Bail me out!

[stellinacadente]

well the banks and credit institution had theirs... the auto industry (man I can't believe it!) is having it...

why not me?

I could use having the goverment paying for the remainder of my car loan, my credid cards and, last but not least, my daughter's hospital bill (uncovered by employer's insuarnce because I had completed 2 months of service yet!) of over 18K...

I want a bail out too...

anyone else?

[Opsa]

Yes, yes- I want a bailout, too. What do I have to do, get a private jet?

[stellinacadente]

Nah Opsa, we just have to be rich enough to hire lobbists

[Sibling Chatty]

Put me on the list. Not that my debts are that big, but my needs...

Da Gubbermint (parts of it) isn't returning my letters anymore. (Medicare, FDA...they don't want to talk to me. I cannot imagine why...)

[anthrobabe]

Me tooooooooooo!
Me, me, me, me, me.
and you, and you, and you, and you

[Opsa]

Nah Opsa, we just have to be rich enough to hire lobbists

I can't afford a jet or lobbyists. Do you think they'll settle for you, Chatty, Anthro and me riding in on a Greyhound bus?

[stellinacadente]

I don't know about that Opsa... if you can't afford lobbiest. chances are you _don't need_ a bail out 

[Griffin NoName]

well the banks and credit institution had theirs... the auto industry (man I can't believe it!) is having it...

why not me?

I could use having the goverment paying for the remainder of my .....................

I want a bail out too...

anyone else?

It's your past and future taxes baliing "them" out. That's why you can't have one. It would be a crime not a bail out if you got to keep your own taxes.

Does that answer your question?

[stellinacadente]

nope... sorry... why do I have to pay taxes to bail Managers earning millions and giving themselves millions in bonuses and they're not even able to do their job since they all drove us into this swamp?

I want all my taxes for the next 3 years and I still want to be bailed out LOL

(Just kidding Griffin....I know the little guy never wins in this global economy and politics... too bad we are the foundation of it )

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

What I hate is that if they're going to use the money at least do it properly. If they want to 'entice' the banks to loan again you start a full nationalization of one of them and start loaning at a lower rate, later when the bank is financially OK you sell it at a profit (not going to happen, I know).

Still the bailout is small potatoes compared to all the money wasted in the defense sector (not counting the wars). In the end I suspect that no more than 10% of our taxes gets back to us while the rest is auctioned to the highest bidder... 

[pieces o nine]

I think there should be serious conditions placed on all bailouts, with the first one being, "Guess what? We just bought your company and the entire executive team that's been running things into the ground will be shadowed by watchful HR personnel and escorted to their cars as soon as they pack up the *personal* contents of their desks this afternoon. Since they are being terminated for performance issues, there will be no severance pay."

Meanwhile, I've been listening to blue collar and non-auto union (! ! !) people earnestly explaining to me why bailing out Wall Street was bad, although doing it with no curtailments is correct as the white collar employees affected *make* money. But bailing out the Big 3 would be a terrible disaster,  because "out of control Big Labor" and its greed to get the highest wages and benefits possible for blue collar workers "sitting on their asses and doing nothing" while "expecting health insurance and other 'entitlement mentality' benefits" are what has caused the entire problem.

I asked whether Big Labor  [which I agree needs some internal housekeeping, being a human organization and all]  shouldn't be congratulated for acheiving the American [Capitalist] Dream: getting the highest amount of money possible for the least amount of product possible, with no ceilings as it's socialism to artificially cap what people should be allowed to earn from their ingenuity.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Labor unions are the ultimate evil, as setting a minimum wage, rest on Sundays and only 8 hours of work per day.

We must go back to the practices of the early XIX century and everything will magically will fix itself. 

[ivor]

My Dad was a union big wig.  He told me that workers need to be protected from management bull carp.  Things like firing people a year before they retire and such.  From what I understand labor cost are only ten percent of the cost of a vehicle.  Another thing I heard was that Toyota workers make more than GM union laborers.  Also the workers at Toyota, Nissan and Honda don't want the UAW and they vote on it every year, more than likely it's because they don't need them as they have good management. 

The problem with American car companies is they build the cars they want to build and not the cars people want to buy.  I suspect that the "labor" issue is just a straw-man argument.

[Opsa]

I'll bet you're right, MB. The nerve of those guys trying to put the blame on the workers who are only trying to protect themselves!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Union fees are expensive and as everything else the price you pay is relative to the benefit you receive, if the japanese treat their workers well then there isn't a need to pay extra. Given that certain industries care more for quick profits than good products the opposite isn't surprising. 

Unions can have a dark side, but we need them to keep a minimal security against abuse.