Auto Bailout Failed

As of Tuesday, October 16, 2012

President Obama governs by autocratically ignoring legal constraints of precedents or principles.

He dismisses our Constitution as a “charter of negative liberties.” And his auto bailout ignored important legal precedents in a scheme based on a false claim that it would save 1.5 million jobs.

Advisers had told him that actual losses would only be 10 to 20 percent of 1.5 million, but Obama continues to use his false talking point in his current stump speeches.

Bailout money was stolen from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Congress never authorized a TARP loan of $49.5 billion for GM. Taxpayers had to ante up an additional $30 billion just to give GM the financial reserves required by bankruptcy court.

That $30 billion bought shares in the new GM, which have lost 49 percent of their value relative to the Dow. Not a good deal for taxpayers!

But wealth redistribution from taxpayer to labor union is still going strong. Bankruptcy laws require bond holders (the secured creditors) to be paid first, but “Obamalaw” gave unsecured union creditors first position.

His failure to follow standard procedures redistributed an extra $26.5 billion of taxpayers’ money to the union.

By unfairly picking winners and losers, Obama actually hurt selected middle-class retirees, pension funds and endowments.

Even worse was the unprecedented transfer of a $45 billion tax credit to GM, which distorted its future financial reports!

Did these crony pay-offs fix GM’s problems? No. GM’s fundamental problem was that it could not afford its labor union contracts.

After the bailout, these costs remained unsustainable, at a level 20 percent higher than its competitors. A proper restructuring would have renegotiated those ruinous contracts.

By ignoring an option that worked in other industries, Obama just kicked the can down the road until after the 2012 elections.

Need I say more?

Wes May

Pinehurst

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The_AnonymusProfit 7 months, 1 week ago

Mega dittos

teufelhunden 7 months, 1 week ago

Bingo

DaveyNC 7 months, 1 week ago

Somehow, people have the idea that a bankruptcy means the company ceases to exist. I suppose that is so for a Chapter 7, but that was never even a remote possibility for GM or Chrysler. As Romney pointed out in the debate last night, 0bama did in fact push those two companies through bankruptcy. Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that he shepherded them through, taking steps that were well outside of the normal bankruptcy procedures.

0bama's actions with respect to his handling of GM's bondholders will one day be noted as the moment when the financial recovery was doomed. His actions then injected extreme uncertainty into the economy among investors and since it was clear that the force of law could apparently be so easily ignored, they withdrew. Who could blame them? We have those laws to provide some measure of stability. If they can simply be ignored because they don't suit whomever happens to be in power at the moment, why would anyone ever loan money? If your find yourself on the wrong side of that equation, you lose. That's a near-impossible risk to quantify.

geoffcutler 7 months, 1 week ago

It would be nice if Romney got off script and pointed these types of things out during the debates. Certainly would better his chances. Good letter!

JimHeim 7 months, 1 week ago

American workers need to learn to live on $2 a day. Just ask Apple. The iPhone has $199 in parts, $6 in labor, and sells for $650. Now that's the way to lead America to prosperity.

DaveyNC 7 months, 1 week ago

JimHeim, I'm pretty sure that Apple employees benefit greatly from their work in creating the iStuff and are quite prosperous. There are Apple millionaires all over Silicon Valley. Want to share in that prosperity? Prepare yourself to work for a company like Apple (or better yet, start your own) and then go get a job with them. I know, that's just crazy talk.

Oh, by the way, you left out the cost of development, shipping, benefits, design, packaging, and many other costs associated with bringing the iStuff to market.

Don't tell me you are one of those people that thinks a company should total up the cost of raw materials for its products and sell it for that amount? Because that is infantile.

The_AnonymusProfit 7 months, 1 week ago

To add to davey, not to mention Import Tax, Export Tax, Corporate Tax, and however many other taxes are paid, on top of employee salaries, 401ks health care costs, etc etc.

skylinefirepest 7 months, 1 week ago

Davey, of course Jimmy thinks that way...he's a liberal Demo!! He looks at his idol obumma and thinks that "wow, he got the most powerful job in the world and he wasn't qualified to do squat...so I can start a business and become a millionaire and stop living off my wife." Nah, never happen, Jimmy, you just ain't got the know-how!! Better stick with your Moore County Dems 'cause nobody else would put up with your attitude!!

Spocks_Brain 7 months, 1 week ago

Its not up t the GD government to tell a company what to pay its employees but it does just that-if you dont want the job dont take it...and we wonder why its tough to motivate a company to hire anyone..the US of Homo America

JimHeim 7 months, 1 week ago

I don't know how you can call the auto bailout a failure. Mitt Romney made a $15.3 million profit on it. I'd say that makes it a roaring success.

