Thread: More bailout for Auto industry- 21 Billion this time

Bonus-Mania at GM
By Doug Powers • February 14, 2011 03:32 PM

In 2009, when Barack Obama announced that the federal government was assuming a 60% stake in General Motors, the president called the American people “reluctant shareholders” in that company. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...s-with-gm.html
As shareholders, when might we expect a dividend check? The general taxpaying public will probably see Justin Bieber on the cover of AARP Magazine before that happens. Taxpayers were so reluctant to hold a share that GM figured we’d also be reluctant to accept a bonus payment — so instead of insulting us again, they’re just spreading it all around amongst themselves: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110214/...motors_bonuses

DETROIT – General Motors Co. will pay more than $189 million in profit-sharing to 48,000 U.S. hourly workers and millions more in performance bonuses to salaried employees, according to company documents obtained by The Associated Press.

GM will pay most hourly workers more than $4,000 each as compensation for its strong financial performance last year, said a person briefed on the bonuses. The payments come less than two years after the automaker emerged from bankruptcy protection with the help of a huge government bailout. They’re more than double the previous record payment of $1,775 in 1999, at the height of the boom in sales of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks.
[...]
The person briefed on the payments did not know the total cost of the salaried bonuses, but it’s likely to top $200 million. Most GM salaried workers make more than $100,000. A bonus of 8 percent, the midpoint of the range, would give them roughly $8,000. That means GM would pay out roughly $224 million.

GM’s bailout-buddy Chrysler is getting involved in the bonus action as well. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/...50-of-pay.html

At least this might make the union back off a little and just be thankful to have a good paying job in this rough economy, right? Right? http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...tml#incart_mce

FLINT, Michigan — A local union official said today that potentially record-breaking profit-sharing checks from General Motors would mean a lot to workers, but wouldn’t make up for contract concessions taken over the past few years.

That’s just a local guy though — I’m sure the UAW president will be satisfied… or maybe not: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=41779

UAW president Bob King wants to “reclaim some of the $7,000 to $30,000 in concessions each worker gave up since 2005 to help the U.S. automakers survive.” This would, of course, kill the auto companies again in fairly short order, requiring another massive taxpayer resurrection.

Another massive taxpayer resurrection — unfortunately I think that’s the idea.



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Hey, Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in anticipation of being effective in furthering world peace. GM is giving out bonuses to union people in anticipation of future profits. With redistributionist economics, profits and merit are obsolete principles.



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They’re more than double the previous record payment of $1,775 in 1999, at the height of the boom in sales of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks.

Other than government rerouting of our money, what “height of the boom” are we at today?

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I suppose it was too much to expect that they would use those “profits” to pay back some of their government loans.

Yup. Most likely, the govnernment probably didn’t expect to be paid back nor care if it wasn’t. Since the money isn’t theirs to begin with, the government figures it can always get more taxpayer money, sell more bonds, write more IOUS so it can make more loans that won’t be paid back in the future. Its all about what government wants to accomplish – redistributing money to politically favored entities is the rage and being good stewards of taxpayer money hasn’t been nor will it be in the plans of this admin.

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I am waiting for Obama to be outraged over bonuses being paid to a company that received a bailout http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7945774.stm in 3…2…1…. oh wait .... these are union employees never mind…



http://michellemalkin.com/2011/02/14/bonus-mania-at-gm/

Congrats taxpayers! Not only are your involuntary contributions to the Federal gov't funding its lawsuit against AZ for daring to defend itself from invasion (Uh, doesn't the Constitution mandate the Feds do that? Never mind...). Now your bailout of GM is creating 1,000 new jobs - in MEXICO! That's right. You get to fund new jobs in Mexico, AND the theft of American jobs by illegals right here at home


Thanks For The Bailout Suckers; GM to invest extra $540 million in Mexico to build motors
Reported By breitbart.com

US giant General Motors will invest $540 million to produce two low-emission motors in central Mexico, the company announced here Thursday, accompanied by President Felipe Calderon.

The latest project for GM in Mexico would create 500 direct and another 500 indirect jobs in its plant in Toluca, Calderon said.

GM has four plants in Mexico, and has invested some $5 billion here since 2006, Calderon said.

GM was left reeling by an industry slump when the global economic crisis hit. It received 49.5 billion dollars from the US Treasury and emerged from a bankruptcy restructuring in 2009.

