FROM 2012 INTO 2013 POLITICS THREAD

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

How many people did he kill with his lies?

Yeah, thought so.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

My local education collective is hosting Noam Chomsky soon. I think we're going to plot how to take down America. The biggest issue to decide, though, is what refreshments to serve.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

For instance . . .

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Baseless.

www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html?_r=0

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

"The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check."


Yes. Notice.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

In 3_O_F's defense, the charge being bandied about was not that Romney wanted GM to go bankrupt, but rather that he wanted GM to go tits up. It is probably not ridiculous to assume that most reading here would hear "go bankrupt" and think "shut down." Others (cranberry, for instance), argue that bankruptcy was tantamount to tits up in this instance, so (they argue) it is a distinction without a difference.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD


Per his own OpEd, Mr. Romney wanted the big three in 'managed bankruptcy.'

So, not inaccurate to assert Mr. Romney was in favor of bankruptcy.

But 3OF was claiming lefty lockstep on "wild-eyed stuff."

He has chosen a poor example here.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Well, it's like picking out the perfect jelly bean at the candy store. There are just so many from which to choose ...

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Because GM and Chrysler took the bailouts instead of bankruptcy, they're much more likely to learn a painful lesson in the difference between "bankruptcy" and, for lack of a better phrase, "tits up." And their employees will sure wish they had chosen bankruptcy.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD


I'm not sure that's true. The recent Hostess 'managed bankruptcy' would seem to argue otherwise. And the private sector credit available to carry two giant auto companies - and likely their entire supply chains - into and out of bankruptcy didn't seem to exist in late 2008.

Ford certainly prospered thanks to the $5.9 billion low-interest government loan it took in early 2009 to retool its plants.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Yes, because the unemployment line is always preferable to being employed ...

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

There was a bankruptcy. The difference is that the government loans helped the companies stay in operation through the early part of the economic crisis when private financing at that level was unavailable. Their employees, management included, would have been out on the street without the government loans, so, no, it's highly unlikely they would have preferred the Romney solution, which apparently was to get private bridge financing that wasn't available.