i-rant

Pelosi, Reid Press for TARP Aid for Auto Industry – WSJ.com

"It was not set up for anything else," said Bush spokesman Tony Fratto, noting the only assistance authorized by Congress for the auto industry is a $25 billion loan package meant to help the industry retool to meet higher fuel economy standards….

…Democratic congressional leaders are considering convening a lame-duck session of Congress later this month to deal with economic concerns. The session could be used to enact a short-term stimulus package or to approve assistance for auto makers. But the Democratic leadership is not inclined to act, absent a signal from the White House that Mr. Bush would be willing to sign a bill.

 China Announces Major Stimulus Plan – WSJ.com

On the other side of the world China is worrying about our reduction in spending and buying.  So while we have the same problem for our inferior auto production companies – they have it for all the factories and cascading down, the infrastructure development companies that support all the growth. But instead of supporting dying industry, they will put it directly into the economy and the infrastructure:

China’s plan appears to be comparable in size. In a statement announcing the plan, China’s State Council said it would deliver 120 billion yuan ($18 billion) of new spending in the last quarter of this year alone. The State Council — effectively China’s cabinet — estimated that would drive an additional increase of 400 billion yuan in local and private-sector investment throughout the economy.

China’s government is also making plans for new spending in areas such as low-cost housing, road and rail infrastructure, agricultural subsidies, health care and social welfare over the next two years…

…The new measures include an expected revamping of China’s value-added tax system to allow all companies operating in China to deduct spending on capital equipment. The government estimated the new system, which is already in place in some provinces, would save companies a total of 120 billion yuan when fully rolled out. The government has recently been phasing out tax breaks specifically for foreign companies to invest in China and didn’t mention any such measures as part of the stimulus…

…The government is presenting the program as an opportunity to do many things that would be worth doing anyway. Those include helping companies upgrade to higher-tech equipment, improving irrigation in rural areas, raising pensions and social-security payments, and improving water and waste treatment in crowded cities.