Joe Scarborough didn't cotton to being called a "socialist," but that's just the label Krystia Freeland laid on him during today's Morning Joe. The Financial Times editor used the s-word to describe what she mockingly described as Joe's "touching faith" in the wisdom of government bureaucrats when it comes to reorganizing Detroit automakers.
The Morning Joe host didn't take the insult lying down.
Panelist Pat Buchanan and Scarborough had been making the case over the course of the opening segments that Detroit was too important to be allowed to go under. Then Freeland came on, preaching bankruptcy over bailout, and the ruckus erupted . . .
KRYSTIA FREELAND: Let the companies fend for themselves. These companies are not the victims of a one-off, global financial crisis --Ouch. Joe went on to make the point that government had successfully directed the economy when it came to building a war machine in WWII and creating a space program in the 1950s, and suggested the same could be done for Detroit. Freeland remained unconvinced.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Krystia! But that's the problem, though.
FREELAND: These companies have been making mistakes for three decades since the last Detroit bailout. Everything they could have done wrong, they have done wrong. And I see absolutely no reason to believe, Joe, I mean, maybe I'm less of a socialist than you, but I do not believe the American government is so smart and so wise it will impose the right conditions that will make Detroit suddenly behave properly. Let Chapter 11 do its job.
SCARBOROUGH: Thank you for calling me a socialist: no one has called me that in my entire life.
FREELAND: I thought you would like that!
SCARBOROUGH: That's for sure.
FREELAND: But your faith in the wisdom of government administrators is touching.
FREELAND: I just don't believe government knows how to do that. And America has good carmakers who know how to make cars. They just happen to be called Toyota and Honda.Mika Brzezinski weighed in with an unexpected bit of support for free markets.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I think first of all, the question is, can innovation be government imposed, especially under this type of stress? I'm not sure. I think you bring up a good point, about letting Chapter 11 do its job.
Scarborough is surely no socialist. But like many who consider themselves free market advocates, he is loath to unleash the forces of creative destruction on Detroit. The question is, for every job that in the short run might be saved, how many will be lost in companies—including some which might never have the capital to be born—more attuned to the market?
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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The Morning Joe host
November 17, 2008 - 10:25 ET by SemperrightThe Morning Joe host didn't take the insult lying down.
Looks more like he bent over and took it like the French.
SCARBOROUGH: Thank you for calling me a socialist: no one has called me that in my entire life (To your face maybe but we say it all the time)
Semper Fi
The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the
Semper... I Ditto
November 17, 2008 - 12:22 ET by bigtimerSemper...
I Ditto that!
Take Capter 11 and shake the Union control... I am furious we may be end paying for the health care/pensions when the new congress comes in.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Poor Joe
November 17, 2008 - 10:31 ET by jcheneyThe truth hurts
Bankruptcy
November 17, 2008 - 11:28 ET by allanfI think there is a lot to be said for a Chapter 11 Reoganization. And yes, the banks WILL finance the reoginazation!! You know why, they will make lots of MONEY after reorganziation, and the new money is FIRST in line.
Absolutely right Alan
November 17, 2008 - 11:49 ET by acumenMark Levin has been laying out the argument for Chapter 11 Reorganization for weeks and it makes more sense than anything else on the table.
If you and I, the taxpayers, buy into 'The Big Three' we will never see a dime of our money in return. Any gain will be applied to buying more votes for pork-spreading politicians.
My support is for the remaining conservatives in Congress that have finally woke up and realized the New Socialist Democratic Party has no intention of bailing out the GOP that has fallen into political bankruptcy by continuing to remake outdated Mavericks. If the GOP is going to start fighting back, Bailout Hill is as good a position as any to take a stand against socialism.
Er...and Joe...if you quack like a socialist, think (feel?) like a socialist, you just might be....
»→ Found a new love
November 17, 2008 - 10:42 ET by Cool ArrowKrystia Freeland: But your faith in the wisdom of government administrators is touching.
And Mika admits she spent all weekend studying the problem and frankly, doesn't know what to do.
»→ Funny
November 17, 2008 - 11:05 ET by Cool ArrowWhen I first read this, GM was the only stock on the DOW 30 with a positive gain for the morning 13%.
All others were losers.
