Bailouts BAD for Barack?? Insurance Ind strangled Healthcare Reform; GM. killed the Electric Car.

[Sensitivity]

Bail-outs could tie Obama's hands.

Saving companies that led and lobbied the country down the path of national economic myopia and destruction my well make it harder to enact health insurance and auto industry reforms that Obama has promised.

What could make it easier to reduce health insurance cost than to be able to get rid of the existing corrupt and inefficient industry and start from scratch with single-payer.

Can we believe that the management and unions that control the current U.S. auto industry will really be able to envision and make the radical and painful changes required to move to ultra-efficient autos and electric-vehicle oriented personal/mass transit.

These mega-companies have doggedly pursued short-term corporate profits even at the cost of the long-term national interest. Why use limited money to keep them going rather that fund a host of innovative start-ups that could help us win in the markets of the future?

[99th_Monkey]

1. Every last one of these bailouts needs to be used to leverage some direct public benefit

LEVERAGE: Use it or Lose it. This is PUBLIC's money for Gawd'sake.

I say USE ANY Bailout as LEVERAGE to REQUIRE*:
1) Federal Audits of bailed out companies, with criminal investigations where warranted,
2) Criminal charges are to be brought, as the evidence may warrant, no matter how up the
food chain the crooks are (including complicit Bush Federal employees).
3) Outlawing outlandish CEO compensation packages, golden parachutes, and/or bonuses; and
instead all compensation to ALL employees is locked into a Federally mandated floor-to-ceiling
ratio of $1 to $10, i.e. for every ONE dollar the janitor gets, the CEO can only earn no more
than 10 times that; and everyone else obviously gets something in between.

*If said company doesn't like these terms, then they can opt to be nationalized (cheap) and
converted into a worker-owned/controlled enterprise, with the technical support of Big Labor
and hired management; thereby rendering these jobs "outsource-proof", anchoring jobs and capital
into local host communities.

Fuck these corporate give-aways!!

These rat-bastards won't be happy until they've utterly milked the US taxpayers to death,
both figuratively and literally, to the point of bankrupting the nation beyond the point
of no return; which effectively puts an ever-tightening noose around the Obama Administration's
neck, which achieves several ReThug objectives:
1) These bail-outs are milking us "rubes" for everything, absolutely everything we
have, or thought we had, and then some... to line the greedy pockets of the "have-mores"
on their way out the door. The worse for the Obama Administration, the better, at least
in their view. In other words, "fuck the country".
2) Renders ALL "entitlement programs" (such as Social Security, Medicare, HUD, etc.)
as low hanging fruit ripe for the picking for further bail-outs; and don't even
ask about Health Care Reform, or middle-class/low-income tax cuts, etc. or you'll
be laughed out of the room.
3) Having made a laughing stock of the Obama Administrations "pipe dreams" Health Care
reform, "green alternative energy" inititatives, etc., they will try to use this (w/ much
help from the M$M) to win back lost seats in Congress in 2010, and then to have a shot at
the WH in 2012.

Mark my words. This is the biggest reason in my book that Obama's GOT to "GO BIG",
and forcefully demand a halt to this grand-scale heist, because that's really the ONLY
way Obama will EVER have a prayer of delivering on his campaign promises. "The people:
voted for real change, for change that matters to real people, real people who vote.

Please Barack. GO BIG! at least on this one issue, as it's the linchpin to everything
else. ... the sooner the better.

[Sensitivity]

7. Agree. Worst thing is NOT to leverage the money to Insurance giants w/out Health insurance reform

as part of the package. Same with the auto companies. I worry, thought that saving them is like backing IBM rather that supporting the personal computer and Internet revolution and all the innovation and great companies that emerged.

[amborin]

2. GM is already working hard on the Volt, an electric car...

and you have it all backwards

the US auto makers have had to compete on unfair terms for decades now

[deyvehd]

4. Unfair terms?

What do you mean by unfair terms?

also GM had already come up with an electric back in 1996 called the EV1. Sadly GM killed the electric car over claims the car would be unprofitable. Instead GM focused on SUVs like the Hummer. Did they not foresee that someday the bubble might burst? to quote Bart Simpson "Bubbles burst?"

