Auto Industry Not Socialized Yet

It's official - the Senate killed the auto bailout bill tonight:

A $14 billion emergency bailout for U.S. automakers collapsed in the Senate Thursday night after the United Auto Workers refused to accede to Republican demands for swift wage cuts.

The collapse came after bipartisan talks on the auto rescue broke down over GOP demands that the United Auto Workers union agree to steep wage cuts by 2009 to bring their pay into line with Japanese carmakers.

"We were about three words away from a deal," said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the GOP's point man in the negotiations, referring to any date in 2009 on which the UAW would accept wage cuts.

Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hoped President George W. Bush would tap the $700 billion Wall Street bailout fund for emergency aid to the automakers.

This is outstanding news! Of course, Bush could still urge Paulson to go ahead and bail out the companies with the TARP funds, but there's really nothing anyone can do to stop that. I thought this was interesting, too:

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Senate Republicans' refusal to support the White House-negotiated bill irresponsible and also urged the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve to provide short-term relief for the automakers. "That is the only viable option available at this time," she said.

Isn't it great how Pelosi accuses Republicans of screwing up the bill that would prevent the collapse of the entire galactic economy when the very same report also stated that it was the UAW who refused to compromise? And, isn't it also interesting that no one in the media seems inclined to put that question to the Speaker? Nice.

Some surprises:

The Maine Sisters voted to end debate and not to support the filibuster, but Montana’s two Democrats, Max Baucus and Jon Tester, sided with the Republican filibuster. Norm Coleman voted to support the filibuster, which surprises me just a little. Richard Lugar voted in favor of the bailout. Bob Corker, who tried to fashion a last-minute deal, voted in support of the filibuster. Sam Brownback, George Voinovich, Arlen Specter, and John Warner all voted for the bailout. I knew it had failed when Harry Reid voted no, a parliamentary maneuver which allows him to reopen the vote.

Harry Reid says he won’t be offering any more business in this session of Congress, which means this bailout died a well-deserved death.

The final tally on the vote can be found here. I suggest you take a moment to call or e-mail your reps who stood for fiscal responsibility and let them know how much you appreciated their efforts - they bucked a pretty serious trend in doing so today, and should be thanked for their actions.

For those of us in Missouri, it looks like Sen. Bond has come all the way out of the closet as the big-government, big-spending, Diet Democrat we suspected he is. I'm going to make it a point to try to get whoever challenges him during the next go-around as much support as possible (provided the Missouri GOP puts up someone decent). Where's former Senator Jim Talent when you need him...? Maybe we can get him back into the game. Brownback of Kansas has never impressed me, either, and this doesn't help. It's just as well he's retiring after his current term - I'm not sure he could get re-elected, anyway.

Anyway, it should be interesting to see how the markets react tomorrow, as well as what Czar Paulson will do with his remaining $350 billion of petty cash. While the socialization of the auto industry didn't happen legislatively, it could still occur through the executive branch.

Yippee.

There's my two cents.