Mitt Romney and his allies need Americans to agree that the economy is failing, but they face the challenge of a good economy in key swing states -- like Michigan, where the unemployment rate has dropped by nearly HALF. Michael Eric Dyson challenges Romney's assertion it's because of Republican Governors. Watch it.
"Many people, including myself, lost money in the mutual funds or retirement accounts, because of the 2008 recession"
This absolute gross oversimplification, simply demonstrates that you didn't read the resources I provided for you. Or, you are purposely trying to mislead less knowledgeable people. I believe it is both.
Additionally, I don't have the time to explain the difference between a bond, mutual funds and stocks. Basically, when a teachers retirement fund buys a bond they are buying that companies debt. It is a contract. According to that contract (bankruptcy law) when a cooperation goes bankrupt "secured" bond holders are the first to be paid off not the last. It is called "absolute priority rule".
The administration's asset-sale plan implements a de facto reorganization but denies to creditors the opportunity to vote on it.
Those contracts where ignored!!!
Period, end of story.
Not only is this illegal but IMMORAL to ignore the law and steal from teachers and police pension funds! regardless of what "collective good" you believe may come from this.
It is call the law and we are a nation of laws not men's opinions!
Mr. Zywicki is a professor of law at George Mason University and the author of a book on consumer bankruptcy and consumer lending, forthcoming from Yale University Press.
Rex, Moorhead
6/18/2012 10:23:19 AM
Chrysler made the Abrams tank. Go look it up in a Janes book if you like. General Dynamics is listed as a main contractor but many of the parts for the Abrams tank are made by Chrysler. The same is true of the MRAP trucks used in Afghanistan and Iraq. There are multiple contractors and subcontractors but the bottom line is that the big three automakers make large numbers of vehicles or parts used by the U.S. military. Even the Coast Guard buys GM and Chrysler vehicles, not to mention the federal vehicle fleet. So letting these big automakers go bankrupt was a none starter from the national security perspective. One million jobs were saved plus the manufacturing sector in America was saved from extinction. This alone will probably help President Obama get reelected by helping him in Ohio. Mitt Romney said let Detroit go bankrupt in 2009 well guess what? Mitt Romney was wrong and President Obama was right.
I strongly support union labor. The automobile loans simply helped GM and Chrysler survive tough times. I will be the first to say that GM and Chrysler should have been making 40 MPG or 50 MPG vehicles like European turbo-diesels cars that are very efficient. Perhaps you are familiar with diesel Volkswagen vehicles that typically run for 200,000 plus miles and get about 20% better fuel economy than similar weight gasoline powered vehicles. More than one-half of GM's vehicle sales were for cars that got more than 30 MPG plus.
Many people, including myself, lost money in the mutual funds or retirement accounts, because of the 2008 recession. Most middle class people lost about 40% of their net worth in the 2008 recession. For this you can thank the GOP's penchant for deregulation that led to the 2008 collapse of the financial sector when the real estate budget burst. I have a copy of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report that I am reading in small segments along with everything else I read continuously about. Checkout the Graham-Leach-Bliley act of 1999 that repealed the 1932 Glass-Steagall bill. You can thank the GOP for this.
The other larger problem is that middle class wages have been stagnant since the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the ensuing Arab oil embargo. America has never recovered from the trauma of the 1970's with post Vietnam inflation and stagnation caused when oil prices quadrupled during the 1970's. Had we adopted a comprehensive energy policy pushed by President Carter we would have built fuel efficient German turbo-diesel cars instead of 100 million gas guzzling SUV's. If we had adopted President Carter's energy program and stuck too it like the European countries did we would not have to have troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and the Horn of Africa protecting our vulnerable oil supply lines from unstable parts of the world. President Carter has been proven correct about energy policy. Think of the 50,000 casualties and $4 trillion that might have been saved in Iraq and Afghanistan if only Americans drove 50 MPG turbo-diesel cars or rode the bullet trains we should have built since 1973?
Alex
6/17/2012 10:30:36 AM
Rex's answer is that if we have more corporate welfare, wall street bailouts and fat cat payoffs IMMORALLY done on the backs of teachers and police retirement funds, then we'll have better working conditions for working class families.
Rex, I'm a teacher and I personally know Indiana teachers though our national organization PLTW.org and they are not happy about getting the shaft so that corporate elites can get their payoffs and then sell off to Fiat.
Is Fiat now making our armored vehicle, Rex??
Rex, Moorhead
6/16/2012 5:00:38 PM
So Alex's solution was to simply just let GM and Chrysler go bankrupt so our national security can get hurt? Maybe the U.S. Army should get its tanks, trucks, and Stryker infantry vehicles from China instead? National Security and economic security are closely tied together. Lots of bondholders and retirees lost significant amounts of pensions and medical benefits during the 2008 Great Recession but I have never heard an explanation as to what else could have been done in addition to these auto loans, considering the dire straits GM and Chrysler were in during 2009?
This last GOP caused recession, remember repeal of the Glass-Steagall bill in 1999 by the GOP's Graham-Leach-Bliley Act? This repeal of Glass-Steagall led directly to the 2008 financial crisis caused by big Wall Street investment banks that sold mortgaged backed securities. The Federal Reserve and the Federal government ended up taking about $9 trillion in actions to help keep the economy from sinking into the Great Depression II. About 40% of net worth of the middle class declined during the Great Recession that Paul Krugman says should be called the 2008 "Lessor Depression". It took eight years to get into this economic hole and it could take eight years to get out of it before things truly start getting better. If the American Jobs Act and all the other bills obstructed by the "do nothing" GOP Congress were passed our country would be in much better shape right now.
