The Big Three Got Owned

Yesterday was a bad day to go to Washington with your hat in your hand begging for a multi-billion dollar bailout … particularly if your preferred method of transportation was a luxurious private jet.

We call it “low-hanging fruit” in the business, a political jab that delivers in sheer, emotive symbolism what it might lack in relevance.

Except in this case we’re totally on board with it, and didn’t mind a bit when U.S. Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) uncorked the blow on Alan Mulally of Ford, Robert Nardelli of Chrysler and Richard Wagoner of GM, a.k.a. the “Big Three” of the struggling United States automotive sector.

From CNN, here’s Ackerman’s whack:

“There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they’re going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses,” Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

“It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious.”

He added, “couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it.”

And Sherman’s …

At Wednesday’s hearing, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, pressed the private-jet issue, asking the three CEOs to “raise their hand if they flew here commercial.”

“Let the record show, no hands went up,” Sherman said. “Second, I’m going to ask you to raise your hand if you are planning to sell your jet in place now and fly back commercial. Let the record show, no hands went up.”

The executives did not specifically respond to those remarks. In their testimony, they said they are streamlining business operations in general.

When contacted by CNN, the three auto companies defended the CEOs’ travel as standard procedure.

Like many other major corporations, all three have policies requiring their CEOs to travel in private jets for safety reasons.

While Democrats popped the “Big Three” on their extraordinarily poor circumstantial discernment in choosing travel arrangements, Republicans were busy peddling more of the “we’ve got to do something” crap that got all this Bailout Mania rolling in the first place. You know, before we’d pumped $2.3 trillion into various bailouts in order to avoid an “economic Pearl Harbor …” only to be sitting here six weeks later encountering guess what … an economic Pearl Harbor.

Anyway, here’s more of the same from the DC RINO caucus after Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid was forced to cancel a vote on the $25 billion bailout due to … um … not having the votes:

“If GM is telling us the truth, they go into bankruptcy and you see a cascade like you have never seen,” said Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio. “If people want to go home and not do anything, I think that they’re going to have that on their hands.”

Say what?

The fact is that the American auto industry has gotten its ass kicked by the rest of the world, and the ass-kicking is particularly pronounced now that people have to start making tough choices based on quality and efficiency as opposed to patriotism.

We’ve failed to adapt our products as well as our workforce, while taxpayers have been forced to subsidize the corrupt unions’ trust funds and acquiese to labor’s demands or face costly work shortages.

As we said before the initial bailout boondoggle, the best way to deal with failing firms is bankruptcy, which at least includes some competitive valuation and sale of assets.

Come to think of it, as painful as it may be at times, bankruptcy is ever bit as American as an initial public offering or Wal-Mart stock, which we understand is doing pretty well at the moment.

Again, that was $2.3 trillion dollars ago … but you get the point.

America won’t become great again by abandoning American ideals for the sake of political expediency (or in the case of the states bailout, bureaucratic reinforcement) … it will become great again by returning to the free market principles our country was founded on.

Sadly, that doesn’t appear to be the solution that the Obama collectivization … err, administration envisions.