TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Corporate Bailouts

ADVERTISEMENT

By George Moon

Published: October 25, 2007

This is more on the "Pucker Up" guest column. Another bogus claim is since President Bush was unable to prioritize Social Security he somehow participated in bailouts for corporations with shabby accounting practices. I have no idea what that means other than it is blatantly false.

With regard to government bailouts, the most notable were Lockheed in 1971, Chrysler 1979 and the Savings and Loan Industry in 1980. As a practice, a Republican government makes every effort to avoid interfering with the free market. There are several reasons that is a good idea. First, a government bailout gives politicians the power to select winners and losers. Another is the inability of governments to properly allocate resources and operate efficiently. The free marketplace does a much better job.

There are, however, situations where government interference might be appropriate. This is true when the public stakes are enormously high and public welfare is affected. Another would be when national security is at risk.

President Bush did get notably involved in helping the airline industry after the terrorist attack on Sept. 11. Airlines suffered a two-day grounding and were not responsible for subsequent losses as people would not fly. It was estimated that industry losses would total $24 billion over the next nine months. Airlines do not have access to insurance to cover losses from catastrophes.

The claim that President Bush cut the Veteran Administration's budget 58 percent is an outright lie. Funding for veterans was up 38 percent for Bush's first term. That is not a cut. In fact, funding for veterans has gone up twice as fast under Bush as it did under Clinton.

The budget for veterans' medical services was funded at $24.5 billion in 2006 and increased to $27.7 billion in 2007. What has the Veteran Administration upset is President Bush plans to cut the federal deficit in half by the time he leaves office. To do this the VA thinks their budget might be reduced between years 2008 and 2020.

Good news, the federal deficit is running sharply lower through the first eight months of this budget year. Assuredly brought about by the Bush tax policy which has stimulated the economy. If there are to be real concerns, vets should focus on liberals winning the 2008 election. Democrats have promised to raise taxes, which undoubtedly will tank the economy. Another concern for veterans ought to be the amount of money pledged for universal health care and the fact that liberals dislike the military.

George Moon

Lake Placid

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT