By GottaLaff
Al Franken has turned out to be a superb senator so far, as I knew he would be. He's scary smart, sharp as a tack, quick, knowledgeable, thorough, and few things get by him. Witness that here, via Firedoglake:
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) humbles Hudson Institute dilettante over health care bankruptcies This during a senate Judiciary sub-committee hearing on bankruptcies driven by catastrophic medical expenses...H/t: Pigboy
Oh dear lord, let this happen. Much more articulate and reasoned explanation of why the cramdown bill is so important here.
House Democrats may bring up a highly controversial bill that failed to pass Congress earlier this year that would empower bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgage terms.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said on Wednesday that if the financial industry does not make strides in reducing the number of foreclosures, he would consider pushing for the bankruptcy bill.
(snip)
The industry met with Obama administration officials on Tuesday to discuss ways to improve efforts to reduce the foreclosure rate that continues to dog the housing market. They aim to produce 500,000 loan modifications by November.
"People in the servicing industry and in the broader financial industry must understand that if this last effort to produce significant modifications fails, the argument for reviving the bankruptcy option will be extremely strong, and I think there is a substantial chance that the outcome will be different," Frank said in a statement.
By GottaLaff
During an interview on Fox News last Tuesday, Cheney revealed that during his presidency George W. Bush did not want to be the one who “pulled the plug” on GM.Why not? They pulled the plug on everything else. The U.S. was circling the drain under their watch.
“I thought that, eventually, the right outcome was going to be bankruptcy,” Cheney said, referring to GM. “It had to go through such a dramatic restructuring to have any chance of survival that they had to be able to renegotiate labor contracts and so forth, and the president decided that he did not want to be the one who pulled the plug just before he left office.”But by all means, Rushpublics, blame Obama. True to their usual M.O.
Cheney said that rather than acting on GM, the Bush administration “put together a package that tided GM over until the new administration had a chance to look at it.” This included the original $17.4 billion auto industry bailout package signed in by the Bush administration late last year, which was designed to give the incoming Obama administration some time to adjust and make preparations for the inevitable GM bankruptcy.Aww, how thoughtful of them.
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Note the highlighted bit. I'm good with street protests, how about you?
Up to 120,000 people have marched in Dublin in protest at how the Government is handling the economic crisis. The march, which was organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), took nearly one and a half hours to make its way from Parnell Square to Merrion Square.
Ictu maintained that the protest today was the first step in a campaign in support of a fairer way to achieve economic recovery.
Addressing the demonstration Ictu general secretary David Begg said that “a business elite” had destroyed the economy and had not yet been held to account for it in any respect.
How ironic that a bankrupt political party would use a bankrupt company's slogan. And isn't that poll about a week old?
The House Republican Study Committee sends out periodic dispatches highlighting the gap between Democratic rhetoric and public opinion. Today's version touts a Rasmussen survey that finds 58 percent of Americans think the stimulus will "hurt" or have "no impact" on the recession.
They call these missives "Heartbeat of America."
Sound familiar? GM's Chevy brand used the very same slogan in their ads in the early 1990s.
By GottaLaff
A little-noticed provision buried in the Bush Administration's $13.4 billion loan package to General Motors will prohibit the United Auto Workers from launching a strike as long as the company receives funds from the federal government.Why would he do this? Here's one reason: Break the unions, break the Democratic party.
Not only that, but a strike would give the federal government the power to call in their loan -- putting the loan in default and forcing GM into bankruptcy. The government now has the power to force a bankruptcy if “any labor union or collective bargaining unit shall engage in a strike or other work stoppage.”
The terms of GM's loan package were reported last night in the Detroit Free Press. They did not become public until GM filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
So the big fat corporate rich guys get their bonuses, but the workers get... screwed.Feel that rant coming on yet?
The US auto workers union is also saddled by another requirement of the loan: the UAW must now accept a plan to lower wages and benefits for GM to match those of other foreign-owned US automakers' plants.
By GottaLaff
True to form, the Governator has reduced everything to sag status: His own body, our miserable Kahl-ee-forn-ee-ah economy, schools, health care, and collective morale.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the Democratic budget solution last week he gave a lump of coal to every Californian. His veto places the state in danger of bankruptcy as Arnold demands spending cuts and rollbacks of laws protecting workers and the environment. Arnold has become California's own Ebenezer Scrooge.
So we thought you might enjoy this special video we put together about Arnold's nightmare before Christmas. What do the ghosts of California past, present, and future have to say to the Governor after a year of failure? Watch the video and see!
Unfortunately, California's Ebenezer Scrooge isn't going to have a Christmas morning change of heart and suddenly decide to provide funding for schools and health care. Not unless we the people demand that he stop cutting and start saving California by signing the Democratic budget deal.
That's why we're asking you to sign a holiday card that we're going to deliver to the Governor. Tell him that California deserves a leader, not a Scrooge, this holiday season!
By GottaLaff
The Bush administration is looking at “orderly” bankruptcy as a possible way to deal with the desperately ailing U.S. auto industry, the White House said Thursday as carmakers readied more plant closings and a half million Americans filed new jobless claims. [...]Of course not. He's all about making Obama look good and helping him succeed so that we'll be treated to a second Obama term. That's just the kinda guy Bush is.
President George W. Bush, asked about an auto bailout, said he hadn’t decided what he would do but didn’t want to leave a mess for Barack Obama who takes office a month from Saturday.
