Reflections From a Murky Pond

General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, June 1, 2009, as part of President Obama’s plan to shrink the automaker to a sustainable size and give a majority ownership stake to the federal government.

Obama’s plan is for the federal government to take a 60% ownership stake in the new GM (Government Motors?). The Canadian government would take 12.5% of the company. The United Auto Workers Union (UAW) would be granted a 17.5% share and unsecured bondholders receiving a mere 10% holding. All existing GM shareholders are expected to be wiped out and to lose all of their investments.

So Americans, under the rule of President Obama are now left with an important question:

Would You Buy A Car From This Man?

Of course I could say that the question was largely moot. Obama is set to take ownership of both GM and Chrysler through his control of their bankruptcy proceedings and his control over the US financial sector; American will be left with few choices except to purchase cars from Obama and his government agencies.

On the bright side though, GM and Chrysler – possibly to be combined into a single Government Motors, People’s Motors, or Obama Motors – will have the benefit of both the largest advertising budget in history and the consummate snake oils salesman / used car salesman in America’s history as their spokesman. 😉

Tags: Autos | Detroit | Economy | Humor | Obama | Politics | Socialism

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Humor, Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

How could President Obama make sure that he and his administration achieve their agenda for the American automotive industry’s restructuring? While his government now “owns” major interests in GM and Chrysler, they’re both still technically private companies that can set their own policies.

The easy answer is for Obama and his government is to use American tax dollars to start a new automobile manufacturer and buy out the remaining healthy assets of GM and/or Chrysler. Apparently that is what he is planning on doing!

Driving America To The Edge…And Beyond

Many Americans feared that the Automobile Bail-Out would lead to nationalization of the Americans auto industry. In response to those fears, the Liberals heaped scorn upon the concerned. Sadly for America, it looks like we were right to be afraid. Welcome to Obama Motors.

NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) – General Motors Corp’s (GM.N) plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company’s healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Supposedly it’s GM’s plan, but it’s Obama and his Liberals who have the money – our money – that GM needs to survive – so who’s deciding what going happen? The government under Obama, that’s who. America has already heard about how Obama and his team are controlling the Chrysler pseudo-bankruptcy.

Of course this new company – Obama Motors? Government Motors? USSA Auto? – won’t be wholly owned by the US government. They’ll be splitting it with the UAW, but the government will likely hold the majority of control.

The government’s plans include giving stakes in the new company to GM’s union and bondholders, although the ownership structure of the company is still being negotiated, said the source who is familiar with the company’s plans.

~*~

The board of the new company would be established with the tacit approval of the government. Fritz Henderson, who took the helm of GM earlier this year after the government pushed out Rick Wagoner, would likely head the new company, the source said.

There’s not that much else to say on this topic other than this is a very bad thing for America and it is very likely to come to pass.

Tags: Autos | Capitalism | Detroit | Obama | Politics | Socialism | Totalitarianism

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Having car troubles – i.e. having your automobile malfunction – is a royal pain in the ass. Nobody likes it, except the mechanics of course. They get paid to find and fix those problems.

Mechanic – I found your problem

Of course, sometimes finding out what the problem is doesn’t mean that it’s fixable. This is often the case when one either uses substandard parts to start with or adds shoddy after-market modifications conceived of in the 3rd-World. 😉

Tags: Autos | Cartoons | Detroit | Humor | Labor Unions | Obama | Politics | Socialism | Soviets | UAW

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 17th, 2009 at 9:15 am and is filed under Humor, Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Capitulate to Obama’s will, whims, and desires or be destroyed, that seems to be the modus operandi for America’s First Black President and his Chicago-style regime. Do as he says, irrespective of laws, contracts, or your own best interests and responsibilities, or be destroyed by the regime and/or its propaganda corps.

A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.

— John Tapper
ABC News – Political Punch

The White House, in the person of White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, denied the claim that President Obama’s Auto Industry Task Force threatened to use the Press Corps to destroy the reputation of Perella Weinberg Partners LP.

Right; they deny the charge, but does anyone with any sense or with love for America believe them? This is exactly the same strong-arm tactic of intimidation that they’ve used before.

Their denial falls flat in the face of the truth, as can be seen by President Obama’s own words on Thursday, April 30, 2009, when Obama revealed his plan for Chrysler.

While many stakeholders made sacrifices and worked constructively, I have to tell you some did not. In particular, a group of investment firms and hedge funds decided to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout. They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices, and they would have to make none. Some demanded twice the return that other lenders were getting. I don’t stand with them.

— President Obama
Remarks By The President On The Auto Industry

Those stakeholders who “made sacrifices and worked constructively” are: JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. Together they are owed approximately 70% of Chrysler’s debt and had already agreed to participate with the administration’s plan, which comes as no surprise to anyone who’s been following politics and the US economy. All four financial institutions are recipients of up to $100 billion each in federal government bailout funds (TARP) and they’ve all seen what happened to AIG and its employees.

While Obama’s not a Muslim – it’s doubtful he accept any authority greater than himself – he follows a twisted variation of their principles. To him, there are only Dar al-Obama and Dar al-Harb.

According to Thomas Lauria, Global Practice Head of the Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Group at White & Case, the boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners were willing to take 50 cents on the dollar from Chrysler for their debt – which, it should be noted, is similar to what they would receive under an interfered with bankruptcy proceeding.

That’s apparently not good enough for Obama and his cabal though; they demand absolute submission to their will and are more than willing to use any means at their disposal to punish and, if needs be, destroy their opposition and silence any dissent.

Obama and his Liberal coterie will probably get away with it too, which is an atrocity and a crime against America in and of itself. They’ve made good use of the Race Card and have – with the eager collusion of the MSM –  done a masterful job of fomenting Class Warfare in America.  This has and will continue to allow them to attack and destroy any financial institutions or other large corporations in America with near impunity.

This means that  President Obama has an easy time painting firms like AIG , Perella Weinberg Partners, and others as greedy, divisive, and contrarian. After all, they’re  just a bunch of “evil, old, rich, White men.” The dark heart of Obama’s constituency has long desired to see them destroyed and their wealth redistributed.

… And of course any dissent with his agenda will be decried as Racist.

Tags: Autos | Capitalism | Chrysler | Classism | Detroit | Economy | Law | Obama | Politics | Socialism | Totalitarianism

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 8:56 am and is filed under Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

President Obama – or his administration, if that makes difference – has just “fired” the CEO of General Motors (GM). In an act of direct governmental control over a private American corporation Obama has required that that Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors step down.

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.

Wagoner’s departure is one of the remarkable strings attached to a new aid package the administration plans to offer GM.

The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government’s behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason.

On Monday, President Obama is to unveil his plans for the auto industry, including a response to a request for additional funds by GM and Chrysler.

Industry sources had said the White House planned very tough medicine, which turned out to be an understatement. And it went to the very top. The measures to be imposed by the government will have a dramatic effect on workers, unions, suppliers, retirees and the communities where plants are located, the sources said.

— Mike Allen
Political Correspondent for Politico

I can’t really say that this is other than a very, very bad sign that President Obama is fully prepared to use whatever means are at his disposal to enable the federal government to “take charge” of any portion of America that they can manage to get a hold of.

It has to be said though that President Bush willfully and foolishly set this up when he sidestepped Congress in order to bail-out the Big Three American automobile manufacturers.

This is the problem with accepting money from the government; you’re then beholden to them and they can – in the Liberals’ case they will – start exercising direct control over your actions. This is especially true for large and/or important industries and ones that the current party controlling the administration don’t favor.

And, of course, removing GM’s CEO is just the beginning of the “Change” to be wrought in the coming months.

We are anticipating an announcement soon from the Administration regarding the restructuring of the U.S. auto industry. We continue to work closely with members of the Task Force and it would not be appropriate for us to speculate on the content of any announcement.

— GM Spokesman

Rick Wagoner had been CEO for 8 years and at GM for more than 30. At the time of this post it is unclear if Wagoner will be replaced or if GM will be directly controlled by the US government from this point forward. President Obama’s Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry has clarified what their ongoing role is going to be or how involved they’ll be in the operations of GM, Ford and Chrysler.

Once again, it has to said that President Bush provided the precursor for this when, in September 2008, he had AIG CEO Robert Willumstad step down as part of an $85 billion bailout.

Automotive industry sources say that the measures to be imposed by the government upon the US auto industry will have a profound effect on workers, unions, suppliers, bondholders, shareholders, retirees and the communities where plants are located. Whether or not those profound effects are positive or negative remains to be seen.

Well, shortly Americans will find out – though too late to make a difference – if they still have an American Automotive Industry or if they have the People’s Automotive Collective – managed in their name by the government of course. 😉

Tags: Autos | Bush | Capitalism | Detroit | Economy | Liberals | Obama | Politics | Socialism

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 6:36 am and is filed under Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.