UPDATED: GM about to smash another record!

waynec1957 wrote:
Is there a difference between taxpayer dollars that fund bailouts (such as GM, Chrysler, Goldman Sachs, etc.) and taxpayer dollars that subsidize various profitable industries?

It depends upon the reason. If the reason for a bailout is simply because the business, in this case GM, was poorly managed and unable to turn a profit then we shouldn't waste tax dollars on it. Let them fail and let Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, etc pick up the market share. The fallacy that all those jobs would be "lost" is political nonsense. The lost GM market share would be picked up by other companies who would have to hire additional workers and pick up additional parts from 3rd party suppliers, who would have the same amount of gross sales at the end of the year.

If the reason is to spur development and encourage alternative energy, etc then I would consider using tax dollars for it. Things like solar energy, wind power, etc were spurred by tax breaks for consumers. There is a tangible benefit to the country to have alternative energy sources and not be dependent upon foreign oil and aging energy infrastructure.