Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Ayn Rand's prophecy fulfilled

Who else ever imagined such a Big Labor/Big Government swindle as Obama is attempting to perpetrate against GM bondholders? This fraudulent scheme is almost guaranteed to cause another economic meltdown. Ed Morrissey explains:
Even though you own $27 billion in GM bonds, you'd get 10% of the company. The UAW, which has a claim on $20 billion for its health-care and pensions obligations, would only have to sacrifice half of that to get 39%. The feds, who will invest another $9 billion to bring their total investment to the same level as your bonds, wants 51%. . . .
Does anyone at the Treasury do math any longer? The total sacrifice of all three parties would be $64 billion, of which the federal government and the bondholders are contributing the same percentage: 42.2%. The UAW will contribute about 15.6%. Why would the Obama administration expect bondholders to contribute 42% of the solution in order to gain 10% of the company?
Looter tactics straight out of Atlas Shrugged. My advice to anyone owning market mutual funds or stock in a publicly-traded corporation can be summed up in three words: Sell, sell, sell!

Weimar America and Dow 3,000, here we come!

UPDATE: Saw a scroll on the bottom of Fox News saying that GM bondholders have rejected the deal -- yea, bondholders! -- which explains why the Dow is up, for now.

The "Geithner Motors" scheme of handing over the once-mighty industrial giant to the UAW goons whose greed has bankrupted the company has got to be the worst idea for "recovery" I've ever heard.

UPDATE II: Bloomberg, at 11:17 a.m.:
General Motors Corp. fell 8.3 percent to $1.87 for the steepest drop in the
Dow. Bondholders find the automaker's offer to exchange their $27 billion in
debt for equity unreasonable and said they should be treated more equitably with
labor unions.
A share of GM is now cheaper than a gallon of gas.

8 comments:

  1. Sorry, but Rand was a nut. And what we are seeing is a Big Governemnt/Big Labor/Big Business swindle against the taxpayers, including some people still too young to be taxpayers.

    Rands moonbattish "philosophy" is a big part of why we are where we are. Hey, remember, greed is good! All the people running the show at present seem to have absorbed that message completely. We're reaping what she sowed.

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  2. Ayn Rand may have been a nut but the idea that we are all living in the world that Rand built is even nuttier.

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  3. anonymous - Rand was a nut? How about Thomas Jefferson, Franklin and Adams? Ever hear of "The Wealth of Nations?'' Milton Friedman? The moonbat philosophy of which you speak created from those above (along with Rand), the most prosperous civilization EVER. Self interest is good and the engine of free markets. Would you prefer totalitarianism? As to people running the show 'absorbing Rand's message' - absurd, these people are statists, 100% polar oppostites to Rand. Have you ever read any of her works? Probably not.

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  4. Since we are the government, does this mean I have a say in the running of GM when, not if, Obambi and his team of looters finally manages to nationalize the company? I think not!

    What we'll end up with is a company run by communists (the unions), but "owned" by us. Meantime the bond holders are being scr*wed.

    Are the American people really this stupid?

    This man needs to be impeached!

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  5. Rands moonbattish "philosophy" is a big part of why we are where we are. Hey, remember, greed is good! Congrats on the slipshod truncation of what Rand actually wrote.

    Just curious, do you actually expect people to take what you write seriously when you can't demonstrate the slightest honesty in paraphrasing Rand's theme?

    In case you're wondering, she wrote that self-interest is good, not greed. If you aren't sure about the difference between those two concepts, well, you have reading to do.

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  6. "Greed"? Anonymous doesn't understand what Rand meant by "selfishness." Poor Anon. Anon is an amazing poet, mind you, but obviously lacking data.

    Rand's "selfishness" is what is termed today as "self-interest." I think Anon is confusing Rand with Gordon Gecko. [Anon, man... get out of the movie schtick, will ya?]

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  7. True story:

    A Wisconsin manufacturing concern used the ESOP method, allowing its employees to purchase the Company.

    The Company was union-organized.

    Anyhoo, they ran into hard times (not unlike the current recession) and decided to cut some jobs and hold off pay-raises.

    Whereupon the Union struck the Company. They struck the Company THAT THEY OWNED!!

    Wanna do an over/under on when that happens to GeithnerMotors?

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  8. Any truth to the rumor that GM goes all the way and renames itself Twentieth Century Motor Company?

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