Hard Line On Auto Aid Puts Bailed-Out Firms On Notice

Washington Post:

NEW YORK, March 30 -- After ousting General Motors' chief executive, President Obama warned Monday that bankruptcy may be unavoidable for two American automotive giants.

The administration's display of authority sent U.S. stocks tumbling and raised questions about whether the government would take similar steps against top executives at U.S. banks that are also receiving government bailout funds.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[monicaangela]

Good Morning !!

The banks have the Federal Reserve, GM and Chrysler do not have an entity of equal power backing them. The car companies should have shored themselves up with a public/private organization that doesn't have to listen to the government, their CEO's would have been better protected if they had. Bailing out the banks, financial institutions and insurance companies, has opened the door for the President, representing the public to make decisions that are in the best interest of the country and its people. The auto industry appears to be bearing the full weight of government action while the banks are being treated it appears with kid gloves, the reason for this is that the Fed is running interference for the larger banks because the private part of the organization have to protect their interest. In the interim, President Obama needs to maneuver his way around this obstacle to be able to take control of the situation, I'm sure eventually he will solve this delima and do the right thing. 0 ;-)

[MsDoc]

Mornin'...

Am off to the dentist. See you'all when he's done abu sin g me.

[monicaangela]

My sympathies !!! Just think of the alternative, it makes the pain a little more bearable. 0 ;-)

[senorlou]

It's not like Obama is letting the banks run hog wild with everyone's money. That's over. We'll see what happens to those CEOs. I have a feeling they'll need to dust off their resumes. We'll see how much loot they'll try to get away with. Wagoner is trying to make off with $20 million, while the devastated company he helped run into the ground is cutting the pay and laying off tens of thousands of workers. Our corporations are totally sick. If Wagoner was a decent man, he'd walk out without any money - he'd make the sacrifice the rest of the company was making. Instead, he's filling his pockets on the way out. I'm sure these bankers will go for even more money. The next few weeks should be interesting.

[clarryr]

Not only that, - It wouldn't surprise me - Indeed I think it's necessary - that there are some criminal investigations going on with respect to the financial institutions. I'm expecting some indictments and prosectutions to happen once we've been able to back away from the precipice of financial meltdown. First priority is to rescue the economy, second is to put the necessary regulations in place to prevent it from happening again, third is to go after those that perpetrated and benefited from the massive frauds that got us there.

[MsDoc]

Please...no more Rush Limbaugh. When we respond the fools win by clogging the thread.

[ebanks84]

Ridiculous immature tro//s are in abundance here and there's no need to continue with them on board. I'll return later when the grownups are here.

[senorlou]

They've been buzzing around this topic for a few days now. You should squish them, it's easy.

[ssmack]

Can't handle opposing views?...

[ebanks84]

Can't handle unintelligent babble!

[okayigive]

Although, we live in a world where perception is everything, it does not necessarily mean it's true. It has become the norm for MSM to pit Wall Street against Main Street (working people) and it's true there is a wide divide and steps need to be taken to bring fairness to the "little people". However, IMO, we are dealing with how CEOs have been running their companies and the consequences it has brought upon each of us individually and/or collectively from these businesses. In reality, and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the auto industry a part of Wall Street, meaning they have stock on the market(s) just as these banks and unregulated financial institutions. Isn't it true that banks and these unregulated financial institutions also have employees who are part of the working class? The point I'm trying to make is that this is about incompetence, ineptness, inability to change, greed, or whatever from CEOs, boards etc. and the term Main Street IMO is just being used to pit one Wall Street industry against another. I have no sympathy for any CEO who failed in their duties and in time I believe they will all get their due.

[theiccemann]

Is this whole mess not the fault of greed? Is the current wave of greed not the result of corporate executives making bad choices and setting their focus past logic and morality?

Any employee from any company or business, who performed with this kind of harmful greed, carelessness and lack of concern ... would have been canned a long time ago. Isn't that how it should be?

Let's see now. Corporations and wall street created a big mess. Asked the government to clean up mess, while they sat on the floor of the mess that the government was trying to help clean up, ... and threw more skillet grease and sludge onto the floor and walls; and made pictures with their fingers in the mess as they laughed and giggled and slid unopened T-bone steaks across the floor, pretending to be playing a game of hockey. The government says, "stop it, You stop that right now." The floor dwellers respond by asking the government to keep cleaning, as a pitcher of beet juice mixed with grape juice is poured onto the carpet, in the next room. Finally, the government says, "go to your room!" ...

... So they kicked rocks all the way to their rooms,called their best friend, the republicans, and complained about the meanie government and it's ridiculous rules. Republicans are now making picket signs with cardboard and crayons, and strapping up their roller skates.

[rampage]

Planet Rush. He’s so fa t he has his own moon…Orbitone.

[breakingnews]

LOL!! Poor Potato. He either wakes up fried or baked every morning.

[serialcoma]

LOL

[ebanks84]

Breakingnews is the only one making sense here. Wow, a truthsayer is among us!

[ssmack]

You must be listening... and thus helping his exploding ratings.

[rampage]

What in my post suggests I listen?
You obviously have some reading comprehension issues.

[breakingnews]

The only thing "exploding" on Rush is his analcysts. Such a patriot!!

[lancelotfl]

OK class, is there anyone left who doesn't truly understand who owns Barack Obama?

Hint: they get billions of our dollars and don't have to account for it.

Hint: the very same people that created the problem are still running the businesses, and have no worries about keeping their jobs.

Keep your heads in the sand and your mouth shut, but make sure you buy a tent. You're going to need one.

[ThunderclapNewman]

No one owns Obama except Obama.

[monicaangela]

The President is causing you such grief, I'm actually starting to feel a little sorry for you, you only have 8 years to endure this, maybe you should take a sabatical, and not follow politics during that time, it might be less painful. 0 ;-)

[ebanks84]

Love your solution!

[daxster1]

The numbers are in — Rush Limbaugh has won a dramatic victory over the Democrats. The White House's unprecedented assault on the talk-radio host has driven his ratings to number one in many of America's biggest, most liberal radio markets.

Rush's show has surged to number one in the top three radio markets in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. He is also number one in Houston and Detroit, and posted strong gains in such liberal bastions as San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile the White House was embarrassed when it was revealed that the White House packed its “online town hall” with political supporters asking softball questions.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/31/rush-1-obama-0-the-democratic-attack-strategy-fail/

[peacekitten]

that bloated ggasbag can't even win a victory over the top button on the top of his expandable pants.

you amoebas are going to have to do better than quote a right wing rag run by a religious loon that like to marry football stadiums full of people all at the same time.

[MsDoc]

Please...no more Rush Limbaugh. When we respond the fools win by clogging the thread.

[PerfectSense]

Barack is still ducking a one-one debate with Rush. If Obama was so confident in his policies, why is he so afraid to face Rush?

[breakingnews]

President's don't debate, child. They lead. Nominees debate. When Rush secures the Repub Nomination in 2012, he will be invited to debate the President. Until then, he can continue whining and trippin' on the OxyHighway.

[MNTom]

Well, if Rush gets the Republican nomination than he can debate him. Now, did Bush go on Air America for a debate?

[serialcoma]

The only people that fear Blimpborg are your republican Congressworms...

[nettyspagetti]

WTH should he debate Rush, is Rush running for office

[rampage]

Planet Rush. He’s so fa t he has his own moon…Orbitone

[OrbitOne]

That's funny. The Libs' "Rush Strategy" is about as effective as their "Fix The Economy Non-Strategy." What a pathetic group.

[rampage]

Planet Rush. He"s so fa t he has his own moon�Orbitone

[rampage]

kinda like that oh so successful "operation k-os"?

