Washington doesn't have the right to bankroll Detroit

Looks like another crisis is ripe for the political harvest. Last month it was the banks that needed Uncle Sam. This time it’s Detroit automakers. A variety of arguments in favor of the bailout present themselves. They are endorsed by some of the loudest and most respected voices in Washington and the media, and, unsurprisingly, they receive a lot of airtime. Sadly, these arguments are so starved of common sense that even a two-bit writer like myself can have a go at them.

One of the boldest arguments is that Detroit deserves taxpayer assistance just as Wall Street was recently succored. But surely the Detroit dilemma poses an opportunity to reverse or modify the present course of government bailouts. There’s no need for this dreary fatalism that abounds unchecked. The sands of precedent are hardly an excuse for making the same mistake twice for consistency’s sake.

A slightly nuanced addition to the above position attempts to frame Detroit as a hapless victim of a global financial crisis. If Wall Street, which deserves the onus of guilt for the mess, is greedily suckling away at Uncle Sam’s ponderous breasts, why should Detroit be shoved away like the ugly twin? Granted, this is a bit more of an attractive argument because it appears to be basing itself on the principle that government should at least treat innocent parties impartially, if not more favorably than the guilty.

But this argument is flawed for at least two reasons. First, it makes the earlier mistake of insisting on the status quo for no higher justification than that it’s the status quo. Furthermore, it assumes that Detroit bears little to no fault in its downward spiral, which is certainly not the case. Read Financial Times, The Economist, or the Wall Street Journal if you want the particulars.

Then, there’s another argument that has always been used with great success in convincing the dull masses. It employs a mesmerizing mixture of overblown scare tactics of apocalyptic proportions and dazzling prophesy. Here’s a sample of a talking point you’ve probably already read or heard: “Millions of jobs could be lost and more than $100 billion could be lost to the U.S. economy.” Truly, a horrifying possibility. Of course, it’d be more terrifying if the wizards making these predictions or their sophisticated models had any credence. But I must ask the obvious, Dear Mr./Ms. Politician, why are your predictive powers only now upon you? Why could this immense capacity for prophecy have not been used to avert or at least mitigate the present disaster at an earlier stage?

The well of laughably idiotic arguments has not nearly been run dry, but it comes time to draw a conclusion and toward that end we must give some attention to examining the facts. The facts are these: Over the last 50 years the Big Three have been the epitome of business failure and incompetency. It’s no insider secret these days that the big American auto manufacturers are far behind the curve. From employee organization, to designs, to performance, Detroit’s a dinosaur waiting to be sentenced to a museum. With a cash burn rate of over $2 billion a month, they’re probably not far from it.

But that’s my two cents, and it’s probably worth less than that. I’m no business analyst and I don’t pretend to possess the power of prophecy. Whether Detroit goes under or it revives with vigor, the crucial point to remember is this: The government has no right to bankroll companies with American taxpayer money. Our Constitution rightly limits government to very narrow, specific duties. Among those duties, picking winners and losers in the business world is most certainly not one. It’s that plain and simple.

So as this “crisis” develops, be prepared to face a flood of expert calculations and authoritative-sounding predictions attempting to sway your opinion. But if you want to keep a firm rudder through the storm, just pick up a copy of our Constitution and see for yourself whether government is authorized to meddle in Detroit, or any business for that matter. You don’t have to be an expert of any particular political party stripe to see the daylight on this one, just an average American with a modest concept of the limits on government.

Jeremy Hicks is a 2008 political science graduate, the founder of the Cal Poly Libertarian Club and a Mustang Daily politcal columnist.