The second question about them selling their jets and returning home on commercial planes was just silliness.

Gee….who do you think would buy a private jet in DC? A Congressman, perhaps?

Will they bring this up the next time Al Gore goes before Congress? How about George Soros? Where is the grilling over ‘Obama-1′? Are they similarly outraged by lawmakers using private jets?

Of course not. Excesses of the rich and pampered are only good for political points against a select few that they place in their sights.

Typical double standard of the left. Heinz-Kerry can own as many homes as they like and it’s no biggie. John McCain however has to defend himself against his wife’s family fortunes.

Cindy Munford on November 19, 2008 at 7:04 PM

Heh, heh. Good one

You know you live in a Fascist society when you have businesses that are too big to fail.

Corsair on November 19, 2008 at 3:10 PM

Hmmm – interesting observation. However, isn’t breaking up companies against the basic principle of a free market system? I do agree that a free market system *should* create “perfect competition” as opposed to a monopoly or oligopoly, which is why US may appear to be a contradiction of sorts. However the contradiction can be explained if you factor in the differences in starting capitals of the parties which initially partake in the market, which makes the competition imperfect and will eventually culminate in a monopoly.

Sorry for the rant. I just love to be on a blog where folks can have an intelligent exchange of ideas without being mean.

Cheers,
The Family Guy.

What a CEO earns, in relation to the total payroll of large corporations is chump change… And, he earns every g’damn penny of it.

Really? So all these companies being bailed out are run by CEO’s who earned every “every g’damn penny of it”? You could put a monkey in those CEO seats, have the same outcome and it would only cost a few bananas a week. The monkeys would earn “every g’damn penny of it” just by not crapping up the place.

Corporate begging in style
If industry leaders need to convince Congress that their plight is so
desperate that they need $25 billion in taxpayer cash to rescue them,
what mode of transportation would best underscore that crisis? Flying
coach? ……

http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm

We don’t have a say in any of this……we lost.

jay12 on November 19, 2008 at 3:11 PM

Yep, that’s what it boils down to. Doesn’t matter a bit what we think anymore.

aero on November 19, 2008 at 3:22 PM

Yep, we lost. Only one thing to do. Make a snazzy logo of a fist and go protest on the streets!
/sarc

We don’t have a say in any of this……we lost.

jay12 on November 19, 2008 at 3:11 PM

Yep, that’s what it boils down to. Doesn’t matter a bit what we think anymore.

peter_griffin on November 19, 2008 at 2:20 PM

The role of government in a capitalistic society should be to prevent unfair business practices by large businesses (and monopolies) and to put small businesses out of business.
You know you live in a Fascist society when you have businesses that are too big to fail.

Basic economic theory: if you believe in unrestrained free market capitalism, *even if* you start with equal weightage, you would ultimately end up with a pareto distribution of wealth where >90% of the nation’s wealth will be concentrated in the hands of 3% of the population. Hence the need for the government to balance things by taxation and enforcing fiscally responsible behavior amongst the industry leaders, to prevent social unrest.

I will be willing to talk to folks in depth about the above point. Please be analytical when responding to this, though.

Cheers,
The Family Guy.

Email your senator/congressman

http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm

reshas1 on November 19, 2008 at 11:38 AM

Somehow I think Carl Levin and I will never be on the same side of this issue. I say that before getting one dime the unions and auto manufacturers need to come to Congress with a real plan that cuts out all the fat from operations and slashes labor costs. Carl Levin is a paid political whore for the UAW.

I have worked in the auto industry for a decade, both on the OEM and supplier side. From the supplier side, Ford is by far the worst of the companies to work with, and the model they have currently cannot sustain itself any longer than the other two
ConservativeLawStudent on November 19, 2008 at 10:09 AM

One of the great unmentionables is the nepotism practiced in both union and management. Jobs are held for friends and relatives. Do not look for a ‘Hiring’ sign. Outsiders are brought in to the company to feed the tech side with brains. I know two people brought in to be sacrifices to the hatchet man who is always brought in to fire someone when others mess up.

I knew a (non photographer) lady who got a job as a photographer for some (unnecessary) newsletter at the company via friendship. She lasted a year. I always wondered if her photos were ever used.

A car designer relative told to me about a bozo idea his bosses had to replace experienced designers with young blood. The replacements designed van doors that fell off. No input was requested from the experienced

So what they take private jets to work/DC/etc? That’s part of their compensation for their position at their respective company. Cry & moan as much as you please…class warfare isn’t going to solve the problem.
Ital79 on November 19, 2008 at 10:02 AM

Wrong. When they are borrowing money from me they have to prove they do not have unnecessary assets they can liquidate first. If the CEOs cannot let go of the jets which they call perks, we fire these execs and hire new ones (I will take the job)

or let them eat jets.

They wouldn’t go to ch. 11, by the way. They wouldnt have the money or be able to get a loan to sustain them during restructing. They’d go to ch.7 and the whole company would be liquidated. lodge on November 19, 2008 at 10:11 AM

Why can’t the government loan them the money for a Ch 11?

The lender could put requirements on the money – like ending jets as part of the restructure, and ending exec bonuses and perks until the loan is repaid?

Mitt Romney has an excellent op-ed against a bailout. It is a shame McCain ran instead of this articulate and reasoned man