Alex
6/16/2012 11:24:24 AM
Yeah... the auto bailouts worked great unless you are an in a public employee union or Indiana Teacher, Police officer, average taxpayer or any other fool that "invested for your children's future" with GM and Chrysler bonds.
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other industrial Midwest states were bolstered by the loans given to GM and Chrysler. What conservatives conveniently FORGET is that the U.S. Army's Abrams tank, the Stryker light armored infantry vehicle, mine resistant and armored protected vehicles known as MRAP used in Iraq and Afghanistan and most of the trucks and other vehicles used in the military are made by GM and Chrysler or their corporate subsidiaries. While many firms are involved in the defense industry like United Defense and General Dynamics, they all use spare parts produced by subcontractors that rely primarily on the the business from General Motors and Chrysler. Letting Chrysler and General Motors go bankrupt was NEVER an option on national security grounds. The U.S. Army and all the other services who buy trucks and vehicles on a huge scale would come to a halt if GM and Chrysler went out of business. Even the Coast Guard and the Navy buy vehicles made with GM and Chrysler parts as does federal law enforcement agencies. Facts are really inconvenient things for ignorant conservatives aren't they?
Mitt Romney demonstrates his ignorance of the U.S. military by saying he wished that Detroit should have gone bankrupt. If Mitt Romney had served on active duty for a few years he would understand why letting Chrysler and General Motors going bankrupt was never an option period. As long as we have mechanized infantry units and all the services who purchase trucks and vehicles from GM, Chrysler, and their corporate subsidiaries, GM and Chrysler will NEVER be allowed to go bankrupt. Its all a matter of national security. Without a strong automotive industry, America's military will come to a screeching halt. Just because you are a successful businessman does not mean that you are smart. President Obama was smart in saving the auto industry. He did it not only do it to preserve union jobs but primarily because our troops use vehicles and weapons platforms made by Chrsyler and GM in combat zones.
Why don't conservatives understand these simple facts? President Obama cares more about military readiness than these current Republicans do. Saving the auto industry demonstrates President Obama's mastery of defense policy and his caring for our soldiers and their families. His support are demonstrated by his actions of giving loans to the auto industry. President Obama continues to emphasize the drone attacks that break up al Qaida and Haqani terrorist cells from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Yemen. President Obama has been an excellent commander in chief who understands how to fight a counter-terrorist war and regime change operation. But arguably, saving the auto industry was one of the best expenditures of money for our national security that any president has made in many decades. Democrats get that national security and economic strength of our manufacturing base go together like bread and butter.
linda, virginia
6/15/2012 4:45:11 PM
Bob vaginal probe McDonnell used President Obamas' stimulus........and he goes all over Virginia saying, look what i have done. He is begging to be Romney's Vp..
Mr. Fargo
6/15/2012 12:42:50 PM
GOP Governors benefited from the economic stimulus money that was used to create jobs in their states & fund infrastructure job growing projects............just think if Romney would have let GM & Chrysler go bankrupt how that would have put a major dent in the economy.....
ron mariposa
6/15/2012 9:20:14 AM
Donnajoy what you said is true that the corporations and the wealthy have the advantage of money to invest in to their lie machines. The sad thing is that people are too darn lazy to get off their butts and look up things for themselves. This new generation doesnt think for themselves and many of the older ones dont either. I didnt have a family that was leave it to beaver, but I was told to question and gain facts and dont believe everything that you hear. The court sold this country out for their own political reasons, and now the IRS needs to go after these super pacs and groups like rove's and the koch's that say they are 501C4 and are running purely potical ads which isnt allowed. The keystone pipeline is an example and rumknee is backing the lies of the oil companies. The amount of oil to the midwest will be cut as more oil from tar sands will go to texas for refining before being shipped overseas. Cornell had a complete report on it and how many people will read it? 80 to 90% of the will leave our country and the midwest gas prices will climb 10 to 20 cents per gallon. These are the facts and only 200 jobs will be created, and Canada doesnt want a pipeline cutting across their country for fear of the damage that can be done by leaks. The people better wake up and stop worring about their guns and religion and start worring about their freedoms and the freedoms of the future generations. They are like sheep heading to the butcher shop they follow blindly and never question what will happen to them when the arrive at the butcher shop.
just my humble views
donnajoy
6/15/2012 8:34:48 AM
It is fine to hear commentators give their high level views about what they perceive is happening as far as the elections but there is also a real view from the people who will vote in 2012 Presidential Election. They may be quiet different. To many of us the real issues evolve around what kind of country we want. Do we want democracy to continue to exist or do we want this country to be a corporate entity? It really comes down to this. Having seen last night, "We're not Broke," which is a film the Congressional Progressive Caucus is showing during their Fair Share Tour across the US, I now realize to what extent the large multinational corporations own and control this country. I guess Romney was right when he said that "corporations are people my friends." The challenge is how can we take this country back from the corporate robbers since the Citizens United ruling armed the corporations with an unfair financial advantage? People, power and numbers are on our side since there are more of us than them. We have to strategize, organize and inform the public about how these corporations will continue to take over this country and possibly the world strictly for profit and power if we do not stop them.