It successfully returned to public trading last November by raising 23.1 billion dollars in an initial stock offering — the largest in history.

http://redwhitebluenews.com/?p=14524

One more reason to NOT buy any GM products. “Buy American” – Obviously no longer applies to them.

President Obama's auto bailout claims: 'Phony accounting'?
Wed Jun 8, 6:45 am ET

New York – The Washington Post fact-checks the president's recent speech about Chrysler's bailout repayments, and takes issue with... almost all of it http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/.../AG3nefKH_blog

Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler is not impressed with President Obama's short, rousing defense of the 2008-09 auto bailout, particularly Obama's claim that "Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency." Such "chicanery," says Kessler, conveniently ignores taxpayer loans to Chrysler before Obama's inauguration. The fact checker gives the president three "Pinocchios" (out of four), and calls the Friday speech "one of the most misleading collections of assertions we have seen in a short presidential speech," with "virtually every claim" requiring an asterisk. Is Obama really relying on "phony accounting" to sell his rescue of GM and Chrysler?

Yes, Obama is trying to sell a lemon: Kessler's "devastating critique" is spot on, says Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. If you count the very relevant $4 billion that George W. Bush handed Chrysler before Obama's inauguration, taxpayers actually lost $1.3 billion on the Chrysler bailout. There would be no need for this "trumped-up rhetoric" if the bailout were really a "success."

"Obama's auto-bailout speech 'one of the most misleading...'" http://hotair.com/archives/2011/06/0...of-assertions/


No, Kessler swung and missed: "No one's perfect," so you can't blame "anointed fact checkers" like Kessler for "muddying the facts" sometimes, says White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer. In this case, "it is not only factually accurate for President Obama to note the full recovery — and then some — of the funds he decided to commit to Chrysler," but also the dire consequences for the auto industry and the economy if he had not acted so decisively.

"Fact checking the fact checker" http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/...g-fact-checker

Obama wasn't just misleading, he was also ungracious: The president's claims that Republicans wanted to do nothing to help save GM and Chrysler is "especially disingenuous," even for Obama, says Daniel Foster at National Review. What about Bush's $4 billion in aid, which "Obama supported" as a candidate? The president only made that disappear "when it became rhetorically convenient to do so."

"The Washington Post fact-checks Obama on the auto bailouts" http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...-daniel-foster

http://news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/2160...VzaWRlbnRvYmE-

June 07. 2011 12:57PM
White House defends auto bailout accounting
David Shepardson/ Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington — The White House defended Tuesday its accounting of the government's $85 billion auto bailouts after a fact-checker accused the Obama administration of "misleading" the public.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer rebutted the Washington Post's analysis of recent comments on the auto bailouts that the newspaper headlined "President Obama's phony accounting on the auto industry bailout."

On Friday at a visit to a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Obama touted the government's agreement to completely exit Chrysler. "Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency — and it repaid that money six years ahead of schedule," Obama said.

The Post argued that was misleading since the Bush administration loaned Chrysler $4 billion.

In total, Chrysler repaid $11.2 billion of the $12.5 billion total bailout — including interest payments. That includes all of the $8.5 billion advanced by the Obama administration. "Let's be clear: Had President Obama not taken action, Chrysler would have liquidated and that money would have been gone. Instead of losing all $4 billion of those dollars, we have recovered more than 70 percent of them for taxpayers, in addition to all of the funds committed by President Obama," Pfeiffer wrote. "Given those facts, it is not only factually accurate for President Obama to note the full recovery — and then some — of the funds he decided to commit to Chrysler, but it is an accurate description of the circumstance he faced."

The Post called the math "chicanery."

"Under the president's math, Chrysler paid back 100 percent of Obama's loan and less than 70 percent of Bush's loan. A more honest presentation would combine the two figures to say U.S. taxpayers got back 90 percent of what they invested," the paper wrote.

Last week, a White House report noted the most recent estimate of the government's overall auto bailout losses is $14 billion — down from more than $40 billion at one point. Most of the losses are expected in the government's $49.5 billion bailout of General Motors Co. At current stock prices, the government would lose about $12 billion on the GM bailout.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20110...out-accounting


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Don't payments on loans go to the oldest debt first? so the payments Obama is counting towards his loans are really payments on earlier loans from the taxpayers...

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The auto industry would not have failed without the bailout. The companies would have gone into Chapter 11, restructured on a better basis, no taxpayer bailouts, no screwing over bond holders and stronger than they are now. Ford did it without bailouts...but Ford had and has better management.

