Barney Frank is in favor of bailing out the auto industry largely because bankruptcy might “bust” the auto unions. What Barney doesn’t get is that the only way to make the U.S. auto industry a viable industry again is to do just that.

The unions have absolutely crippled the auto industry to the point of near extinction. It’s impossible to stay competitive or get anywhere near competitive when unions have a choke hold on things. It costs an average of $73 an hour to employee a union auto worker. Contrast that with the $43 an hour for the non-union auto workers of Japanese car companies in the U.S.

In a free market system if your business doesn’t generate a profit — you go out of business. The only reason the big 3 auto makers didn’t go bankrupt years ago is because we keep propping them up.

We can give the auto industry 25 billion or 50 billion and it won’t matter. In a few months, they’ll be standing before Congress with their hands out again. Their current business model is simply unsustainable. To keep it going artificially simply for he seek of greedy unions is an outrage.

The fact that Barney Frank is still a member of congress is also an outrage given his responsibility in the Fannie/Freddie mess — but that’s for another day.

-Chris Jones