Here is what the banks are doing with the bailout money.
The deal is being financed by five banks: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase.
It will mean 8000 jobs lost now, and eventualy 20,000 more jobs lost.
Do these banks sound familiar? These are the banks that got the largest percentage of the bailout funds.
This is how they are using the money we lent them.
Excuse me while I go puke.
Ralph
Here is Rupert Murdoch and Fox’s take on the story.
This writer has taken a big swig of the Kool-Aid.
28,000 jobs to be lost and she says:
“Pfizer, although global, is a U.S. company that creates good jobs for Americans, and healthcare is one of the few industries where there has been job growth. This is exactly what we should be seeing banks do, investing in areas that will help job creation and improve the economy”
She is either very stupid…or thinks we are.
Ralph
Both.
That is how spin works.
In another FU to American taxpayers, CitiBank is buying a new $50,000,000 airplane. The airplane is a French-made Dassault luxury jet that seats up to 12 in a plush interior with leather seats, sofas and a customizable entertainment center, according to the manufacturer’s sales literature. It has a range of 5,950 miles with a top speed of 559 mph. Sounds like a lot of fun. It will certainly get the CitiBank executives to those European ski vacations in style!
Am I the only one who sees something wrong with all of this? These thieves should be in jail, but instead, our government just keeps sending them money.
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Jerry Bowers said:
In another FU to American taxpayers, CitiBank is buying a new $50,000,000 airplane. The airplane is a French-made Dassault luxury jet that seats up to 12 in a plush interior with leather seats, sofas and a customizable entertainment center, according to the manufacturer's sales literature. It has a range of 5,950 miles with a top speed of 559 mph. Sounds like a lot of fun. It will certainly get the CitiBank executives to those European ski vacations in style!Am I the only one who sees something wrong with all of this? These thieves should be in jail, but instead, our government just keeps sending them money.
Happy RRing,
Jerry
I’ve been preachin…but nobody was listenin.
I’m glad I’m not alone, Jerry.
Ralph
And then there are the $4,000,000,000 (yep that’s 4 billion!) in bonuses handed out on a rush basis by Bank of America’s head honcho John Thain. That along with a 1.2 million dollar renovation of his office when he was running Merrill Lynch, including $800,000 for a designer, $35,000 for a toilet and $1400 for a wastebasket.
Thain is now fired, but no one is going to be asked to return their bonuses, as the Bank of America can just call President Obama or his new (tax cheating) Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner and get more money.
The CEO of the bank said they couldn’t demand the return of the bonus money. I could easily get it back while reducing the work force:
“Mr. Smith, you have two choices: Keep your bonus and you are fired for cause. Return it and you will only get a negative review and a warning in your employment folder.” Of course that isn’t going to happen, as the boss himself would have to give his bonus back. THIEVES ALL.
Where does this crap end?
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Jerry Bowers said:
Thain is now fired, but no one is going to be asked to return their bonuses, as the Bank of America can just call President Obama or his new (tax cheating) Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner and get more money. THIEVES ALL.Where does this crap end?
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Thieves is right, Jerry. But let’s not forget it was “Dubya” that requested the money for them in the first place. And it was the Republicans who “sold” their vote.
And then they voted against the Automakers while treating them like children and chastising them for flying company jets to Washington.
The “Blue Dog” Democrats voted against both bills.
The crap won’t end…the sh*t is going to get deeper.
Too many people won’t take a stand…until they are hungry.
By then…it will be too late.
Ralph
It’s already too late.
The system is broken and will not recover until it is reformed from top to bottom.
Worldwide. We are all complicit in letting the bad guys get near the cookie jars.
I cannot see any meaningful reform on the horizon.
Yeah, reform will come when enough of of us are standing in soup kitchen lines, but I’m not ready nor willing to peacefully give up my current (minimalist) lifestyle.
I do not agree with any government bailout of any industry, group, or other entity. Government support in the way of tax and fee relief, deferments or trade outs for growing business sectors is okay, but if an established business can not stand on its own, it needs to obtain new financing, declare insolvency, arrange a buyout, or just close. That is the way business works.
How do I know? A company that I founded and was president and a board member of declared bankruptcy in 2003. This was after ~10 years in business. It was a painful experience for all, including our customers, vendors, employees and stockholders. No one bailed us out, and I am still working off debt I incurred trying to keep the company going.
These guys who are now spending my tax dollars and our country’s future in order to have the biggest, fastest, most luxurious jet airplane to go along with their $31,000 outhouse seat, are all thieves, pure and simple. The politicians who sign up to fund this with my money should also be criminally charged, whether Republican or Democrat.
Bush and company certainly have made major contributions to the current state of affairs, including his fiscal policy (or lack thereof), the expense of what history will view at best as an ill-advised war, and at the end, the beginning of the financial handouts to morally bankrupt “financial managers.”
Obama successfully ran on a platform chanting “CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE.” It would seem to be a good time to accomplish some of that “CHANGE,” but The One appoints Timothy Geithner, who doesn’t pay his taxes, to see that we ‘common folk’ do pay our taxes, as well as to manage the U.S. Treasury Department. Geithner doesn’t even have the common decency to say “I am honored, but must decline the appointment . . .” in favor of someone more forthright and honest. Rather than “CHANGE,” it looks like business as usual.
