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Old 12-03-2008, 07:53 AM   #406
TheMercenary
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WASHINGTON -- The Treasury Department has failed to address a number of critical issues while implementing the $700 billion financial rescue plan, including how to ensure its efforts are successful, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday.

The report, which was required by the legislation authorizing the rescue plan, said Treasury has yet to figure out how to make sure financial firms receiving billions of dollars of federal funds comply with limits on executive compensation and dividend payments. (Read the full report.)

On a more basic level, the Treasury's efforts to establish "an effective management structure and an essential system of internal control" are incomplete, the report said.

"Without a strong oversight and monitoring function, Treasury's ability to help ensure an appropriate level of accountability and transparency will be limited," the report said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122824907384873263.html
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Old 12-03-2008, 08:00 AM   #407
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Originally Posted by TheMercenary View Post
On a more basic level, the Treasury's efforts to establish "an effective management structure and an essential system of internal control" are incomplete, the report said.

"Without a strong oversight and monitoring function, Treasury's ability to help ensure an appropriate level of accountability and transparency will be limited," the report said.
Lemme see if I get this... We have no plan implemented to oversee that the monies are spent properly, so we decided to give the money out anyway and worry about that later.
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Old 12-03-2008, 08:02 AM   #408
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Correct. According to the GAO, the money is being given out without adequate oversight on how it is being spent.
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Old 12-03-2008, 08:13 AM   #409
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This thread should be read in conjunction with the welfare thread.
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Old 12-03-2008, 10:21 AM   #410
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It is only what we deserve after electing politicians willing to fall for the "we need this package done right now or the economy will collapse" BS that was spun. $700B given out with no firm plan in place. $700B given out with no oversight on the distribution. $700B given out because a lot of people made bad choices and didn't like the consequences. $700B given out because some only pay lip service to the free market. $700B given out which will only make the hole deeper.

BS. Every last penny of it. The $700B isn't meant to prevent to AIG, Citi, the Big 3, etc. fail... it is proof that they've already failed and they just want the taxpayer to pick up the pieces so they can keep their doors open. Good companies don't fail. Bad companies do. Bad companies should be forced to face the consequences of bad management. They either close the doors (only the strong survive) or they are taken over by stronger companies (only the strong survive). Bailouts only encourage poor companies to continue being poor companies.
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Old 12-03-2008, 10:38 AM   #411
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Originally Posted by lookout123 View Post
BS. Every last penny of it. The $700B isn't meant to prevent to AIG, Citi, the Big 3, etc. fail... it is proof that they've already failed and they just want the taxpayer to pick up the pieces so they can keep their doors open. Good companies don't fail. Bad companies do. Bad companies should be forced to face the consequences of bad management. They either close the doors (only the strong survive) or they are taken over by stronger companies (only the strong survive). Bailouts only encourage poor companies to continue being poor companies.
Here, here! Well stated.
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Old 12-03-2008, 10:39 AM   #412
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Citi is raising the APR on accounts of those with A++ credit to 19.99%
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Old 12-03-2008, 10:49 AM   #413
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My dad just received a very "uniquely" phrased letter from citi. He let my sister use his CC to buy her truck a couple years ago. Fixed 3% for the life of the loan. That is the only purchase ever made on the card and she only has about a year left to pay on it. The letter is confusing but once it is deciphered it basically says we want to raise your rate to 12%. Yeah, we agreed on 3% but we need more money. If you don't agree with us raising your rates you have to let us know in writing. If you don't want us to change the rate we won't let you use the card for future purchases. Funny.
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Old 12-04-2008, 12:48 PM   #414
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DETROIT (AP) - Worried about their jobs and warned that the cost of failure could be a depression, hundreds of leaders of the United Auto Workers voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to make concessions to the struggling Detroit Three, including all but ending a much-derided program that let laid-off workers collect up to 95 percent of their salaries.

"Everybody has to give a little bit," said Rich Bennett, an official for Local 122 in Twinsburg, Ohio, representing Chrysler workers. "We've made concessions. We really feel we're doing our part."

Union leaders also agreed to let the cash-starved automakers delay billions of dollars in payments to a union-administered trust set to take over health care for blue-collar retirees starting in 2010.

In addition, they decided to let the Detroit leadership begin renegotiating elements of landmark contracts signed with the automakers last year, a move that could lead to wage concessions.
Bout friggin time! The see the reality now that enough people are fed up with this situation and are re4ady to let the big three fail and start from scratch. Guess they realize that its better let a little go now than a whole lot later.
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Old 12-04-2008, 12:55 PM   #415
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GM may pull plug on Saturn
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GM officials say options include overhauling the lineup, partnering with another carmaker, selling the brand and, potentially, sending Saturn off to the junkyard.

