Taxpayers Will Get Screwed On Auto Maker Loans
May 19, 2009 Political
Just Like I said they would
I wrote before that the bailout of the major auto makers was only going to delay the inevitable and that they would eventually file for bankruptcy. I also wrote that when they filed for bankruptcy the bailout money they received would be lost forever because they would not have to pay it back. This was one of my arguments against bailing out any of them. It would appear as if I was right on the money.
GM is filing for bankruptcy and it hopes to sell off part of the company to a company that was owned, for a brief time, by the government. The plan will call for GM to give stakes in the new company to the union and the bondholders.
When a company files for bankruptcy it is supposed to reorganize and figure a way to restructure debt in order to pay creditors. Some of GM’s assets will stay in bankruptcy in order to satisfy any outstanding claims, except those of the US taxpayer. GM will not have to pay back most of the 15.4 BILLION dollars in loans it received from taxpayers because the government will forgive the loans. The US government is awfully generous with OUR money.
In addition, the government would extend a credit line to the new company and forgive the bulk of the $15.4 billion in emergency loans that the U.S. has already provided to GM, the source said. al-Reuters
In addition to forgiving the loans the government will extend a line of credit to GM. How nice, we will let them spend more of our money on credit. How long will it be before that is forgiven as well?
The government is supposed to be good stewards with our money. The taxpayer was forced to hand money over to GM and we should be protected. Those in private industry who invested in GM should take a hit before taxpayers because they had a choice and invested in order to make money. Their gamble did not pay off.
The government had no right to spend OUR money on a private company to begin with. They did so under the guise of it being a loan that would be repaid. Now the government is kissing that money goodbye. We have no chance now of ever getting it back, just as I stated. The Socialist government gave the unions and bondholders a 15.4 BILLION dollar gift because they get part of the company but will not be saddled with the debt the company incurred.
This should disgust everyone. I would like to see all incumbents voted out of office but at the very least every person who voted for the bailouts should be sent packing. People, this is 15.4 BILLION dollars of your money that the government decided to “forgive.” Do you suppose they will forgive your tax bill when it comes due?
As for GM, I will NEVER buy a GM product. I had stated before that I would not buy from a company that received bailout money and I will never buy from one that is owned by the union. I will certainly not buy from any company that raped the US taxpayer. Boycott GM and put them out of business.
Ford did not take bailout money. It pains me that Chrysler did because I own a Jeep and had planned on buying another in a few years (assuming you can still get them after the CAFE and global warming stupidity is added on) but now I will need to find another SUV.
Maybe someone will buy Jeep from Chrysler…
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Tags: bailout, forgiven debt, gm, taxpayer
Swine Flu Diverts Attention
Apr 28, 2009 Opinion, Political
A great deal of attention has been given to the newest outbreak of the flu mostly because this is a strain that is not commonly associated with transmission among humans and there is no vaccine. While it is well and good to pay some attention to it one must wonder why all the CDC warnings and the elevations of threat levels. I certainly understand the travel restrictions but the reality is that there are only 40 confirmed US cases and no one in the US has died (as of this writing). Mexico has handled the issue fairly well and there have been just over 140 deaths in that country.
In the US each year about 36,000 people die from the flu and about 200,000 require hospitalization.
I think that the fervor over the flu is designed to take our attention away from the bad news that has come out lately. GM is getting rid of Pontiac (if you have a low mileage one put it away) and that will result in the loss of 21,000 manufacturing jobs. GM and Chrysler are preparing to file for bankruptcy and this will cause a lot of turmoil in the automotive industry. Ironically, Ford, the only one of the big three not to take bailout money, is doing OK, not great, but better than the others.
The Swine Flu scare is also a great cover for Congress who can work on passing more and more spending packages and enact things designed to give us universal health care coverage without the public debate. They can take advantage of this emergency to pass even more items to drive us ever closer to Socialism.
The Obama Administration has shown that it is a smoke and mirrors operation. They manufacture one crisis after another in order to tire people and wear them down. Then they can keep passing stuff unnoticed and before you know it, BAM, we have all these expensive things and even greater tax burdens. The economy was a crisis that we had to act upon immediately or we might not recover. Then it was not as bad as he thought. Of course, he came to that conclusion after spending a couple of TRILLION dollars to fix the spiraling economy. The stimulus will not kick in for some time. We are seeing some signs of working out of the economic downturn now. This means that things are turning around before the stimulus has had a chance to affect things. If we had done very little or nothing we would be turning around and we would have saved a couple of TRILLION dollars.
