Via Hotair, General Motors "decides" to spend $40 million on a carbon emissions program.
I put the word, decides, in quotation marks because General Motors is no longer in a position to make decisions according to what consumers in the market desire. They are not interested in supplying what consumers in the market demand and, since the government is the shareholder with the the endless flow of taxpayer funds (the carrot) and holds the power of regulation (the stick), it is likely GM simply is not permitted to decide matters for itself.
Would a majority of private shareholder, if GM had all private shareholders, support $40 million spent on a program neither desired by consumers nor mandated by regulations?
Worse yet, the convoluted anti-free market partnership of government and a major corporation--wrought by bailouts, initiated by Bush and finished by Obama--places the federal government in a position to plan a major sector of what is supposed to be our economy. It makes cover for the age-old authoritarian impulse to control how people supply for the wants and needs of other people in society. (What is a free market capitalist economy other than one existing for and driven by the desires of individuals?)
GM's "decisions" therefore political, not economical. They act at the behest of government command, therefore ignore consumer demand.
Can we demand no more bailouts, please.
