Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets to Plead for Public Funds

[David]

Originally Posted by skcin

BTW - I'm ambivelant about these bailouts. Deep in my heart I think it's bull****, but then I hear about how if they were to go out of business we would have so many people without jobs that it would make the economy even worse. But then I wonder if it's just scare tactics - what they want us (and the gov't) to believe so we go for it.

That's the tragic part: It isn't the execs with the six-figure bonuses that will suffer in any way (other than public censure) should these huge industries go belly up. It's the thousands of rank & file workers who live paycheck to paycheck who will be out of work & out of money.

To punish "the industry" is not to punish the execs for rotten business decisions. In a sense, they're immune to punishment. There is no reasonable punishment for clowns who bankrupt industries -- if they obeyed the law. What do you do? Send them home? Give me a six-figure Golden Parachute, & I'll go home, too. Gladly.

But your final question is pertinent: The State sends billions of dollars to the execs, payable to whom or to what, exactly? To GM? To Ford? To So-and-So, CEO c/o Ford? Where is the money deposited, & for what is it used? It's probably just a cash infusion deposited into the corporation's bank accounts, & perhaps used to pay debts or meet payroll. Will it be used to finance R&D? To design better cars? It's all so vague. It's a rotten situation we all find ourselves in.