There were tons of people who were against the bailout. People call Obama a communist because of the bailouts. He was in control of GM for awhile for christ's sake.
I'm no expert, but here's my quick thoughts. Banks would have gone out of business. New banks and smaller banks would have taken their place. Banks that were running inefficiently and making bad decisions would have died off instead of being artificially preserved. Detroit would still be fucked. GM would have gone bankrupt. It probably would have been chopped up and sold off into different pieces. People would have lost their jobs, but eventually found new work as the automobile industry slowly healed. What you have now is a situation much like Amtrak. An institution that will stay in business forever but will never, ever turn a profit.
|