Instead of a government
November 17, 2008 - 11:20 ET by oilcanInstead of a government bailout separate and on top of the infinite number of bailouts we're already funding, I say that we take the amount needed from the $700-billion our friendly congress donated to Hank Paulson.
Why not? We don't know where any of that money is going, or who has taken any of it in so far. It's been admitted that the money is not going to used for its intended purpose of freeing up the credit markets.
Note: A later guest on Morning Joe is putting the blame for any failure of a bailout being passed on to the Republicans back, saying if they oppose and defeat it, that they're going to be responsible for a greater depression. More partisan assasinations from the unifying victory party.
Steve Forbes
November 17, 2008 - 11:25 ET by JEB StewartSteve Forbes said it best........
www.youtube.com/watc...
While that smug Kristia is
November 17, 2008 - 13:09 ET by marpelWhile that smug Kristia is very annoying just sitting there with that smirk on her face, I still think the government has to possibly give the auto companies a loan and let them file for Chap 11, which is recoverable. I don't want to see the automakers fail, but maybe this is what has to happen for people to wake the hell up. Then maybe the government will start helping it's citizens instead of the big companies.
»→ marpel
November 17, 2008 - 13:22 ET by Cool ArrowWould you personally loan money to a badly run, drowning business so it could file chapter 11?
I guess I'm missing the point of combining a loan with chapter 11.
I wasn't clear...sorry.
November 17, 2008 - 14:53 ET by marpelI wasn't clear...sorry. First of all, I agree w/ you that the auto companies are run by a bunch of idiots. Just look at how much it costs a Toyota to be made compared with an American made car. My first instinct is to not bail them out, and I bet they still won't go under. But, what I'm saying is if the Congress is insisting on bailing out the auto makers, then let them file Chapter 11, and then let DC lend them money with the intention of a payback and with an interest rate of maybe Prime + 2. I'm just afraid if we bail them out with money we are not requiring to be paid back, then that would be socialism. Then we would own the auto makers and I don't want to do that.
Um, if you look at the
November 17, 2008 - 19:17 ET by KhyrisUm, if you look at the material and mfg costs of a Toyota and a Chevy, they are almost identical. It's when you pile in the union wages and benefits that things get a little lopsided. Obviously the sale price has to be similar to sell ANYTHING, so what suffers is profits. When profits are lower, they attract less investment, hence the reason the stocks tank.
What really needs to happen is the complete dispensation of the minimum wage system. Yes, people might make half as much money, but the prices of everything would halve in turn. There would be only minor relative domestic impacts, but internationally with a plumeting cost of labor and a rising dollar value, we could turn back into a production society rather than consumption and possibly dig ourselves out of this National Debt hole. As an added bonus, most illegals would see their job opportunities at cut-rate wages dry up and be forced to return home, relieving another huge drain on the system.
→ UAW vs Toyota
November 17, 2008 - 19:24 ET by Cool ArrowTotal hourly labor costs (wage + embedded bennies) is something like $76 for UAW and $45 for American made foreign run companies.
We don't need to bail
November 17, 2008 - 20:34 ET by SRPwrdWe don't need to bail anything out. All we need to do is give them some brochures from the Japanese companies that are actually making it and see if they know what to do. Yes, slapping Impala on a big hunk of c*** might sell a couple more to the older folks, but maybe if they actually put an OHC engine in it, and hey, why not a transmission or platform that our parents didn't buy in a used car in 1986? Would they probably stay afloat a little better? I am guessing so.
Don't bailout the
November 17, 2008 - 20:45 ET by semolina_filcherDon't bailout the automakers. Frankly I don't blame the automakers themselves, I blame the unions for destroying the credibility of the Big 3. Before I get tarred and feathered, I am a union member but my union hasn't done sh*t to improve my standards of living but they're very good at filling their own coffers.....
With Obama set to introduce the elimination of the secret ballots at companies, the US will be one big unionized country (no pun intended).
Joe Scarborough went from
November 17, 2008 - 20:47 ET by semolina_filcherJoe Scarborough went from one of the well respected Republican congressman to a buffoon. Overnight.
What that protectionist
November 18, 2008 - 22:03 ET by fitzfongWhat that protectionist creep Buchanan and Morning Joke know about economics could fill a pen cap.
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan
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