One can't help but notice the difference in how Washington treats Wall Street in comparison to Main Street. The Fed and the Treasury donate great gobs of money in order to rescue failed financial institutions with no strings attached... while the auto industry
(you know... people who make things instead of steal things...) has to make concessions and put on a dog and pony show just to borrow a paltry $14 billion... is it me or does something seem out of order here?
In September Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary
(and Goldman-Sachs shill) Hank Paulson went boogedy-boo and spooked Congress into approving somewhere in the ballpark of
$8.5 trillion in virtual money for their pals in the "banking" industry... To get this bailout they relied on the tried and true All-American traditions of extortion, threats, and bald-faced lies...
Benny and Hank pulled off this heist
(let's call it what it is...) while cunningly shunning any possibility of oversight, claiming immunity from any future prosecution, and illegally altering
tax law without anyone's knowledge or approval... Most of the money, about $5.5 trillion, comes from the Federal Reserve, which as an independent entity does not need congressional approval to lend money to banks or, in "unusual and exigent circumstances," to other financial institutions. In other words since they get to print it, they also get to decide where it goes, who gets it and who
(which would be you and me...) pays for it in the end...
And now we have the Big 3 auto makers... GM, Chrysler (and to a lesser extent Ford), all banging their gold plated tin cups on the table, begging for a measly $14 billion bailout
(in relative terms) so they can stay in the business of building cars no one wants...
Last Friday, Republican senators were successful in making sure the Big 3 were denied their auto bailout legislation, on the basis that it didn't provide enough oversight of the ailing companies and could end up being a huge waste of taxpayer money.
Oh really?
So it was the lack of oversight that got them religion... and concern over wasted money?
Where the hell were Republican Senators McConnell, Shelby and Corker during the $8.5 trillion bank bailout? Am I supposed to assume that the OTC derivative disaster is all cleaned up and that the banks have a plan for solvency? Absolute bullshit.
(And isn't it interesting that Senators McConnell, Shelby and Corker all come from states which subsidize foreign auto makers... hmmm... and yet, they refuse to assist the domestic auto makers... who are their direct competition... surely that has nothing to do with their militant stance on this... surely not...)It smacks of vicious irony that Congress appropriates hundreds of billions of dollars with lightning speed and no questions asked to banks whose greed and criminality destroyed the global economy while holding a carrot and stick over the heads of a major industry brought to its knees by this financial armageddon.
Understand this brilliant logic... they are deeply concerned over $14 billion, but not at all worried about $8.5 trillion... Well kids, that gives a whole new meaning to that tired old phrase "penny wise and dollar foolish"...
I am against bailouts in principle... in a free market economy, businesses should be allowed to prosper or fail based upon their ability to compete... but we don't have
(nor have we ever had) a free market economy... we have a rigged ponzi scheme and in the spirit of fairness
(HA!) if the ruling classes are going to get bailed out, then the same should apply to people who actually work for a living...
Hell, what do they care? Its all just pixel money anyhow... it came from nowhere and that is exactly where it is going... just numbers that are transferred from bank to bank, akin to a swirling death matrix bent on devouring itself...
C'mon... why not let us all go down in blaze of diabetic coma induced glory... give every man, woman and child a million dollars and let the chaos of mass consumption savagely reign upon every culturally devoid hellhole of a shopping mall across this great busted land...
You got a better idea? Yeah? I didn't think so...
Ok... back to reality...
Let us take a look at the numbers to get a better perspective of what is actually on the table... First of all, $14 billion is a mere 2% of the $700 bailout TARP fund we've given to banks... but wait, it gets worse... that $700 billion is less than one tenth of the $8.5 TRILLION already committed to financial rescue initiatives...
So... Just how much money is $8.5 trillion? Well, its damn near 60 percent of the estimated gross domestic product of the United States of America.
