Chilling legacy of GM bailout

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Chilling+legacy+bailout+socialists/1661236/story.html

June 9, 2009

In this article, it talks about the eventual bailout in which the Canadians would give to the once powerful GM company. Prime Minister Stephen Harper claims that there wasn't any choice, but to commit $9.5 billions dollars in the bailout. Harper said his Conservative government faced two options: "Either participate in the restructuring of GM, which directly and indirectly account for literally hundreds of thousands of jobs, or stand idly by as they are completely restructured out of Canada." U.S. President Barack Obama noted the Canadian contribution and made a remark that "GM is an American company with tens of thousands of employees in this country, and responsibility for its future ultimately rests with us." According to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the deal can ultimately lead to being "regrettable" but it's also "necessary," since Harper argues that a bailout was implemented so an economic catastrophe in Ontario would not happen. The Conservative party also believes that the new company will be leaner and less burdened with debt. The GM bailout is certainly a deal that taxpayers will certainly regret because your share, by the way, is about $300, or $1,200 for a family of four, all on the government's credit card, to be paid with interest through your taxes.

Connections to Introduction

The connection I make with this article and Chapter 10 has to do with the term foreign ownership. In this story, this is exactly what is happening for the Canadians because GM is an American automotive company that provide thousands of job for many Canadians. The Conservative government is hesitant in providing the bailout, but they also understand that many Canadians will be unemploy if a bailout is not put to action. The possibility of the GM company continuing to fail even after the bailout is highly possible, but The Conservative government believes that the bailout is a neccessity because the Ontario economic picture will face many problems. This is basically the problems in which GM have caused for Canada because of the foreign ownership which the company have over here in Canada.

Reflection

Overall, I think the bailout is not very neccessary because GM will never be that power they once were. Even if the Canadian and American government offer a huge bailout, I highly doubt GM would be better than what they once were because many consumer have lost interest and trust in these American car company. In fact, many economist thinks that company that is falling should stay down because a bailout would not benefit the economy at all. It can possibly keep many workers to be employed, but in the long run it's not beneficial at all. I think the Canadian tax dollars should be put to better usage than this because all they are doing is reviving a company that will never return to what it once were. At the end of the day, we are only helping the Americans more.