Comments on: What About The Government “Bailout” Of Foreign Auto Makers? http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/ Firedoglake weblog Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:13:08 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Hula2Pahoa http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1748386 Hula2Pahoa Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:49:48 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1748386 <p>Hi, my question to you is: I know where I am going-to ask for my share of the bailout! Our home in Las Vegas went from $332K in October 2006, to $190K in October 2008 when we sold it. How do I get my share of the $700B for the depreciation directly related to the mortgage crises. Can you tell me how to get there from here? Seriously asking this question. We had a HELOC of $75K on the home, that was it, no mortgage on it. Who do I ask for MY share of that $700B? Shouldn’t all homeowners who sold a home be entitled to the depreciation of this home?<br /> Now, we are in a home with a 7.5% 5 year ARM and CC companies reducing our borrowing power, which in turn lowers our credit score, and therefore, unable to refinance for a lower rate fixed mortgage (balance to credit limit too high once cc company lowers your limit).<br /> If this is the wrong forum to address this, even though I refer to the quote by the poster, then feel free to move to the proper area.<br /> Mahalo!</p> Hi, my question to you is: I know where I am going-to ask for my share of the bailout! Our home in Las Vegas went from $332K in October 2006, to $190K in October 2008 when we sold it. How do I get my share of the $700B for the depreciation directly related to the mortgage crises. Can you tell me how to get there from here? Seriously asking this question. We had a HELOC of $75K on the home, that was it, no mortgage on it. Who do I ask for MY share of that $700B? Shouldn’t all homeowners who sold a home be entitled to the depreciation of this home?
Now, we are in a home with a 7.5% 5 year ARM and CC companies reducing our borrowing power, which in turn lowers our credit score, and therefore, unable to refinance for a lower rate fixed mortgage (balance to credit limit too high once cc company lowers your limit).
If this is the wrong forum to address this, even though I refer to the quote by the poster, then feel free to move to the proper area.
Mahalo!

]]> By: TheLurkingMod http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1748378 TheLurkingMod Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:44:15 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1748378 <p>Welcome!<br /> Come back again, please!</p> Welcome!
Come back again, please!

]]> By: Hula2Pahoa http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1748377 Hula2Pahoa Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:41:12 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1748377 <p>As a former Union Member (no longer working, no pension with my union) I keep asking myself one question: Why are they taking away from the retirees who put in their time with the companies? Reducing/cutting-back/passing off the people who put many years-some in the 40+ year range? They deserve the benefits with the only change being the company paying for the Medicare subsidy for them if they are 65+.<br /> On the other hand, they do deserve their pensions, but once retired, should not get a “bonus” since, in my mind, a “bonus” is for producing results-speedy work, good performance, etc. If you are retired and a pensioner, what are you DOING to earn that bonus?<br /> JMHO from a newbie :)<br /> Mahalo for reading this!</p> As a former Union Member (no longer working, no pension with my union) I keep asking myself one question: Why are they taking away from the retirees who put in their time with the companies? Reducing/cutting-back/passing off the people who put many years-some in the 40+ year range? They deserve the benefits with the only change being the company paying for the Medicare subsidy for them if they are 65+.
On the other hand, they do deserve their pensions, but once retired, should not get a “bonus” since, in my mind, a “bonus” is for producing results-speedy work, good performance, etc. If you are retired and a pensioner, what are you DOING to earn that bonus?
JMHO from a newbie :)
Mahalo for reading this!

