A failure of understanding

Al Hunt, a long time avid supporter of the Democrats, writes today that despite the "conventional wisdom" the Democrats majority in both houses of Congress is in play. Strangely, despite his view that the Democrats could lose, he then writes a paragraph that shows that he does not understand why that is. Hunt writes:

"The economy is killing Democrats even in states doing comparatively well. The economic stimulus and bailout of the auto companies -- successes in the eyes of most detached analysts -- are unpopular"

Successes????? So we are now to believe that there are detached analysts who think that the auto bailouts were a success? What are they detached from? Reality???
The purported goal of the auto bailouts was to preserve the American auto industry and the countless jobs that rely on that industry. Was that accomplished? Not really. First, nearly half of the GM and Chrysler dealerships were put out of business -- tens of thousands of jobs destroyed. Second, Chrysler was given to Fiat and the UAW. Much of the company was shut down with executives, wage earners, and employees of parts companies out of work. Bondholders of Chrysler were also hit with massive losses on the debt. All of the American owners were replaced, so that Chrysler is now controlled from Italy. Third, GM had to go through a bankruptcy that was not allowed to attack the main problem that the company had. The union benefits and pensions were not substantially reduced. This leaves the resulting company still under pressure to pay the long term costs of past bad labor deals. Like Chrysler, many thousands lost their jobs and all prior owners and debt holders were wiped out.

But GM and Chrysler are still here, so, one may ask, is this not a success? suppose that there had been no bailout. What would have happened? GM and Chrysler would have gone through bankruptcy reorganization (just like what happened). People whose interests were the long term likelihood of survival of each company rather than the maintenance of pensions and benefits for the workers would have been in control. The chance for vibrant car companies emerging from the bankruptcy would have been much greater. Products that had a true chance to sell would have been produced rather than cars like the Chevy Volt, a car that meets the Democrats political desires for the industry but which is not going to sell much. In short, over the long term there would have been more jobs and more economic activity here in the USA. To me, that makes the bailouts a failure, not a success.

Those detached analysts who see the stimulus as a success must have detached retinas that prevent them from seeing anything. Fairly considered, the stimulus provided a short term, one time boost to economic activity at a very great cost. The long term cost of the stimulus is greater than any benefit which came from that cost. The structure of the stimulus spending was designed to benefit Democrat core constituencies rather than the growth of the economy. No one in his right mind could call this a success.

Hunt's inability to see reality in this regard shows why the Democrats are in such a poor position. The American people recognize this stuff as failures because that is what it is. Unless Hunt and his Democrat friends wake up to this fact, they will just continue to sink in the polls.