[Yaaawn]

That pathetic group is coming back. There are strong undercurrents. You would be wise to keep your feet well planted when the wave hits

[NedroidPrime]

Lemme guess....

"He is just an entertainer" is what you would like to say.

If that is true, how come all you 'dittoheads' (never understood why they like that name) cite him for all of your information and talking points?

Also, what part of the nick "dittoheads" suggests that anyone in that group has an original thought?

[ThunderclapNewman]

He's not number one in Detroit---that goes to a music dj who has over twice the audience in the same time period.

Linking to the Moonie Times only shows that you have ZERO credibility.

[quantumspin]

If US CEO's think American consumers and American workers are such a bad deal, then why don't they just shut everything down, resign, and personally move out of the country?

I'm sure that 'real, committed, Americans' can step up to reboot the country's manufacturing, production, and confidence. American CEO's have totally destroyed the country with their greed, lack of confidence, and hatred of the American worker. These selfish anti-American CEOs need to go. Back in the day, there'd be a nice tar'd rail for them to be carried out with.

[SouthernBlueBelle]

Hmm, I guess if the bankers are on the on notice list, Richard Wagoner is on the "dead to me" list.

[Indie2008]

You mean to say that bankers are learning that there are strings attached to borrowing money?... I think most of their customers could have told them that.

[ssmack]

We are watching an unprecedented move by government into the private sector. If this continues, the country we knew 30 years ago will be unrecognizable. The founders are turning in their graves as we write.

[ThunderclapNewman]

First, it's not unprecedented---you are ignorant of history, like most conservatives.

Second, the country we knew 30 years ago is already gone---swept away by the folly and disaster that is Reaganomics and conservative economic policy.

Obama is trying very hard to return us to the kind of nation that the GOP has tried so hard to destroy for the last 29 years.

[PerfectSense]

"Obama is trying very hard to return us to the kind of nation that the GOP has tried so hard to destroy for the last 29 years."
===================

Great. We get to go back to the Carter Years

10% unemployment rate
13% inflation rate
20% interest rates.

[chili111]

WHEN has ANY POTUS spent the kind of money Barry is proposing? Name ONE time, and I will even allow inflation to play in on your part to be fair.
I'll wait.

[ssmack]

Utter nonsense.

[rampage]

Most Americans Don't Blame Obama For Economy, Poll Finds

[chili111]

Even though it is usually the Liberals pointing their crooked fingers and blaming, I have to disagree to a point.

GWB was a fiscal liberal. He spent a LOT of money. But now, Barry comes along and within 65 days of taking office, he is attempting to push a 10 trillion dollar deficit budget down our throats, all based on ficticious numbers, to boot.

[missmaizeybelle]

"the country we knew 30 years ago will be unrecognizable".

Where have you been for the last 30 years? And from you comments you haven't been around that long. So childish.

[ssmack]

...experiencing the great country of free markets, individual liberty, and freedom.

[abby4ever]

Do you expect the gov't to bail these companies out to the tune of billions, and not have any conditions attached? How irresponsible would that be? If you pour money ito something you will, rightfully, have a say in what goes on in and at it.

[ssmack]

Don't bail them out! Let them go into bankruptcy and restructure.

[peacekitten]

the founders are turning in their ggraves because brain ddead fffoools like you and your ilk have taken a huge ssshit on the country they sacrificed everything to bring into being.

[ssmack]

In what way?

If you are referring to the "recession", recessions happen, period. When markets are out of balance (housing), they need to adjust. What evidence do you have that shows the Republicans caused the recession?

[ebanks84]

G_d knows that's the truth!

[OrbitOne]

Firing people increases the unemployment rate. Typical of government to enact initiatives that are counter-productive to an stated policy.

[ThunderclapNewman]

Even for you, that is a remarkably unintelligent thing to say.

[NatteringNabob]

Heh.