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

GM's Pension: A Ticking Time Bomb for Taxpayers?
By Joseph R. Szczesny 04-15-2010

What happens to GM and Chrysler pensioners if the PBGC takes over the funds?

The retirees could face dramatic cuts. The PBGC promises a certain level of benefits, but $35 billion of the two automakers' promised pension benefits fall beyond the PBGC guarantees. In 2010, a single 65-year old retiree is guaranteed a maximum of $54,000 per year under the PBGC guidelines, and many GM retirees have earned benefits in excess of the PBGC limits. Last summer, the PBGC did take over the salaried pension plans belonging to GM's former subsidiary, Delphi Corp. Most of Delphi's 20,000 salaried pensioners, many of whom started out working at GM, saw their pensions cut. Thus, a termination of GM's or Chrysler's pension plans could likely result in pain for both pensioners and taxpayers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2010041...NsawNwcmludA--

Finally: Delphi retirees break through Obama stonewall on UAW bailout
By Michelle Malkin • June 12, 2012 08:42 AM

I have been reporting to you about how President Obama’s UAW bailout threw tens of thousands of nonunion autoworkers under the bus since September 2010. It’s the real-life horror story of some 20,000 white-collar workers at Delphi, a leading auto parts company spun off from GM a decade ago. As Washington rushed to nationalize the U.S. auto industry with $80 billion in taxpayer “rescue” funds and avoid contested court termination proceedings, the White House auto team schemed with Big Labor bosses to preserve UAW members’ costly pension funds by shafting their nonunion counterparts. In addition, the nonunion pensioners lost all of their health and life insurance benefits. The abused workers — most from hard-hit northeast Ohio, Michigan and neighboring states — had devoted decades of their lives as secretaries, technicians, engineers and sales employees at Delphi/GM. Some workers have watched up to 70 percent of their pensions vanish.

It is important to keep telling the story of their continuing legal nightmare because the White House keeps telling fables about the “success” of the pro-worker auto bailout. The Delphi workers are fighting Chicago-style collusion and corruption. And their most recent court battle exposes, once again, the fantasy of Obama’s commitments to real fairness and transparency.

The latest from the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association:

Delphi Salaried Retirees Receive 62,000 Pages of Documents from Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in Lawsuit

Emails and reports finally released 20 months after federal judge first ordered PBGC to participate in lawsuit’s discovery phase. PBGC states it will produce a second batch of documents by end of June

Retirees believe Obama’s Auto Task Force directed PBGC to unjustifiably and illegally terminate pension plan in 2009

Government officials’ refusal to disclose how decision was made ignores Obama directive that “transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”


Release Date: Monday, June 11, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Twenty months after Federal U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow ordered in September 2010, that salaried retirees of auto parts maker Delphi Corp. were entitled to conduct discovery in their lawsuit against the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the PBGC on Thursday finally made its first document production, turning over approximately 62,000 pages of emails and documents. The pension agency said it would make a second production of a similar size by month’s end. The materials concern the PBGC’s 2009 termination of the pension plan of more than 20,000 current and future salaried Delphi retirees during the auto bailout, resulting in the reductions of earned pensions by as much as 70 percent.

“Given the president’s statement on his first day in office that ‘transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency, (see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72g7qmeP1dE), why did we have to pry this information out of a government agency led by an Obama appointee?” said Dennis Black, chairman of the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association (DSRA). “Our legal bills are several million dollars to get to this point. Citizens shouldn’t have to hire lawyers to fight against taxpayer-paid lawyers just to find out how and why onerous government policy decisions were made.”

Having already reviewed more than 100,000 pages of discovery from non-governmental parties involved in the matter, the retirees are confident they can prove the PBGC illegally terminated the Delphi salaried retiree pension plan in 2009 under pressure from President Obama’s Auto Task Force, which reported to the U.S. Treasury Department. The retirees’ rights under federal labor law (ERISA) and the U.S. Constitution were trampled, according to the retirees’ lawsuit.

TOPPING UP PENSIONS OF UNION-REPRESENTED DELPHI RETIREES

Union-represented Delphi retirees were treated differently than salaried retirees when the PBGC terminated the Delphi pension plan in 2009. Monies from U.S. taxpayers were provided by the Auto Task Force in its $50 billion bailout of GM so the automaker can today top-up the lower PBGC pensions being paid to union-represented Delphi retirees, making their pensions whole.