JimHeim 7 months, 1 week ago

I've worked for Silicon Valley startups. How do you think I was able to afford to buy airplanes and fly around the country. But you can't build a country on the work of a relative few in a small region. Corporations need to share some of their record profits with the people who made those profits possible.

CC85 7 months, 1 week ago

George W. Bush invaded another Country under false pretenses. Iraq - no WMD or links to 911.

4,000+ American lives.

The_AnonymusProfit 7 months, 1 week ago

CC85 if you think the war was a bad idea, well thats your opinion, but you would be wrong. Jim, you like so many others have done so much in your life I wonder if you are either a liar, or, you only spend 1 week doing each thing. These time lines dont add up, but hey, it sounds like you benifited greatly from capitalism, I guess you just dont want anyone else to....

Btw the only people who brag about what they have are people who are making up for failings in other areas.........

skylinefirepest 7 months, 1 week ago

CC85...guess you never read or heard about the over one metric ton of yellowcake found, huh?? Well, you can possibly be excused on it because the Obama loving major media didn't bother to cover it out front...and a lot of the mm didn't cover it at all!!

clarabelle 7 months, 1 week ago

" The_AnonymusProfit - CC85 if you think the war was a bad idea, well thats your opinion, but you would be wrong."

tell that to the families of the 4000+ that lost loved ones for nothing!

you really 'are' clueless

mcgal 7 months, 1 week ago

SLFP-The yellowcake you refer to was not the same Bush tried to say Iraq was buying from Africa. This was years away from being weapon grade if they had had a way to process it. Iraq asked for help getting rid of it and Canada bought it. A reporter asked GB about why go into Iraq and he said, "That man tried to kill my daddy". That's why we invaded Iraq.

The_AnonymusProfit 7 months, 1 week ago

@clarabelle

I am certainly not clueless clarabelle, when you VOLUNTER for the military you understand you may be put in harms way. Since it took BOTH parties to agree to have a declaration of war (82 democrat congressmen and 29 democrat senators) the war was obviously supported by BOTH sides of the isle.

so clarabelle, you can think that the war was a bad idea, your allowed to have an opinion, but in your case, your NEVER right,

BTW GWB declared war, fought the war, and won the war.

geoffcutler 7 months, 1 week ago

And then Obama pulled out too soon, 'because he told voters he would' and Iraq is going to Hell. But don't look for the media to tell you that and make Obama look bad a couple weeks out before the election.

CC85 7 months, 1 week ago

Getting put in harms way is certainly part of the deal; however, the general expectation is the Commander and Chief will be competent enough to guide such a serious decision. American's have a low tolerance for war's that are not justified (see Vietnam). This was a waste of 4,000 American lives, IMO. The passage of time has a way of bringing clarity. Our brave men and women deserved better and hopefully this mistake will not be repeated.

CC85 7 months, 1 week ago

Iraq would "go to hell" even if we stayed there another 20 years.

Typically, the people that don't have anything at stak (son's, daughters, themselves) are the one's that continue to beat the drums of war.

The_AnonymusProfit 7 months, 1 week ago

Actually CC85 what made Iraq unique is that it was for the large part a secular society, unlike other countries in the region, America styaing there would have helped continue a path to democracy that would have been a shining light in that region.

But Obama dont care about that because he dont care about America in general.

CC85 7 months, 1 week ago

Check the suicide rates of Iraq war veterans, the number of American children that will never have their Father again, wives their husbands, the walking wounded - those who lost limbs and the psychological scars that will never go away.

When I see that, I don't see Iraq's path to democracy as something that was worth it.

JimHeim 7 months, 1 week ago

TAP - Baloney. Iraq was an unstable dictatorship with a minority controlling a majority of a different religion. You can't keep that up forever. It was not worth the 4,000+ lives, the $3 or $4 trillion and the abandonment of Afghanistan to fester into a much worse problem.

Bush was and is an idiot. Why Republicans think that spending your adult life bathing your brain in alcohol and cocaine can be a pathway to presidential prowess is quite beyond me. But it explains so much.

turntheothercheek 7 months, 1 week ago

This entire steam is ridicules. Fact… Obama did save GM. For those of you who either don’t care for facts, or are too small minded to look at the facts, just talk to GM employees. Why people keep reporting lies is beyond me and sad to no end. And shame on you for posting this lie, and shame on all of you for adding to the lies. Try looking into facts. Hey, if you prefer (which I know you do) watching Fox news, at least spend an equal amount of time watching another station like CNN, and figure out what the truth is, don’t just trust one source, it’s just being badly informed.
If you are part of the top 1%, you should totally vote for Romney, it's in your best interest. If you think women are not capable of making decisions about their body and their health care, then yes, Vote for Romney. If you are ok with a man who closes US factories to open more in China, vote for Romney. If you think that getting handed a "binders full of Women" is the way to get more women in the workplace, vote for Romney. And if you think that an employer should give women flexible work schedules so they can be home to make dinner, then Mitt Romney is the Man for you. But, if you are the other 99% of the country, if you are part of Romney's 47% that he said he didn't care about (or part of Ryan’s 30%), if you are a senior, if one day you want to collect Social Security, or Medicare, if you are a woman, if you think all American citizens should have the same rights, and you want a president who can answer a simple questions like what deductions are you getting rid of, then you need to vote for Obama!
It’s a simple choice, I just wish that people would stop perpetuating lies and get back to facts. You know facts, the things that used to get reported on????

