I have given a lot of thought since my last post on the proposed automotive companies’ bailout. Indeed, I am also rethinking my position on the financial institutions’ bailout. The problem, as I see it, is these companies got themselves into this position through greed and short-term profit strategy. If this is not the case, how come senior executives still stand to get their bloated salaries, still get their golden parachutes, still get their bonuses, and still get their corporate perks even though their respective companies are going down the tubes? Among many leading companies in the world (none of which seem to have the problem that US automotive and financial institutions have), there is an old saying, “Innovate or die.” Yet, the very automotive companies that are asking for a bailout want that bailout to spend on innovation. These very automotive companies used lobbiests and spent multi-millions of dollars fighting increased gas mileage so they wouldn’t be forced to innovate. The boards of directors of these organizations endorsed this behavior by paying the management of these organizations obscene amounts of money. And finally, the stockholders of these automotive companies acted as rubber stamps to this board and executive behavior.
A pox on all your houses. If your organization can’t figure out the solution on your on, then you are doomed anyway and deserve to go into bankruptcy, be acquired, or be parted out and sold off. My tax dollar didn’t get you into this mess and most likely won’t be able to get you out. If you aren’t able to do it on your own, then file for bankruptcy protection. Doing so will allow the courts and debtors to throw out the board, change the management, and do so for pennies on the dollar. Yes, jobs are going to be lost, but they are going to be lost anyway–might as well be sooner than later. Yes, pension benefits and healthcare benefits are going to be lost–might as well be sooner than later. Doing so may just make those green jobs plans and universal healthcare plans look a little more reasonable. I would much rather that $700 billion going to make bad financial managers look good go to the creation of real, needed, and valued green energy jobs. I would much rather that $25 billion automotive bailout go to the transition to a universal healthcare plan.
The fact is, the current bailout activity already authorized and executed by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, the SEC, and the FDIC is over $2 trillion dollars. Think what that amount of money would have done for physical infrastructure improvements, technology infrastructure improvements, universal healthcare, and re-skilling the US workforce!
Stop the insanity! Let those greedy short-term thinking companies fail. There will always be a replacement.
Political Thoughts
More Thoughts on Bailout
November 14, 2008I have given a lot of thought since my last post on the proposed automotive companies’ bailout. Indeed, I am also rethinking my position on the financial institutions’ bailout. The problem, as I see it, is these companies got themselves into this position through greed and short-term profit strategy. If this is not the case, how come senior executives still stand to get their bloated salaries, still get their golden parachutes, still get their bonuses, and still get their corporate perks even though their respective companies are going down the tubes? Among many leading companies in the world (none of which seem to have the problem that US automotive and financial institutions have), there is an old saying, “Innovate or die.” Yet, the very automotive companies that are asking for a bailout want that bailout to spend on innovation. These very automotive companies used lobbiests and spent multi-millions of dollars fighting increased gas mileage so they wouldn’t be forced to innovate. The boards of directors of these organizations endorsed this behavior by paying the management of these organizations obscene amounts of money. And finally, the stockholders of these automotive companies acted as rubber stamps to this board and executive behavior.
A pox on all your houses. If your organization can’t figure out the solution on your on, then you are doomed anyway and deserve to go into bankruptcy, be acquired, or be parted out and sold off. My tax dollar didn’t get you into this mess and most likely won’t be able to get you out. If you aren’t able to do it on your own, then file for bankruptcy protection. Doing so will allow the courts and debtors to throw out the board, change the management, and do so for pennies on the dollar. Yes, jobs are going to be lost, but they are going to be lost anyway–might as well be sooner than later. Yes, pension benefits and healthcare benefits are going to be lost–might as well be sooner than later. Doing so may just make those green jobs plans and universal healthcare plans look a little more reasonable. I would much rather that $700 billion going to make bad financial managers look good go to the creation of real, needed, and valued green energy jobs. I would much rather that $25 billion automotive bailout go to the transition to a universal healthcare plan.
The fact is, the current bailout activity already authorized and executed by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, the SEC, and the FDIC is over $2 trillion dollars. Think what that amount of money would have done for physical infrastructure improvements, technology infrastructure improvements, universal healthcare, and re-skilling the US workforce!
Stop the insanity! Let those greedy short-term thinking companies fail. There will always be a replacement.
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