“Some say this was done because GM was contractually obligated to honor its 1999 labor agreements with labor unions,” said Charles Cunningham, chair of DSRA’s legal committee. “But GM’s bankruptcy court found in 2009 that the ‘new’ GM was not obligated to honor any of ‘old’ GM’s contracts. We want the government to re-examine its discriminatory treatment of us vs. the union-represented Delphi retirees.” We are glad that the Union workers received this “top up” and have been spared the harm and suffering the salaried workers have had to endure. All we want is equal treatment with those people, most of whom we worked side-by-side during our careers.”

Vice President Biden recently told a TV news reporter in Youngstown, Ohio, “We were able to help the hourly folks.” (See it [here]).

“Boy, that statement by Mr. Biden sure caught our attention,” said Black. “For the last three years, the Obama Administration has stated both publicly and in court that it didn’t make any decisions regarding the pension plans. Is the vice president taking credit for something they didn’t do, or is he admitting that the Administration did in fact manipulate the bankruptcy process for the benefit of only the hourly workers?”

SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL BELIEVES AUTO TASK FORCE PLAYED A ROLE

In a major recent development, Christy L. Romero, the congressionally-appointed special inspector general (SIG) of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) wrote to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chair Darrell Issa that “SIGTARP believes that the Auto Task Force played a role in the pension decision.” She added that three Obama Administration appointed officials of the Auto Task Force — Ron Bloom, Matthew Feldman and Harry Wilson — have refused to be interviewed. “These individuals’ failure to speak to SIGTARP on this issue poses a significant obstacle to SIGTARP’s ability to complete its audit,” said Romero.

“This statement by SIGTARP supported what we’ve believed for a long time,” said Black. The retirees also welcomed the reaction of U.S. Congressman Mike Turner (OH), who recently wrote to Chairman Issa, saying: “Because the SIGTARP does not possess testimonial subpoena authority, I am requesting that the [Committee] interview these individuals concerning the role they played in the decision to take the retirement and health benefits of these retirees.”
U.S. TREASURY ALSO REFUSING TO PROVIDE INFORMATION

The retirees also are battling in federal court the U.S. Treasury Department, to which the Auto Task Force officials reported, to gain similar information as part of the lawsuit’s discovery phase, and are hopeful that Treasury will be ordered to cooperate in discovery as well.

OBAMA RHETORIC DOESN’T MATCH ADMINISTRATION’S HANDLING OF DELPHI SALARIED PENSION PLAN

Given the retirees’ long legal fight over the past three years, they view as empty promises these remarks by President Obama in the White House on Jan. 21, 2009: “For a long time now there’s been too much secrecy in this city. The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this Administration stands on the side, not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known … the mere fact that you have the legal power to keep something secret does not mean you should always use it … the Freedom of Information Act is perhaps the most powerful instrument we have for making our government honest and transparent, and of holding it accountable. And I expect members of my Administration to not simply live up to the letter, but also the spirit of this law.” (See this at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72g7qmeP1dE )

continues...

And Black noted that, while running for president in May of 2008, Mr. Obama told a Gresham, Oregon, audience (see it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHJzTdCsiGk): “Pension protection is something we should put at the top of our priority list. Right now, bankruptcy laws are more focused on protecting banks than protecting pensions and I don’t think that’s fair. It’s not the America I believe in … If you work hard and play by the rules, then you’ve earned your pension. If a company goes bankrupt, then workers need to be our top priority, not an afterthought.”

“We worked hard and played by the rules,” said Black. “Fair and equitable treatment is all we ask from our federal government. We’ve shown the Administration several proposals for restoring our pensions without Congress having to appropriate any taxpayer funds, but they continue to ignore us. Many Delphi salaried retirees and their families have endured bankruptcy, foreclosure, breakups and worse. Their children, grandchildren, former business associates, friends and neighbors know that they have suffered long enough.”

http://michellemalkin.com/2012/06/12...bail/#comments


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Citizens shouldn’t have to hire lawyers to fight against taxpayer-paid lawyers just to find out how and why onerous government policy decisions were made.”

As much as the money, or the absence thereof, this is really at the core of the issue. Apply it to the gov. agency of your choosing.

What really enables this entire injustice is, at the same time the DOL and EBSA ( Employee Benefit Security Administration ) seem unwilling or impotent to DO anything about it?

