Research

You would think that any government takeover of an entire industry would involve seasoned experts in that industry to ensure that it would be successful and profitable in the future. So who exactly was involved in Obama’s government takeover of GM? David Shepardson of The Detroit News tells the story:

The Obama administration's Team Auto -- a group of a dozen mostly young Wall Street veterans -- worked grueling hours even by Wall Street standards …

Initially, team members were working even before they had Treasury IDs or official clearance …

In Washington, many members of the Obama auto team lived in corporate housing within walking distance of the Treasury Department …

They had dinner at an Italian restaurant near the White House after Chrysler filed for bankruptcy in April, and headed to Bobby Van's, an upscale steak house, the evening Chrysler emerged …

So, “a group of a dozen mostly young Wall Street veterans,” that had no experience whatsoever in the auto industry, wined and dined at Washington’s expense account restaurants, set up shop inside Obama’s Treasury Department, and were entrusted with billions of dollars in taxpayer money. What was the result? GM still hemorrhaged $1.2 billion last quarter post-bankruptcy and shed as many as 13,000 jobs after shutting down Saturn. Not to mention shutting down auto dealers with little rhyme or reason across the country.  No wonder this economic experiment has been called an “extraordinary gamble” with taxpayer money.

The bottom line is that Obama thinks that giving government more control will fix the economy, when the opposite is true. And now he thinks that giving government more control will fix health care, when we know that it will only make it worse.