Providing for Consideration of H.R. 7321, Auto Industry Financing
and Restructuring Act, before the House of Representatives, December
10, 2008.
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
I rise in opposition to the rule and the underlying legislation.
It doesn't take a whole lot to convince me that we are on the
wrong track with this type of legislation. And at great risk of
being marginalized, I want to bring up a couple of issues. One
is that if one were to look for guidance in the Constitution,
there's no evidence that we have the authority to take funds from
one group of Americans and transfer it to another group who happen
to need something.
And the moral argument is it's not right to do so. Why should
successful Americans be obligated to take care of those who have
made mistakes?
But those two arguments in this Chamber are rather weak arguments,
so I will try to talk a little bit about economics. I think what
we're doing here today and what we've done here for the last week
has been, essentially, a distraction. We're talking about transferring
funds around, $15 billion that's been authorized. It's been designated
to do some other interventions that were unnecessary in the car
industry. And in a way, this legislation probably could have been
done by unanimous consent, but there's been a lot of talk and
a lot of publicity and a lot of arguments going back and forth
about the bailout for the car companies; and it is, of course,
very important.
But in the scheme of things, you know, what's $15 billion mean
anymore, especially since it's been authorized?
The big thing is the big bailout, the $8 trillion, the unlimited
amount the Federal Reserve has invested and what we've been doing
for the past 6 months. We are on the road to nationalization.
In many ways, we're in the midst of nationalization without a
whimper.
There is no real talk about it. I mean, we've essentially nationalized
the insurance companies, the mortgage companies, the banks, and
medical care is moving in that direction, and now the car companies
are going to be run by a car czar from this Congress. I mean,
it is such an embarrassment. It is such an insult to us who believe
in freedom, who believe in sound money and who believe in limited
government. It is such an insult to the whole idea of what made
America great, and this is what it has come to – bailout
after bailout after bailout – and nobody even calls it what
it really is. It is the nationalization of our industries.
You know, in many ways, Harry Truman was a much more honest person.
He said we should nationalize the steel industry, and he did.
Fortunately, we still had a little bit of common sense in our
courts, and they said "Hey, you're going too far.'' That's
what we're doing here. We're nationalizing. It happens always
for good purposes, and we are always going to do good for this
group, or that, but you never ask the question "How much
harm have you done to the other group?'' and that's what we ought
to be talking about. We ought to really find out what this is
costing.
As much as I strongly believe in the free society – and
I can defend it from the economic viewpoint – I also know
where we are and where we ought to go.
I do believe in the transition. That is, if we need a bailout
for the car companies, even though I don't like the idea, if you
could pay for it, take it out of these hundreds of billions of
dollars running the American empire around the world. Cut it;
bring it home and spend it here, but running up these deficits
is going to do us in, and we are working on the collapse of the
dollar. That is what you'd better pay attention to. So pay attention.
This is a lot more important than this little $15 billion. To
me, it has been a gross distraction from the great harm we've
done in the past 6 months.
