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Middle Management * Open Thread

By SusanUnPC on November 30, 2008 at 3:00 AM in Current Affairs

Well, let’s open this to discussion. While they could be role-playing Daily Kos middle management or that of any liberal foundation, they also could be role-playing the Democratic party’s middle management. And what about Barack Obama new economic team? Wow. They remind me of so many mid-level managers. Yeah, I bet they’re really Obama’s new economic team.

But, now it’s your turn, and every one of you gets to speak up, and then write a memo about it. Get that memo out by Monday at 9 a.m. sharp.
More where that came from.

OPEN THREAD NOW!

  • HARP

    Understanding the bail out memo ( which I never received )

    The gov gives the bailout money to AIG to give us loans (which we will have to pay back with higher taxes). We take out a loan from AIG (accessing the money the government gave to them). Now we not only have to pay back the loan with interest back to ie AIG and we also have to pay back the loaned money through higher taxes. All in all we as tax payers are further in debt. Now mind you to get that loan we have to have good credit. No job means probably a lower credit score. If they gave the bailout money to the taxpayers to spend then products move and there is no additional loan debt to the tax payer.

    Am I understanding this right?

    • karen for Clinton 2012

      Harp, AIG doesn’t give loans, they are an insurance company. They have shown they are playing fast and lose with our 85 billion on perks for themselves.

      Auto, Home and Life Insurance are just a small part of the 8.5 Trillion dollars they have committed to toss over board, most of it will go to lending institutions. 3 Trillion of the money has been tapped so far of the 8.5 that has been opened.

      Credit-worthy buyers are unable to secure home mortgages or business or car loans since the credit flow has dried up. This lack of money to fuel home sales and purchases needs to be available again.

      Without loan availability few would be able to own a home or a car. Few pay cash for major purchases.

      The bad loans they were forced to make ruined it for everybody. Those of us who have jobs and faithfully pay our existing mtge and car loans and taxes and other purchases are the backbone of the economy. We get our checks and hand it right back to the corporations with a bonus fee of interest after the gov’t takes their share – which they use to give those same corporations more of our money.

      Yep, we pay for it all and they dole it out as they see fit. Our collective dollars fuel the fire.

      The number keeps growing, a trillion here and a trillion there… it all adds up to we are screwed.

      • Tuppence411

        Credit Default Swaps- insurance and “side bets” on bonds and securities. That’s the hot potato in the room at Treasury Paulson won’t let fall. Can’t afford to payout; but also can’t afford to default on the defaults. He just keeps it juggling in the air.

        They don’t even have a firm estimate on exposure from Credit Default Swaps – between 55-77 Trillion. Yeah that’s a “T”. That’s the GNP of the world. AIG holds about half a trillion of it.
        Bears Sterns had over a trillion. Lehman Brothers not so much, so they could go down.

        http://www.moneymorning.com/2008/09/18/credit-default-swaps/

        http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Oct21/0,4670,Meltdown101CreditDefaultSwaps,00.html

      • del

        You for mortgage insurance on your list of insurance. That in fact is the major one. Without it you need 20% down for a home loan or go subprime.

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  • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com Uppity Woman

    Should have let em go down and guarantee the claims. Who the hell are these people that they get to go partride hunting in England and de-stress at a spa on my money? We need to stop acting like a nanny for these companies. Funny how they want to share their losses with taxpayers but not their profits.

    I’m also not comfortable with people like Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank of “Fannie Mae is fine” fame or ANY of these elected officials wheeling and dealing with money that isn’t theirs. If anybody is fast is loose, it’s them. Most of them never did squat in their lives except work for the government or get elected. They have NO idea what’s viable for business and what isn’t. They do things for votes. If my business were going under, they would tell me to punt.

    Very soon, after they vote, taxpayers will be paying the salaries and benefits of all the Big Three employees, all the way to the top and bottom. That’s where the money will go. And they will be back for more. And more. And more. They need to merge, chapter, do whatever NORMAL businesses do and get their own damned ducks in a row. Maybe if they made cars that weren’t in the shop all the time, I would still be buying American cars instead of the cars I buy that last long and only need regular maintenance, without parts falling off of them either. I just got sick and tired of giving them “another chance”. And I know I’m not alone.

    • benny

      well said

    • wodiej

      agree w that too….

  • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com Uppity Woman

    Loans ARE available. They just aren’t available to people with crappy credit. Giving loans to people with crappy credit and no ability to pay got us into theis miss, starting with Fannie Mae that encouraged this with their rules and “guarantees”. If you have shitty credit, I wouldn’t give you a loan either. Would you give ME a loan if I had no job and had a history of not paying my bills or living on credit? This country needs an adjustment back to the time when you got a loan because you were a decent risk. Then maybe people wouldn’t live above their means and overextend themselves. They wouldn’t buy things before they could afford them, like houses and new cars every two years. Banks would be solid again and so would consumers. What’s wrong with that?

    My memo is, everybody cut the crap. Act like adults. Run your business like an adult and be an adult consumer too.

    • wodiej

      right on girl!!

  • Ferd Berfle

    What is would like to know is why the taxpayers are being forced to bail out the likes of Citibank. Anyone having a credit card with them will now be forking over money twice to that corrupt organization. Hell, we ought to send the collection agencies after THEM.

  • Ferd Berfle

    To: Neocapitalists
    Subject: Bailout
    From: Taxpayers

    It has come to our attention that you have been applying for bailout money in order to cover some “errors in judgment” that your employees each made several times a day over the course of the last 3 or 4 years.

    While we would be happy to oblige you under different circumstances, we find your application to be lacking because you did not want oversight when it was offered you prior to your employees “errors in judgment”.

    We are afraid we will not be underwriting any loans for you at this time. There is, however, couseling available and courses in the management of money available for you at no cost should you choose to availe yourself of such programs.

    We wish you luck in future endeavors.

    Sincerely,

    The Taxpayers

    • we’reallbondsmen

      FERD
      maybe that should read “”prior to your employees ‘PLANNED’ errors in judgement”.

      • Ferd Berfle

        Oops! You’re right, I missed that one. LOL

  • we’reallbondsmen

    We have been bailing out failed businesses for years. Corporate Farm Federal Farm subsidies, Major Oil and Gas Cos. Oil and Gas Exploration subsidies, Auto Manufcturers subsidies Tax Credits for driving SUVs and anything else over certain weights, ETC ETC ETC. The only difference now is the timing of this last $trillions is it’s just in time for christmas and our new socialist elect. Welcome to socialist america and merry Xmas to all you racists who are not yet socialized.

  • Katmoon

    Addendum to Memo:

    Please attach the following invitation to your memo; we foresee a large group in attendance, and want to accommodate all of them.

    Thank You,
    The People

    Attachment 1:

    Bonjour Ma Petit Goinfres,

    We would like to invite you to a luncheon in your honor. Attire is casual with the request of all attendees wearing tops ala, chemise à col ouvert.
    The menu will be “Corneille”, followed by a lovely dessert of crotte stuffed petit fois. After dining each guest will be escorted for a private viewing of the new line of industrial cleavers being offered this holiday season, by Ginsu.
    We, the people, your hosts require your R.S.V.P. ; Which can be simply indicated by your signature on the line marked ne’gligent.

    Au Revoir, Miscreants,

    Signed,

    We, The People

  • wodiej

    To: All bailout beggars

    From: The American taxpayer

    Subject: Greed

    The aforementioned is denied access to taxpayer capital in the form of taxes. We have found your business practices to be lacking in oversight, integrity and just plain honesty. We suggest a strong dose of accountability. Perhaps a little suffering will garner some much needed attention to your conscience.

    The American Taxpayer

    • beebop

      Just finished reading George Will’s column. He should keep his snoot out of politics and stay with economics. It is an excellent analysis of the current situation:

      Bear Stearns? Broker a merger. Lehman Brothers? Death sentence. The $700 billion is for cleaning up toxic assets? Maybe not. Writes Russell Roberts of George Mason University:

      “By acting without rhyme or reason, politicians have destroyed the rules of the game. There is no reason to invest, no reason to take risk, no reason to be prudent, no reason to look for buyers if your firm is failing. Everything is up in the air and as a result, the only prudent policy is to wait and see what the government will do next. The frenetic efforts of FDR had the same impact: Net investment was negative through much of the 1930s.”

      Both Bush and 0bama in their haste to “do something” have/are sending such conflicting messages that capitalism is sitting on the sidelines. Unless and until the signals get straightened out, no one is going to put their money into investing again. Why should they?

    • Ferd Berfle

      Bravo!

  • Sassy

    What this country needs is a new line of calculators!
    Oh wait, they just elected one!

  • hootnannie

    There is a pervasive problem that has infected this society–the attitude of doing whatever one has to do simply to get through the workday. And I know from past personal experience that the attitude is so ubiquitous that it’s a fool’s errand to attempt to fight it. Most people find themselves mowed under and going along with it, because struggling to rise above it is futile.
    A co-worker of mine once filed for bankruptcy, but she wanted to keep paying her affordable mortgage. The mortgage company quit sending her statements, so she sent the usual payment, along with an explanatory letter each month, and also called the company asking for statements. She was told the statements would be forthcoming–three separate times, to no avail. She wrote the company twice, without results. Finally, she looked up the name and address of the CEO online, wrote him a letter, and within 2 weeks had a statement. I had a similar problem with a phone company when I wanted to drop a certain facet of the service, but it took only speaking with a supervisor to finally fix the problem. Now, I wonder if the workers who told us they would comply did not do so because they hadn’t been adequetely trained and didn’t know how to process our requests, whether they were overworked to distraction, or whether they didn’t give a hoot. But it seems certain to me that they didn’t give too much worry to having that job for long. I recently remortgaged my own house and was told so many contradictory things that it seems a wonder it went through! Now, whenever I speak with someone about my 401K, etc. I’m paranoid that I’m not receiving the correct info!
    Now, what could be more get-through-todayish that NINJA loans where the lender gave no thought to income or job or lack of same? Both the lender and borrower knew that these chickens would come home to roost, but the lender knew he could just sell off these iffy loans and be the hell out of it. I guess the borrowers weren’t thinking at all.

  • http://none maq

    Well finally we know who collapsed the WTC. It was a practice run event, like a test, to implement the ECONOMIC COLLAPSE. The Democratic Party took down the US Treasury for political gain.

  • I’m a Linda too

    Yep, a pretty good look at O-shit!’s economic and domestic team. While we’re at it, it seems even though he’s going to have a couple of good key people, his advisers on foreign matters seem to fit here too, as we’ve seen by example in his poor response time with India. Even though these guys are your typical “middle management” that you can tell what their discussion was at their latest meeting, because they come running out spewing the talking points, I really thought they would have known when to apply that window dressing for show. I was wrong.

  • TeakWoodKite

    From: Window Dressing Middle Management.

    To; Window Dressers.

    This Holiday season, it is crucial to provide the broke ass, foreclosed on, and all around deceived window shopping public, window displays that are of such a nature as to lull the dismayed and apathetic consumer in believing that the good times are going to roll!

    The use of trillion dollar bailout should be shown as if Santa’s Life depended on it.
    The use of ribbons and bows are permitted in any display but must conform to Kool-aid guidelines. All mannequins must have a halo as to remind the shopper of “The One”.

    In the event that someone is caught shoplifting we must not arrest them and instead give them the “Meddle of Freedom” and a a door prize of 800 billion dollars with all gift taxes waved.

    Remember, it up to you if wish to remain employed, here at the U.S. Treasury.

    • Ferd Berfle

      ROFL.