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DUTCH MANDEL: Senate rejection--What’s there to be angry about?

 

 

Fox Business Network’s Money for Breakfast host, Alexis Glick, asked me a question this morning that, frankly, took me aback.

 

We were in the midst of an interview discussing how it could be that the U.S. Senate, in its infinite wisdom and innate sense of intractability, could not pass the $14 billion loan package that would keep the Detroit automakers alive long enough to make this the next administration’s problem.

 

She said, “Dutch, we’ve been talking quite a bit for the past year about what’s going on in the auto industry, and you seem angry at what’s going on.”

 

It floored me.

 

Not for the least reason that as a journalist, I am supposed to be objective; I shouldn’t be angered by what our representatives do or don’t do.

 

I was not prepared to personalize the situation for the public’s consumption.

 

I did spew some gibberish, and for that I apologize now to Glick if it didn’t make sense. You might be able to see the whole segment if you go to the national Fox news Web site.

 

Then I started thinking about it.

 

 

Why should I be angry that the people we put in office act cavalierly with the lives and employment of not thousands but millions?

 

Why should I be angry that the past month has become a Bash Detroit Bash instead of a party of inclusion with those who want to see America prosper again?

 

Why should I be angry that Americans around the country do not understand that the carmakers have, in fact, for several years enacted cost-cutting changes that these politicos expect completed in the next two months?

 

Why should I be angry that Americans do not understand that all of this manufacturing turmoil is the direct result not entirely of what Detroit has or has not done but also of what has gone on in the banking industry, the housing industry, the money industry? That this is just the next domino to fall?

 

Why should I be angry that those who promote bankruptcy for one or more of these car companies believe there will be enough left to salvage?

 

Why should I be angry that for $14 billion--or the cost of a month and a half of what we spend in Iraq on a war whose Mission has been Accomplished for more than five years--the economy is getting dragged further into a pit of misery?

 

Why should I be angry that should the loan money come through, Washington will effectively legislate what we drive?

 

Why should I be angry that, as a result of the worldwide economic crisis, the cost of a barrel of crude oil is now in the $40 range and that gas pump prices here have hit $1.28 per gallon . . . which only inspires increased sales of the large truck and sport-utility vehicles that the Nancy Pelosis and Henry Waxmans of the world want to see used as artificial reefs?

 

Why should I be angry that no one has asked why Chrysler, a privately held firm whose owners are unwilling to invest more toward its salvation, is asking for taxpayer funds yet isn’t subject to public open-book scrutiny?

 

Why should I be angry that people do not understand that it’s not just a car company that goes bankrupt but also suppliers, car dealers, and all of the support businesses that suffer around the country?

 

I ask again, what do I have to be angry about?

 

 

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20081212/FREE/812129992