The Big Three automakers said anew that bankruptcy wasn’t the answer, as did an official of the United Auto Workers who called the idea unworkable and even dangerous.FUBAR.
By GottaLaff
Via Business Week's Ed Wallace:
America thinks it's debating the logic of bailing out Detroit, but what we are actually talking about is the future of American manufacturing. [...]Ed Wallace is a recipient of the Gerald R. Loeb Award for business journalism, given by the Anderson School of Business at University of California at Los Angeles, and is a member of the American Historical Society.Let me ask you two questions:
1. Do you believe we should lend Detroit $50 billion to save itself from this economic turmoil?
2. Do you believe that we should lend the American economy $50 billion to save it for you and your children?
Not incidentally, those two questions might actually be the same. [...]
Detroit has it right: If its automakers declare bankruptcy, the likelihood of their emerging as viable businesses is near zero. Their sales will fall faster than they can reorganize. [...]
[A] new contract was drawn up with the United Auto Workers last year that allows new hires in many positions to be paid as little as $14 an hour.
The significance of that was lost on most, but for the first time since World War I we will have people building automobiles in America who won't be able to afford the vehicles they build. Somehow we are led to believe that's real progress. [...]
One of the key reasons the Big Three have so many dealerships is that they have outlets in cities where Nissan (NSANY), Honda (HMC), or Toyota can't claim any type of business. Detroit's trucks may be taking a pounding right now in the press, but let Detroit go away and see what happens to American agribusiness.
That's right: Detroit has a strong presence across the Great American Midwest. In states like Kansas you will find GM dealers in no fewer than 54 counties, while Toyota dealerships can be found in only eight. The reality is that after a few planting seasons, given reasonable crop prices on the commodities market, one day sales of new pickup trucks will again make more money for Detroit than all of the Chevy Volts they may or may not make.
And are you really suggesting that American farmers be given the choice of Tundras or Titans in the future? What a wonderful parting gift for Japan.
One would think the media might be a bit more sympathetic to this crisis, given how many of that industry's jobs hinge on the outcome. After all, there are years when total automotive advertising can reach upwards of $15 billion annually. But not this year; and already we are seeing jobs melting away in the media—from radio stations to TV and with print publications—because of this automotive downturn. Let Detroit go away, and you're talking about a decade-long drought for the Fourth Estate.
Not to mention the impact it would have on professional sports. GM has already pulled sponsorships at some Nascar tracks and dropped the Super Bowl. [...]
Additionally, if Detroit fails, [...] we will lose the income tax revenue from their workers, not to mention the tax revenue from their suppliers' workers, and so on down the line as they all become unemployed. And they won't have much if anything besides food stamps to spend, so there goes all that sales tax and interest income, too. [...]
We were led here by 28 years of new government rules moving us toward "anything goes" capitalism—and that brand should never have been confused with American capitalism, in which laws protect buyer and seller and whose dealings are characterized by integrity, honesty, and sanity. [...]
Americans love underdogs but hate losers. Bankruptcy would move Detroit into the latter column, and America wouldn't be far behind.
Um, wow. Can we get the rest of the sheeps infected with this virus? Go read it, but here's a taste of the anonymous congresscriter-
I also find myself drawn to provisions that would serve no useful purpose except to insult the industry, like requiring the CEOs, CFOs and the chair of the board of any entity that sells mortgage related securities to the Treasury Department to certify that they have completed an approved course in credit counseling. That is now required of consumers filing bankruptcy to make sure they feel properly humiliated for being head over heels in debt, although most lost control of their finances because of a serious illness in the family. That would just be petty and childish, and completely in character for me.
I'm open to other ideas, and I am looking for volunteers who want to hold the sons of bitches so I can beat the crap out of them.
By GottaLaff
Lehman Brothers will file for bankruptcy protection on Sunday night, according to people briefed on the matter, in the largest failure of an investment bank since the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert 18 years ago.
Lehman will seek to place its parent company, Lehman Brothers Holdings, into bankruptcy protection, while its subsidiaries will remain solvent while the firm liquidates its holdings, these people said. A consortium of banks will provide a financial backstop to help provide an orderly winding down of the 158-year-old investment bank. And the Federal Reserve has agreed to accept lower-quality assets in return for loans from the government.
But Lehman’s filing is unlikely to resemble those of other companies that seek bankruptcy protection. Because of the harsher treatment that federal bankruptcy law applies to financial-services firm, Lehman cannot hope to reorganize and survive as a going concern. It will instead liquidate its holdings.
It was not clear whether the government would appoint a trustee to supervise Lehman’s liquidation, or how big the financial backstop would be.
Lehman’s broker-deal subsidiaries would not be a part of the bankruptcy filing. Those entities must file under Chapter 7 rules, which are the procedures for liquidation, under the assumption that it is the best way to protect customers. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation would handle the liquidation of such brokerages, and bankruptcy lawyers say that customers are likely to receive their holdings back.
Moreover, changes to the bankruptcy code mean that counterparties to Lehman’s credit-default swaps can seize their collateral at any time, posing an enormous potential risk to the entire financial markets. Investment banks, hedge funds and other financial players labored throughout Sunday to offset their exposure to Lehman, moving their contracts to other firms.
MCCAIN: "I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong."
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