I saw this on Drudge and I still can’t believe that the left is still speaking about this. The bailout was a deal for the UAW Union period. Romney stated he wanted the industry to go through a normal bankruptcy so the union deals could be shredded and a more workable deal brokered without using taxpayer money. I know it is a long post but is really worth the read.
Obama saw an opportunity to lock in union voters with a sweet deal for them and make him look like a hero that he can boast about during his re-election campaign. Everytime he pats himself on the back we need to remember what really happened.
Read Here:
http://nlpc.org/stories/2011/07/10/car-czar-statement-bailouts-says-it-all-obama-did-it-all-unions
Obama’s agenda is the union agenda. He said it, I believe it, the GM and Chrysler deals prove it.
Few are mentioning the theft of assets from the original creditors, the union pension bailout at taxpayer expense or the billions in funds Treasury Secretary Geithner now admits will never get repaid. Obama unconstitutionally took over a private company, overturned decades of surety laws, and paid campaign supporters with confiscated stock.
The Wall Street Journal points out that this is not near as good as was anticipated;
“So, today, amid the bally and the hoo, many have lost track of that fact. The offering valued GM at $50 billion, the low end of the hoped-for range. You would never know it, based on everything you read and hear. Once underwriters saw where demand was (not as great as desired), they shifted from talking about implied valuation to emphasizing shares issued, the per-share price and total money raised. The different storyline painted a picture of boffo box office even though the facts, as laid out just a few weeks ago, indicate that this deal really didn’t meet the hopes and expectations of GM or its biggest shareholder, the U.S. Government.”
So even though all the media hype is pushing Obama’s mantra of what a great thing it was to destroy the constitution in taking over the auto industry, the US is still short $14 billion. Obama says “it helped save jobs, rescue an industry at the heart of America’s manufacturing sector and position it to be more competitive in the future.” according to the Washington Post. Geithner said “”We cannot guarantee their success, and at some point they may stumble. But we’ve given them a better shot,”.
An earlier IBD Editorial pointed out the sweetheart deal Obama gave the UAW:
“Given that the wasteful work rules that UAW bosses — wielding government-granted monopoly-bargaining power over employees — insisted on for decades were largely what drove GM into bankruptcy, they certainly didn’t deserve kid-gloves treatment. Yet that’s what they got.
A UAW-controlled auto retiree health care fund was owed $20 billion by GM before the bailout.
Under the White House-dictated terms, UAW-appointed fund managers got back half of what they were owed in cash, whereas taxpayers who were owed $19.4 billion didn’t get a dime back in cash.
Instead, the Obama administration “forgave” this entire loan on taxpayers’ behalf and earmarked an additional $23.5 billion for the company’s trip through bankruptcy. In exchange for the nearly $43 billion funneled to GM, taxpayers acquired a “60.8% equity stake” in GM.”
It should be noted that the UAW is one of the most politically active of all unions. The union gave $2,119.937 to the 2008 campaigns 99% of which went to Obama and the Democrats. They gave another $1,106,500 in this past 2010 election cycle 100% of which went to Democrats. That is a total of $3,226,437 in just the last two election cycles. That does not include the phone banks, neighborhood canvassing and get out the vote efforts. Since 1990 the UAW has donated $26,510,252 of which 99% went to Democrats.
Not a bad return on investment when you consider they received billions back in ownership and benefit funding.
The government is subsidizing purchases of the GM Volt to the tune of $7,500 each. By the way that $7,500 is being supplied by you the taxpayer and is not being considered in the overall loss figures on the GM union payoff scam.
The UAW also spends about a million and a half a year lobbying for important issues like card check, pension bailouts and the Buy America Act. So in reality taxpayer money was used to pay off unions so that they could then campaign for Democrats and lobby for special favors from those same Democrats. This is change alright. An increase in arrogant corruption that is off the Richter scale.
