Jun 01 2009
Change I Don’t Want To Believe In
General Motor’s the once iconic symbol of American ingenuity filled for bankruptcy today. What a shocker, this saga has finally started to play out in the court that really matters;bankruptcy court. Hold on to your hats boys and girls because this isn’t going to be your run of the mill court proceeding.
In this era of “Change we can believe in”, things are going to be run differently around here. Sheriff Barack Obama is charge now and is re-writing all of the rules. May God help us all right? He’s dictating how the bankruptcy is going to play out in the courts, who the winners and losers are going to be and what kind of cars GM can build.
Are we in bizzaro world? When did the presidency gain so much power to dictate policy to the courts? The courts are supposed to be a place where politics hold no sway, yet we have situation were the president himself is hand picking who will benefit from this situation.
This sets a dangerous precedent that we all should take note of. The fact that Obama is picking the winners and losers in this situation is shocking if not bone chilling. The purpose of the bankruptcy proceedings is to hash out who gets paid first. In a normal bankruptcy holders of secured debt would get their share first before anyone else. What Obama is doing is turning traditional bankruptcy law upside down.
Obama is now dictating to the courts that unsecured debt will now be first in line to get paid back. This bankruptcy is going to establish a horrible precedent that is going to impossible to undue and is only going to serve to undermine the confidence of investors to invest their money in a company that could “potentially” hit hard times in the future. If people are not investing in businesses, they will not grow, jobs will not be created and our economy will stagnate. I will provide a brief example to make this issue easier to understand.
For example say Business A hits a rough spot and needs a loan to get through their problems. Business A turns to a lender and offers secured interest (land, property, equipment etc..) in exchange for a loan. The lender denies Business A request for a loan because the lender is unsure if they would get paid back if Business A happens to go into bankruptcy.
Given this new precedent that Obama has created the lender would see everyone else get paid back before he does. Why would the lender want to risk not getting their money back? Any rational lender would not take that risk. Obama’s intervention is going to have a two-fold effect for decades to come.
One its going to significantly curtail lending of credit to individuals and small businesses who need it to expand their businesses and create jobs. Isn’t it ironic that Obama “heroic actions” to ”save GM” is going to prolong our economic downturn for years to come?
Secondly its going to drive more businesses to ask for loans from the government which often have numerous strings attached i.e CONTROL. The connecting theme throughout this whole situation is government control of the private sector. Please tell me you see this.
Government is slowly squeezing the private sector into submission, one company at a time. Before you know it, we will have a centrally run economy like the Soviet Union had and we all know how that turned out. OPEN YOUR EYES PEOPLE BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!
How exactly is Obama dictating to the BKRTSY cour? I dont thing that is suportable.. You know Im no fan of Obam but I think you may be missing the point of this shit, really check out http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/2/ralph_nader_and_labor_professor_harley for some fine perspective.
BTW Please approve my commentson the health care debate so it can continue.
Respect brah
dsent,
I watched the video on democracy now and in my opinion I think that Nader was vindicating what I was saying. Im not as articulate or steeped in the knowledge that he has but I think our agruments are similar. That basic underlying theme is that state power continues to increase, and laws and normal procedures are being violated without consequence.
The way Obama is dictating to the bankruptcy court is, he has his “auto task force” going in and deciding who gets what, how many plants to cut, where to build etc… In the video nader said that court is basically acting like a rubber stamp for Obama’s re-shaping of GM. This in my opinion is Obama dictating to the courts how things are to play out
Hmm actually I think if we are going to be footing the bill the we need to have some control of the company, thats what I think is significat. The company wont be subject to democratic oversight. Obama is bailing, even if he influences the court he is handing over an management responsibility.
The executive office should have no influence what happens in judicial system. Separation of powers was something that was put in place to protect the rights of the people. If you violate separation of powers then you are bound to violate individual rights in pursuit of gaining more control.
If I were you, I would get ready to break your piggy bank open. Once GM’s stock is available to purchase again I would buy as much as you can. BO is not going to let them fail, it’s sure to be a risk free investment.