acortes.com » bailouts

The Senate today voted in favor of the economic “stimulus” bill proposed by Mr. Obama. Tax evader, err, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today announced another round of bank bailouts to the tune of $1,500,000,000,000 (1.5 trillion) or more to “get credit flowing and aid struggling banks.”

Meanwhile, stocks tumbled nearly 5% on Wall Street today. I looked for any kind of silver lining today, but I need help with some research. Does anybody know who the manufacturer of this printer is? Their stock price must be going through the roof right now! Let me know, thanks.

More and more companies are hopping on the bailout bandwagon. Now commercial real estate developers are seeking aid to come from the second half of the TARP money, which is $350 billion. This is what happens when some industries are bailed out and not others. A mentality of “why not me” develops, and the government can not say no because they have no good answer. I sense the usual story developing: the government will say no, they will demand it even more, and our government will cave in once more. They will get what they want, whether the American public disagrees like they did with the bank and auto bailouts.

Now that the U.S. Senate has denied the automakers with $15 billion in aid, the White House has changed its stance on the matter. They, along with the U.S. treasury now want to help the auto industry. If you remember your civics and government classes, you should recall that the Treasury acts with the direction of Congress. So you might be asking yourself like I did this morning, how can the Treasury do this? Well, written into the TARP was a little clause that said the Treasury Secretary, Mr. Paulson, can use the money at his discretion with no legislative, judicial, or executive oversight. He’s already used trillions of money that went into foreign banks, and now he presumably want to use the money for the auto industry. Who will pay for it? Why you, the American taxpayer of course!

Have you seen it yet? Here it is:

How quickly GM has changed their tune. As they were asking Congress to help bail them out with billions of our tax dollars, they put out a video that was propaganda for their cause. Now, after there are reports that the companies will receive $15 billion in aid, GM has decided to be “frank” with the people with a print ad in the Automotive News trade journal.

Here is what GM said:
“While we’re still the U.S. sales leader, we acknowledge we have disappointed you…at times we violated your trust by letting our quality fall below industry standards and our designs became lackluster.”
“We also biased our product mix toward pick-up trucks and SUVs.”

Why were they not this honest to Congress? Why do they deserve to get one penny from U.S. taxpayers for their poor business decisions?

As news comes of the soon to be auto bailout, I am outraged that the government is going deeper into debt to finance three failing, irresponsible auto companies. It seems these bailouts have no end in sight. Our government is failing to listen to the majority of the American people, who disapprove of the bailout. Our congress is once again bowing to corporations, as they are being lobbied to the tune of $50 million this year by the big 3.

This is what happens when the two sides collide. As you can probably tell, I happen to agree with Mr. Schiff.
Round 1

Round 2