GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.

FAST ON THE HEELS of the $700 billion bailout for America’s banks and other financial institutions, the U.S. auto industry has been begging, cup in hand, for a similar handout from Washington. Detroit’s Big Three probably feel they’ve earned it, having paid out tens of millions in lobbying costs and campaign contributions in recent years to acquire political friends.

In another instance where an industry is claiming it’s “too big to fail,” senior executives from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler want the American taxpayer to cough up $50 billion or more to cover the industry’s losses.

At his first press conference as president-elect, Barack Obama stated clearly that he considers the auto industry crucial to America and deserving of a helping hand. And he strongly suggested that auto makers should be among the most generously supported industries in any stimulus package that may come out of the lame duck session of Congress.

This past September, Congress already approved a $25 billion subsidy to the Big Three under the guise of investing in improved fuel-efficiency technologies for the next generation of cars and trucks. The Department of Energy soon will disperse these funds.

The Detroit automakers no doubt expect they will also receive billions more. After all, they’ve paid for it. According to OpenSecrets.Org, which tracks lobbying expenditures by special interest groups, the Big Three auto companies have spent millions winning friends and influencing people in Washington.

Just in the first half of 2008, for example, GM spent $7.3 million on Washington lobbying activities. Ford shelled out $3.8 million and Chrysler some $3.3 million. In the last 10 years (1998-2008), GM, Ford and Chrysler spent a total of $228.4 million — nearly a quarter of a billion dollars — lobbying Washington. Out of the total, GM spent $92.9 million, Ford more than $78.6 million and Chrysler $56.9 million.

In addition, over the last five presidential campaign cycles (1992-2008), U.S. automobile makers donated an additional $20 million to presidential campaigns in campaign contributions from individuals and PACs.

In the first half of 2008, for instance, provisional data show the automakers spent $2.2 million in support of (in nearly equal parts) the presidential campaigns of Sen. John McCain and now President-elect Obama.

So whether the Big Auto stimulus package is passed before Christmas or after President-elect Obama takes office on Jan. 20, GM, Ford and Chrysler will likely make a hefty return on their long-term investment in buying friends in high political office.

They will have invested nearly $250 million in lobbying and campaign contributions over the last 10 years, and in return will probably receive $50 billion. That is a return on investment that even the most demanding speculator would relish.

Of course, U.S. taxpayers will have to foot that extra bill.

However, the auto bailout is paid for — through higher taxes, increased borrowing, or by cranking up the Bureau of Engraving’s printing presses — it amounts to little more than “spreading the wealth” from the rest of us to those who know how to buy political friends wisely.

Richard Ebeling is a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research ( www.aier.org) in Great Barrington, Mass. He also serves as the Shelby C. Davis Visiting Professor in Economics at Trinity College, Hartford.