certainly not out of ideas. we are just out of political will. the recovery hasn t happened and the time is way past due to directly create jobs so that we can actually get to the business of restoring our fiscal footing. and steven, do we need something like a wpa now, where the government is actually an engine of growth by spending money and so forth because i don t know. i don t see the will to spend money when we already spent the $800 billion plus on the stimulus that had short term benefits. to borrow a phrase from the president, laura, we tried it your way and it didn t work. we have tried everything in terms of government spending creates jobs. the $800 billion stimulus bill. $00 billion of mortgage modifications programs. cash for clunkers. auto bailouts. i could go down the list.
alive but support for those auto bailouts is not, a reason why my guest says the white house is going down the wrong road on this issue. what do you mean elizabeth? guest: well, as joe biden said, osama bin laden is dead and g.m. is alive but g.m. is alive thanks to billions of taxpayer expense. the american people do not want this. this is typical washington, dc, ramrodding and they put through spending the american people did not want. they did not want it four years ago and they don t want it now and it is unlikely they will want the policy in november. neil: but if they say g.m. is vibrant and doing okay and back in business, whatever your view of the unions, whatever, or however you view the bailout the proof is not turn around pudding. behalf do you say? guest: a couple of things. you have to look at long term, and the american government spending money it does not have and no one is going to have a job. but, second, the obama administration really hasn t done much regulation
amount of population. a couple of ironies here it came yesterday from the car show. new york auto show, looking at these great cars being reduced and general motors has some terrific cars. when mitt romney i almost called him george romney. when he wrote let detroit go bankrupt, the opening paragraph if the bailout happens, the auto industry in america as we know it, we can kiss it good-bye. he talked about the companies have a deficit in technology and interior product. i didn t see it at the auto show. i see a company in general motors because thaw is thriving only because of that bailout. he was not thinking about until 2012 when he rote that. auto bailouts were unpopular, but saved a lot of jobs in michigan and ohio, two crucial swing states, and come november, that may be something that title the election there toward obama. congressman clarke, a question. earlier when we were talking
different place. and the vice president was in ohio yesterday where one in eight workers is dependent directly or indirectly on the auto industry. so i think a lot of people are going to be scratching their heads if mitt romney s the nominee and thinking, well, wait, he was calling for the industry to fail. well, i think, though, that the broader issue here is what is the proper role of government, and that s really the crux of the debate whether you re talking about the auto bailouts or the bank bailouts or government intervention in any part of the private sector. so this is something that i think mitt romney and his, ultimately, his vice presidential nominee will be talking about, whether or not all of that government intervention was, in fact, appropriate. jon: the vice president said that the middle class, essentially, would be bankrupted if any of these republicans get into office. jen, isn t that a little hyperbole? [laughter] with well, look, that s he s trying to articul
$8, $9 and $10 gasoline, he said he preferred it gradually. well, they are up. they have doubled since he has been president. from day 1 from this administration, they have set about to carry out social engineering in every aspect of the economy health care, financial sector, industrial base, through the auto bailouts and energy. and it first started with cap and trade and tried to get the scheme through when it couldn t get past the senate and they started to do epa regulations and so on. one big reason we have $4 a gallon gas is as a result of this administration s policies, in order to get those gas prices up. this administration has blocked drilling, blocked exploration, slow-walked permitting, which has been a disgrace and blocked the keystone pipeline. now he wonders why the american people are furious and holding him accountable for $4 a gallon gas? it is not a mystery! sean: as part what have we are going to do on this program,