Corporate Welfare
Headline: Fed bails out AIG in $85B deal
This officially sinks the long-held Conservative belief that the god-like “invisible hand” of the market is perfect. What happened to keeping everything privatized? Where did all your arguments for smaller government go? Lying fuckin’ bastards.
Seriously, guys. $85,000,000,000.00 on this, but we can only spare $59B on education? Keep the population stupid, is that our plan now?
From the Associated Press:
White House defends takeover of AIG
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Wednesday defended the extraordinary federal takeover of sinking insurance giant American International Group Inc., framing it as another move to protect the economy and save people from further harm.
A White House spokeswoman did not rule out further bailouts.
In the most far-reaching intervention into the private sector ever for the Federal Reserve, the government stepped in Tuesday to rescue American International Group Inc. with an $85 billion injection of taxpayer money. The government will get almost an 80 percent stake in the company.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said that given AIG’s scope, the possible failure of the company posed a greater risk than the $85 billion loan. She said that taxpayers would be paid back first, but when asked whether taxpayers may not get their money back at all, she said, “That is true.”
“You have a government that is willing to lead, act where appropriate, and govern to make sure that we limit broader financial harm to the economy,” she said.
President Bush approved the loan for AIG at the White House on Tuesday after being presented with a recommendation from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during a meeting of economic advisers.
Perino said she understands why Americans would be confused that the government would be willing to put taxpayer money at risk for some companies and not others. “We are dealing with very challenging times,” she said, indicating that additional help to unstable companies will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Perino said that according to the nation’s top economic officials, the U.S. economy has the strength to “deal with these shocks.”
Guess it’s okay to help the rich when the market is in trouble, but fuck you if you think about raising taxes to help the poor. Lost your house? That’s your fault. You shouldn’t have taken that high-risk loan we hid by calling it “sub-prime.” We’re not bailing you out of this, even though it was the market’s irresponsible loaning which caused it all. Lost your pension? Fuck you, the CEOs of that company deserve a 30-million-dollar golden parachute while you starve.
You’re on your own. Instead, let’s spend everyone else’s money bailing out our fellow billionaires. Jesus Christ, those guys are just barely scraping by!
How the hell do you people sleep at night?
(Thanks to Mahkno for pointing this out)
Tags: Corporate Welfare, Market Crash, Scumbaggery
September 17th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Bailing these guys out just transfers their debts to the National Debt. Which in turn will result in higher inflation and/or higher interest rates down the road. All this is doing is postponing the pain.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Yeah, basically. Hopefully it also buys them time to figure out how to fix it painlessly.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
There is no painlessly.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Nor is there a spoon. C’mon man, there’s hope!
*sings* “Just the two of us… we can make it if we try, just the two of uuuusss! You and I…”
>:D
September 17th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Well… you could always take the Conservative approach which is… cut taxes in vain hope that you will usher in a golden age of growth that will overcome the deficits, the debts, and the persistent GOP over spending.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Conservatives really believe they can create dot com booms by lowering taxes?
Shiiiiiit, if McCain gets elected I’ll sell my site to the highest bidder as a sub-prime entrepreneurship. Billionaire, here I come!
September 18th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Reno, that is the whole Conservative argument… lowering taxes, stimulates the economy. Which is partly true. Then hopefully… the economy will grow so much that the actual taxes brought in would be greater than if the taxes had remained where they were. It is all premised on a certain amount of growth. A gamble.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:29 am
I think they may have gotten lazy in their thinking. Innovation and entrepreneurship brings far more sustainable growth than a few tax cuts. Historically, however, taxes are already rather low, and the economy still sucks. They’re going to need a better plan than “cut taxes” if they do not wish to repeat our current situation.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Tax cuts only bring a short term gain for whoever gets the cut. Competition and inflationary pressures will eat up that revenue fairly quickly. What companies need is simply stability and fairness in the tax structure. Then they can plan their business accordingly. We do have to be mindful the international arena as well.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Oy, the international arena. Globalization has basically made old economic models obsolete, hasn’t it? I mean, it’s not just an economy on a larger scale, but it has literally changed the way business is done by being such a vastly different model.
As you know, I run more along the socialist side of the economic scale. But I still think businesses can be privately owned and enjoy all the profits and trade secrets they want with the kind of oversight and regulation I can envision. I only wish to hold them accountable and keep them honest while protecting their customers from, well, them. Self-regulation has not exactly been a central theme in private enterprise.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:51 am
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,578944,00.html