While the Washington Post's reporters apparently have many sources who believe that bailing out the auto industry is a bad idea and that autoworkers earning $57,000 a year are overpaid, none of their sources seem to think that handing taxpayer dollars to bankers earning tens of millions annually is a bad idea. As it turns out, the same incompetent bankers who made loans in a bubble-inflated residential real estate market also made loans in a bubble-inflated commercial real estate market. And, the Post tells us that the bankers want the government's help with these loans also. The Post found space to allow Lisa Pendergast, the managing director of commercial real estate finance at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets, to tell readers that: "It won't help the economy if commercial real estate continues to fall like residential. ....Then ultimately it will cause the recession to lengthen and deepen." The Post did not find the space to allow an economist not connected with the financial industry to inform readers that it would be a good thing if bubble-inflated commercial real estate markets deflated, just as is the case with bubble-inflated residential real estate markets. There is no public interest in perpetuating these bubbles. It will simply prolong the adjustment process and cause more people to lose money on bubble-inflated properties. The Post also did not find the space to allow any economists or political figures to complain about using taxpayer dollars to aid bank executives, some of the richest people in the country.
--Dean Baker
