Your Tax Dollars at Work: Rental Car Companies Seek TARP Bailout Money
Jan 29th, 2009 | By Jared BlankIs it me, or is this not quite right: The rental car industry is seeking TARP bailout money from the government to help finance the purchase of new cars for their fleets. The rental car industry has been struggling as businesses cut back on travel, and to save costs they’ve been putting off buying new cars (typically cars stayed in the fleet for 9 months; now it’s more like a year). The logic goes that if the government gives money to the rental car companies, they can use the money to buy cars from the struggling auto manufacturers. OK.
Let me get this straight: the car companies want the government to give them money so they can buy cars from the car companies, which will help prop up both the failing rental car companies and the failing auto manufacturers. I’m pretty much a leftwing nutcase, but even this smells funny to me. Why are our tax dollars being used to buy rental cars exactly? Am I missing something? This is crazy, isn’t it?