Sen. Carl Levin: Mitt Romney's explanation insults U.S. autoworkers
Mitt Romney's recent comments on the auto industry are just the latest attempt by a candidate who says he has cars "in my bones" to explain his inexplicable opposition to the rescue of America's auto industry.
Romney has criticized President Barack Obama for not arranging a "managed bankruptcy" for General Motors and Chrysler, which he called his preferred option. Of course, managed bankruptcy is precisely what happened to both companies. Romney has claimed that his real problem is the government's financing of the automakers' bankruptcies. Of course, private financing was impossible in the midst of the worst financial crisis in generations. Government refusal to provide financing would have been the death knell for both companies.
Having lost those two arguments, Romney is trying out two new ones. They appear to boil down to this: Bond speculators should have been protected at the expense of workers, and taxpayers should dump our investment in GM now, even if it means we take a bath.
Romney's second point seems to be that the government should sell its remaining stake in GM immediately. This is an odd argument coming from a guy who claims his fortune came from savvy investing.
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