Current Score: Wall Street $8.5 trillion, Detroit $0
(Looks as if the Lions aren't the only losers in the Motor City...) It is important to note that as with anything involving governments and spending, the true cost to taxpayers will likely be far greater than what appears on the current ledger. Given the unprecedented size and complexity of these programs and the fact that many have never been tried before, it's impossible to predict how much they will cost taxpayers. The final tally won't be known until most of us are pushing up daisies... but our great grandkids will know, that is for damn sure... and they'll be cursing our names...
Jim Rogers
(one of the world's most brilliant investors) says that
US banks are flat busted. Jim Rogers knows his shit. This is nothing more than don't ask, don't tell economics, as the balance sheets of these troubled banks are nothing but pure fantasy. Where is the oversight when it comes to the banks, who are the ones responsible for this entire mess? And let's not forget that it was the Republicans' lack of oversight in the financial sector that led to the disastrous economic conditions beyond the control of the automakers... As credit and jobs vanished, so did car sales.
Not that I mind conditions for loaning money... One can't deny that the Big 3 have been severely derelict in modernizing their designs and business practices. You could demand that Detroit design and sell vehicles that reduce our dependency on foreign oil. You could demand that the management be given a pink slip. You could demand that they design and build light rail and other green friendly modes of mass transit...
But nooooooooooo... According to the Republican senators, the failure of the entire auto industry was due to organized labor... Their sole demand was a $20 an hour cut in union wages, pension and health care.
Might I ask what concessions they demanded from the Wall Street bankers? Or did the Republican wing of the senate force concessions from low level bank tellers before approving the wholesale giveaway of our economic future? I presume when the airlines come for their handouts
(trust me, it's coming) the flight attendants will take the fall for that industry's failure...
Using that logic, the failure of the Iraq war should be blamed on the lower enlisted troops and not the idiots at the Pentagon... perhaps the Republicans would like the soldiers to take a pay cut as well...
Hey, shit rolls downhill, right?
This should be seen for what it is... as nothing more than a concerted effort by the Republicans to destroy the UAW, one of he last bastions of organized labor in this country... so incensed are they with the working middle class that they have chosen to throw them out into the street...
Do the Republican Senators understand that if they deny assistance to Detroit, millions more jobs will be lost? The short answer is yes... and you want to know why?
Because the sinking of the domestic auto industry will saddle Obama with an even more catastrophic economy, one that will tank his administration the minute he takes his oath
(Sorry to be a bummer, but he's pretty much screwed as it is...) Understand that we are in the midst of a class war here... there will be no grace period, no honeymoon, no spirit of bipartisanship with the Obama presidency. The Republican wing of the senate are doing everything in their power to make certain that Obama starts his presidency in reverse, with four flat tires, a blown engine and a Denver boot on each wheel.
Even Dick Cheney emerged from his undisclosed tomb to state that if the auto bailout doesn't get done it's Herbert Hoover time for the Republican party... the Bush Administration does not want this whole thing to go to shit on their watch... It is quite obvious that the Republican Congress has cut themselves off from their "great" Oxford ducking leader and gone rogue... These idiots are so full of loathing that they are blinded to the consequences of their actions. If the Republican senators hang the northern industrial states out to dry they can say goodbye to any support for at least a generation... or two...
These guys hate unions with a passion... they hate everything unions stand for... fair wages, health care, workplace safety, pensions, affirmative action and the fact that the unions overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for president.
Here is an idea... Do you really want to get rid of unions? Then fucking pay people a decent living wage in a safe environment... treat them with respect... had management initially done that, no one would have ever had a reason to start a union in the first place...
If it wasn't for unions we'd still have 12-year-olds working 70-hour weeks in filthy and dangerous dirt floor factories for a dollar a day... like in Pakistan...
But then again, perhaps that is the right wing establishment's goal...
GO ON... LEAVE YOUR "THOUGHTS" IN THE COMMENTS SECTION...
I stood inside the Pantheon today… a building so perfect in architectural design that it has stood for nearly 2000 years… the circular 142 foot dome was made up of lime paste mixed with sandy volcanic ash, pumice, and some crushed rock… in other words… CONCRETE. By comparision, the foundation of my garage was poured 2 years ago and is already cracking like a stale sugar cookie… Makes we wonder what we’ll leave behind… 
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