Heritage Senior Research Fellow James Gattuso appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews last night to talk with Pat Buchannan about the auto bailout. Gattuso has also written about the bailout.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnOV8okhQgA[/youtube]
In the interview Pat Buchanan stated
Heritage is completely subsidized. … You get all this money from big fat corporations.
This, however, is not the case. According to our most recent annual report (for 2007, page 28), less than five percent of our $45.6 million in income from contributions that year came from corporate donors. 58 percent of our contributions ($26.5 million) came from individuals and 37 percent ($16.9 million) from foundations.
…We see Buchanan’s employer already has their hand in the taxpayer till to the tune of $140 billion
Uh, wrong. I am a private contributor and have known always that American Heritage is funded by people. Ridiculous
Buchana, is wrong! The big three need to reorganize and become more competitive. The UAW would be the beneficiaries of a bailout.
Why not take the pension plan of the UAW and bail out the big three; then they would be part owner and would eliminate the waste and laziness of that work force. The big three could pay them interest on the investment.
I find more and more people resort to name calling instead of being able to articulate their position in a honest way. Pat Buchanan had previously stated that he had favored trade protectionism. He has subscribed to the faulty idea that free trade has hurt the US manufacturing. Apparently, he doesn't see anything wrong in big labor forcing the companies to wage and benefit levels that can not be supported. By the way, the labor productivity is due to capital infusion. The big three can not compete at its current costs. It must reorganize. Providing taxpayer dollars will only postpone the inevitable- GM will become the Yugo of America.
China has a zero percent corporate tax rate, Ireland, I think has a 15 percent corporate tax rate….the US, 35 percent, hmmm. If the government would lessen the tax burden on business, maybe it would make sense to keep jobs here. First, a company's leadership has a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders for earnings, second, its jobs are not the right of its workers, but a privilege.
Pingback: Cars Will be Made in the U.S. « Conservative Thoughts and Profundity
Pingback: Heritage Foundation on the bailout