Guess what? says the notice. You’re car, under some circumstances, will shut off while driving.
No shit?! says I.
Don’t use a big key ring! says the notice.
I don’t, says I. Then I go check daughters key chains. Yikes.
In a seemingly unrelated political story, it’s the run-up to the 2012 Presidential election. President Obama is stumping the midwest against his opponent, Mitt Romney. In an exchange of debate talking points in the press, the NY Times calls Mitt Romney’s plan for restructuring GM and Chrysler, which had filed for bankruptcy in 2009, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” The Times and many other mainstream media outlets praised President Obama’s Administration stepping into the middle of the bankruptcy proceedings and giving much-favored treatment to the United Auto Workers (UAW), over both secured bondholders and non-union workers (at places like GM subsidiary Delphi). In the second debate, President Obama attacked Mitt Romney, stating “Governor Romney said we should let Detroit go bankrupt.”
Obama then bragged about his handling of GM and Chrysler’s bankruptcy. For those a little short on memory or knowledge of bankruptcy proceedings, it works thus: a person or company files bankruptcy/re-organization. A trustee in federal court is assigned to collect up all of the assets of the debtor, as well as all of the liabilities. The bankruptcy statute sets forth a precedence for creditors. Among the first people in line to get paid are secured creditors and bondholders. (FWIW, among the last are unsecured creditors, like credit card lenders, which is why interest rates are traditionally so high on credit cards. They have to eat the losses on those who default and they get next to nothing, pennies on the dollar owed in most personal bankruptcies).
GM and Chrysler were in the tank following the crash of 2008/09. The President stepped in to bail out the auto manufacturers. Well, to be more precise, he spent the taxpayers money on behalf of GM and Chrysler union workers.
Where did that money go? Mainly, it went to paying off debts owed by GM and Chrysler, and – in an historic distortion of our bankruptcy proceedings – to securing the pensions and livelihoods of UAW workers. It turns out the real debt was that of Mr. Obama to organized labor, which had ponied up some $400 million to help him defeat John McCain.
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2012/10/17/Obamas-Auto-Bailout-Was-Really-a-Hefty-Union-Payoff
Now that sounds like a base charge and unsubstantiated, until one realizes that most of the facts are matters of record. There is a brilliant and measured piece on the exact details surrounding both the bankruptcy, the government takeover of the companies, the subsequent ownership stake that the government took and gave to unions, and the loss to bondholders due to the President’s actions.
What is not in doubt at all is how the President and democratic Party leaders crowed about the “success” of saving GM and Chrysler.
“Supporting the American auto industry required tough decisions and shared sacrifices, but it helped save jobs, rescue an industry at the heart of America’s manufacturing sector, and make it more competitive for the future,” President Obama said when the new General Motors went public last November. Then-speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi echoed his view, arguing: “In the midst of a severe recession, congressional Democrats and President Obama took difficult emergency action to rescue American auto companies and strengthen critical pillars of our manufacturing sector, while protecting taxpayers.”
Id.
So, now one wonders, where are all of the supporters of the President’s actions when it turns out that GM was knowingly making cars that shut off and have been linked to at least 12 deaths? Chirp. Cricket.
Nothing.
People will scream about corporate malfeasance, yet see no relationship between a government bailout of a failing company and subsequent revelations about corporate mismanagement and malfeasance. The cognitive dissonance is stunning.
Here’s a thought – companies fail for a reason. Companies are nothing more than collections of people committed to a shared purpose. A corporation doesn’t DO anything. It exists only on paper. PEOPLE do things. Good acts, bad acts, acts motivated by greed or altruism or stupidity. To think that “corporations” are any different than “governments” is to engage in one of the greatest delusions ever. Governments are simply paper constructs as well. They don’t act, any more than they sing or dance or play poker on Friday nights. PEOPLE who work for the government do.
And People, both in government and in corporations, come in all stripes of moral quality and depth of character. Why do we constantly here about how evil “corporations” are (a complete logical impossibility), yet hear none of the same about government, which has all the same ineptitudes, greed, and bureaucracy that can result in the extermination of entire races. Let’s put it this way, in the history of mankind, which has been responsible for more death and destruction: governments or companies? It’s not even close. Government wins by a landslide.
So here we are again. The press is railing against GM, but I note that no one has dared to breathe a word about the fact that our President and his union cronies were front and center in bailing out a failed enterprise, one which richly needed a Chapter 11 reorganization, and might have included someone looking into what was going on in the company’s books – and maybe we wouldn’t have 12 dead people (at least) as the result of a known defect that was being hidden inside the walls of the company. Now we can have liberal pundits making jokes about GM and its “prohibited words” memo, but no one can mention how the guy who kept those companies running and his union pals bear any responsibilities for the current death count.
Now I have to get back to planning when I’m going to bring that car in to have the ignition issue “fixed” so that I don’t have the car shut off when I’m rounding a bend or turning a corner. For now my girls get to drive Dad’s car.