Back to looking at the difference between the auto company bailout through bridge loan guarantee and the financial / insurance / Wall Street bailout; Americans appear to resist helping the auto companies but say nothing about bailing out banks and the like.
One easy observation to make is that most Americans grasp what is happening with the auto companies and the reasons they are in a pickle but start talking about derivatives, default loan swaps, toxic investments, and mortgage backed financial instruments and the like and all you get are blank stares. People are not going to get mad over stuff they don’t understand, hell financial types don’t even understand some of this and that is pretty bad.
What people do understand is when their savings are in danger. Even knowing that savings are FDIC insured up to $100,000 and now double that, people lined up for miles to get their money out of banks that failed or were rumored to be failing. They will support anything and everything the government does to keep their savings safe.
People also take notice when their 401(k) drops 50% in value. This is their retirement nest egg and when they see half of it disappear into thin air, they get a little panicky. They want to yank their money out and put it under the mattress. They will support anything and everything the government does that brings back the value of their 401(k).
People know when they are having trouble paying their bills, especially their mortgage. They realize they bit off more than they can chew but they also like to think that they were encouraged to do that by people they trusted to tell them the truth. They will support anything and everything the government does to keep them out of foreclosure.
The problem here is that Joe Blow sees his government handing out billions to financial institutions but he cannot tell or understand specifically why, he can only assume that whatever the reasons the government has for spending those billions of taxpayer dollars, somehow they have something to do with him and his financial situation(s) as mentioned above.
THAT IS WHY PEOPLE DON’T BITCH ABOUT BANK BAILOUTS BUT WILL BITCH ABOUT BAILING OUT AUTO FAT CATS; they don’t benefit when auto companies are bailed out but do when banks are.
Of course there is perception and then there is reality. Michiganders want people to know about the “national” ripple effect that will occur when auto companies go bankrupt and they say the nation cannot handle such a shock.
I say, there is no other choice and if done right, the shock to our economy will not be as great as they want us to believe. THERE IS NO OTHER LEGAL WAY TO TEAR UP UNION CONTRACTS AND MOVE ALL PENSION OBLIGATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT EXCEPT BY GOING THROUGH BANKRUPCY PROCEEDINGS. The sooner we all realize that, the sooner we can get on the road to recovery.
One easy observation to make is that most Americans grasp what is happening with the auto companies and the reasons they are in a pickle but start talking about derivatives, default loan swaps, toxic investments, and mortgage backed financial instruments and the like and all you get are blank stares. People are not going to get mad over stuff they don’t understand, hell financial types don’t even understand some of this and that is pretty bad.
What people do understand is when their savings are in danger. Even knowing that savings are FDIC insured up to $100,000 and now double that, people lined up for miles to get their money out of banks that failed or were rumored to be failing. They will support anything and everything the government does to keep their savings safe.
People also take notice when their 401(k) drops 50% in value. This is their retirement nest egg and when they see half of it disappear into thin air, they get a little panicky. They want to yank their money out and put it under the mattress. They will support anything and everything the government does that brings back the value of their 401(k).
People know when they are having trouble paying their bills, especially their mortgage. They realize they bit off more than they can chew but they also like to think that they were encouraged to do that by people they trusted to tell them the truth. They will support anything and everything the government does to keep them out of foreclosure.
The problem here is that Joe Blow sees his government handing out billions to financial institutions but he cannot tell or understand specifically why, he can only assume that whatever the reasons the government has for spending those billions of taxpayer dollars, somehow they have something to do with him and his financial situation(s) as mentioned above.
THAT IS WHY PEOPLE DON’T BITCH ABOUT BANK BAILOUTS BUT WILL BITCH ABOUT BAILING OUT AUTO FAT CATS; they don’t benefit when auto companies are bailed out but do when banks are.
Of course there is perception and then there is reality. Michiganders want people to know about the “national” ripple effect that will occur when auto companies go bankrupt and they say the nation cannot handle such a shock.
I say, there is no other choice and if done right, the shock to our economy will not be as great as they want us to believe. THERE IS NO OTHER LEGAL WAY TO TEAR UP UNION CONTRACTS AND MOVE ALL PENSION OBLIGATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT EXCEPT BY GOING THROUGH BANKRUPCY PROCEEDINGS. The sooner we all realize that, the sooner we can get on the road to recovery.
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