BTW, I am a pilot and aircraft owner. My home and office are located directly on a small airport. I firmly believe in using general aviation as a business tool. When our company operates an airplane, it is on an expense reimbursement or cost of rental basis, and is paid for by our company, not the U.S. taxpayer. Nine place intercontinental range luxury jet indeed!!
Happy RRing,
Jerry
They could start with charging, convicting and imprisoning the crooks who ran the ratings agencies that told the lies to get the investors to sink their money in all the toxic debt that caused the downturn.
Then charge, convict and imprison the (so called) overseers who were supposed to be guarding our interests.
Jerry Bowers said:
Yeah, reform will come when enough of of us are standing in soup kitchen lines, but I'm not ready nor willing to peacefully give up my current (minimalist) lifestyle.Happy RRing,
Jerry
Who was it who said “if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem”( if my memory serves correct, he is a big part of the problem)
However, I am in the same situation Jerry. Willing to voice my opinion. But not willing to make any real sacrifice.
At some point, you have to either fight the thieves, or join them. Otherwise, we may not even have soup.
Ralph
No one should never contemplate joining the crooks.
I personally don’t care what the politics of an individual is as long as they are honest.
Honest people tend to do the right thing.
Bailouts and government spending are how you turn a recession into a depression.
Ralph B_rg said:I am not left with much to sacrifice. I operate a small consulting shop where we typically do one to three major projects / year. Last year we designed and built a prototype for a remote controlled fire fighting machine that works well better than specification. We also did the imagineering for a cell phone detector system to be used in high security applications such as prisons.
Who was it who said "if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem"( if my memory serves correct, he is a big part of the problem) However, I am in the same situation Jerry. Willing to voice my opinion. But not willing to make any real sacrifice. At some point, you have to either fight the thieves, or join them. Otherwise, we may not even have soup. Ralph
Our firefighting machine client is a startup company that is seeking investors to bring the machine to market, but virtually all the investment money wells are dry. They still owe us for some significant part of the work we did, with little hope of getting paid in the short term.
The cell phone system is potentially our own product, and would be sold to federal and state prison authorities. In every case, the prison warders say they are interested, but need to see a prototype operating. Our group doesn’t have the financial ability to get to an operating prototype, so that project is also stuck on zero.
For the first time in many years, we do not have a single live project to work on, and the outlook is very dim. We can hang on for a while, but will eventually be forced to sell out (my home, office and shop are on the same piece of property) and go live under a bridge. It appears that will be our reward for over 30 years of meeting every obligation and commitment we have made.
Meanwhile, our government gives billions (and last night the talking heads were saying trillions) of our dollars to their friends who have devastated the economy so those friends can pay themselves bonuses, and buy fancy airplanes and diamond encrusted toilet seats. Something stinks!!!
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Jerry,
A lot of us are just “hanging on”.
As far as sacrifice…it is time and effort that is needed. Most of us toil many hours just to keep a roof over our head, so we are not willing to give up our “free time”.
They count on the fact we are too tired and too poor to mount any real opposition.
I saw your remote fire system. Pretty cool and a prime example of what is wrong. The banks will fund another leveraged buyout that cuts the workforce, but not fund a project that will create jobs and save lives.
Tony,
No need to worry about me going over to the “dark side”. I was just making the point that there will come a time when a choice will have to be made, fight or capitulate.
Ralph
I understand the choice of fight or capitulate.
Sometimes such a choice is inevitable.
I am talking about those that make conscious decisions to join the “dark side”.
Usually it starts quite innocuously. Maybe a free lunch offered by a small town developer wanting a sympathetic ear.
The local (underpaid) cop given a “gift” to turn a blind eye.
Soon they are on the slippery slope to full blown corruption.
How about talking on cell phones whilst driving. This is dangerous and against the law here in Australia. I have seen police cars simply ignore it even though it is being blatantly done in front of them. Who knows why? Probably not a bad enough “crime” to do anything about.
Telling lies is another problem.
What sort of example do manufacturers give when they try to “recreate history” by claiming to have come up with an idea before their competitor did, even though there is documentary evidence of who thought of what, and actually did it, first. I guess they too just rely on the consumer being stupid and accepting the BS without question.
All of the above might seem petty to many of us.
Not so in my opinion.
It is the petty stuff we have to deal with first.
Once we can get society behaving properly only then can we consider tackling the worse problems.
All a bunch of crooks. It’s all about greed. An to think it only took a year for the Govt to finally admit we where in a recession. Later RJD
RJ.
The next question to ask is:
Why are we all in a recession?
Once we admit the truth to oursselves, then perhaps something constructive to solve the problem will percolate to the surface.
At the moment Free Enterprise Capitalism as we have experienced since the Second World War, looks to me to be the Privatisation of Profits and the Socialisation of losses.
Trying to bail out the system by throwing money at the very people who caused the problem looks to me to be just another con trick by the ruling classes. Those with money that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, and to do so by any means, fair or foul.
A pox on their houses the lying scum bags.