Nearly every action the Administration has taken is in direct violation of the ERISA Act of 1974. Normally, and I’ve spent half my life involved in these types of disputes on behalf of clients, once you mention the DOL the former employer stops playing games and comes across w/ the money.

Hope & Change my friends…

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Trouble is FDR’s socialist policies didn’t bring us out of the depression and we are stuck with his legacy costing us hundreds of billions a year that we really can’t afford. You know, Oblather is right on track for that one.

And as for illegal, the entire auto bailout scheme was basically illegal. Quite frankly we should have let GM, and especially Chrysler, fall. I know the cost, but the economy would recover and we would be much better off for it. We’re not going to get to healing if we keep avoiding the pain.

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As Washington rushed to nationalize the U.S. auto industry with $80 billion in taxpayer “rescue” funds and avoid contested court termination proceedings, the White House auto team schemed with Big Labor bosses to preserve UAW members’ costly pension funds by shafting their nonunion counterparts.

Enough is enough. Under no circumstances should Obama, his handlers and his personal operatives, escape criminal prosecution. Election or appointment to a national political office should grant no one free licence to engage in criminal activity. This is just bizarre. We must compel Congressional leadership to sack-up and steel themselves to investigate and prosecute this administration to the fullest extent of the law.

The public trust of the nation and even the world depends on asserting the rule of law here in these crony schemes as well as the Subprime debacle. And that is just the purely financial malfeasances…. Fast and Furious is still to be resolved.

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If the Democrats believe that stripping pension benefits from non-union workers is legal, and changing stock ownership by caveat is also “a good thing”, then perhaps the next administration should eliminate the pension benefits (in the same manner) for short duration government appointees, or those who only served in the Obama mis-administration, and funnel it instead back to those from the private sector, who had theirs stolen/misappropriated by the Obamao-ist state-sponsored thug-heads.

Why should limited-service politicos, Democrat Party acolytes and thugs, be rewarded with the dividends from private sector (non-union) employees whom have worked, and saved for years?

It seems to me that what Obama’s crowd has done to auto industry investors, is akin to foreclosing someone’s home without legal authority when they are a few short years away from having it paid off, and tossing them into the street without due process or method for legal recourse/relief.

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This piece over at American Thinker is pretty telling, and somewhat relevant. http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/...situation.html

And Charles Payne just happens to cover this in his morning commentary. http://www.wstreet.com/member/commen...p?con_id=27106

The Telling part of Payne’s commentary is close to the end. For employee, self employed and retiree, net worth is lower in 2011 than it was in 2007. BUT — for the non-working loafer, net worth is actually higher in 2011 than in 2007 by a very large percent.

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Must reading for you readers (and maybe even some commenters) if you want to understand why LOTE is the central disease fueling the kabuki. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-...80%99-con-game

Let’s stop paying for the same real estate over and over again. Let’s make this election count for a change.

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This reminds me of when all those Chrysler dealers were screwed out of their family businesses when Obama closed mostly Republican dealerships. This man’s corruption knows no limits! He has broken every covenant between a President of the United States and The People! Treason is the word I am using and it fits. I don’t want this creep just defeated…I want him in jail. I know prison won’t happen, but there must be some way to humiliate him!!! A landslide would help.

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[R]emarks by President Obama in the White House on Jan. 21, 2009: “For a long time now there’s been too much secrecy in this city. The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this Administration stands on the side, not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known … the mere fact that you have the legal power to keep something secret does not mean you should always use it … the Freedom of Information Act is perhaps the most powerful instrument we have for making our government honest and transparent, and of holding it accountable. And I expect members of my Administration to not simply live up to the letter, but also the spirit of this law.”

This from the person who has fought relentlessly for over 3 years to keep his birth, academic and voting records secret.

Did Obama admin officials lie to Congress about Delphi pension termination?
posted at 10:01 am on August 7, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to detect a pattern from the Obama administration. When called to testify before Congress, executive branch officials say, “No, no, no” … but their e-mails later say, “Yes, yes, yes“: http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/07/em...kers-pensions/

Emails obtained by The Daily Caller show that the U.S. Treasury Department, led by Timothy Geithner, was the driving force behind terminating the pensions of 20,000 salaried retirees at the Delphi auto parts manufacturing company.

The move, made in 2009 while the Obama administration implemented its auto bailout plan, appears to have been made solely because those retirees were not members of labor unions.

The internal government emails contradict sworn testimony, in federal court and before Congress, given by several Obama administration figures. They also indicate that the administration misled lawmakers and the courts about the sequence of events surrounding the termination of those non-union pensions, and that administration figures violated federal law.

Read through all of The DC’s report, but the key e-mail exchanges appear to be those between Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation staffers Joseph House, Karen Morris, and Michael Rae. The PBGC has the only statutory authority to close down a pension fund, and Obama administration officials have repeatedly claimed that the PBGC made the Delphi decision on the non-union pension independently. However, the meeting called to determine the status of that pension didn’t include PBGC officials — who got disinvited from the event:

Morris had written earlier that day that the PBGC team would “probably get invited to the Monday meeting at tomorrow’s meeting,” and that the Monday meeting would involve “talks” on the GM and Delphi portions of the bailout plan. Those strategies, she wrote, including “pension issues,” would be “kicking off” that Monday.

But after the Friday meeting, House emailed PBGC staffers Karen Morris and John Menke. “We’ve been disinvited,” he wrote. “It’s for the best.”

“Who uninvited us?” Morris replied.

“Treasury,” House responded.

Treasury official Matt Feldman then starts coming into the picture as “a facilitator” of the Deplhi decision, to us the DC’s characterization:

In another series of emails between PBGC’s John Menke and Karen Morris, Feldman — an Obama administration official — emerges as the facilitator of the Delphi pension termination. Menke wrote of the need to obtain a “rubber stamp” from Treasury Department officials before the cutoff was finalized, and from others who were supposed to be excluded from the decision-making process.

Menke emailed Morris on July 14, 2009, laying out details of the final deal that was to deny 20,000 non-union Delphi workers most of hteir pension benefits.

“Terry [Deneen], Joe [House] and Greenhill seem inclined to tell Feldman that this does it for us,” Menke wrote. “Terry is taking it up to Board reps meeting this afternoon and expecting to get a head nod, which he will then have Greenhill convey to Treasury.”

Very obviously, Treasury was at least involved in the decision-making, if not the ultimate decider of the Delphi pension termination. A Treasury spokesman insisted to the DC that the PBGC made the decision on its own, but it looks pretty clear that the PBGC was at least coordinating efforts with the Obama administration. To the extent that any officials testified differently, we may be seeing more subpoenas and Congressional hearings in the near future. One question in particular will be why the PBGC terminated the non-union pension while taxpayers absorbed the union pension obligations, and whether that outcome was coordinated all along by the White House.

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/08/0...n-termination/


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Unless Romney’s willing to smack Obama with this, it won’t effect undecideds.

Romney has to say Obama authorized the killing of 20,000 non-union pensions and for the public to pay for the union ones.

Anything more complicated, forget it.

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Story sure smells like perjury, grand jury, charges, trial, and prison for some administration folks. Screwed bond holders will be next to sue if they haven’t already.

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One question in particular will be why the PBGC terminated the non-union pension while taxpayers absorbed the union pension obligations, and whether that outcome was coordinated all along by the White House.

Gee, wonder why the Obama administration would choose to reward union members (with taxpayer money) and screw over non-union members?

Hmmmmmmmmm. Quite a mystery there.\

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Did Obama admin officials lie to Congress about Delphi pension termination?

Oh hell, YES! And let’s remember that the e-mails contradict sworn testimony. Meaning Obama officials lied to Congress. Scooter Libby went to jail for less. The 20,000 non-union people who lost their pensions deserve an investigation and a full explanation.


What amazes me - if this were attached to the Bush ( or any GOP ) administration - certain people here at BBS would be raising the roof with their outrage... and rightly so. But since it is dealing with the Dem controled Obama Administration ... not even the whisper of crickets or hint of curiousity.... JMHO JR.

8/7/2012

Did They Lie?

Is water wet?

Non-union pensioners got screwed. By the Obama Admin. http://hotair.com/archives/2012/08/0...n-termination/ http://hotair.com/archives/2012/08/0...n-termination/ It has been readily apparent all along that the GM bailout was a bailout for their union cronies. Every step of the way, even in bankruptcy, the unions were given consideration they were not entitled to, ie. Placing union interests before secured creditors.

http://patterico.com/2012/08/07/did-they-lie/

Breaking News today at the Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/07/em...#ixzz22uMJcStB

Emails obtained by The Daily Caller show that the U.S. Treasury Department, led by Timothy Geithner, was the driving force behind terminating the pensions of 20,000 salaried retirees at the Delphi auto parts manufacturing company.

The move, made in 2009 while the Obama administration implemented its auto bailout plan, appears to have been made solely because those retirees were not members of labor unions.

The internal government emails contradict sworn testimony, in federal court and before Congress, given by several Obama administration figures. They also indicate that the administration misled lawmakers and the courts about the sequence of events surrounding the termination of those non-union pensions, and that administration figures violated federal law.

Delphi, a 13-year old company that is independent of General Motors, is one of the world’s largest automotive parts manufacturers. Twenty thousand of its workers lost nearly their entire pensions when the government bailed out GM. At the same time, Delphi employees who were members of the United Auto Workers union saw their pensions topped off and made whole.

The White House and Treasury Department have consistently maintained that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) independently made the decision to terminate the 20,000 non-union Delphi workers’ pension plan. The PBGC is a federal government agency that handles private-sector pension benefits issues. Its charter calls for independent representation of pension beneficiaries’ interests.

Ace sums up: http://minx.cc/?post=331715

So the Administration made a ruthless decision to benefit its union allies over non-union workers. And then claimed they had not made this decision at all; an “outside” group, the PBGC, had made the decision.

But it turns out Treasury “disinvited” the PBGC from discussions about the pensions, thus blocking them from making any of the decisions they are in fact supposed to handle. They weren’t even allowed in the room.

And now the Obamahoods who looted the pensions of these non union employees, are now calling Mitt Romney the reverse Robin Hood for stealing from the 99%?….

The audacity.

For two years now, Michelle Malkin has been reporting on The Delphi Economic Horror Story: http://townhall.com/columnists/miche...ell/page/full/

The White House believes it can win back depressed and economically stressed voters by turning President Obama into the storyteller-in-chief again. But victims of Obama’s Chicago politics don’t want to hear any more of his own well-worn tales of struggle and sacrifice. They’ve got their own tragedies to tell — heart-wrenching dramas of personal and financial suffering at the very hands of Obama.

Consider the real-life horror story of 20,000 white-collar workers at Delphi, a leading auto parts company spun off from GM a decade ago. As Washington rushed to nationalize the U.S. auto industry with $80 billion in taxpayer “rescue” funds and avoid contested court termination proceedings, the White House auto team schemed with Big Labor bosses to preserve UAW members’ costly pension funds by shafting their nonunion counterparts. In addition, the nonunion pensioners lost all of their health and life insurance benefits.

The abused workers — most from hard-hit northeast Ohio, Michigan and neighboring states — had devoted decades of their lives as secretaries, technicians, engineers and sales employees at Delphi/GM. Some workers have watched up to 70 percent of their pensions vanish.

John Berent of Marblehead, Ohio, lost one-third of his pension: “I worked as a salaried employee for GM (30 years) and Delphi (10 years). After 40 years of dedicated service, I was forced to retire. Then Delphi terminated my health care, life insurance, vision, dental, then terminated the pension plan. Everything I worked 40 years for was wiped out.”

Kelly Fabrizio of Franksville, Wis., saw her pension reduced by 55 percent after working 30 years at Delphi/GM: “I am truly scared for my future. Every day I wake up, shake my head and say out loud — This Is Not How It Was Supposed To Be.”

Roger Hoke of Columbus, Mich., and his wife were both longtime Delphi workers. His pension shrunk by more than 40 percent: “After 33 years with GM and another 10 with Delphi, what did I do wrong to deserve such a fate?”

Bruce Gump, a former Delphi worker, testified at a hearing Examining the Delphi Bankruptcy’s Impact on Workers and Retirees, December 2, 2009.

You can listen to the whole thing, but starting especially at 3:21:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=cperlcDkKCk

A woman who was forced into retirement at age 54 and had been working 30 years of dedicated service has lost all of her healthcare insurance and will lose more than half of her pension. She could barely afford to purchase a high deductible insurance policy to provide some protection for herself and her self employed husband. Two weeks later she found out she might have cancer. Because of the high deductible policy that she had she had to bare the entire burden of the costs of the tests to determine if she would live or die.

Anyone on the Romney campaign want to follow up on that story? Or any of the 20,000 or more other tragic stories coming out of the Dephi disaster, Obamahood orchestrated?

