Former President Bush asks Obama to exit the car business
When Former President George W. Bush spoke to the Montreal Board of Trade recently, he made a public appeal to the Obama administration to "get out of the private sector," adding "I hope our government gets out of the autos and the financials in which they have a stake." His premise is that it takes private companies to turn an economy around, not government-run ones.
As we have found out during America's recent economic troubles, a lot of people find it easy to say a lot of things when they're not on the hook. And the former Commander-in-Chief isn't the first (nor the only) ex-President to offer such advice; they've all done it – he's only the most recent. But this is coming from the man whose VP sold him out as giving TARP money to prevent General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies on his watch. Lest we forget, Bush is also the man who said:
"Well, I have obviously made a decision to make sure the economy doesn't collapse. I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system. I think when people review what's taken place in the last six months, uh, and put it all in one, in one, (sigh), you know, in one package, they're realize how significantly we have moved."Forget about politics, it isn't even that what Bush has said is wrong, per se – by most accounts, the American government shouldn't be in the car business nor the retail banking business, and the current administration agrees with that, having said repeatedly it wants to get out of both. But they inherited the issue, and now it's up to them to figure out the best way out of it. Hat tip to Avinash!
[Source: Bloomberg | Image: Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Sea Urchin 1:02PM (10/26/2009)
I am not a fan of GWB, but Obama is taking it too far. He now mandates pay, risk taking and type of products companies should produce.
If that wasn't enough he also forces companies to offer healthcare, pay more in payroll taxes and wants to make it much easier to unionize.
I voted for Obama, but i did not vote for this.
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woootles 1:08PM (10/26/2009)
"I voted for Obama, but i did not vote for this."
I hear that a lot nowadays.
Yaroukh 1:11PM (10/26/2009)
I am that close to write something about "Changechangewecanchange..." but I don't want to offend anyone. :)
Kyle 1:33PM (10/26/2009)
Inb4politicswar
Santosh Tiwari 1:35PM (10/26/2009)
I kind of agree with you.
Obama administration wants to get out of the auto business and banking sector asap. But, they need a proper exit strategy.
My guess would be that it is easier to get out of the banking sector since they are returning the money they borrowed.
Obama administration put in more than 30B dollars into GM. I don't think we would be getting back that money any time soon.
Santosh Tiwari 1:38PM (10/26/2009)
Bush administration had to pay GM and Chrysler (put a band-aid) cause they did not wanted these companies to die when he was in-charge. Everybody would have put the blame on him for the collapse of the auto industry. He did the right thing by providing a bridge loan to survive.
justin 1:42PM (10/26/2009)
Sea, you're a joke. Voting for Obama, is vote for this. It is either the left, or the right, that ultimately succeeds in America, thats why McCain has his presidential dream destoryed 2 times, deservingly.
(even though choosing Sarah Palin as VP was the best thing he ever done as a politician in USA)
Did you not hear about how Obama is friends with basically every famous anti-USA personality in America? How he is friends during his early political career with the domestic terrorist? and you are surprised with everything that Obama is doing today? wow...
See, if John McCain started his political career in the living room of an abortion clinic bomber, I would then vote for him.
I'm not happy to see Obama is the president, but I am DAMN happy McCain is not the president.
himono.otoko 1:51PM (10/26/2009)
might i remind you who got us into this mess in the first place?
Things happened because of a lack of regulation.
Why are we complaining when the administration is trying to prevent that and to try to make Americans healthier in the long run???
asng15 1:52PM (10/26/2009)
whoever be the PSDT it will be the samething,the
system has gone too far,general trends.
Sea Urchin 1:58PM (10/26/2009)
"might i remind you who got us into this mess in the first place?
Things happened because of a lack of regulation."-----As far as financial risk taking in was Clinton who removed the regulations. Bush was removing all the environmental regulations he could, but as far as financial ones it was Lawrence Summers when he was Treasury Sec under Clinton.
I for one think that de-regulation is a great idea BUT failure should have been allowed. These companies should have no restrictions on making money and on paying top talent top money, but by the same token they never should have been bailed out.
PJ 1:59PM (10/26/2009)
Agreed.
As for the premise that "it takes private companies to turn an economy around, not government-run ones...." is that kinda like how it takes private revolutions to turn a Middle Eastern dictatorship around, not government-run ones?
(outb4flamewar)
Orion 2:18PM (10/26/2009)
My beef with W saying anything about this is he and his administration started this whole thing last year by providing "loans" to the auto makers and the financial institutions. I don't care much for how it has been handled under either administration and we need to get out of it.
That said I understand why they were aided, but they do need to get out of it soon.
geo.stewart 2:23PM (10/26/2009)
"I voted for Obama, but i did not vote for this."
I hear that a lot nowadays.
Then you are morons for not researching the candidate you voted for. Nothing in Obama's history indicated he would do anything different than what he has done already. In fact, I'm only surprised he hasnt pushed for more.
James 5:21PM (10/26/2009)
There is a fine line between mainstream (neocon) Republicans or Democrats once in power...
With the current crop of politicians (save a very few with principles) in the halls of the US Gov't...the left/right paradigm in US Politics is but a myth.
Rich 7:09PM (10/26/2009)
"failure should have been allowed"
Yeah, tell that to the faces of the additional hundreds of thousands of people you would have put out of work.
Better get started now, eh?
Azael 9:08PM (10/26/2009)
We just need to ask ourselves, "What would Sara Palin do?"
A smart politician like her would know exactly what to do in this case.
jmc8387 10:43PM (10/26/2009)
Bull! I hate when people say they voted for Obama, but not for this! Obama made his wishes clear during his whole campaign. Change, change and more change. He is doing exactly what he said he would be doing....from the gov. run health care, to the constant handouts for those lacking intelligence and the desire to earn their living opposed to taking money from others. I voted for McCain b/c I followed the campaign and actually interpreted what Obama said he was wanting to do in laymen's terms. You did vote for this! Obama has not pulled any bait and switch on you guys. Maybe next election season you will actually do some research on the effects such liberal crap has on people.
Jake 1:03PM (10/26/2009)
I wish autoblog wouldn't dabble in politics. Ugghhh.
And Obama did not inherit GM from Bush. That was his own decision for better or worse.
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travisty 1:21PM (10/26/2009)
Totally agree on AB getting OUT of politics.
And you're right, Obama didn't inherit GM from GWB. GWB gave emergency loans back in December 2008 to both GM and Chrysler, but they were just enough for both companies to get into the Obama presidency before they ran out. GWB "passed the buck" to Obama, who had the choice to either bail them out or let them fail.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/business/20auto.html
The intervention into the financial industry (and TARP) was solely GWB though.
T3hD0gg 1:34PM (10/26/2009)
I also agree. I vote this news topic should either be removed or have comments disabled. We don't need heated arguments about politics on an automotive blog.