JimHeim 7 months, 1 week ago

TAP - There has not been a US declaration of war since World War II.

DaveyNC 7 months, 1 week ago

JimHeim, there are people who share in Apple's profits. They are called "employees" and "shareholders" and "vendors" and their "families".

turntheothercheek (ttoc, from now on), sure we saved GM. At what cost? That single action that 0bama took, forcing the debt holders to take a haircut in direct contravention of the law and the terms of the bonds will one day be looked upon as the moment when Atlas decided to shrug. Couple that with things like Sarbanse-Oxley and the ACA and Dodd-Frank and it is no wonder that the whole country ground to a halt.

geoffcutler 7 months, 1 week ago

CC85 The joint resolution by Congress to send troops into Iraq was 297-133 in the house, 77-23 in the Senate.

skylinefirepest 7 months, 1 week ago

Jimmy H...once again you are technically correct but deliberately misleading. Both parties voted overwhelmingly to do what we did...Oh, and by the way, I'll match Bush's smarts against your man obumma any day of the week. Bush, being a veteran, actually cared about the troops he sent into Harm's way...unlike obumma who thinks their just another tool for his royal highness. Just because the Democrats lost interest shortly after 9-11 and started their same old crap against bush doesn't change the fact that obumma is the most singularly un-qualified man to be in the White House in history. Chew on that a while.

JimHeim 7 months, 1 week ago

Keep trying. Just show me a Congressional declaration of war since WWII. You know, the one with a statement that the United States of America is in a state of war with (your country here). Later we can talk about the congressional action declaring an end to that war.Should be easy.

JimHeim 7 months, 1 week ago

skylinepest, If Bush had done his job, 9-11 likely wouldn't have happened. He got a pass no democrat would ever get.

Courseaire 7 months, 1 week ago

JimHeim - You're now starting to sound like a fan of Jesse Ventura and his theories.

madstork 7 months, 1 week ago

Heim… 9-11 had been percolating since the USA hightailed out of Mogadishu in 1994. BLACKHAWK DOWN!! In 1992, Bush 41 Administration sent a contingent of Marines to Mogadishu as part of a mission dubbed Operation Restore Hope. Although designed to assist international aid workers restore humanitarian operations in the area, sporadic violence continued, including the murder of 24 U.N. soldiers from Pakistan in 1993. We attempted to arrest General Aidid AND REBELS KILLED 18 American soldiers by shooting down helicopters. TV captured the violence which included the gruesome display of Aidid's supporters dragging the body of one dead soldier through the streets of Mogadishu, cheering and hanging the charred bodies from a bridge. President Bill Clinton immediately gave the order for all American soldiers to withdraw from Somalia by March 31, 1994. It is widely considered the withdrawal demonstrated that the US had become a paper tiger. USS Cole and the first WTC attack followed. To blame Bush 43 solely for 9/11 is disingenuous. I am not surprised you see only your view.

skylinefirepest 7 months, 1 week ago

Othercheek....Obama is the most unqualified president in my lifetime. That said, consider this: six trillion in new debt, unemployment or underemployed at about 23-25 million, lies consistently ( as does Pelosi and Reid so it's not confined to obumma ) bowed to Muslim foreign leaders and the lied about it, credit rating has been dropped twice under his administration, has abandoned our foreign friends, has insulted some of our most dependable friends, has done absolutely nothing about the sieve that is our border, stole from Medicare to support obamacare which was not wanted by the American people, lowered the median income of every family in the country, has raised taxes on every family in the country ( the Supreme Court said it was a tax so don't try to give me any bullhockey ), has expanded government into areas where it doesn't belong. I could go on but I'm headed to Raleigh so I'll leave you with this....obumma can't run on his record so he's trying to scare you about Romney....nothing any intelligent person can see right through. Finally, he is the most anti-business president in my lifetime so if he is re-elected there will be no chance for recovery. Four more years of this incompetent will be a disaster for the country.

You're now starting to sound like a fan of Jesse Ventura and his theories. Who doesn't appreciate legalized prostitution and gambling? The founding fathers sure did.

by JD

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Auto Bailout Failed

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