]]> By: jonerik http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747754 jonerik Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:03:49 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747754 <p>Second your emotion, Knut. I’m a big Charles and Mary beard fan since I picked up and read a 1940 wo volume work by them called “America at Midpassage.” It’s worthwhile as a “historic book” as well as a history but because their analysis is so timeless, you can see the outlines of the issues as they were developing at that time. Their chapters on foreign policy and the development of American foreign policy is especially worthwhile if you want to get a good historical perspective on U.S. colonialism and the domestic forces which have driven that since about 1890.</p> <p>I’d like to comment on Gettelfinger’s comments which Jane quotes too. In Minnesota, we have a state program called “tax increment financing” which allows local government to grant tax incentives to business. It does not allow outright grants which must be approved by the state legislature but from some research on these local incentives I did a few years ago, I learned that the basis for them exists back in the U.S. Tax Code. Which stands to reason, since “income” is so broadly defined as to include nearly any form of receipt or forbearance, i.e. forgiveness of a debt. </p> <p>While we like to think of our domestic economy as resembling the free market of Adam Smith, the reality is that it is closer to the French mercantilist economy of Louis XIV and Colbert through our byzantine tax system. This will probably never change but at least Congress should look at how incentives and favors to certain industries encouraged by our national tax code has cost jobs and made the US uncompetitive.</p> Second your emotion, Knut. I’m a big Charles and Mary beard fan since I picked up and read a 1940 wo volume work by them called “America at Midpassage.” It’s worthwhile as a “historic book” as well as a history but because their analysis is so timeless, you can see the outlines of the issues as they were developing at that time. Their chapters on foreign policy and the development of American foreign policy is especially worthwhile if you want to get a good historical perspective on U.S. colonialism and the domestic forces which have driven that since about 1890.

I’d like to comment on Gettelfinger’s comments which Jane quotes too. In Minnesota, we have a state program called “tax increment financing” which allows local government to grant tax incentives to business. It does not allow outright grants which must be approved by the state legislature but from some research on these local incentives I did a few years ago, I learned that the basis for them exists back in the U.S. Tax Code. Which stands to reason, since “income” is so broadly defined as to include nearly any form of receipt or forbearance, i.e. forgiveness of a debt.

While we like to think of our domestic economy as resembling the free market of Adam Smith, the reality is that it is closer to the French mercantilist economy of Louis XIV and Colbert through our byzantine tax system. This will probably never change but at least Congress should look at how incentives and favors to certain industries encouraged by our national tax code has cost jobs and made the US uncompetitive.

]]> By: Anais http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747695 Anais Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:23:24 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747695 <p>Truly Left is truly right (I mean correct). Every msm outlet is parroting the same propaganda about the problem being the labor unions. Whatever problems are in the auto industry, management is the problem, not the workers.<br /> A big debt of thanks to Jane for noting the HUGE state subsidies in states with “right to work” laws. As a resident of the Northeast, I saw several local communities try to woo foreign automakers, who turned around and built factories in the South because of those multi-million-dollar incentives and no unions. Yet we can’t help the domestic automakers who employ workers in unions that protect the worker. The GOP definitely wants to kill unions, in my opinion. We would then return to the days of the robber barons (as if we aren’t there already). No thanks.</p> Truly Left is truly right (I mean correct). Every msm outlet is parroting the same propaganda about the problem being the labor unions. Whatever problems are in the auto industry, management is the problem, not the workers.
A big debt of thanks to Jane for noting the HUGE state subsidies in states with “right to work” laws. As a resident of the Northeast, I saw several local communities try to woo foreign automakers, who turned around and built factories in the South because of those multi-million-dollar incentives and no unions. Yet we can’t help the domestic automakers who employ workers in unions that protect the worker. The GOP definitely wants to kill unions, in my opinion. We would then return to the days of the robber barons (as if we aren’t there already). No thanks.

]]> By: PJEvans http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747643 PJEvans Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:51:20 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747643 <blockquote><p>David Cay Johnston of the New York Times writes about the fiction that local small business are at a competitive disadvantage to WalMart because of a big box store’s ability to buy in bulk. In fact, WalMart regularly goes into communities and demands subsidies to build in the area such that they keep the sales tax they collect and don’t pay property tax. Local businesses, with no such tax advantages, must charge higher prices to make a profit and quickly start going out of business.</p></blockquote> <p>I lived in one city where the city’s condition for approving a W*lM*rt distribution center was also getting a store. (I think this was in addition to subsidies to get the distribution center, but I wasn’t there at the time.) Several businesses disappeared afterward, probably but not entirely due to the W*lM*rt store, including the KM*rt that was its main competitor. (The JCPenney in the same shopping center is now an JCPenney outlet store. They couldn’t compete, either.) They’re talking now about how good the city is to retire to - that means the major local industry is retirement/nrusing homes, and I don’t think that’s going to be enough to keep the place going in terms of economic diversity: everything will be depending on medical jobs or prison jobs (yes, they got one of those too) or farming.</p>

David Cay Johnston of the New York Times writes about the fiction that local small business are at a competitive disadvantage to WalMart because of a big box store’s ability to buy in bulk. In fact, WalMart regularly goes into communities and demands subsidies to build in the area such that they keep the sales tax they collect and don’t pay property tax. Local businesses, with no such tax advantages, must charge higher prices to make a profit and quickly start going out of business.

