[clue-talk] The stimulus bill

[Brian Gibson]

If a company doesn't like the strings attached to the bailout money, they don't have to take it.  As I told my rep when TARP was being drafted, I said not to do it, but should it pass, to ensure that there are protections and oversight put in place.  Goldman Sachs announced they're returning the money they've withdrawn within a year.  The TARP money is being made available, not forced on anyone.   Not only do the banks have the option to say no, but the government can (if it so chooses) to deny access to the money (which they did in the case of Ford) and structure the payout as they see fit (blank check with little oversight for the banks in round 1 and loan with specific milestones for GM and Chrysler).  Plus now the government is rewriting the rules for the bank.  Sounds a bit like the way credit card companies and Darth Vader work.  "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

As a side note, private enterprise has been breaking down those same walls to further their agenda.  Lobbying for laws to make bankruptcy harder for individuals, lobbying against consumer and environmental protections, lobbying for trade protections, the war on _____ (e.g. drugs), and on and and on... it's too bad that government and private enterprise can't mind their own business.  Lessig is right.  Before you can solve any of the problems in Washington, you have to solve the first problem and that's remove the influence of money.




________________________________
From: Nate Duehr <nate at natetech.com>
To: CLUE talk <clue-talk at cluedenver.org>
Sent: Friday, February 6, 2009 4:57:34 PM
Subject: RE: [clue-talk] The stimulus bill

 
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Even more entertaining, they’re willing to break down the
walls between private enterprise and government control to do it.  Hand
our money (taxes) to corporations to “bail them out” when they had
failing business models for years, and then allow the government to start
messing with things like private employment contracts… (yeah, I don’t
like it that executive pay is orders of magnitude higher than the workers in
those companies, but the SHAREHOLDERS of those companies are supposed to
regulate that, along with the Board, NOT the government)… right up until
the point when the government handed them money.  Now only the government
officials can fly on the corporate jets, at my expense, and the people who
earned their jets (while the government shirked their regulatory duties for at
least four different President’s terms) can’t...?  What does
this do to good American companies like Cessna, Piper, Boeing, etc?  Seen
the newspapers in Kansas City lately?  (Cessna laid off over 4000, perhaps
6000.)  


      
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