Does Congress think Detroit is a good investment?

It appears that <a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081117/D94GUIK80.html">the auto bailout</a> is stalled for now, as congressional leadership and the Bush administration have come to loggerheads over providing $25 to $50 billion in loans to General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler.

I found it interesting that, as of December 2007 (the most recent date for which disclosures are available), just 27 of the 535 members of Congress owned stock in at least one of the big three automakers, according to <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org">Open Secrets</a>. They disclosed holdings worth between $755,000 and $1,866,000. Exclude Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., from the list (his wife is on <a href="http://nalert.blogspot.com/2008/11/john-dingells-wife-on-gm-payroll.html">GM's payroll</a> and presumably the source of his $650,000 to $1.35 million in General Motors stock), and the numbers drop to a low range of $104,600 and a high range of $516,000--an average of between about $4,000 and $20,000.

By contrast, 90 members reported owning between $11.3 million and $32.8 million in stock from General Electric, which was the most popular investment.

It would appear that moving a bailout for Detroit, with the exception of Rep. Dingell, doesn't represent much in the way of a conflict of interest for most members. The 12 members who invested in General Motors are <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/search_results_detail.php?filtertype=H&year=2007&org=General+Motors&srchorg=GENERAL+MOTORS&srchtype=O">here</a>, the 18 who invested in Ford are <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/search_results_detail.php?filtertype=H&year=2007&org=Ford+Motor+Co&srchorg=FORD&srchtype=O">here</a>, and the 3 who invested in Chrysler are <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/search_results_detail.php?filtertype=H&year=2007&org=Chrysler+LLC&srchorg=CHRYSLER&srchtype=O">here</a>). It will be curious to see, in June 2009, how much those holdings changed over the course of 2008.

So all of a sudden, for the first time in automobile history, its manufacturing executives are going to try their hand at being frugal? LOL. Need we kid ourselves? Old habits die hard-- within a few months they will be back to same old lifestyle-- though they will find ways to be less apparent in their oppulence. The answer to the problem is obvious but we are afraid of it. The fact is that if I fail to produce profits, I will be replaced. Those that have ruled their way in the auto industry have finally reached the end of the line with their erroneous practices. we have overhauled the automobile industry too often-- it is time for a new model. No more milaeage can be extracted from the current model. There is no sense in throwing good money after bad. Send those executives to the junk yard and let the automobile companies that have been doing it "right," take over. As for our union workers-- the best will not have to worry about finding jobs producing what we need, instead of producing what the current auto makers want us eat gas with.

# Craig Ford
So all of a sudden, for the first time in automobile history, its manufacturing executives are going to try their hand at being frugal? LOL. Need we kid ourselves? Old habits die hard-- within a few months they will be back to same old lifestyle-- though they will find ways to be less apparent in their oppulence. The answer to the problem is obvious but we are afraid of it. The fact is that if I fail to produce profits, I will be replaced. Those that have ruled their way in the auto industry have finally reached the end of the line with their erroneous practices. we have overhauled the automobile industry too often-- it is time for a new model. No more milaeage can be extracted from the current model. There is no sense in throwing good money after bad. Send those executives to the junk yard and let the automobile companies that have been doing it "right," take over. As for our union workers-- the best will not have to worry about finding jobs producing what we need, instead of producing what the current auto makers want us eat gas with.

Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Does Congress think Detroit is a good investment?

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