General Motors and My Brother: Time for the Villagers with Pitchforks?

In a previous entry, I described how much more worthy my brother's company is for a government bailout than General Motors. My brother, unlike the automakers, did not wait for Congress to demand a plan before developing a plan to rescue his business (a trucking business employing 200 people). My brother can give you actual numbers--unlike General Motors--as to how his company becomes profitable in a mere nine months--or sooner--with a bridge loan of a mere one million dollars. Further, the government could have a lien on real estate basically fully securing the loan (admittedly a third lien). And my brother can describe to you how government policies have put his business in the position in which it is in, even more than has happened with General Motors (where the politician's idea of the way to "protect" the taxpayer is for the Federal Government to take over the operation of General Motors, including further "green" requirements that will only gurantee eventual failure, without enormous taxpayer subsidy).
My brother actually has a contract to sell his building for enough cash to survive the cash crunch created by economic conditions that have driven hundreds of trucking companies into bankruptcy. But the buyer has been tooling my brother around on the contract (delay after delay). Thus, the need for a mere million dollar loan.

As I described previously, the government could bail out 25,0000 companies like my brother's for 25 billion. And the testimony before Congress was that 25 billion will not be enough--in reality being a "blank check", since once we start bailing out the automakers we will be unable to let them sink later. Bailing out 25,000 more deserving companies like that of my brother would directly save 5 million jobs (I incorrectly said 500,000 in my earlier entry--multiply 200 times 25,000). Indirectly, of course, many more jobs would be saved, without propping up a "big business" whose business model is broken.

Now my brother is not saying that anyone should be bailed out. However, he is asking why General Motors should be bailed out, and not his company (where your get "more bang", and more certain results, for the taxpayer buck). Can you, Congress, or General Motors answer my brother? Of course you can't, because there is no reasonable answer.

That is why the anger is building in this country, as government (central planners all) decides to bail out some, and not others. The Republican Party has not benefited from than anger because the hopeless idiots have been part of the problem, and not part of the solution.

Fearless prediction: Politicians are heading for a revolt in this country, waiting only for a leader (demagogue?) to lead it. The villagers with pitchforks will probably take out all of the present politicians, the media, and Wall Street/financial/big business people in one clean sweep.