As you’ve heard GM is closing plants all across North America, with thousands of jobs being lost here in the US. And Trump isn’t happy about it one bit.
Here’s the latest on his threats to GM over these plant closures:
This is the inherent problem with the Obama bailouts of GM in 2009. We, the taxpayer, poured billions into their company and now these massive plant closures feel like a slap in the face. So I understand why Trump and the White House would be angry over this.
That said, I don’t like protectionist policies against companies against companies that have to make these kind of decisions. Obama should have never gotten involved in bailing out GM – they should have been forced to file for bankruptcy and fix their problems the old fashioned way. But Trump also waged a trade war with GM and they are saying that, in part, is the cause of their woes.
Trump needs to be careful here because he’s not god of the economy or the American worker. Sometimes companies fall on hard times and tough decisions have to be made, especially when there’s a trade war going on. Yes it stinks, especially in this circumstance, but it’s not the job of the American government to pick winners and losers. Obama tried to do that and the American taxpayer lost over 11 billion to GM. Probably more in tax incentives. And now it looks like we’re about to lose a ton of jobs.
This whole thing is a mess and it’s another example of why government needs to keep their big money bailouts to themselves and let private companies fix their woes the right way.
It’s also another example of why trade wars might not be the best way in trying to establish free trade.