(Graphic by twolf)
When confronted by a bunch of UAW workers who were tired with Richard Shelby’s slander of their work ethic last week, a Shelby staffer explained the Senator’s opposition to the Big 2.5 bridge loan to be a principled opposition to bailouts. Given the Alabama Senator’s tireless efforts to claim that the non-union SUV assembly line workers in his state had a successful business model, whereas Michigan’s unionized SUV assembly line workers had a failed business model, that excuse always smelled pretty fishy to me.
Turns out his claims to be anti-bailout were even fishier than all that.
Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, one of the infamous politicians of the auto bailout fiasco, recently obtained $160 million for the fishing industry nationwide. A portion of this amount is headed for the Alabama fishing industry for reasons they have no control over. Shelby states on his own website and we quote "This funding will provide much needed assistance to an industry that is a vital part of the Alabama economy". The taxpayers of this nation should be aware this is not a government approved loan to the fishing industry but rather a handout.
Of course, given the handouts that Alabama used to convince foreign SUV manufacturers to his state in the first place, I shouldn’t be surprised that his "principled" stance is no such thing. It’s clearly just a stance that ensures Alabama gets to suck at the federal teat, but no other state gets to.