The LA Times is reporting House passes $25 billion loan package for auto industry. While we were worrying about the $700 Billion bailout of banks, the auto industry snuck in under the radar.

Supporters portrayed the bill as small change compared with the $700-billion Wall Street bailout proposed by the Bush administration, and Michigan lawmakers said they were preparing to seek another $25 billion over the next three years.

See where this bailout has taken us? We now brush off $25 billion as “small change.” If that’s small change, you live in Zimbabwe.

Of course, a loan package is not a bailout:

As for the auto industry loan program, backers insisted that it was not a bailout and said the money would be repaid. They noted that a so-called bailout program that provided $1.5 billion in loan guarantees to Chrysler in 1980 turned a $313-million profit for the government.

Let’s see, your credit rating is Junk, nobody sane will loan to you at low rates, and it’s not a bailout? As I’ve previously posted, the Chrysler bailout was largely responsible for the state of US car manufacturers today. Allowing these dinosaurs to continue doing business as usual in changing times is a recipe for future bailouts. I’ll also go on the record stating that things won’t work out the same this time. Demand for autos is shrinking. Consumers just don’t have the money to afford new cars. This bailout is money down the drain.

I’ll also disagree with the conclusion that the US made money on the previous loans. Sure, we had an immediate return of $313 million. But how many grants, subsidies, and government handouts have we made since then? That $313 million was erased a long time ago.