GM's Swedish luxury brand Saab might also be sold, and Pontiac could be transformed into a "niche" brand inside other dealerships.

But the decision to consider pulling the plug on Saturn, the agile little start-up that GM developed to reinvent the way it produced and sold cars, is a bitter reminder of just how deep the automaker's troubles run.
One down, two or three more to go.
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Old 12-04-2008, 01:35 PM   #416
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"But the decision to consider pulling the plug on Saturn, the agile little start-up that GM developed to reinvent the way it produced and sold cars, is a bitter reminder of just how deep the automaker's troubles run."

WOW. If anything had value to be sold off I would think it would be Saturn. They certainly have a better rep than Pontiac or most other GM cars. I just can't believe that someone out there would not be interested in scooping that up.
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Old 12-04-2008, 03:06 PM   #417
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Big Three Spending Millions On Lobbying

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(CBS) As Congress mulls over a bailout for U.S. automakers, some may be thinking about more than jobs and the economy.

The auto industry spent nearly $50 million lobbying Congress in the first nine months of this year.

And people tied to the auto industry gave another $15 million in campaign contributions, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

Sen. Carl Levin, received $438,304 from the automotive industry.
Rep. Joe Knollenberg received $879,327.
Rep. John Dingell got nearly a million from the industry. All have enjoyed generous support from the auto industry over their careers, with GM and Ford as their two top contributors.
All support a bailout.

But nobody's been a bigger advocate for Motor City interests than Dingell. And for him, the stakes aren't just political, they're personal.

"There's an actual conflict," said Ryan Alexander of the nonprofit group Taxpayers for Common Sense. "His personal financial health, you know, the wealth of his family is tied up in the car industry."

Dingell's wife Debbie once worked as a lobbyist for GM.

When she married the congressman, she became a senior GM executive at an undisclosed salary. And we found the couple has extensive GM assets.

Dingell's current financial disclosure filed in May lists GM stock worth up to $350,000, options worth up to $1 million more, and a GM pension fund. In 2000, among the Dingells' GM assets were stock options worth up to $5 million.
Bout time someone started calling these guys out - I wonder who else is tied in with al this. I'm sure there have to be some R's too.

Put 'em all on report, Jim!
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Old 12-04-2008, 07:22 PM   #418
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From the NY Times of 3 Dec 2008:
Quote:
With Saturn, G.M. Failed a Makeover
“I’m absolutely convinced that the Saturn way could have worked,” said Michael Bennett, the original U.A.W. leader at Saturn. “But what we had was never embraced or adopted.” ...

Mr. Bennett blamed a lack of interest by G.M. executives who succeeded Roger Smith, who as chief executive in the 1980s committed $5 billion to begin Saturn.

But those who followed him — including John F. Smith Jr., who became chief executive in 1992, and G.M.’s current chief executive, Rick Wagoner, who ran its North American operations in the 1990s — had bigger worries.

They had to lead the company through the financial turbulence at G.M. in the early 1990s. And with managers at G.M.’s other, older brands begging for investment, G.M. executives declared Saturn would have to prove it deserved more support, even though its small cars were accomplishing their main goal of winning buyers from imports.

Despite G.M.’s pledge that Saturn would be run as a separate company, with its own car development and purchasing operations, it was folded into G.M.’s small-car operations in 1994, and its lineup did not receive any new models for the next five years.
Saturn's success is directly traceable to significant independence from GM's MBA corporate executives. Once that independence was lost, Saturn began dying as quickly as all other GM division. Just another example of why GM's #1 problem centers on Rick Wagoner.

Last I heard, GM repeatedly promises a new product for Spring Hill TN (the famous Saturn plant) and then takes it away. Another symptom of an MBA boss - indecision.
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Old 12-04-2008, 08:35 PM   #419
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Originally Posted by lookout123 View Post
My dad just received a very "uniquely" phrased letter from citi. He let my sister use his CC to buy her truck a couple years ago. Fixed 3% for the life of the loan. That is the only purchase ever made on the card and she only has about a year left to pay on it. The letter is confusing but once it is deciphered it basically says we want to raise your rate to 12%. Yeah, we agreed on 3% but we need more money. If you don't agree with us raising your rates you have to let us know in writing. If you don't want us to change the rate we won't let you use the card for future purchases. Funny.
Since this does need a reply, I'm left wondering how the sentiments of "go fuck yourselves" are best expressed in legal jargon.
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Old 12-05-2008, 01:52 AM   #420
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That's standard procedure for all the cards I've had. When they decide to jack the interest rate, the first time you use the card, the interest rate goes up on the unpaid balance. Doesn't bother me because I never pay any interest.
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