4 Reasons Why Uncle Sam Shouldn't Save GM

Foreman says these jobs are going, boys, and they ain't coming back... —Barack Obama-supporter Bruce Springsteen, My Hometown.

Troubled automakers get no sympathy from my pal John Tamny over at Real Clear Markets. (The site is the first thing I check out every morning.) He argues against a 1980s-style bailout of General Motors. Tamny makes several important points:

1) GM is not that important anymore to the overall economy. "With a market cap of $5.7 billion, GM's market value is now less than that of Bed, Bath and Beyond."

2) Automakers often push a harmful protectionist trade agenda. "Tariffs and various restraints on trade have been eagerly sought by U.S. carmakers over the years."

3) Automakers often push for a weak dollar to boost exports. "The Big Three have routinely agitated for a weaker dollar against the yen, and as recently as 2005 in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, GM CEO Rick Wagoner cast some of the blame for the company's poor performance on 'unfair trading practices,' in particular 'Japan's long-term initiatives to artificially weaken the yen.' "

4) GM has no one to blame but itself. "Some say that GM's problems are rooted in bad deals made with unions over pay and defined benefit/health plans, but judging by the mistaken policies that GM executives lobby for, it could realistically be said that GM suffers most from a lack of executive talent."

While all of the above may be true, where I think Tamny really scores is his evaluation of the political and policy impact of a GM bankruptcy:

A collapsed GM would predictably lead to all manner of protectionist and currency-related punishment for those automakers who've apparently committed the grave offense of producing that which U.S. consumers want while being foreign.

Of this, I have no doubt. And wait until China tries to buy GM or Ford. Oh, the wailing we will hear from the America Last-ers and the declinists.