With the Senate's failure to pass the $14 billion auto industry bailout bill, world stock markets fell: Asian markets fell over 5% and European markets are down more than 3%. Futures suggest that Wall Street will open lower as well, also due to news from JPMorgan Chase (it had a "terrible" November and December) and Bank of America (cutting 35,000 jobs over three years).
As for the bailout, Senate Republicans refused to support the bill and Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said it probably wouldn't be discussed again until the new year, "It's over with." The NY Times writes, "The failure in Congress to provide a financial lifeline for G.M. and Chrysler was a bruising defeat for President Bush in the waning weeks of his term, and also for President-elect Barack Obama, who earlier on Thursday urged Congress to act to avoid a further loss of jobs in an already deeply debilitated economy."
Politico wonders if there's a leadership vacuum and noticed, "Obama never threw himself into the fight in a major way, and in contrast with the mortgage foreclosure crisis, Democrats seemed almost intent on protecting him from being entangled in the fight. But if GM falls into bankruptcy now, followed quickly by Chrysler LLC, it will greatly compound the unemployment crisis the new president faces Jan. 20th."
Additionally, Politico reports Vice-President Dick Cheney, in a closed-door meeting with the Senate GOP, warned them that it would be "Herbert Hoover time" if the bailout didn't pass. While some Republicans said their constituents didn't want them voting for the bill, one of the 10 Republicans who supported the bill, Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio), said, "I’m not even thinking about the politics of it, I’m talking about the substantive part of it, the people who are losing their jobs, the suppliers and the automobile dealer."
Photograph of Senator Christopher Dodd making a call after the auto bailout bill failed by Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP
