Obama Motors
Now that's funny.
Still, I have difficulty with the excoriation of O! - not that I agree with the Chrysler deal, I don't - because Paulson and Bush and Bernanke cooked up a plan whereby the government got lots of non-voting preferred stock for the money it spent. Similarly, the UAW gets a seat on the Chrysler board but it is a non-voting seat, as I appreciate it.
In terms of actual influence on management going forward, both deals look a lot alike in that they are very weak intrusions on what the companies do. Still, while the O! Chrysler deal looks a whole lot like the bank bailout, it is indisputably a whole lot smaller.
Don't get me wrong, I hate both of them, but in terms of actual moolah, Paulson and Bush spent substantially more than what O! proposes to and has spent on Chrysler.
Bottom line: both look similar, but the Bush bank bailout was much, much larger. Thus, it is hard for me to get as excited over Chrysler as I did over the bailout of the banks. To revile O! while turning a blind eye to what Bush and Co. did is to ignore the full reality of things. Of course, O! is fair game here whereas W and Co. got a bit of respect despite having managed the economy in a truly incompetent manner.
Both examples are pure politics at play, aren't they? You reward your buddies and punish your enemies, public be damned.
We have been cursed with horrible leaders but we shall somehow muddle through. |
