Woohoo! We get to give GM another $45B!

[EnderJE]

I'm always surprised the way businesses are propped up. I know that there's talk about what to cut right now to bring down the debt. I would of thought that things like this and cutting defense would be first up. Actually, I was thinking that defense would be cut first (so that the home front can be taken care of) , then local entitlements, then this.

 

[fortunatesun]

I'd get blown straight out the water in a political/economic discussion with you guys but I see a story like this and I'm just hesitant to scoff.

It's important to consider the way GM is positioned in our economy. It's health affects not just it's own employees but those of hundreds of other companies as well. Some small businesses sell practically their entire product to GM. Problems at the core ripple out at home as well as internationally.

Whatever you think of Obama's stimulus package to the poor, it has brought a measure of immediate relief. We're not any worse off than before. In a mixed bag economy like we have now, I don't see what's wrong trying the same thing with other stressed sectors.

As I said, I lack expertise to assess the soundness of this particular action, but the point I'm trying to make is that this could be a positive. Sure, we have to pay for it all eventually. Finding the less painful path is going to involve keeping an open mind.

 

[mrplunkey]

I'm always surprised the way businesses are propped up. I know that there's talk about what to cut right now to bring down the debt. I would of thought that things like this and cutting defense would be first up. Actually, I was thinking that defense would be cut first (so that the home front can be taken care of) , then local entitlements, then this.

The big 3 are Medicare, Social Security and Defense. I'm all for slashing defense a good 60%, but it's wasted effort if you don't work on Medicare and Social Security as well. And even then, that's assuming we don't implement Obamacare which could easily become the mother of all entitlements.

 

[75th]

I'd get blown straight out the water in a political/economic discussion with you guys but I see a story like this and I'm just hesitant to scoff.

It's important to consider the way GM is positioned in our economy. It's health affects not just it's own employees but those of hundreds of other companies as well. Some small businesses sell practically their entire product to GM. Problems at the core ripple out at home as well as internationally.

The thing is that most people have no idea how a bankruptcy actually works.

All the uninformed assumed that the moment GM declared bankruptcy, there would be a blinding white light and the company and all of its assets would vaporize into oblivion.

Thats not the way it works. For proof, see the fact that GM ended up declaring bankruptcy anyway 2 months after they got our loan.

The bailout was simply designed to use various loopholes to screw the bondholders (eg those who actually pay for GM to remain in business) out of their money while giving kickbacks to the United Auto Workers. So, Obama basically nullified the written legal contract that all the bondholders had with GM.

The only more blatant way Obama could have purchased the UAW votes is to have simply gone around and cut a check to each UAW employee personally.

What Obama did to the bondholders of GM is borderline criminal...and Im not exaggerating one bit. I remember him calling the bondholders "greedy speculators." LOL. California Public Schools & the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were some of the top holders of GM debt. Do they sound like "greedy speculators" to anyone?

I'm not on board with the incoming republican congress throwing all sorts of investigations around for the sake of being assholes, but the bailout of GM is the one thing our governing body should look in to.

 

[EnderJE]

The big 3 are Medicare, Social Security and Defense. I'm all for slashing defense a good 60%, but it's wasted effort if you don't work on Medicare and Social Security as well. And even then, that's assuming we don't implement Obamacare which could easily become the mother of all entitlements.

True. I'm also surprised how much is spent on heath care (per patient) compared to the other countries.

 

[mrplunkey]

I'd get blown straight out the water in a political/economic discussion with you guys but I see a story like this and I'm just hesitant to scoff.

It's important to consider the way GM is positioned in our economy. It's health affects not just it's own employees but those of hundreds of other companies as well. Some small businesses sell practically their entire product to GM. Problems at the core ripple out at home as well as internationally.

Whatever you think of Obama's stimulus package to the poor, it has brought a measure of immediate relief. We're not any worse off than before. In a mixed bag economy like we have now, I don't see what's wrong trying the same thing with other stressed sectors.

As I said, I lack expertise to assess the soundness of this particular action, but the point I'm trying to make is that this could be a positive. Sure, we have to pay for it all eventually. Finding the less painful path is going to involve keeping an open mind.

What Obama is doing to the poor is the ultimate form of taxation: Inflation. He's cultivating the seeds to ultimately undermine our dollar.

Someone with a $3M building will be fine. Their building will still be worth multiple times that when our dollar devalues. Someone making $10/hour is screwed, because their wages will never keep pace with the devaluation.

 

[mrplunkey]

True. I'm also surprised how much is spent on heath care (per patient) compared to the other countries.

The rest of the world doesn't realize the gap between our citizens' expectations and our system's capacity to deal with them.

We expect to do more and more and look better and better at older ages, yet we're doing less and less to support those wishes. We expect multi-million dollar per person healthcare (over a lifetime) to fill-in the gap.

 

[bakemeacookie]

No one ever bitches about welfare to the rich. The elites have done a good job at making the middle class fight the lower class while the rich rapes them both.

It's been like this forever cuz the masses are too fucking stupid to realize how they keep getting ass-fucked. And when depressions occur - they pay the price first.

c

 

[mrplunkey]

No one ever bitches about welfare to the rich. The elites have done a good job at making the middle class fight the lower class while the rich rapes them both.

It's been like this forever cuz the masses are too fucking stupid to realize how they keep getting ass-fucked. And when depressions occur - they pay the price first.

c

I'm completely opposed to corporate welfare.

Offer all high-income earners a globally-competitive, low tax rate then stop 100% of the hand-outs.

 

[binö]

None, really. They repaid our loan with money they got directly through one of the Fed windows @ 0% interest.

So theyre paying us back with our own money.

so it's super win when taking inflation percents into consideration.