Oct26
Bush asks Obama to get out of the auto business
Former U.S. President George W. Bush urged the Obama administration to sell the government’s stakes in banks and carmakers “as quickly as possible,” arguing that only private companies can spark an economic rebound.
Government “has got to get out of the private sector, and therefore I hope our government gets out of the autos and the financials in which they have a stake,” Bush told members of the Montreal Board of Trade, an association of local business people, in a sold-out speech today. “Temporary measures must be temporary.”
U.S. taxpayers are “extremely unlikely” to earn any return on the $700 billion government program to invest in banks and other companies that was approved as the financial system teetered on the edge of collapse last year, a quarterly audit said yesterday.
In a report to Congress, the Troubled Asset Relief Program watchdog Neil Barofsky said that recouping the billions of dollars given to insurer American International Group Inc. and automakers General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC “is far from certain.” He also said that $50 billion set aside for helping struggling homeowners lower their mortgage payments will yield “no direct return.”
Bush, in his remarks today, said that when his administration introduced TARP, “the whole system of capitalism was frozen, it was like a frozen corpse with a faint heartbeat.”
‘Here Is Some Blood’
“So we said, ‘Here is some blood. When you get on your feet, you can find cheaper money and give us back the taxpayer money with a nice return,” Bush said. “But these measures have got to remain temporary for us to recover.”
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Oct. 20 that the administration would end some of the biggest TARP programs in coming weeks, including the one that made capital injections into large banks.
“I don’t believe government can lead us out of the mess we are in,” Bush said. “The private sector is the only engine for economic growth.”
About 1,000 people paid between C$200 ($191) and C$400 each to attend Bush’s speech in a downtown Montreal hotel, according to the Board of Trade. Hundreds of people protested outside the building, with police arresting five of the demonstrators, according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. report.
Bush’s Fee
Speaking fees for Bush, 63, may exceed C$150,000 ($143,175), the Montreal Gazette reported in August. Christian Darbyshire, a partner at Calgary-based TinePublic Inc., which organized the event, declined to say today how much the former president was paid for his appearance.
Bush prefaced his remarks by saying they shouldn’t be construed as a criticism of President Barack Obama.
“I didn’t like it one bit when former Presidents criticized me,” he said. “I wish President Obama all the best. I love my country. I understand how tough the job is. He will have plenty of critics throughout his presidency, and I don’t intend to be one of them.”
On foreign relations, Bush urged the U.S. to continue its military mission in Afghanistan. Obama has been reviewing his strategy for the war there; former Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech last night in Washington, said the White House was “dithering” in its deliberations.
Troop Decision
Among the decisions facing Obama is whether to add as many as 40,000 more U.S. military personnel to the 68,000 that will be in Afghanistan by the end of this year.
Under Bush, a NATO coalition led by the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 and ousted the Taliban government that had harbored the al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. As part of Bush’s war on terrorism, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in early 2003 and drove out the government of the late Saddam Hussein.
“I am deeply concerned that if we abandon Afghanistan too soon, the extremists will find a safe haven and I feel pretty confident that they will hit us again,” Bush said. “A functioning democracy, a democracy that can defend itself and govern itself, that will happen sooner in Iraq than it will in Afghanistan.”
Bush also urged the U.S. Congress not to endanger the $1 billion-a-day U.S.-Canadian trading relationship and to repeal the “Buy America” provisions in the stimulus package passed in February that sparked calls for retaliatory measures in Canada. “Trade leads to wealth,” Bush said. “The ‘Buy America’ provisions are bad provisions in U.S. law and ought to be taken out.”
The stimulus measure requires that steel and manufactured goods purchased with the funds be made in the U.S. or in countries with whom the U.S. has a trade accord. Because of a provision in the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada doesn’t qualify for projects in which the stimulus money is spent by state or local governments.
Source: [ Bloomberg.com ]
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