Bailouts

There has been a lot of talk lately about bailouts. I'm all for free markets and letting companies, who get greedy and leverage more than they should, fail. However the government has stepped in decided to use Main Street's money to bailout Wall Street. As much as I disagree with this and think that the government should have seen this coming and regulated better, it has to happen. If we let financial companies fail, the economy would completely fall apart. Credit would completely freeze, housing would not be able to recover, consumer confidence would sink to all time lows, we could possibly even relive the Great Depression or at least mimic Japan's economy of the 90s.

Now the bailout might be extended to auto companies. If Congress allows this to happen where will it stop? It is said that 1 in 10 jobs are linked to the auto industry. If GM and Ford fail, unemployment will surely increase and the recession might be further prolonged. But how can we just give these companies more money when they blow through a billion dollars a month and are not innovative enough to keep up with foreign automakers. Do we really know that this money will keep them alive for another year when they are showing no signs of creating autos that the consumer really wants?
Regardless of what happens, consumer confidence will remain low, it will be a while before we see the positive signs of the bailout, and the recession will be here longer than you think.