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Ear to the Ground

To the Bailoutmobile!

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Posted on Dec 19, 2008
Bush Bailed Out
The New York Times / Doug Mills

Bush’s bailout for Detroit produced one of his most brilliant quotations yet: “I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.”

In an avowed effort to save capitalism from itself, President Bush announced Friday that he would throw the Big Three failing auto companies a $17.4 billion lifesaver, siphoning that money from the initial $700 billion bailout slush fund authorized by Congress in October.


The New York Times:

President Bush announced $13.4 billion in emergency loans on Friday to prevent the collapse of General Motors and Chrysler, and another $4 billion available for the hobbled automakers in February with the entire bailout conditioned on the companies undertaking sweeping reorganizations to show that they can return to profitability.

The loans, as G.M. and Chrysler teeter on the brink of insolvency, essentially throw the companies a lifeline from the taxpayers that will keep them afloat until March 31. At that point, the Obama administration will determine if the automakers are meeting the conditions of the loans and will continue to receive government aid or must repay the loans and face bankruptcy.

The money to aid the automakers will come from the Treasury’s $700 billion financial stabilization fund and shortly after Mr. Bush’s announcement, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., who will oversee the aid to the auto industry, said Congress would need to release the second $350 billion for that program in short order.

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By hippy pam, December 20, 2008 at 7:25 pm #

I have to laugh at all the people who believe the g.M. workers are responsible for the BIG MESS…..I have watched the number of auto manufacturing plants close and the workers get farmed out for the last 15+ YEARS….I have watched the big 3 build new facilities in countries without EPA laws while paying the lowest labor costs to uneducated people-most of them cannot read-let alone understand a micrometer.And the price of the cars did not go down….Toyota and Honda pay their workers better than we ever got paid and now are selling their cars for as much as the big 3 ever did.All this while using lower grade steel and plastic…..

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By brhorton, December 20, 2008 at 4:27 pm #

I less than one month George W. Bush will be leaving office but the damage that he can do in one month can be quite enormous; Brace yourselves!

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By hippy pam, December 20, 2008 at 4:19 pm #

He is such an idiot…..Now he states “he has not sold his soul”......And he won"t remove his lame sorry ass from the W.H. so “the President” and his family can move in and GET ON WITH THE PROGRAM…..Has there ever been such a sorry excuse for a human being as “ole mister bullshit”?....If any one has a better candidate PLEASE LET US ALL KNOW!!!!!!

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By Blackspeare, December 20, 2008 at 3:08 pm #

There’s much railing against the UAW in that the high cost of labor is making the US auto industry less competitive then their foreign counterparts and they are asking the UAW for give backs.  It may make more sense to force the the foreign car makers to unionize, give those workers the same benefits now provided to the UAW which would raise the prices of Toyota and Honda $5,000 to $10,000 and immediately make them competitive with the big three.  In that way there is no need for the bailout.

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By Purple Girl, December 20, 2008 at 12:50 pm #

Thanks W!!!!
It will be the only thing I will ever say good about you…but It was one that will count for something.
You admin is still the Worst in American History, but at least not in World history (although close, Third only after Nero and the Hitler)
As Kings of Old would do when wanting to show ‘mercy’ I’ll support your quick execution for War Crimes, Treason and Crimes against humanity….something I will still oppose for Cheney,rumsfeld and Wolfowitz- Slow painful and inhumane is as good as it gets for them.

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By Grousefeather, December 20, 2008 at 12:46 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

The government can give the “big three” a trillion dollars and people still won’t buy cars!

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By John F. Butterfield, December 20, 2008 at 5:04 am #

The Republican Party is a house divided that will soon fall apart. Imagine Anarchists who want help from Government.

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By thebeerdoctor, December 19, 2008 at 10:31 pm #

Relax my outraged friends, this is just the George W Bush way of “spreading the wealth around”. As the President-has-been might say, it’s all about the legacy thing.

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By dick, December 19, 2008 at 7:09 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

GM has now released its’ greatest achievement—a brand-new 550 HP Cadillac. In a lengthy ad the engine is touted as being the most powerful V8 in the world. These are the idiots the taxpayers are inriching.

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By samosamo, December 19, 2008 at 5:04 pm #

This has not one goddamn thing to do with capitalism, it is all and everything to do with the whole plot of grand larceny to reward those that benefitted from w & dick’s disasterous 8 years of criminal possession of the presidency. Why would anyone even think different with the plethra of these ‘white house’ sponsored bailouts to businesses that in a real capitalist system would have failed. Oh, just another $17,400,000,000.00 dollars which I am sure is sneaking more reward money out of the original $700,000,000,000.00 that is now supposedly tied up in the approval of congress to ‘spread the wealth’ for w & dick supporters. And oh, again, I bet any accountable plans to show cause for the bailout will most likely read like a story out of disney land. Once hooked up to that money IV, getting them off of it will be almost impossible. Short and simple the taxpayer is to pay for failed private corporations to do buisness as usual. And most glaringly, where the hell is pelosi? This seems to be going down behind her back yet she approves evidenced by her silence.

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By jr., December 19, 2008 at 3:39 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

It was reported in the news yesterday that GM yesterday opened their eight (8th) new manufaturing plant in China.  Seems they can’t make them fast enough there.  There also was a chinese auto maker interested in aquiring GM, what happened there?  Kinda makes one wonder how u.s. got stuck footing this “bailout”, and with no guaranties of repayment.  I know, i should just click my heels together and say, there’s no place like home.

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By Don Knutsen, December 19, 2008 at 3:17 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

This is nothing more then a pathetic attempt at putting a shine on his disasterous legacy. He has never been reluctant to spend away the taxpayers revenue. But no matter how much varnish you stick on a dog turd, its still a dog turd. The single biggest reason for our economical mess is the insatiable greed that became accepted and even worshipped since saint Reagan. Many of the young republicans that became wall street manipulators in the thick of this came into the buisness for one reason only, self serving greed. Greed that took advantage of a republican party that considered any regulation a sin. This administration has taken de-regulation to dizzying heigths. Like every other agency of the goverment they had put in place as the head of the SEC an individual whose primary marching orders were to blindly follow the bu$h doctrines..in this case to look the other way rather then do their job. Oversite itself has always been repugnant to this administration, hence billions and billions of america’s revenue has been lost on their watch. Its the republican party as a whole that is responcible for the mess we are in. And Bu$h has been their cheerleader all along. He exemplifies a mindset that has become predominate that defines best buisness practices as rigging the system to for self gratification period. Those that still play by the rules are thought of as a thing of the past. No matter what this traitorous president and VP does, their legacy is best described as a criminal conspiracy that they were never held accountable in any meaningfull way for.

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