Yesterday's Wall Street Journal posted an op-ed by John Fund on the new Congressional management of General Motors. According to the article:
"Rep. Barney Frank, chair of the House Banking Committee, says his successful intervention to keep a General Motors distribution center open in his Massachusetts district isn't evidence that Congress will have undue influence in running the new 60% government-owned auto company."
Representative Frank stated that since the closing he prevented was not an auto plant or a dealership, this was not likely to happen anywhere else.
"He said keeping the distribution center open was environmentally sound because otherwise auto parts would have had to be trucked to New England from a facility in Philadelphia. Mr. Frank also waved off a suggestion that the episode proved that rules are needed to stop lawmakers from jawboning to keep plants or dealerships open."
So after he kept something open that was supposed to be closed, he doesn't want rules to stop other lawmakers from doing the same thing. Hmmm.
I'm glad the distribution center is staying open--it's local for me and it means people will keep their jobs, but who is running the show? Dealerships sell cars and create revenue, why are many successful dealerships being shut down? What is actually going on here?
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