Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation
For Immediate Release
Monday, October 15, 2012
202-285-0244
www.freedomandprosperity.org
New CF&P “Economics 101” Video Exposes Auto Bailout As Costly Taxpayer Boondoggle
(Washington, D.C., Monday, October 15, 2012) The Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation (CF&P) released today its latest “Economics 101” video, which disputes the oft-repeated claim that the auto bailouts were a success. Entitled, “The Auto Bailout Was a Failure, Hurting Taxpayers and the Economy,” the video explains how the decision to bailout GM and Chrysler was driven by political considerations and why it will be a net drag on the economy.
Narrator Jenna Huhn reviews the evidence and determines that the bailout should not be considered a success. In the video, she highlights four key reasons for considering the bailout a policy failure: 1) taxpayers got fleeced on the deal, 2) President Obama’s union allies got special favors, 3) government erred in picking winners and losers, and 4) the “unseen” costs are far larger than the “seen” benefits.
Bolstering these arguments, the video cites the latest report from the Treasury Department estimating total losses of $25 billion from the bailout, a figure likely to grow in future reports. To add insult to injury, the video also points out how special favoritism for the United Auto Workers compounded these losses. In a step that trashed the rule of law, the union was moved to the front of the line over other creditors.
Links to the video: Youtube | Blip.TV | Daily Motion
“Bailout boosters would have us believe that the only measure of success is whether a company is still operating,” said CF&P Foundation President Andrew Quinlan, “but that’s an absurd standard. Obviously a company can keep running if given loads of taxpayer dollars. The real question,” he concluded, “is whether it’s better for struggling companies to be restructured through the established and proven bankruptcy process, or by economically illiterate politicians.”
“Big government and big business is a toxic combination,” said Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute. He added that, “And when you add Big Labor to the equation, you know that taxpayers and consumers will get the short end of the stick. The use of taxpayers dollars in support of special business interests corrupts both the political process and the economy.”
Executive Summary
This mini-documentary from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation explains why the auto bailout was bad news for the economy – and for the rule of law.
This new video is part of CF&P’s Economics 101 video series, which is designed to explain free market concepts, with particular emphasis on reaching students and young people. This is the twenty-first video in the series.
The other Econ 101 videos: Obamanomics: The Dismal Record; Obamanomics: A Legacy of Wasteful Spending; Third-Party Payer is the Biggest Economic Problem With America’s Health Care System; The Dangers of Government Dependency; The New Deal Was A Failure: Hoover and FDR Prolonged the Great Depression with Big Government; The European Fiscal Crisis and Lessons for America, Free Markets, Not Redistribution, Is Best Way to Reduce Poverty, Seven Reasons Why Tax Increases Are the Wrong Approach; Tax Competition: A Powerful Force to Restrain Big Government; Four Reasons Why Big Government Is Bad Government; Keynesian Economics Is Wrong: Economic Growth Causes Consumer Spending, Not the Other Way Around; Indexing the Capital Gains Tax to Protect Taxpayers from Inflation; Repealing Obamacare and Restoring a Free Market in Healthcare; The Job-Killing Impact of Minimum Wage Laws; Deficits, Debts and Unfunded Liabilities; Cost of the Internal Revenue Code; Lessons Learned From Sweden; Government Monopolies; Moral Hazard; and Don’t Copy Europe’s Mistakes.
Web Page for Economics 101 Videos:
http://freedomandprosperity.org/videos/economics-101-series/
CF&P Foundation has also released more than four-dozen mini-documentaries since 2007. These videos include Tax Competition Primer, VAT-Hidden Tax, Global Flat Tax Revolution, Cutting the U.S. Corporate Income Tax, Promoting Prosperity, Obama’s So-Called Stimulus, Obama’s Deferral Proposal, Case Against Class-Warfare Tax Policy, President Obama’s Dishonest Demagoguery on Tax Havens, Six Reasons Why the Capital Gains Tax Should Be Abolished, a three part series on the Benefits of Tax Havens and another three-part series on the Laffer Curve.
Link: http://freedomandprosperity.org/videos/economic-lessons-series/
Web Links:
Youtube
http://youtu.be/BGFY6Rg2uMg
Daily Motion
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuc75s_the-auto-bailout-was-a-failure-hurting-taxpayers-and-the-economy_news
Blip.TV
http://blip.tv/economics/the-auto-bailout-was-a-failure-hurting-taxpayers-and-the-economy-6399323
For additional comments:
Andrew Quinlan can be reached at 202-285-0244, andy@freedomandprosperity.org
Dan Mitchell can be reached at 202-218-4615, dmitchell@cato.org
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