The so-called auto bailout was in fact a union bailout, Heritage Foundation expert James Sherk explains in this week’s Heritage Foundation podcast.

More specifically, it was a United Auto Workers bailout. Typically, when a company goes bankrupt the labor costs are lowered to a more competitive level. UAW worker wages were as high as $56 per hour in pay and benefits. The politically influential UAW solicited federal tax dollars rather than following the usual bankruptcy procedure of lowering wages. If they had simply lowered wages, taxpayers could have saved $26 billion.

This is especially unsettling considering President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Candidate Obama ran on a platform of refusing to spend tax dollars on special interest groups. The UAW is a special interest group, and President Obama spent $26 billion on them.

Listen here to learn more about the how the “auto bailout” benefited big labor special interests.

In this week’s Heritage in Focus podcast, Carrie Severino, Chief Counsel and Policy Director of the Judicial Crisis Network, discusses her work on the legal challenges to Obamacare. The Supreme Court hears arguments in the case next week next week.

Heritage’s David Weinberger hosts. To get regular updates on Heritage in Focus podcasts, visit our RSS feed or subscribe on iTunes.

To listen to more Heritage Foundation podcasts, visit our podcast page.

Jennifer Marshall

In this week’s Heritage in Focus podcast, Heritage Foundation scholar Jennifer Marshall discusses Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, women and religious liberty. David Weinberger hosts.

Listen online.

To get regular updates on Heritage in Focus podcasts, visit our RSS feed or subscribe on iTunes.

Click here to listen to this week’s Heritage in Focus podcast, in which Ray Walser discusses the influence of Iran in Latin America. David Weinberger hosts. To get regular updates on Heritage in Focus podcasts, visit our RSS feed or subscribe on iTunes.

To listen to more Heritage Foundation podcasts, visit our podcast page.