Rikyrah, I have to agree with you. I thought I'd never say anything remotely kind about him.

Thursday, November 20, 2008 “HardBall”

http://blog.heritage.org/2008/11/21/video-gattu...

Rikyrah, I have to agree with you. I thought I'd never say anything remotely kind about him.

Thursday, November 20, 2008 “HardBall”

http://blog.heritage.org/2008/11/21/video-gattu...

– Immediate dismissal of current board members of the auto companies requesting a bailout without compensation;

– Convene three congressional search committees to find and nominate new board members to the auto companies within 90 days of the companies receiving bailout funds;

– Allocate $1 billion in bailout funds to assist struggling ethnic and minority dealerships. The funds should be focused on developing or continuing special financing programs to persons with less than perfect credit — i.e. their target customers.

– Develop three, six, nine and twelve-month profitability, quality and environmental benchmarks. If goals are not met within one year from receiving bailout funds, dismiss current executive team members without compensation;

– Current executive team members can remain at their companies for the probationary year, but will receive only five percent of their current salary without bonuses;

– Place a moratorium on outsourcing U.S. plant jobs for the first 24 months;

– Companies receiving bailout funds will be required to submit all trade deals with other countries to Congress for review and approval, no less than 60 days before talks are finalized;

– Companies receiving bailout funds will be subject to having their books reviewed by the GAO and Secretary of Commerce to ensure that funds are being allocated and spent appropriately (as defined by Congress);

– Bailout funding is RESTRICTED to operational expenses only. Utilizing bailout funding non-operational expenses such as social functions (e.g. company retreats, holiday parties, award ceremonies, etc.) is strictly prohibited;

– Companies receiving bailout funds must use cost-effective methods to conducting international and cross-country meetings (e.g. utilizing WebEx, videoconferencing, teleconferencing, etc.).

They would actually watch an entire industry go bankrupt, if it meant a few extra seats in Congress.

Unbelievable.

Anyone making 20 million a year should at least halve their salary or go down to $5 million a year, or whatever minimum needed to sustain a reasonable standard of living. Slash the executive fleet down to whatever minimum is needed. Support Universal Health Care (HR 676) Submit a short term and a long term plan for profitability, with the Federal Government Oversight People and the Unions getting a seat on the Boards of Directors

And you've just crafted Ludas' new video about hip hop needing a bailout.

The heads of the big 3 could ride in on 24k gold Lear jets with diamond encrusted landing gear, build a giant bath tub in the senate chambers, fill it with Cristal and splash about in it while feeding each other Beluga caviar during the hearings and the Senate would still think they needed a blank check. We need to start running these dinosaurs out of office or Obama will end up being the most ineffective president in history if he has to depend on these ass clowns to pass his agenda. The people we have in office now are too beholden to lobbyists to care about what the people want.

Here's an interesting diary that discusses what the GOP is really up to in all this:

“Why I changed my mind on the Auto Bailout”
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/20/32...

Must think there will be nothin' left for his Wall Street boys to come back and pillage.

http://industry.bnet.com/auto/1000367/paulson-s...

* The executive teams of each one of the companies gets whacked.

*CAFE standards get bumped up without delay.

*Relinquish patents related to hybrid, electric and fuel-cell technologies — if they haven't made use of those technologies in a meaningful way by now, they didn't plan to.

*Have a liquidation sale, where cars and trucks are so cheap that you won't need financing.

Give Detroit the bailout.

I'd give Detroit 50 BILLION before I ever wanted Wall Street to get one.

Their arrival act was like taking a limo ride to a soup line.

If they did pretend there would be a post from someone, somewhere saying that they should have done such things sooner and it was nothing more than a token.

You coming to DC to beg, at least look like you're in need. Flying a private jet to ask for a bailout does not communicate that. Flying first Class on Northwest Airlines at $837 for a commuter flight to take care of business speaks more to being fiscally compentent and sends the right message.

Coercing employees to buy stock when you're running the stock down is like slavery – demanding work and not paying for it. They knew the fluidity of the stock market and should have allowed employees other options, rather than “support where you work” BS. These workers are broke, and the executives are still enjoying perks and saying “Let them eat Cake”.

We all know where that got Marie Antoinette.

What's worse is that they KNOW they are doing it and don't care – and feel that it's the middle-classes' fault if they don't pull themselves up by the bootstraps.