George Bailout Bush drives the final nail in his coffin
He already wrote his epitaph.
The $17.4 billion bailout he just announced drives the final nail in his coffin. Stuart Varney calls it “a punt with conditions.”
The conditions are non-binding.
It’s an expensive joke on taxpayers.
Hurling my shoe.
***
Disloyalopp at Twitter writes: “Kabuki Bailout Th. Act III – ‘Deranged Warlord, grasping at straws to salvage a legacy, falls on his own sword repeatedly.’”
***
What part of “It’s illegal” doesn’t Bush understand?
***
UAW Local 602 president: “It’s premature to speculate about wage cuts or if one will even occur.”
Have you seen the Three Little Piggies?
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R.I.P. Fiscal Conservatism
And Dubya calls himself a free market guy? No Dubya, you are a socialism guy.
Its just 17.4 billion to be written off in the bankruptcy. After 8.5 trillion this is peanuts. Bush knows that.
He has no concept of how the free market really works, does he? The whole “creative destruction” thing? Never mind.
I heard Sen. Corker on the radio this morning before the announcement and his first word, without telling us the details, was “unfortunately”. I knew we were headed for something very bad. He might as well have come out an announced that the taxpayers are being ordered to bend over and grab our ankles AGAIN.
Oh wait, ….
Until we bust up the UAW and the schoolteachers’ unions, this country will continue to circle the drain.
Continue to? We are about out of water. I estimate less than 2 years before national bankruptcy. Less with obamas planed spending.
So you get your bailout after all. Congradulations, I won’t be buying an American car again until these fools get their act together.
I can’t stop your bailout, Bush. But I can poke my finger in your socialist eye, however small a gesture it is.
This is still against the law as Michelle pointed out earlier. Someone needs to file charges. I don’t know who that is but I am asking my senators who voted against the measure last week
We have GWB going around CONGRESS in an unprecedented move… We have B. HUSSEIN already talking 850 BILLION more for his PORTION of the CRAP SANDWICH… With only a handful of REPUBLICANS with BALLS enough to say anything against this MADNESS… GEEZ, it’s going to be a ROUGH 4 years…
Bush is the socialist meant to make the new marxist president look like a centrist.
Nope, no union made anything for me, if I can help it. Socialism is now here. The revolution must begin. Where are the Sons of Liberty -2008 version?
You can’t fix stupid.
Can we put GM and Chrysler on the clock to see how long it takes them to request their next bailout?
I heard this on the way to work this morning and I still can’t believe it. GB has completely given up. Another no strings attached loan. Why not just flush the money down the toilet. That money will be gone in no time and BHO won’t think twice about funding his union buddies. Bush had a chance to reshape the auto industry and he fell on his face… again!!!
Lending taxpayer’s grandchildren’s money to companies that are already bankrupt…what a great idea. This is what happens when liberals govern. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
I expect a pardon for Bin Laden next and then extended sentences for Campeon and Ramos.
I agree with paulrtaylor…someone needs to file charges, but I think that it should be against the entire Congress and Bush.
No UAW made cars for me… ever again.
I’m fine with the UAW workers making money. If the free market economics of the card industry supported their cost… then fine. But it doesn’t.
The problem is the UAW is bilking the Auto makers (who are complicit in this) and then because of that and other financial forces, coming to us for the money they claim they are entitled to.
Sorry boys… that’s NOT how it works.
I wonder if the UAW realizes how many people will never ever touch a GM, Ford or Chrysler again as a result of this work-fare they demand?
The sad part is that there are probably individuals in the union that WOULD support a cut to an economically viable wage and benefits plan. But their voices are squashed. Much like in NYC’s Transit Workers union.
Oh well.. they just committed themselves to their own demise.
Michelle.. this talk reminds of the scene from Ice Age… with the Do-Do Birds..
Doom on you! Doom on You! Just slap UAW T-shirts on Bush and the Do-Do’s and we’ve got our current situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BONgAIBlb4A
Way to encourage bad behaviour senor Bush.
Good one, MisterP. It does seem that way at times.
Why worry? By the end of January all Obambi’s Ivy League elitist will be on the job working hard for the common man and woman.
Who knows better how to spend our money and how important it is to raise our taxes? Plus we get to surrender the war.
Final nail? We can only hope.
Chrysler will merge into GM.
The UAW gave up almost nothing. Yea sure they are supposed to drop the pool of people that are laid off and draw the salaries doing nothing. But that program was getting so much heat that it was being phased out anyway.
Wonder if the union leadership are gonna get a bonus for winning the fight?
Why is there so few Repubs speaking out about this?
We thought we were screwed in 2008. Just wait for 2009.
ha! just listened to fox news and Cheryl Zamboni (or something like that) speaking about the economy if the autos failed and the trickle down effect said G.M. was one of the biggest users of VYagra. What are they doing? Humping the cars?
let’s see, california owes 48b and wants to raise taxes 11b and cut spending 7b, but that leaves 30b still to be covered mr bush. and new york city and state will need another 20b to cover their entrenched beaurocracy. great news!
I’ve got 4:05 pm EST 1/20/2009.
Last year I bought a hand dolly from Home Depot. Two wheeler with inflatable tires. Had a big sticker on it saying “Proudly made with Union Labor.”
I winced at the sticker, but I bought it anyway.
Both damn tires went flat after two weeks of use.
So this means I get a free car, right?
At $73/hour wages, the UAW must be happy, which is why I’ll never buy another American-made car.
Senator Demint recently stated that these bail-outs using taxpayers money are illegal and unfair. Its the unfair part thats gonna start a revolt in this country. Who sets the standard on who gets it and not. As for the taxpayers we are fuming mad. Obama actually said something yesterday that I agree with. Authority and oversight have been asleep at the wheel. How can the sub prime mess, then the Madoff scam go unnoticed…cuz no one was looking. And Paulson has the moronic statement yesterday that everything is under control. Wait till the auction ARMs and the Alt-As increase rates. Its gonna be a bailout equal to the sub prime mess. No accountability. We as citizens demand accountability. Both Dems And GOPs are to blame and they owe us…the taxpayer. Its massive discrimination by our own government. Bush , well he fell off the wagon with me when he wanted shamesty! TAX REVOLT NOW !
This is self destructive absolutism. Look at the bright side:
* The bailout was half the $35B people were talking about
* It requires the autos to seek bankruptcy protection and reorganize.
* It pressures the autos to pressure the UAW for deep concessions. This is one of the main things this blog was hoping for.
Despite the flack on this blog, Bush is still conservative. I think a strong motivation for some bailout comes from the troubled US (and worldwide) debt markets. These are in far worse shape than stock and real estate, which have gone down “only” 40%. Adding huge defaults from the autos would take away any chance of a quick recovery from the debt markets. That would mean no loans to small business, etc.
Bush is just kicking the can down the road so that Obambi and his trolls can deal with it. 17.4B is chump change in Washington. He did the right thing. If scores of auto industry dependent businesses began declaring bankruptcy in Q1 09, Obambi and his thugs would authorize another 2 Trillion in new spending to salvage everything. I wouldn’t mind all of the new spending if Dodd, Frank, Meeks, Waters, Raines, Johnson, Gorelik, and anyone else involved in this mess were thrown in jail. What is happening now is nothing compared to what’s going to happen w/Social Security. The sad thing is, I doubt McCain/Palin would not have handled any of this any better.
I bought my first Japanese car 30 years ago and never bought an American car again. It has been nice buying cars you expect to run flawlessly and last 12 years before you decide to trade it in.
Whats happens when no one buys a BIG 3 vehicle? LIke now? Just prolonging the pain!
I have heard of spin, but this takes the cake.
Nobody ever asks the question: What do we do with all the cars that nobody wants?
Everything is falling perfectly into nationalization just in time for the commies to take over. Perfect set up!
It will be funny when the oil companies demand a bail out with oil trading below 10 dollars a barrel.
Our government is nothing more than a den of thieves now. They do nothing but spend money – our money, and borrowed money on our behalf.
Some American some day is going to have to pay for all of this. . . but Congress and DC don’t care as long as they get elected again. Our kids and their kids are going to have to pay for the ‘sins of the fathers’.
On December 19th, 2008 at 10:29 am, Mister P said:
Give them all to me for free, I’ll figure out how to make some money off them.
So, who’s going to bailout the U.S., when our government goes bankrupt trying to bailout everyone else? *sigh*
I would advise you all to start buying euros…or gold…the dollar is going to be worthless in a few years..
zimbabwe here we come..
He still has a little less than a month left…
Remember, while those who have the gold make the rules, those who have the ammo will have the gold sooner or later.
I wouldn’t put anything in the Euro; if anything, Europe’s economy is even more screwed up than America’s.
The Constitution no longer means anything. We are no longer governed we are ruled. Our elected officials ( by way of voter fraud ) are bankrupting our grandchildren. We no longer have any say in what our government does. The nation is run by tyrants who take their orders from unions, wall street, enviromental groups, ect. The time has come for those of us who still believe in liberty to take our nation back. Over a million Americans have fought and died to keep this country free. We must insure that they did not die in vein.
DON’T TREAD ON ME!!!
Only because the cash is only running until the end of February. The $35 billion included long-term loans.
No, it doesn’t. Indeed, this $17.4 billion bailot was specifically constructed to avoid that scenario.
But it does not make those concessions a requirement of receiving either the initial $14 billion or the follow-on $4 billion.
I call Bravo Sierra on that.
And shifting that to an already-broke federal government will fix that how?
steveegg; right on point! our compassionate commander in chief hasn’t yet learned that keynsian economics has never worked, just as socialism has never worked. you can’t encourage laziness and inefficiency, because that is man’s normal state. you must punish our base states, and reward our better behaviors. any damn fool can sit on their ass and vegetate watching oprah.
You have been sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go! -Oliver Cromwell to Parliament, 1653
Too bad Obama is even down hill from Bush.
Meanwhile
I knew Bush was going to be a wash early on in his first term. Fortunately we didnt have to deal with Gore at the time BUT….
Early on in 2001, when Bush went down to Mexico to meet with their President who was a former Coke-Cola exec, I knew the cards were stacked against us and the fix was in.
9/11 was the only thing that saved Bush. He would have been a one term failure if the Trade Center hadnt been hit. Why should he care about his legacy… its not there any way. !@##$!@$ and I even liked him
Wagoner thanks everyone but the taxpayers in his ongoing press conference.
Bush has sold taxpayers down the river and if you watched him deliver the message, you could see he knew it was the wrong decision. He did it anyway, because he really is a dem at heart.
Our country is in deep trouble and the messiah will speed up the prcocess of decline. And I’m an eternal optimist!
I am sick to my stomach about this. The only saving grace is knowing that ultimately, Jesus Christ is in control of all of it and just lining things up the way He wants them. The USA isn’t mentioned in Revelation, and I’m getting a clearer picture of why. Maranatha!
Bush running neck and neck with Carter and Wilson and god forbid FDR as the worst president in the last 100 years.
Let’s see he’s appointed 2 good Supreme Court Judges, cut taxes and, and…hmmmm. Now you notice I hesitant giving him credit for securing the country from terrorism. I question how secure we really are with open boarders along with it being known mooslimbs are working with the mexican drug cartel, smuggling the anti-american illegal arabs into the country. Need to wait on the security issue…not to mention the increase in visa’s handed out to arab counties, who does Bush think the enemy is? Surely not his pals in the royal family supporting the madrases around the world, teaching down with America.
The bailouts are the last damage he can do with a pen, gads we’re in trouble.
I personally will never buy another American car as long as the union is stealing from the incompetently operated auto manufactures and the tax payers of America.
Bush has been one crappy president, sorry to say, the opposition was so bad I voted for him twice. What does that tell you about the lack of honest, valued, principled individuals willing to be politicians?
Be prepared folks it’s going to get ugly, very ugly.
I for one welcome our new socialist overlords.
Welcome to the United States of Socialist Republics (USSR). Enjoy your stay, Comrades! And please don’t think – our government never does.
Christ, and to think I used to admire this guy when I was younger!
Along with Richard(take us off of the gold standard) Nixon and Lyndon Johnson. In my lifetime we have had 2 decent Presidents (Eisenhour and Reagan).
meet the new boss, same as the old boss
Too late, done already.
Mr. P, no doubt I wasn’t being critical enough, I do agree…most of the presidents are crap when you boil it down to what they’ve actually done. Along with most of Congress over the years.
Oh did you miss the “strings”? If they can’t prove viability in 100 days, the US government gets all its money back! HA HA HA!!!!
Bush and Pelosi racing head long for single digit approval ratings.
Most exciting race of the year.
Just like McCain-Feingold he didn’t think it was a good idea but signed it anyway! What a putz! Spare me all these metro-sexuals with spines of jelly!
Amongst the non-bailout options that could have been done, one occurred to me the other day that doesn’t get much mention:
Eliminate taxation on bank account interest. This would encourage savings, and solvency for banks.
I suppose if one must push the bailout button, match the first $XXXX deposited in a year long account with ‘bail out’ dollars.
The idea is to gets money to the grass roots folks who’ve actually got (or want to develop) good savings habits at the banks of the people’s (not politicians) choice.
Reward good behavior and you’ll get more of it. Tax good behavior and you’ll get less of it. Throw good money after bad and the sucking sound only gets louder…
While the latest Bush bailout will probably do nothing positive or productive for either the auto industry or the country, I thought it would be interesting to see how the money could have been used in different ways:
If you figure a bailout price of 17.4 Billion, you could have bought:
497,142 Ford F150′s – retail price of $35,000
or
621,428 Chevy Malibu’s – retail price of $28,000
or
621,428 Chrysler Town and Country’s – retail price of $28,000
or
10,545,454,545 gallons of gas @$1.65/gal.or
Between 2 and 3, One thousand Megawatt Nuclear Power Plants, between 5 and 7 Billion each
or
696 miles of brand new interstate (25 Million per mile)
or
54,375,000 Wii game systems @$320/game
or
92,679 New Border Patrol Agents – Total cost of $187,744 per agent total (including training and equipment) according to US Customs and Protection
or
40,092,165 Smith and Wesson 66′s (357 Magnum @$434 per gun)
Feel free to add to the list.
Do not underestimate the amount of corruption that is possible under an Obama administration!
With a firmly entrenched plan for taking money from the federal government and placing it into the hands of private individuals, like the 2 billion Chrysler is funneling to their investors, the corruption comming will make all these absurd give aways seem ‘like the good old days’!
NJ Aviator,
Precisely. Bush seems to believe that the market demand for those Chryslers and Chevy’s will just evaporate if/when they go into Chapter 11. He has no concept of how that demand is the engine that will revitalize the economy – particularly when it’s aimed at a GM and Chrysler that isn’t saddled with an insane wage structure.
Bush’s ignorance is breathtaking, but his cowardice moreso. You really get the idea that these last 6 months have been all about defense, for Bush. Unbelieveable.
Obama’s showing the same kind of cowardice, btw. Now that he’s the guy who has to carry the results on his shoulder, see how he equivocates?
People forget just how brave Reagan was. Probably the last brave president, in this age of mamby-pambies and second-guessers.
It is obvious that Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama answer to higher powers than the people. And unless and until the people start to behave as though they are really angry, this type of conduct will continue. Bush is a great disappointment. Obama will be…bank on it!
“W” is desperately trying to save his legacy but, instead, he’s destroying it. At the same time, he’s handing the Democrats all the ammunition they need to blame him for every problem the Obama administration encounters. Believe me, they will blame him for everything. They will use his handling of the bailout against him even though they encouraged him to act this way.
President Bush is on his way to becoming the next Hoover, and given how he has “abandoned free market principles,” how will anyone defend him against the blame the democrats will heap upon him for the next 8 years?
I disagree with those of you who are saying that Bush is being stupid, or that he’s ignorant, etc. He’s not. He knows exactly what he is doing. There are no “morons” in DC, only people who are professionals at looking out for their own self interests, and no-one elses. Bush has no responsibility to the public at all now, so he’s doing what ever he thinks is best for him, and likely going with the highest bidder when it comes to decisions.
Dear Harvard Business School,
Today one of your graduates has embarrassed you beyond words. Sadly, if you do not speak up in favor of the free market, I will take you off my list of top schools. Oh I know, it’s only my own mental list, but you and I will both know where you rank. And that is enough.
AlohaGuy
PS – Aloha also means “goodbye”.
You think Bush cares if it’s legal or not?
How much debt should our children inherit?
All this means is I’ll have to wait a few more months to buy a Toyota Mustang V8 or a Nissan Corvette. Sexy.
UAW get a clue.
I am looking at buying a new ford truck now and investing into the company . I might lose on the stocks but at least im giving them my money because i chose to not because it was taken by force.
you want a real stimulus package enact the fair tax .
It’s time for a full scale country wide TAX Boycott!!
MrVIBEMAN: YIKES ! $187744 per Border Agent? That’s SHOCK & HORROR; over $90 per hour…Yet people say the UAW is overpaid?
Just saying…
How many of you want to get rid of the ridiculous overpaid Border Patrol? Or, is the $73 per hour figure for the UAW overblown? Let’s hire the UAW to control our borders and save money…
Just saying…
Besides, the UAW membership LIKES guns.
I have a Smith & Wesson 38/357 revolver hand gun.. concealable…. an old Remington 870 Wingmaster 12 gauge…. my K-Bar…. and my intellect… sad but if I’m challenged… please bring it on.
This has got to be one of the most outrageous stunts I’ve seen in a long time. It makes me sick to think I’ve been trying to defend this man for the past 8 years, only to have him kick me and my children (and future grandchildren) in the teeth on his way out the door. At the very least, he could have done NOTHING for the next couple of months like any self-respecting lame duck, then let Obama handle it…but NOOOOO, he has to try to “fix” our economy by RUINING IT. GOOD RIDDANCE, MR. BUSH!! You can’t get out fast enough. (I never thought I’d say that.)
One must wonder if Bush is “in on” the scheme to soften up Obama’s image…just sayin’
fixed it
Bush has NEVER been conservative, EVER. He is, and has always been, an internationalist.
He’s as much a conservative as Juan McAmnesty, which is to say, not at all.
Just because he calls himself one doesn’t make him one.
They can call this Operation Nash-Rambler thank you George Romney. But President Bush has just raised you one. American Motors caved into the UAW and signed a contract that pretty much depended on a 2% growth forever to pay for it. The other three automakers felt compelled to match it it has been a downhill slide ever since. It is called the agreement that drove Studebaker to Canada.
Every economic downturn we see brings on crisis such as this.