Posted on 05/30/2009 6:56:23 AM PDT by reaganaut1
[T]here is no escaping the long-term damage that has been inflicted on credit markets by the Obama administration’s attempts to reward the United Auto Workers, one of the president’s strongest supporters in the last election, while trampling decades of legal precedent regarding owners of corporate debt.
The G.M. debacle is déjà vu all over again. In the Chrysler bankruptcy arranged by the government in April, bondholders also got short shrift, while the union, which might have received little or nothing in a normal bankruptcy, was awarded 55 percent of the company.
...
[I]n its high-handed dealings with Chrysler and G.M., the Obama administration reminds me of an irresponsible third-world regime, skirting the law and handing economic prizes to political cronies.
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Even if the courts were to reject the plans for G.M. and Chrysler, the administration’s actions in trying to force the deals may damage the credit markets for years to come. The treatment of the bondholders is a warning to investors that the federal government won’t hesitate to push them aside in a crisis.
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Of course, the company’s problem is that its expenses exceed its revenues. But in strong hands, G.M. could be a going concern. Unfortunately, the new owners, with about nine-tenths of the shares, will be the government and the U.A.W. These are the same hands that shaped much of G.M.’s trouble in the first place. With substantial union co-ownership, labor costs won’t be contained; and with the government as the boss, politics may trump markets in decisions on such matters as where to put plants and whether to build big cars or small ones.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Even the New York slimes gets it. wow.
WTFIT?? !
Where is the anguished cry from the Left about "Imperial Presidency" now?
OK... whoever is masquerading as Editors at the NYT... please leave...
I will not be buying a clown car from Obamamotors.
I predict that in 10 years, our roadways will look like Havana filled with old cars - ya know the ones people wanted to buy.
If one recognizes this about the man, all of his actions begin to make sense in the context of him driving this nation towards marxist ideology.
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IN HIS OWN WORDS
NOW WE KNOW WHAT A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER DOES
OBAMA, THE STOCK MARKET, AND ENERGY
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S UPBRINGING
I’m stunned reading this! Thanks for posting.
GM and Chrysler have been Amtracked and Conrailed. They’ll be nothing but a government funded sink hole for taxpayer dollars to prop up the UAW.
Spend like a drunken liberal, reward pay-to-play from the UAW...kill the credit markets...kill the economy!
Where is the anguished cry from the Left about “Imperial Presidency” now?
Same place the Bushbot’s defence of the “unitary executive” went when Obama got sworn in.
It’s an opinion piece - not the New York Times.
But still, even if it is an opinion piece - I cannot believe this made it past the censors at the NY Slimes. Heads will roll over this....we can’t have this sort of free thinking in Obamaland!
It’s an opinion piece from a member of the former Bush administration and will be dismissed by most NYT readers.
I’m not sure I agree with both parts of your metaphor - Conrail is on of the very few examples of a good result from a government takeover. Amtrak, on the other hand, is a long running disaster.
Sure, let's see if the UAW enjoys robbing itself as much as it has enjoyed robbing shareholders and creditors.
Of course, as long as the government keeps handing them blank checks they will happily steal all of it.
Unions are thieves, nothing more.
I can’t wait to see the new Government Motors “Trabant.”
When was the last time any government produced a product to compete in a free market that returned a profit without subsidies?
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