Did you know Eliot Spitzer is still alive? And he has a column on Slate.com? And yes, it is in fact Disgraced Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer(tm), not just some unfortunate jerk with the same name. Today he writes about the
failed auto bailout:
"We all know that a significant downsizing of auto-industry capacity is
necessary. Maintaining all three companies is probably not economically
feasible. We also know that the incipiency of bankruptcy tends to focus
the mind and produce real offers. Why don't we tell the current Big
Three that $25 billion in capital is available--but only to two of them?"
He wants to dangle the money in front of the 3 auto makers, and then have them fight it out to decide who actually gets bailed out. Incidentally, this is the same process he used to decide which hookers to have sex with.
Okay, low blow, but this idea is still a complete joke. Even as we watch the slow-motion collapse of our economy brought about by a slavish devotion to the concept of the free market, I still need to listen to nonsense like this. We are going to create a MARKET FOR GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS? Are you serious? I don't know, maybe my irony detector was malfunctioning as I read this. Go back and tell me if Spitzer was being serious, or if this was meant to be a "Modest Proposal"-esque essay on the state of free market economics.
