Academic

Senator Shelby: Foreign Automaker Protectionist Or Bailout Skeptic?

By Dan Filler

This morning, on NPR,  I heard Alabama Senator Richard Shelby criticizing proposed bailouts of the auto industry.  This isn't a crazy position.  Perhaps Shelby, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, was just taking a rational non-interventionist view.  Perhaps he's skeptical of the prospects of saving the U.S. auto industry.  Perhaps he, like Calvin, believes we should guide GM into Chapter 11. 

But maybe the story is more complicated.  As today's Birmingham News points out, Senator Shelby represents "a state with 134,000 people who help build cars for Asian and European companies."  To be sure, Shelby denies that this plays a role in his thinking.  The News again:

Shelby said his opposition to the auto bailout had nothing to do with the Mercedes, Honda and Hyundai operations in Alabama. "I was against the Chrysler bailout long before they were there. I'm opposed on general principle." 

But I keep thinking back to the battles over the Air Force tanker contract and can't help thinking that what sometimes look like big debates over national issues might really be small debates over local jobs.   Maybe that will produce the right result in this case.  And maybe it's inevitable.  But as method of governing, it makes me a little queasy.

Photo: Tuscaloosa Mercedes Plant.  I really liked this wonderful child's drawing of the (then) new Honda plant in Lincoln, Alabama - a sign of how important the auto industry is to the local community.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on November 19, 2008 (boomark / email).