ButWhy

Credit Card Crunch: Creating a New Generation of Subprime

It's just another 'tax' on the middle class. As the author points out, who understands FICO scores? If banks can squeeze Joe Sixpack's FICO score down, (even though he pays on time), Joe's interest rates go up, and the banks/credit card companies pay more tax in earned income.

Joe is financing the recovery; Obama and Congress use smoke and mirrors to make him think only the rich, (who can afford to pay cash) are getting taxed.

Congress should look at how this FICO issue is a sham, but why would they? Higher earnings=higher taxes. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't 'cough' the taxpayer, via the government. own most big banks?

The Return of the $70 per Hour Meme

No one is upset GM pays their employee well....as long as GM can afford to pay their employees well. GM is asking for taxpayer assistance to continue to pay their retirees benefits. How nice, if you work for GM. If you worked for "XYZ" widget company, that went out of business when Home Depot moved in, you lost your job, your company went out of business, and you had to find another job. Why should GM employees be any different? HOW is the U.S. Government going to force Americans to buy Detroit cars?


On Nov 19 01:05 PM ChemEn3 wrote:

> Why is everyone so upset that GM has a retiree obligation?? Why
> are people upset that GM pays thier employees well?? Wouldn't each
> of you like to have a secure retirement? Wouldn't each of you like
> to be paid for what you do? What is so bad about a company that
> values thier retirees, that values thier people, and that has for
> many, many years??!!
>
> As for quality, check the numbers. GM has been on par with the foriegn
> makers for several years. For economy, again check the numbers,
> no one sells more cars that get 30 miles per gallon or better than
> GM.
>
> Why do you want to let a company that has stood by its workers, its
> country, and its retirees as well as GM has go under?? It seems
> that more people would support GM, and call on more companys to have
> the kind of loyalty and support for thier workers that GM has.

>
>
> I just don't get it. GM has done so much for so many in this country,
> but yet most of you would like to see it go under. Why??

Should GM Be Saved?

Let's pretend Detroit gets the money.

Who is going to buy the cars? Who can get credit?

Where I live, more often than not, when you see a person driving a domestic, it means they have a poor credit score. It means the dealer sold them a car that wouldn't have gone off the lot, otherwise. These poor people are paying 15% or more for that loan. The value of cars has fallen dramatically....people are upside down on their loans. Is Congress going to bail out the little guy?

So how are we going to fix that little problem? It's kind of like the housing crisis, no? Are we going to MAKE people buy Detroit autos? How do you fix that problem? Give people a tax credit for buying Detroit? How does that help the American taxpayer assembly worker who puts together a Honda? Why punish her?

Detroit cranked out too many cars for a shrinking market because they had to pay the union worker. It is an unsustainable model, and it needs to be fixed. Get rid of the Unions. Sure, that will hurt. But with all the pundits out there telling the taxpayer "things are gonna hurt", let's put the hurt on the parasite that killed the host.

Could Capital Injections Save the Auto Industry?

What about GMAC?

Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

Bolt Turner:

Is there a part of the 'bill of rights' that ensures health care to every individual? When did it become a 'right' to health care? Those of us who eat right, don't smoke, drink in moderation, etc., pay for those who do, in the form of higher health care costs. The reason the costs are so high is because there IS free health care in the USA. If you have no assets for the hospital to go after...it's a freebie! Of course, any fool knows there is no free lunch, especially for the middle class. If GM goes BK, not to worry. If our free market economy is allowed to function, there are already manufacturing firms ready to take on whatever GM leaves behind. Cars will still get made, the manufacturing plants will get bought....and those without a job will get hired.

Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

Hmmmm, wonder if the UAW invested the 50 Billion into Sub-prime? Are we being asked to bail out GM, or the Union?

www.automotive.com/aut...

Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

Meanwhile, press reports indicate that workers who raise questions about relationships between UAW officers and the auto companies have received threats and been ostracized by coworkers.[27] The UAW once had a reputation for policing itself reasonably well: "Those gripes stayed in the family and the offenders got slapped hard by the international," according to Bob King, a former UAW official. But an apathetic response to the latest round of accusations has forced workers to take their suspicions to federal investigators. Billy Robinson, president of Local 2036 in Henderson Kentucky, was harsh in his assessment of where the union is going: "The UAW has become a company union. . . . They don't represent the members. The Big Three have bought off the union, paying representatives 70 hours a week to ignore their members."

Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

What is the salary of the UAW President?

What perks go along with the job? Any corruption there?

The 'union' way is a way to mediocre product. Talent OR production wise.

