President Obama annouces the bankruptcy filing of General Motors today at the White House. The restructuring plan for the auto giant includes a 60% stake in the company by the government of the United States.
Barack Obama, a man who’s never held an executive position, has essentially become the Chief Executive Office of the world’s largest bank/mortgage lender/automaker.
The question now, besides the location of the section of the Constitution that gives the federal government the power to take ownership interests in private enterprises, is how far the government will go to keep GM afloat if the $50 billion already committed isn’t enough. Making cars is one thing; selling 10 million a year to stay profitable is another.
And not to unfairly criticize hard-working government employees, but the simple fact is that the government is not bound by the same rules of profit and loss as the rest of us. Inefficiency does not hold the same consequences for government — or for GSEs like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and now Chrysler and GM — as it does for the local small business.
This is a bad idea, an albatross that’s going to be around our necks for a long time.
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hey! I was listening to some local frequency modulated radio talk show this morning, some Tom Bradley guy, if that is his real name…….
he reiterated that we now own some 60% of GM.
well, I could use a little extra cash just about now. where do I go to cash in “my” share?
a government with the wrong KIND of power will inevitably attract the wrong kind of people to run it. that is where we are. Democratic Socialists, am I talking about Nazi Germany, or these United States presently?
answer: “yes”
Posted on June 1st, 2009 at 8:55 am
I like the new look of your website, I have always admired your courage to take a Christian stand on all issues.
These are just a couple of thoughts for your younger readers/listeners-those that are too young to remember who the participants were in the last world war and the “cold war”. In all the “Change” that is being talked about, sometimes praised and sometimes criticized, I have never heard either of these two terms used. Of course, I suppose the fact that I don’t watch TV news or read newspapers limits my ability to say what the media is or isn’t saying.
Anyway, consider the definitions of these two words and compare them to what’s happening at GM, etc.
Fascism-a governmental system with strong centralized power, permitting no opposition or criticism, controlling all affairs of the nation (industrial, commercial, etc), emphasizing an aggressive nationalism, and often anticommunist. (American Collegiate Dictionary)
Socialism-a theory or system of social organization which advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production, capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole (American Collegiate Dictionary)
As I was typing these definitions I had some time to think (I type really slowly) and have decided that the problem may be that people, young or old, do understand these definitions and how they are being fleshed out in the United States today-it’s just that they have forgotten what nations and leaders championed these systems in the past; and that we have all been indoctrinated into believing that the “dirty, nasty, greedy, evil capitalists” are the cause for all of our problems and that bigger government is the answer to our problems.
God forgive us for forgetting that “All good things come from above…”.
Posted on June 1st, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Glad to see some people still have a head on their shoulders. Barrack is in over his head. imho.
Posted on June 1st, 2009 at 6:02 pm
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