Charles Cunningham, a former Delphi worker, also testified at the hearing examining the Delphi Bankruptcys Impact on Workers and Retirees in December 2, 2009. He hit the Obama administration on its lack of transparency.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=FPV-O8NQA3A

We believe that further significant evidence concerning the discrimination against the Delphi salaried retirees exist in the Treasury and automotive Task Force documents related to the GM and Delphi bankruptcies. We’ve requested these documents under the FOIA over two months ago, but the production of these documents by the Treasury has not been forthcoming. In fact, a written request for these documents was also sent by Senator Enzi following a Senate Hearing on pensions on October 29, 2009. To date, this request has also been ignored……This is not transparency. This is not what we would expect from our government. I think it’s outrageous that we don’t know why we were treated in this manner…and our Congressional Leaders can’t know it.

Nearly three years later, we finally know the U.S. Treasury Department, led by Geithner, likely on orders from the White House, was the driving force behind the horrendous Delphi disaster that victimized 20,000 workers.

I bet a large number of these folks wouldn’t mind appearing in a Romney ad to tell their stories, either.


http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2012/08...sion-benefits/

Auto bailout cost taxpayers $3.4B more than estimated
By Alicia M. Cohn - 08/14/12 09:14 AM ET

The federal government's bailout of the auto industry will cost $3.4 billion more than previously thought, according to revised estimates this week from the Treasury Department.

The department now says the taxpayer burden is $25.1 billion, up from the last quarterly estimate of $21.7 billion, Reuters reported Monday.










The 2009 federal bailout of General Motors and Chrysler continues to play a key role in the presidential election, particularly in the critical swing states of Michigan and Ohio.

President Obama has touted the bailout as a successful accomplishment in his first term. Romney has argued that the auto bailout was not such a success. He says many jobs were lost — particularly in Michigan and Ohio — which have still not been recovered. The high cost to taxpayers can only help Romney's argument.

Democrats have repeatedly reminded voters of Mitt Romney's advice to "Let Detroit go bankrupt," the title of a 2008 op-ed that the Republican candidate wrote for the New York Times. In contrast, Obama's campaign released a TV ad in May calling the intervention into the failing companies "the right thing to do."

"Had we listened to his advice at that time, GM and Chrysler would have gone under and we would have lost probably a million jobs throughout the Midwest," Obama said of Romney in an ABC News interview earlier this year.

Romney has said that the struggling GM and Chrysler car companies needed to go through a "managed bankruptcy" process and that that is exactly what they eventually did. Obama's team fires back that the bankruptcy was government-managed, which is what Romney opposed.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...than-estimated

"Had we listened to his advice at that time,.... we would have saved billions that only served to delay the inevitable ...bankruptcy. Both companies went through a bankruptcy Mr. President (or did you forget while lamenting the missed bogey putt on hole #9?). Maybe, if they'd have gone through the bankruptcy earlier, they'd be further down the path to recovery? We'll never knw since you don't get to take a mulligan.

..

In the long run, Romney's path would probably have cost less and the industry would have recovered less quickly but ultimately will be stronger.

..

Why can't the MSM actually DO THEIR JOBS and report the truth!! Obama handed over billions just so GM & Chrysler could file for bankrupcy anyways... He didn't "SAVE" the auto industry, he just redistruted our tax dollars to the unions all while screwing the secured bondholders!

Matthew Boyle of The Daily Caller: ‘Highly confidential’ internal Treasury documents show Obama administration’s deep involvement in Delphi pension


Internal Treasury Department documents described as “highly confidential” and obtained by The Daily Caller show a greater level of involvement in the Delphi pension scandal from senior officials in the Obama administration than has been previously acknowledged.

A July 2009 document prepared by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) titled “Treasury Talking Points re: Delphi” shows coordination between high-level players inside the PBGC and Treasury Department. The document was an attachment to a July 7, 2009 email from PBGC’s Joseph House to Treasury’s Matthew Feldman, Oren Haker and Paul Nathanson.

The talking points show that the PBGC thought the “[v]ast majority of individual’s [sic] covered by Delphi [pension] Plans” were “career GM ‘brethren’ distinguishable only by the 1999 spin-out” of Delphi from its former parent company, General Motors.


Only those “brethren” who were union members, however, saw their pensions preserved in the 2009 auto bailout. Nonunion Delphi retirees lost theirs.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/28/hi...#ixzz2AhtPUYFm

http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2012/10...th-kyle-clark/