[missmaizeybelle]

You give him way too much credit!

[theiccemann]

lol, ... wow.. talk about facing reality.

[breakingnews]

Do you wake up crying?

[ThunderclapNewman]

Pronto wakes up bitter and hateful.
It's his normal state.

[rampage]

Most Americans Don't Blame Obama For Economy, Poll Finds

[OrbitOne]

Obama blames Bush for Economy, quotes find.

[peacekitten]

how on ggod's green earth do you manage to dress and feed yourself?

[rampage]

Question of the day!

[mollyjackson]

Tell me that corporations have stifled the growth of this country and penalized people. It's absolute BS! Until the election of Barack Obama, this was the most prosperous country in the history of the world, and that is under assault now, and that is going to change. Because too many Americans have been duped into believing and behaving with all this class-envy stuff and the hatred for corporations. This is all about getting even. It scares me to death to see all of this hatred, all of this envy that has successfully been created and ginned up by Barack Obama and his same kind of thinkers in the Democrat Party. This is who the Democrat Party has been for years. I mentioned their enemies list, and it's corporate America, and Obama believes it. Corporate America has stolen the wealth of the nation's "rightful owners," and it is now going to be turned to them.

[montecarlo408]

Have you taken your medication? Until the election of Obama? This country's economy has been tumbling for months, and you blame the guy in for less than three months? Incredible.

[ThunderclapNewman]

There is not a single factual statement in your entire witless diatribe.

You ignore both truth and history---but that is par for the course for a far-right-wing extremist like you.

[MsDoc]

Boy, your tunnel vision is really showing.

During the Bush administration things may have looked peachy on the surface, but underneath the in fec tion was churning.

These people didn't start their greedy ways on Jan. 20th. They were, in fact, unchallenged in their machinations for many years.

No one walks away with bazillion dollar buy-outs who was working in the stock room in November.

[LDnearthesea]

Excuse me, but your view of history is totally wrong! Corporations have been ripping the working classes off for decades now, with mostly Repugnantcan presidents at the helm! the rich have gotten richer, and middle class has been disappearing, and the poor get poorer as jobs go overseas, the rich take their money offshore so as not to pay taxes, and those corporate bosses pay themselves extravagant amounts of money while the corporate media demonizes the lbor unions that once insured that middle class Americans got a decent wage and pension. With less tax revenue, the infastructure of our country falls apart, from bridges to roads, to railroad tracks to schools. We have been turning into a third world country. Get your facts straight, and it's Bush and twelve years of Repugnantcan Congressional control that got this country into this latest economic mess! Clinton caved into the corporate greed too! We need to get back to New Deal economics to save this country from the corporate greedheads to ruined it with their Washington political enablers!

[OliverEdwards]

To which party did Wall Street companies give the most money?

[bluguy8]

DID YOU LIVE IN THIS COUNTRY FOR THE PAST 8 YEARS ? We haven't been a prosperous country since Clinton left office.This all started under Bush-- this didn't start with Obama , he's trying to fix the GOP's error's and there were. And corporate America did steal a lot. you must have been in a coma

[chili111]

Wrong. Some of our most prosperous times in this country were under GWB. Really, do your research.

[missmaizeybelle]

President Obama just left for the U.K. and I have no doubt he is going to get things done. This a.m. it is reported that Russia wants broad agreements and is sitting down with Hill. Ir @n is also talking to us.

One step at a time and this country is making great strides.


I know that the Europeans will keep our President safe!

[OrbitOne]

Have some more Kool-aid.

[montecarlo408]

Coming from a proud resident of Rushtown. Methinks you're the Kool aid drinker.

[ThunderclapNewman]

Why would she want any of your right-wing drinks, Pronto?

[LDnearthesea]

Pining for a return of The Decider?

[missmaizeybelle]

I'm so glad your knickers are in a twist!

[rampage]

Most Americans Don't Blame Obama For Economy, Poll Finds