The One-Word Topic of the Day, and Week: Obama

Help me get this right. Obama is all for a windfall profits tax on the evil, greedy oil companies. Obama is also worried about the big three, who haven't posted a profit in years, and wants to 'bail them out with taxpayer money'. After all, the good people who work for the auto industry are worthy. (They belong to the Union, the Union is Democrat, must support the Democrat.) Forget supporting the company that actually has a profit, and therefore is taxable. (Portray as Hollywood does. Evil, greedy, Republicans.) Perhaps Obama will mandate 'one American car' in every taxpayer funded mortgage. Should solve the problem. Except that pesky little 'profit' issue that is the heart of capitalism; that 'capitalist society' has made the USA the most innovative and most envied country in the world.

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is down 21% after saying it may be in default of some loans if it can't raise capital, threatening its ability to keep operating. Billionaire CEO Sheldon Adelson owns more than 64% of LVS, including $475M invested in September.

Let's bail out Las Vegas! Why stick with Detroit?
How many jobs are being cut/lost in Vegas? Why aren't the pimps and hos pounding the table with Pelosi?

I see the usual suspects are whining the auto industry wouldn't be in such sad shape had we kept the imports out. Well, yeah. How about we mandate everybody has to vacation in Vegas? Stop the tourist dollars from leaving the States? I just got a flyer from Delta....I can visit Europe all in the comfort of Vegas.

I don't think we are anywhere close to 'equality'. Sux to be me that I didn't work for the UAW.

Detroit's Hail Mary: Saving the Automakers

When did health care become a 'right'?

I didn't have the advantage of being employed by GM or Chrysler. I built my own business, and I pay my own health insurance. It is very expensive. However, if I didn't have health insurance, and I had an injury, or illness, the hospital and doctors would sue me if I didn't pay. As I have a net worth, I could lose everything.

However, if I was lazy, and didn't have a job, and collected welfare, my medical needs become a burden on the taxpayers. What a great system you espouse! If I choose to smoke crack, or get drunk and crash my car into a pole, good old American taxpayer will be there to fix me.

Sure, the health care system in the USA is in need of an overhaul. The reality is, when people pay for things, they tend to take care of them. Making health care a right will result in substandard health care services. We (the taxpayers) simply do not have the money. There is no Santa Clause, life sometimes sucks, and actions have consequences.

Mortgage backed securities were like gold when backed up by homeowners who had a lot to lose if their home went into foreclosure. Then the socialist agenda took over; if we could just 'give' someone a home, they would magically turn into a 'responsible' person. (Thanks Acorn!) In today's skewed system, the responsible ones are being punished.

I don't run to the doctor every time a sneeze. I don't smoke. I take care of my health. I pay. Why shouldn't my neighbor? I understand charity, I am not unfeeling. However, shouldn't personal responsibility be rewarded, somehow?

I have been to Russia. They stand in 4 hour lines just to pay the electric bill. They wait a week to see the doctor, sometimes more. Sure, the easy strep throat cases get taken care of. The complicated cases? Stand in line. Russians are used to standing in lines.

Detroit's Hail Mary: Saving the Automakers

I am over-simplifying, for the sake of argument.

In a free market, wouldn't the 'jobs' that are lost get taken up by the business created by Chrysler going bankrupt? Wouldn't Jiffy-lube, or Mom and Pop, send a notice to all Chrysler owners that stating they will take care of the car? Wouldn't the parts suppliers then sell to Jiffy-lube? (Just using them as an example.) Wouldn't the mechanics who work in the Chrysler dealership move on to these stores? Ford and GM now have less competition, as such, their dealers will become more profitable. Isn't the biggest problem we have more cars than consumers to buy them?

Who buys film for their cameras today? Again, over-simplifying things, but should the American taxpayer have bailed all of the companies who had become outdated? Why is it the poor Union worker, and his family, or his widow, that becomes the reason we MUST do this? They rolled the dice, we all do. I can't wait for the personal tragedy stories, the kind a liberal news network will trot out. "Look at this poor widow, her husband worked at Chrysler for 42 years, he died of cancer, she is looking forward to the generous health benefits, blah, blah, and look at yourselves, greedy taxpayers, why aren't you willing to help her out?"

Because taxpayers shouldn't have to. The "government" is the taxpayer. Innovation will create jobs for those who lost the old one. Should we have bailed out vinyl record manufacturers? TV box makers? What about their families?

The Unions broke the car industry. Eventually, a parasite destroys the host. The socialist agenda does not work.

I vote no bail out.