Government-backed Fisker bombs

Posted by hpayne on April 25, 2013

AP photo

“In this terrible situation, let’s be very grateful that we had a well-funded, functioning government,” demagogued former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank after the Boston bombing. “I never was as a member of Congress one of the cheerleaders for less government, lower taxes. This is an example of why we need, if we’re going to be a civilized society, to put some of our resources into a common pool.”

Frank’s comments were tasteless – but half right. The impressive display of law enforcement in Boston shows the need for adequate public security. That’s an essential government function.

So what was the federal government doing diverting hundreds of millions of tax dollars to luxury automaker Fisker Automotive?

One week after the Boston Marathon bombing displayed government at its best – catching bad guys – Fisker displayed its bloated excess. The automaker defaulted on a $200 million loan from taxpayers, joining a parade of politically-connected fat cats that the Obama administration gave the keys to the Treasury. Frank is exactly wrong – less government and lower taxes would have kept those millions wasted on Fisker to be invested efficiently in the private sector. And less government and lower taxes would have concentrated resources where they belong – in tracking alleged criminals like the Tsarnaev brothers. Washington has become so bloated that politicians like Frank think they have the expertise to start auto companies.

Fisker and its $100k electric sports cars is following A123 Systems, Solyndra, Ener1, and other green Democratic fantasies into bankruptcy in a historic folly of government hubris. Leave public defense to government. And leave product development to the private sector.

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