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Is Obama Seeking Revolution In Capitalism?
CBS News ^ | May 27, 2009 | Marc Ambinder

Posted on 05/28/2009 7:16:45 AM PDT by reaganaut1

Barring a sunrise at night, General Motors Corp. is headed for an orderly bankruptcy, and the Obama administration is about to be handed the keys to a venerable corporate institution. Again.

And again, the administration seems to be rewriting the rules of capitalism to fashion a deal to its liking.

Purists - and virtually every academic economist one happens to encounter - wonder what happened to the once inviolate principle of rewarding risk-takers. Unsecured creditors will get less of a stake in the new GM than its employees, and you can forget about poor unadorned stockholders.

As in the deal with Chyrsler's bondholders, the administration muscled its way through the negotiations and used its considerable leverage to convince secured debtholders - the highest class of investors - to accept a fixed return that was significantly less than many of those investors had expected when they put money into the falling company. Who benefits? The question isn't very apt, because everyone is losing something. But, on balance, the unions are getting a better deal.

The unions, who support Democrats - and whose work rules arguably hastened the collapse of the American auto industry.

Asked whether the Chrysler and GM bailouts were sops to unions at the expense of secured creditors, administration officials answer the subject of the question. That may be the case, they respond, but the other choices were untenable. As to the charge that the Obama economic team is redefining capitalism, erasing incentives for investors and acting like a gangster, I would wage an hour's worth of UAW productivity that officials, in private moments, would concede that these things are so. But they'd argue that, where critics see a contempt for capitalism, what's actually taking place is a revision of the informal rules that governed capitalism into the ground.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 111th; agenda; bho44; capitalism; chrysler; creditors; gm; obama; ruleoflaw; second100days; socialism; uaw
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Ambinder says "no laws were broken", I say Chicago thugs are good at concealing their tracks.
1 posted on 05/28/2009 7:16:45 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

its called communism

no laws were broken...right, contracts mean nothing anymore.


2 posted on 05/28/2009 7:17:50 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: reaganaut1

the unions will go out of business with the companies they destroyed.


3 posted on 05/28/2009 7:20:04 AM PDT by Mr. K (physically unabel to proofreed (<---oops))
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To: reaganaut1

ZERO wants capitalism to take the blame so he can replace it with communism.

First you have to destroy, then you rebuild. Just what Hugo Chavez did. Ignorant people, promise them free stuff, take over the country democratically.

Same ruse every two bit tin horn dictator has used since the beginning of time.


4 posted on 05/28/2009 7:21:23 AM PDT by Tarpon (You abolish your responsibilities, you surrender your rights.)
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To: reaganaut1

Revolution in capitalism? I wonder if Marx,Lenin,Mao or Ayers ever used that expression?


5 posted on 05/28/2009 7:23:34 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Christian+Veteran=Terrorist)
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To: reaganaut1

The way I see it, three things brought down our capitalist system.

1. Excessive government regulation.
2. The favors given by regulators in exchange for campaign financing.
3. A complicit media who caused the fear in the first place.


6 posted on 05/28/2009 7:24:45 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Climate change alarmists are Warm-Mongers. Now that's funny right there. I don't care who you are.)
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To: reaganaut1
Who benefits?

The UAW Healthcare fund gets the lions share of the settlements of both Chrysler and GM, according to The Economist of May 9, 2009.

But that couldn't possibly be by design. /guffaw

7 posted on 05/28/2009 7:25:11 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (the machines will break.)
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To: Mr. K
The unions will go out of business with the companies they destroyed.

If Hussein has anything to say about it the unions will be the only ones left standing when the dust has settled.

8 posted on 05/28/2009 7:25:28 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Christian+Veteran=Terrorist)
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To: reaganaut1
rewriting the rules of capitalism

The Book of Daniel says the Antichrist will enter in as a man of peace, a minister of "change", have a powerful voice, and start rewriting the laws.

Coincidence?

9 posted on 05/28/2009 7:27:34 AM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: reaganaut1
what happened to the once inviolate principle of rewarding risk-takers

It still holds. The risk was taken, the risk failed to pay off - which is why we call it "risk". Those who tried to violate the principle will find it is, indeed, inviolate ... and will find out the hard way that screwing with fundamental socioeconomic laws reaps very unpleasant rewards.

10 posted on 05/28/2009 7:28:40 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (John Galt was exiled.)
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To: EQAndyBuzz
A complicit media who caused the fear in the first place.

"He who controls communication controls the world." - Adolph Hitler

11 posted on 05/28/2009 7:29:26 AM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: Tarpon

“ZERO wants capitalism to take the blame so he can replace it with communism.”

In his communist mind it is to blame for all of Americas problems. This pathetic pile of dung got elected by his 2 cent ability to charm idiots!


12 posted on 05/28/2009 7:29:36 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: reaganaut1

>Ambinder says “no laws were broken”, I say Chicago thugs are good at concealing their tracks.

I’ll bet that’s a lie OR false statement.


13 posted on 05/28/2009 7:31:19 AM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: reaganaut1

Once Obama has installed Chicago style corrupt radical left politics nationwide, It will be very difficult to dig out and destroy!


14 posted on 05/28/2009 7:31:45 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: AngelesCrestHighway
This pathetic pile of dung got elected by his 2 cent ability to charm idiots!

The MSM gave him Affirmative Action because he was black. Had they thoroughly vetted the guy like they do every other candidate, he wouldn't have made it through the primaries. Because of their protection, the extreme left wing interest groups were allowed to create a fictitious character that went unchallenged.

15 posted on 05/28/2009 7:35:09 AM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: reaganaut1

Yes he is seeking revolution ... seems more and more the only way to get our republic back


16 posted on 05/28/2009 7:35:53 AM PDT by clamper1797 (FUBO ... protege of the unholy union of Karl Marx and affirmative action)
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To: reaganaut1
Over the weekend I did something I never thought I'd do; buy a Japanese car.
17 posted on 05/28/2009 7:36:56 AM PDT by Pietro
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To: reaganaut1

Is this really a CBS article?

I’ve noticed a few articles slipping out of the MSM that sound very apprehensive about what Obama is doing. Perhaps even the left is wondering if Obama is going to far? Or maybe someone at CBS noticed that their 401k owned GM and Chrysler bonds and realized THEY were one of the “greedy bondholders” that were getting screwed by Obama.


18 posted on 05/28/2009 7:39:12 AM PDT by Brookhaven (The Era of Reagan is NOW)
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To: reaganaut1
Is Obama Seeking Revolution In Capitalism?

What he seeks and what he gets may not entirely be the same.

19 posted on 05/28/2009 7:40:24 AM PDT by tbpiper (How would you define a 'domestic enemy of the constitution'?)
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To: concerned about politics

“the extreme left wing interest groups were allowed to create a fictitious character that went unchallenged.”....

Unchallenged all the way to the White House!....It was sickening to watch!...


20 posted on 05/28/2009 7:44:17 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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