May 9, 2009
Bye-bye sanctity of contracts
As property rights are flushed, you can fuggedaboutwhat's in your contract. After all, you wouldn't want to be a"hold-out" member of a "cabal" of "dissident lenders" now, would you? A Saturday Washington Times article includes some terribly prejudiced phrasing (perhaps tongue-in-cheek?), but is a good summary of the structure of the Chrysler bankruptcy "deal" that included the collapse of the secured lenders.
The hold-out lenders charged that Mr. Obama, who had called them "speculators" and questioned their patriotism as well as blamed them for the bankruptcy, used undue political pressure, even though they were pursuing their legal rights in bankruptcy court, where the claims of such secured lenders normally prevail."After a great deal of soul-searching and quite frankly agony, they concluded they just don't have critical mass to withstand the enormous pressure and machinery of the U.S. government," said Thomas Lauria, the group's lead attorney.The White House's auto task force asked the lenders to accept about 33 cents on the dollar for $6.9 billion of loans and offered them no equity in the company, while unions were given a 55 percent majority stake in exchange for expunging $4.6 billion of debt to a retirement fund.
Oh, what wonders one can accomplish by having a friendly, (sym)pathetic judge! And, when you've got 'em by the cojones, their hearts and minds are sure to follow! IMHO this is just about the most egregious abuse of government power of all time. How long before the Obamachine just takes dissidents out back and threatens to shoot them? Nah, they'll never dispense with all the legal formalities, will they?
But do keep in mind, that we have no dollars for more F-22s and such. Must tighten our defense belt, folks. But there's billions available to "save" Chrysler -- now and in the future. And Obama is only just getting started.
Praise the Prez and pass the subsidies!