GM got a better deal from Obama. $billions in direct aid. Government didn't step in to save the buggy whip companies. What a disaster that was!
GM got a lousy deal from the government. The government took the whole company, fired the managers, wiped out the stockholders and the bondholders. If you are running a company, having that happen is pretty much the furthest thing from "a better deal". That's a fucking nuclear disaster. barfo
You differentiate between the owners, managers, stockholders, investors, etc., and the company. Quite nicely. Where is GM today? Still in business? Profitable, just like Ford is, and Ford didn't take a dime.
Housing prices demonstrated the largest inflation this country has ever seen due to reckless borrowing by both the Bush admin and private citizens. Not we pay the piper, which is that the housing market is correcting back to where it should have been. People want to bitch and moan about Obama, well the housing crisis was a product of stupidity and greed by both the government in place at the time of reckless borrowing and mortgage lending and the sheep that thought flipping houses was God's gift. I have zero sympathy for the people that are upside down in their home, it was a stupid time to buy if you know anything about finance. It was a bubble, and boy did it burst. The next domino is credit card debt by the way. There is something like 50 Billion in cards out there that is slowly getting exercised. These were mainly inactive cards sitting in drawers, and banks actually started cancelling unused cards and lowering limits. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829429/ This movie does a great job of talking about what was going to happen before it actually happened. It basically called the housing crisis two years before it occurred, and it warns about the credit card crisis being even worse after the housing bubble burst.
I don't owe $.01 on a credit card and really haven't since the 1980s. I'd rather do without than pay the interest on one of those things. I had one that I used when travelling, but that one sat in a drawer recently until the credit card company cancelled it. I won't miss it. The bailouts were a direct transfer of taxpayer money to the banks who own all the foreclosed properties. If the money were used to pay down the loan balances, the banks would still have gotten the same dollars, but the people on main street would have properties that aren't upside down, far fewer foreclosures, and many people would be able to retire and live off the equity in those homes. Instead, the banks bought other banks with the taxpayer money, and foreclosures are at outrageous rates. The only people able to afford the properties at their new lower valuations are people with good credit and the cash for the down payment - i.e. the rich. Not only were the people who weren't qualified to buy properties screwed out of their down payment and (perhaps) good credit ratings, the people who lived next door who paid their mortgage like clockwork saw a good chunk of their life savings evaporate due to the 14 foreclosed properties on the block for sale at distressed prices. There shouldn't have been those foreclosures if the bailout money paid down the mortgage balances.
Yes. Different people have different agendas. But it's hard to see how anyone's agenda would have included going belly-up and handing control to the government. Your theory that GM "wanted" this is ridiculous. Actually, no. Technically, GM went bankrupt and was liquidated (or maybe it is still being liquidated, not sure). A new corporation was formed which bought most of the assets of GM, including the name. Not sure what you think that proves. Ford wasn't as bad off as GM, owing to slightly better management decisions in the past. barfo
Doing without and paying interest aren't the only two choices, you know. If you pay the credit card bills in a timely fashion, you don't pay any interest. barfo
I prefer to have as few bills in the mail as possible. I don't owe on my car either, and haven't had a car loan since the '80s as well. It has nothing to do with being well paid or anything. I simply saved up to buy the car and made due with the old one until I could afford it.
bafo doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about, as usual. Stop embarrassing yourself. You're the captain of Team DNC.
Try taking out a loan without paying interest and see hot that works out for you. Also, GM went bankrupt AFTER that bail-out. In a normal bankruptcy, the creditors would have first shot at assets. Because of the bailout, that didn't happen. Instead, the union gets the assets, and gets protection. You really have no fucking clue.
Feel free to take any statement I've made in this thread and show it to be incorrect. I won't hold my breath. barfo
Your entire premise on the "liquidation" is flawed. GM was not a traditional bankruptcy. I'm not going to spend the entire night pointing out how idiotic your posts are in this thread. Denny Crane already did so, you just are too ignorant or stubborn to accept the fact. Go Team DNC! Also, how long have you been a member of the SEIU? Curious, "purplo" Commie.
What is my supposed premise? All I said about liquidation is that the old GM was liquidated (or is being liquidated). That is a fact. Ah, yes, the old "I don't have time to actually make an argument" gambit. Very convincing. I am not currently a member of any union. Many years ago, I was a Teamster. barfo
