Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took on MSNBC’s panel covering the night of the Republican National Convention. Walker defended his assertion that a private bankruptcy would have been better for the auto industry than a publicly funded bailout. He met resistance to this claim from panelists Al Sharpton, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz.
Scott Walker was asked by Maddow if Walker thought the auto bailout was not effective. “It wasn’t in Wisconsin,” said Walker. “What we need is true prosperity and that comes really more effectively trough the private sector.”
“You run down the American auto industry at a moment when it really has come back,” said Maddow. “To see such a bright spot in the economy being talked about as if things hadn’t worked out in the auto industry since the bailout is a surprise, Gov.”
“It could have come back more effectively and sooner had they taken the advice of Mitt Romney early on and done a managed bankruptcy instead of spending all those dollars of taxpayers’ money that otherwise could have been done more effectively in the private sector early on,” Walker replied.
“Was there private sector credit available to save the auto industry,” Maddow asked.
“A managed bankruptcy is something that could have been quite effective,” said Walker.
“It was not Barack Obama’s economic policies that closed that GM plant,” said Schultz. “It’s in the Washington Post right now, Gov. Walker.”
Walker said that the entire auto industry could have been more efficiently saved if they had gone through the private sector.
(Source: MSNBC and Mediaite.com)
