Politics and finance that is. So much for the airy fairy "play fair" propaganda. As long as the politicians and the big money managers win, it is fair. Even if Main Street suffers for it. What do I mean? Look at TARP, the financial bailout and the automaker bailout.
Well, the automakers did not get their bailout but frankly, they will eventually, because the politicians are too weak to make good decisions. This shows that if you don't have friends in Capitol Hill, no one cares about you, not even the press who are supposed to by fair and unbiased. And typically, those with friends are the ones who cry wolf most.
While it is true that the automakers are asking for only 10% of the current TARP bill, it is still atrocious. Here is a quote I saw and it explains why the automakers MUST fail.
Quote from seekingalpha.com comment on a news line post:
1: Legacy costs. The foreign transplants have not been operating in this country as longs as the little 3 and therefore don't have as much future liability. Additionally, their benefits are not nearly as generous as the little 3.
2: The UAW did renegotiate the wage structure for future hires that puts the new hires more in line with the foreign transplants, but all those on board before the renegotiation just a few years ago will not see a cut in pay and will still be eligible for cost of living raises as long as they remain with the companies. This is most of the employees.
3: The UAW still has written in their contracts that all workers from idled plants must be paid 95% of all wages they would earn working full-time. This ties the hands of the little 3 as they need to either make a permanent decision to close a plant, pay idled workers 95% or operate the same plant with full capacity and thus produce a glut of vehicles when buyers aren't readily available. The foreign transplants don't have this and are much more flexible.
4. When a UAW employee is laid off, they receive $105,000 in lump sum above and beyond any other benefits that they have accrued and are eligible for. The foreign transplants don't do this.
5. There are all kinds of additional union rules which don't take the form of a wage but negatively affect production and thus are best summed up as a benefit with a cost.
Frankly, after seeing this, I'm very convinced that everyone who supports the bailout is either an autoworker under the UAW. While I sympathize with the autoworkers in general, I have no sympathy for the workers in the three beggars, especially the older contracts.
Explain to me this, a group of scientists who pay so much tuition fees to study and invent new tools for the future only to get spit in the face for their idealism with receiving much lesser pay than a autoworker who does not create anything new. There is no birthright in life. If you feel you are special, then prove you are special, including unionized workers. I can recall the defeat the union pilots had in SIA a few years back. Bittersweet to know that SIA is surviving well. Then again, they are government backed, but with a lower cost structure, they are sustainable even without government funds or backing.
Now, the newest deathnote on the financials is the Madoff scam. Frankly, reading what he had confessed, I feel some sympathy for him. He cheated, and he confessed when he owned up. The worst part is the "smart money" that are suing him confessed that they know he cheated and still invested with him. Unfortunate but true.
What inspires you when you are doing everything right but still lose because someone simply rules that you must lose? What if you are persecuted for doing something right? This is what it has become. A world economy at the edge of a simplistic answer that it has too much corruption that a simple zero-sum game is now being twisted beyond recognition. Yet, bailouts only prove to be more denial. Companies will take the money and pocket it, like AIG. Nothing will change, nothing can change with bailouts.
It's like giving a candy to a child who robbed and bullied other children. I've seen that before, and I'm seeing it now. Obama has not done anything yet. His announcements are in the right direction but so far, actions are in the wrong direction. GM will cut all their jobs even with the bailout. UAW will not change if the bailout passes. If a bailout is not passed with the future in mind, then there will be no future, and children will grow with all the wrong teachings.
The end of the world is not a truth that we know. All things die one day, just like suns and black holes. End of days is and end only for those who can't see past the present and forget that the sun rise tomorrow even without the if selfishness of today all die. Obama's presidency will be judged, in my mind, on how much future USA has, not how much he can save of today's mess.
Sometimes, it boggles me to know that losing some today is good for tomorrow, but I have a good example for it. Like losing shedable weight.
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