It's a commonly used metaphor for "threat" or "The big stick" if you don't take the carrot.
I concede the bondholders did not have a REAL gun to their heads. You win. Whoopee!
Printable View
Couched in those terms, and considering the collateral damage as even more lost their jobs as suppliers' buisinesses went under, I suspect $50B might've been a pretty good buy.
As the supplier chain imploded, it would have had a huge, negative impact on Ford, Toyota, Honda and any other manufacturer that builds/assembles from US sourced parts.
From GM Insider during the negotiations:
Quote:
The majority of GM bonds is held by the largest banks in the U.S. One of which is JP Morgan. In an effort to nearly force the debt holders to agree to a debt-equity swap, the Senate is considering legislation that would require the bond holders to agree to swap or they would potentially lose their TARP funds. We're told part of the deal would also automatically reject said bond holders from receiving any further TARP funding if they were to deny swapping GM debt.
Here is a novel idea: Have the Congressional Budget Office in conjunction with the major auto manufacturers and suppliers estimate the financial impact to our economy by letting GM go. This seems to make more sense than assuming the broader economic impact would have been far more devastating.
The bailout only makes sense if the company can regain profitability. Without addressing the issues that led GM down the road of ruin is simply putting off the inevitable with the added burden of throwing away our 50 bil. I think GM should have been helped, I don't agree that the government assisted impartially with the greatest sensitivity to the taxpayer.
Can someone remind me again what percentile CC was in?
Center for Automotive Research out of Ann Arbor. Anything from the congressional budget office? Almost seems like the tobacco companies doing research on the health risks of smoking. Don't have a problem with the government stepping in. I think the government gains an enormous amount of credibility if they come to the people and explain with numbers and reasons why they are doing it. Here is what we are spending and why, here is the impact to all parties, this is why we think it will work and this is when would expect to be fully reimbursed.
All dessert and no greens, as it were.
it's funny. half the time people claim the cbo can't find their ass in the dark.
The problem is that even if they were to do that (I'm not sure wether they did or not, honestly) it gets lost in the partisan innuendo. For the right, it doesn't matter if the numbers add up. It's all about "more and bigger government", "socialist state", etc etc etc. The minutiae is basically irrelevant to the discourse.
Obviously, when they actually had to decide to bail out the 'too big to fail' banks, the majority had a vote at hand.
It works just the same with the left in other topics, for example, tax cuts. It doesn't matter if they favor middle and lower class somewhat. If there's even a hint it might give some sort of relief to the upper class, then you get the "tax cut for the rich" innuendo.
The middle class already make out like bandits wrt federal taxes. Both parties suck up to that group as if they know what a 30%+ marginal federal tax rate is like.
Soak the rich, because obviously the rich are immoral whereas the virtue of the people is without par.