even as government intrusion deepens the problems.

It gets even crazier:

Other salient features of the latest plan to pull Detroit out of its decades-long skid include a tax break, being started by the Internal Revenue Service at once, for auto purchases made from Feb. 16 and the end of 2009; incentives for people to turn in older, less fuel-efficient vehicles and buy more energy-efficient cars and government-backed warrants to assure customers that they have nothing to fear by buying a car from G.M. or Chrysler.

While the president’s announcement embodies firm government control of the car industry, at least for now, he said, “These companies — and this industry — must ultimately stand on their own, not as wards of the state.”

The concept of encouraging people to buy more fuel-efficient cars, which has been tried with considerable success in Europe, will require the cooperation of Congress. Mr. Obama said he would work with lawmakers to identify portions of the recently enacted multibillion-dollar stimulus package that could be trimmed to finance the purchase-incentive idea — and make it effective at once.

Can anyone say “Protectionism?”  Great move, Mr. President.  Let’s start another round of trade battling.

Reactively borrowing from their nightmare stimulus (so-called) package to fund (so-called) this affront via tax incentives aka laundered bribes, these robber-baron bureaucrats can load up as many kickbacks as they want.  Regardless, I am not buying a car from this mess.

What about the elephant in the boardroom, i.e. union costs?  I guess the elephant’s on a break.

Although some observers of the auto industry have attributed Detroit’s troubles in part to generous wages and health benefits for assembly line workers, the president made no mention of those factors. Rather, he said, there has been a failure of leadership.

A failure of leadership, indeed.

In case you thought backstopping the entire financial system wasn’t enough of a burden for private American wealth to bear, now you can add automaker liabilities as well:

The plan Mr. Obama announced on Monday includes government backing of warranties for G.M. and Chrysler cars and trucks, to give consumers enough confidence to buy them, even if one or both are forced into bankruptcy.

What builds trust?  What destroys it?  Does this move inspire “confidence?”  Puh-lease.  Today’s announcement is simultaneously pro labor, protectionist, and tax increasing.  Trifecta!

Of course, perhaps soon the Commander in Chief will mandate that, under penalty of wage garnishment for non-compliance, all American citizens must buy a new car every five years from either GM or Chrysler.  If you consider that an absurd suggestion, you aren’t paying attention to the removal of liberties and free enterprise.

Look also at the bills and debts these leaders (so-called) are piling up with your name on them.  This and worse is being done to you and me every week.

Peer through the PR veneer to see the substance of these actions.

We are being run over by the President, Congress, and The Fed.

Mr. Nardelli, shove it up your a$$, sir.  I will drive my current car, a Ford, as long as it can go. After that, I’m buying Toyota or Honda, you colossal jacka$$.

Folks, we are now living through Atlas Shrugged realized except that truth is stranger than fiction.  PR is paramount.  Begging is rewarded.  Influence pays.  Production is villainized.  Wealth is stolen and destroyed.  Integrity is penalized.  Corruption reigns.

Madoff made off with a trifling pittance compared to the mega-trillion-dollar theft that is the very dollar itself.  Counting on sheep like you and me, he sleeps easy tonight under expensive house arrest within the posh comfortable surroundings and trappings of home.  Sweet American dreams, Bernard.  Madoff as metaphor, indeed.  WTF.

What if the ideas of the Austrian economists are correct?  If so, what happens next?

What builds trust?  What destroys it?  What store of value is safe?  For how much longer can this pyramid stand?

Republican Congressman Joe Knollenberg: “It is not your money.“  What.  A.  Shameless.  Hack.  Thief. 
Hat tip to mises.org.