But Democrats had an “emergency” to exploit. Let us not forget that George Bush helped put this in motion. I did not agree with it then and I don’t agree with it now. I think the difference is Bush was making an honest attempt to fix things and not taking advantage of the situation. Obama is taking advantage of the problem to nationalize the banks and take over companies.
The Swine Flu, as of right now, is not a cause for alarm (just as Obama said). It is something we should keep an eye on and we should take the basic steps to prevent transmission of the disease. The number one way to do that is to wash your hands. Wash them frequently and the transmission of disease will be drastically reduced. Your mother told you to wash your hands for a reason.
The flu comes each year and makes a lot of people sick and it kills quite a few. These Swine flu reports might be sentinel events indicating a larger problem ahead. We need to keep track but we also need not lose sight of what is going on around us with regard to our politicians.
They will use this “emergency” to their advantage as long as we let them get away with it.
The CDC is tracking the outbreak and has a sign up for Swine Flu updates. There is also good information about the disease and what you can do to reduce your risk. Take the time to read it but don’t let the flu take your focus away. We can worry when it looks like this will become more widespread. Let’s keep an eye on it but let’s keep in mind that thousands get sick from the flu at any one time during flu season and they don’t go bananas like they are right now. This could certainly get worse but as it stands right now, it is a minor outbreak.
The sleight of hand artist The Amazing Obama wants you to look away.
How do the open borders folks feel now? ILLEGALS with swine flu could walk into this country at anytime undetected and spread the disease. This is what you get when you don’t uphold the law.
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Obama The Car Salesman
Mar 31, 2009 Political
When people describe the sleaziest workers they usually mention a used car salesman or a snake oil salesman (of which Obama is both). Looks like Obama has made the government the new car dealers for America. The government has so much interest in two of the big three that Obama basically fired the head of GM and most of the board. I am not saying they did not have to go but the government should not be in this business. BTW, did Obama fire any leaders of the UAW? Bet that will never happen.
The government involvement in the auto industry is troubling. We have forked over billions of dollars and now the sainted one says he is Ok with them going into bankruptcy. They could have done that last year and saved us billions of dollars. It would also have brought about renegotiation of the union contract. That is something that needs to be done. Everyone should be feeling the pain at the automakers.
Obama laid out a bunch of things with regard to how the automakers would run. It seemed to me that he was in charge of the companies instead of the country. Oh yeah, the country is in charge of them because we own part of them. I hope this enlightens other companies that are considering asking for taxpayer money. If you don’t want Obama and the government in your knickers just say NO.
One of the most troubling parts was when Obama said:
It is my hope that the steps I am announcing today will go a long way towards answering many of the questions people may have about the future of GM and Chrysler. But just in case there are still nagging doubts, let me say it as plainly as I can — if you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired, just like always. Your warrantee[sic] will be safe.
In fact, it will be safer than it’s ever been. Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warrantee[sic]. UK News Yahoo
This is troubling in two areas. One, have you ever known the government to run anything well? They are backing warranties and have no idea about what is involved. Under the Socialists in the Obama administration the backed warranty might mean you get a new car every time some little problem occurs.
The second issue is when he says the government will back the warranties. No, the taxpayer will back them. If this involves any money then that money will come from the taxpayer.
Not only are we paying for banks, insurance companies, Wall Street, reparations studies, rebuilding Gaza, Palestinian training camps, everyone’s health care, other people’s houses, other people’s children’s college education, and abortions around the world, now we are going to pay for warranty work done on cars manufactured by automaker employees who are members of the UAW.
Talk about incentive not to do a great job.
What else will the taxpayer have to pay for Mr. Obama? What else will we guarantee? How stinking far into our pockets are you going to reach?
One day you are going to reach too far and that hand is going to be removed.
Forget throwing tea in the harbor. Let’s throw all the politicians in the harbor.
Better yet, let’s throw them in the ocean with lead filled life vests.
Related:
Wall Street Journal
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