What if Big Government works, and no media point it out? - E.J. Dionne

Rescuing Detroit: No news about government’s good news

By E.J. Dionne Jr., Published: May 8

Don’t expect to see a lot of newspapers and Web sites with this headline: “Big Government Bailout Worked.” But it would be entirely accurate.

The actual headlines make the point. “Demand for fuel-efficient cars helps GM to $3.2 billion profit,” declared The Post. “GM Reports Earnings Tripled in First Quarter, as Revenue Jumped 15%,” reported the New York Times.

Far too little attention has been paid to the success of the government’s rescue of the Detroit-based auto companies, and almost no attention has been paid to how completely and utterly wrong bailout opponents were when they insisted it was doomed to failure.

“Having the federal government involved in every aspect of the private sector is very dangerous,” Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) told Fox News in December 2008. “In the long term it could cause us to become a quasi-socialist country.” I don’t see any evidence that we have become a “quasi-socialist country,” just big profits.

the rest:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rescuing-detroit-no-news-about-governments-good-news/2011/05/06/AFccPPTG_story.html

i have noticed that the Obama Administration received ZERO credit for helping the auto industry.....ZERO

Democrats stay hidden under their desks.

GM's "profit" is a temporary, bailout-induced illusion.

Meanwhile, their stock has now fallen below the price at which the US government acquired a great many shares, and the taxpayer is taking a loss as a result that is far in excess of $3.2B.

In other words, their "profit" was taken from your pocket, whether you wanted to be a GM customer or not.

If this particular disaster is being trumpeted as a "success", you can imagine how much of a catastrophe the bailouts that aren't being trumpeted as successes have been.

a good chunck of the federaly owned stock...

They are getting ready to sell the last number of shares this summer because the president wants to divest itself from GM. The tax payers will likely take a loss on those shares..

We need to remember that cognitive research shows that people view events and "reality" through the prism of beliefs and values. If you present people with "facts" that contradict their beliefs, they will normally just reject the facts.

In this case, because Americans have been trained for decades now to believe that big government cannot possibly do anything good, they will simply reject any evidence that emerges that suggests otherwise.

And since any evidence that does emerge will always be disputed by those with an interest in debunking it, there is little reason to expect that any "evidence" of big government succeeding will ever put a dent in Americans' strong belief that this cannot happen.

We don't need no stinkin' facts...