I lived in one city where the city’s condition for approving a W*lM*rt distribution center was also getting a store. (I think this was in addition to subsidies to get the distribution center, but I wasn’t there at the time.) Several businesses disappeared afterward, probably but not entirely due to the W*lM*rt store, including the KM*rt that was its main competitor. (The JCPenney in the same shopping center is now an JCPenney outlet store. They couldn’t compete, either.) They’re talking now about how good the city is to retire to – that means the major local industry is retirement/nrusing homes, and I don’t think that’s going to be enough to keep the place going in terms of economic diversity: everything will be depending on medical jobs or prison jobs (yes, they got one of those too) or farming.

]]> By: joel6653 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747637 joel6653 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:42:45 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747637 <p>At the risk of repeating what someone else has already said here: this is valuable information about a<br /> “subsidy” angle I’d never heard of before (and I live in Michigan). Thank you, Jane, thank you.</p> At the risk of repeating what someone else has already said here: this is valuable information about a
“subsidy” angle I’d never heard of before (and I live in Michigan). Thank you, Jane, thank you.

]]> By: Gitcheegumee http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747634 Gitcheegumee Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:39:55 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747634 <p>U.S. Politics News - U.S. Politics Today - News Media MonitoringDec 2, 2008 … US Politics Today. Stories you won’t find elsewhere. A non-partisan news service for political professionals. Comprehensive coverage of US …<br /> uspolitics.einnews.com/ - 94k - Cached - Similar pages<br /> __________________________________________________There you go,Crosstimbers. BTW, I’m NOT a political professional,not even a political amateur.But it’s a great site,anyhow.</p> U.S. Politics News – U.S. Politics Today – News Media MonitoringDec 2, 2008 … US Politics Today. Stories you won’t find elsewhere. A non-partisan news service for political professionals. Comprehensive coverage of US …
uspolitics.einnews.com/ – 94k – Cached – Similar pages
__________________________________________________There you go,Crosstimbers. BTW, I’m NOT a political professional,not even a political amateur.But it’s a great site,anyhow.

]]> By: Gitcheegumee http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747628 Gitcheegumee Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:33:13 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747628 <p>Umm, those “shitheads” in Alabama,with the talents of Rove and Abramoff, are also the ones that helped railroad Alabama Governor Don Segilman.The auotoplants are the money makers there. Casino gambling is the money maker next door in Haley Barbour’s state of Missisippi.BTW,Barbour and Abramoff were lobby partners many years ago. There’s a website called Alabama Corruption News. I’ll try to post a link.</p> Umm, those “shitheads” in Alabama,with the talents of Rove and Abramoff, are also the ones that helped railroad Alabama Governor Don Segilman.The auotoplants are the money makers there. Casino gambling is the money maker next door in Haley Barbour’s state of Missisippi.BTW,Barbour and Abramoff were lobby partners many years ago. There’s a website called Alabama Corruption News. I’ll try to post a link.

]]> By: dmac http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747619 dmac Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:54:39 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/what-about-the-government-bailout-of-foreign-auto-makers/#comment-1747619 <p>a relative who was a corporate accountant who did forecasting and budgeting-and did the books when they bought another company, etc. stuff like that, said that they don’t need a bailout, that a pre-bancruptcy structure would do what they need. that a bailout isn’t going to do what they need and will cost more for both the companies and the government. and because it will cost more for both that it won’t work. then shook his head.</p> a relative who was a corporate accountant who did forecasting and budgeting-and did the books when they bought another company, etc. stuff like that, said that they don’t need a bailout, that a pre-bancruptcy structure would do what they need. that a bailout isn’t going to do what they need and will cost more for both the companies and the government. and because it will cost more for both that it won’t work. then shook his head.

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