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• Adam

  This coming from the same guy who selected Sarah Palin to be his running mate? I love how they injected billions of dollars into financial institutions to buy up other large banks, yet the flow of credit was still locked down. But nevermind that, lets keep the spotlight on the US Automotive Industry. At least this “bailout”, actually a loan, saved thousands of US jobs.

• zermatt

  All TARP money was loaned and the bailouts under TARP are for the auto and the financial industry. Some of the loans have been converted to equity for both the auto and financial industry. GM (80% owned by the taxpayers) hopes to payback some of the equity with an IPO – it is almost a certainty that the IPO will fall way short of paying off the money loaned under TARP.

  Is the “they” you refer to the Democrats? TARP was voted into existence by the Democratic party and was only signed off by Bush at the request of Obama. You may recall that the Republicans in the House and the Senate did not support the bailouts.

  Until GM made its recent announcement that it will attempt to pay back some of the TARP money by the end of the year, only the Financial industry had a number of banks pay off their TARP loans with interest. I expect that financial institutions will pay off their TARP obligations much sooner than the auto industry.

  The bailouts saved jobs in both industries, but not all. Just ask the former employees of Lehman Brothers; they all lost their jobs when the government decided not to save the company. Job losses for anyone are not a good thing – wouldn't you agree?

  Finally, as an independent voter, I couldn't agree more that Palin is an idiot and by choosing her it didn't make McCain look good.

• coecoce

  screw john mccain! what has he ever done to enhance the american auto industry ? looser.

• GW

  TARP was created through the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which was approved by the Senate on October 1, 2008 and signed by President Bush on October 3, 2008.
  You may recall that Barak Obama was not elected until the following month. The vote in the Senate was Democrats 40-9 in favor, Republicans 33-15 in favor, 60 votes required to pass.

  So, the argument that TARP was signed by Bush at the request of Obama (why would he do that anyway?), who hadn't yet been elected president, after having been voted into existence by the Democratic party (which was 20 votes short and which received the support of more than two thirds of Republicans) may be slightly questionable.

• zermatt

  You are correct about the time line and the votes for the Senate. I was wrong.

  My recollection is that when it came to allowing TARP funds to be be used for the auto industry that the Democratic leadership was pushing for TARP to be extended to include Detroit. Bush wanted to have Detroit to use the loans provided for new technology to subsidize the bailout. This occurred after the election and Obama expressed support for extending TARP to the auto industry immediately to avert the alleged financial crisis. Bush (lame duck) supported the change based on Obama's request.

• Emma

  We all know it but no one dares to say it. Bravo!

• GW

  “Alleged” financial crisis? Hmmm.

  Anyway, your recollection is close to accurate. In December a bill was presented in the Senate which would have supplied about $15B in (non-Tarp) emergency loans to the auto industry, using money previously allocated for “re-tooling.” It received 40 Democratic, 2 Independent and 10 Republican votes; not enough to reach the 60 vote threshold. In a move of dubious legality, Bush then ignored express Congressional limits on the use of Tarp funds and advanced more than $13B in emergency loans out of Tarp (with an additional $4B to be available later).

  As to Bush granting Obama's “request”, that would be an unusual thing for a Republican to do for a Democrat, wouldn't it? You're right that Obama had expressed support for helping the auto industry, but he stayed away from specifics (remember the “we only have one President at a time” comments?) It would probably be fairer and more accurate to say that Bush kicked the can down the road so that the U.S. auto industry didn't go under on his watch and the next guy would have to deal with the problem.

• bobis

  what the hell does he know

• Adam

  This coming from the same guy who selected Sarah Palin to be his running mate? I love how they injected billions of dollars into financial institutions to buy up other large banks, yet the flow of credit was still locked down. But nevermind that, lets keep the spotlight on the US Automotive Industry. At least this “bailout”, actually a loan, saved thousands of US jobs.

• zermatt

  All TARP money was loaned and the bailouts under TARP are for the auto and the financial industry. Some of the loans have been converted to equity for both the auto and financial industry. GM (80% owned by the taxpayers) hopes to payback some of the equity with an IPO – it is almost a certainty that the IPO will fall way short of paying off the money loaned under TARP.

  Is the “they” you refer to the Democrats? TARP was voted into existence by the Democratic party and was only signed off by Bush at the request of Obama. You may recall that the Republicans in the House and the Senate did not support the bailouts.

  Until GM made its recent announcement that it will attempt to pay back some of the TARP money by the end of the year, only the Financial industry had a number of banks pay off their TARP loans with interest. I expect that financial institutions will pay off their TARP obligations much sooner than the auto industry.

  The bailouts saved jobs in both industries, but not all. Just ask the former employees of Lehman Brothers; they all lost their jobs when the government decided not to save the company. Job losses for anyone are not a good thing – wouldn't you agree?

  Finally, as an independent voter, I couldn't agree more that Palin is an idiot and by choosing her it didn't make McCain look good.

• coecoce

  screw john mccain! what has he ever done to enhance the american auto industry ? looser.

• GW

  TARP was created through the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which was approved by the Senate on October 1, 2008 and signed by President Bush on October 3, 2008.
  You may recall that Barak Obama was not elected until the following month. The vote in the Senate was Democrats 40-9 in favor, Republicans 33-15 in favor, 60 votes required to pass.

  So, the argument that TARP was signed by Bush at the request of Obama (why would he do that anyway?), who hadn't yet been elected president, after having been voted into existence by the Democratic party (which was 20 votes short and which received the support of more than two thirds of Republicans) may be slightly questionable.

• zermatt

  You are correct about the time line and the votes for the Senate. I was wrong.

  My recollection is that when it came to allowing TARP funds to be be used for the auto industry that the Democratic leadership was pushing for TARP to be extended to include Detroit. Bush wanted to have Detroit to use the loans provided for new technology to subsidize the bailout. This occurred after the election and Obama expressed support for extending TARP to the auto industry immediately to avert the alleged financial crisis. Bush (lame duck) supported the change based on Obama's request.

• Emma

  We all know it but no one dares to say it. Bravo!

• GW

  “Alleged” financial crisis? Hmmm.

  Anyway, your recollection is close to accurate. In December a bill was presented in the Senate which would have supplied about $15B in (non-Tarp) emergency loans to the auto industry, using money previously allocated for “re-tooling.” It received 40 Democratic, 2 Independent and 10 Republican votes; not enough to reach the 60 vote threshold. In a move of dubious legality, Bush then ignored express Congressional limits on the use of Tarp funds and advanced more than $13B in emergency loans out of Tarp (with an additional $4B to be available later).

  As to Bush granting Obama's “request”, that would be an unusual thing for a Republican to do for a Democrat, wouldn't it? You're right that Obama had expressed support for helping the auto industry, but he stayed away from specifics (remember the “we only have one President at a time” comments?) It would probably be fairer and more accurate to say that Bush kicked the can down the road so that the U.S. auto industry didn't go under on his watch and the next guy would have to deal with the problem.

• bobis

  what the hell does he know