The fact that we are even talking about bailing out American auto makers, let alone actually going to do it, is an atrocity to all economic and political sense.  Here’s an example of what passes for rational discourse these days==Peter Schiff playing the role of Socrates among the sophists.

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(link)

But the insanity is even greater.  No one in Congress is going to have to really make the decision by a recordable and accountable vote.  Now we have Paulson and his unlimited line of credit ($700 billion at a time).

House Democrats Urge Paulson to Give Automakers Access to TARP 

Democratic congressional leaders urged Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to use the $700 billion rescue bill passed last month to provide temporary aid to the U.S. auto industry.

“Congress granted you broad discretion to purchase, or make commitments to purchase, financial instruments you determine necessary to restore financial market stability,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid wrote in a letter sent to Paulson today.

After meeting with U.S. auto and union leaders this week, Pelosi of California and Reid of Nevada said they were “convinced that our nation’s automobile industry — the heart of our manufacturing sector — and the jobs of tens of thousands of American workers are at risk.”

They argued that the auto industry may qualify for federal financing under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. “A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability, the overall health of our economy, and the livelihood of the automobile sector’s workforce,” they said.

Everyone in Washington has obviously lost his or her mind.

Postscript:

National Review’s Corner blog notices the same thing (citing WSJ):

4th of July? No, more like Christmas Day if you’re the UAW. What would you do on a slow Saturday news day a few days after the election when no one was looking? If you’re Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, you’d write to the Treasury Department to ask for some of that $700B — that was really, truly necessary for financial institutions only and for the totally unique extraordinary purpose of staving off an economy-ruining credit freeze — in order to bail out the auto industry without disturbing any of its insane labor arrangements.