[amborin]

9. by unfair terms,

i mean the Big Three have had to pay legacy costs, while foreign transplant competitors have been off scott free

[uponit7771]

17. Yeap, good healthcare plan can help out with the current and legacy cost of operations

[Sensitivity]

5. Perfect case: after 20+ years, what market share are they targeting for VOLT

The volt is proof positive that there is no real intent in transforming the industry.
You just have to look at production plans of the big 3 to see the future they envision.

[Skwmom]

13. They killed the electric car, built crappy cars, and built cars that were HUGE gas guzzlers, doing

everything they could to make sure that higher gas standards were not passed.

[uponit7771]

18. I would help if part of the bail out GMs current reThug loving leadership is fired

[Kalyke]

19. Crappy cars?

My Ford is NEVER in the shop, whilst the in-laws' Toyotas are forever there.

:shrug:

[uponit7771]

23. GM hired Toyotas quality officer and they're near the top now in quality cars. Some of the bad

...rap US car makers get is from the early 90s late 80s quality issues

[CreekDog]

3. When you quote these things, could you please provide the source and/or a link?

thanks. :hi:

[blondeatlast]

6. Debbie Doesn't Do links...

But it's good to know she's still here after last Tuesday--somehow.

[Sensitivity]

11. No quotes intended. I am the source.

[democrat2thecore]

8. Obama's thinking one thing: No More Massive Job Losses, and rightfully so -nt

[Sensitivity]

12. Job losses could be reduced by good decisions by management and unions -- their choices

are usually bad. That's why companies have to be allowed to fail so that the industry can be
radically reformed from the outside.

[amborin]

14. bad, purely Anti-Union position you are advocating

you are clearly anti-union

your sentiment shows loud and clear

you have zero understanding of the us auto makers' problems

[Sensitivity]

21. Big 3 dominated world auto production. Could have done Electric car and maintained dominance, but

decide to go after short-term profit and kill technology that was in the national interest.
These were not union decisions.

[uponit7771]

22. So beat the kid cause it pee'd in the bed? Reltiave to what AIG has done GM is a saint, there's NO..

...reason why bailout cash shouldn't be given to GMAC but the Bush admin telling the to screw themselves

[blondeatlast]

26. See post 15. sensitivity is always gravely concerned--and always

WRONG.

The smart move for the Obama campaign--and now ADMINISTRATION (I love that) is to read Sensitivity's advice--and do exactly the opposite.

[blondeatlast]

25. Every "concern" this Sensitivity had about the Obama campaign--

there were dozens of "deep" concerns--failed to come to fruition.

S thought Obama should be a mudslinger/make Keating 5 a huge deal/Sarah Palin was the death knell for Obama.

Don't give this one a second thought (even though I think you are absolutely right about S's agenda).

[uponit7771]

20. Unions aren't perfect but they're getting undo blame. There's NO reason you put retire assests on

...your books unless it's to prop number and that's what the reThug loving leadership at GM has done.

Healthcare reform will go a long way at helping out with GMs current and legacy operating cost.

Just hold on till Feb GM, Obama's comin!!!

Also, GMAC is a bank and there's no reason they shouldn't be getting bail out cash.

[Sensitivity]

10. Ted Turner on Lou Dobbs making the same argument -- WOW

[blondeatlast]

15. considering your pre-election list of "concerns" over Obama's campaign, I'll

give this one as much credence as is due.

LIAF.

[Sensitivity]

16. I was in the campaign, like many here. Please be more helpful.

[blondeatlast]

24. But all of your concerns were wrong. and you are concerned again.

Every. Last. One.

[Sensitivity]

27. Don't know what you are talking about or when you joined DU. Wishing you well.

[blondeatlast]

28. 2003. What's your point? nt