But here's the interesting point. It's the new administration that wants to bail out GM. The current one just wants to bail out Wall Street financial firms!
``There's no doubt in my mind that a bailout is on the way, I'm just doubtful it will happen during a lame duck,'' said Clint Currie, transportation analyst for Stanford Group Co. in Washington. ``Pelosi and Reid and the incoming administration wants to help them, while the current administration, not so much.''
Pelosi said any aid to the automakers would come with conditions, including restrictions on executive compensation, ``a prohibition on golden parachutes'' and ``rigorous independent oversight.'' She didn't specify the level of assistance she supports, but said it should come from the $700 billion Congress authorized the Treasury to use to help stabilize the financial services industry. Pelosi said she is tapping House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank to write the legislation that may be considered as early as next week.
Treasury's Stance
While the Treasury Department is considering ways to expand its use of the $700 billion relief package to non-bank financial companies, Secretary Henry Paulson has refused entreaties from the auto companies for capital injections. Such a move would significantly change the program from a financial rescue to one for industrial companies as well -- a step that the Bush administration still isn't willing to take, according to people familiar with its thinking.
One concern is that aiding the auto companies would lead to an expectation of assistance from other industries that are going through a slowdown, the people said. Unlike financial firms, which can take the taxpayer money and use it to spur growth by lending it out, industrial companies would use the capital for their own purposes..."
At http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGBPGVcbMa84&refer=home
