Granholm to JP Morgan Chase and Friends: You Got Your Help, Now Give Chrysler Theirs
Governor Granholm sounds a lot like someone who has been wandering around these parts–calling on JP Morgan and the other banks that got bailout funds to return the favor to Chrysler.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm said this morning that any banks that received rescue money from the federal government should be open to concessions on the Chrysler debts they hold so the automaker can reach a deal with Italian carmaker Fiat necessary for its survival.
The White House last week suggested that Chrysler could be pushed into bankruptcy if it doesn’t find a partner in 30 days’ time.
Part of what stands in the way of a deal with Fiat is restructuring Chrysler’s debts and Granholm said following a panel discussion this morning that any of those debt holders who received backing from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, “should be willing to take a haircut.” Or, in other words, write down the value of that debt.
Nice work, Governor. Now, do you have any Chase cards you’d like to cut up?
Yes, in fact, I do have some Chase cards I’d like to cut up. A bunch of them.
Thanks for setting a good example.
Bob in HI
Hey EW nice catch!
Maybe cutting up the 500,000+ unemployment JP Morgan Chase debit cards would be a start.
Perhaps beginning negotiations with local credit unions/community banks to see how they could administer a similar debit program that is not tied to any of the big TARP banks.
A few state governors should be getting together to make an ad for television regarding this issue. Some private group should fund the ad. Maybe the auto industry should make the ad with as many auto workers in the ad as possible. Put faces to the economic disaster the banks want to create.
It would be smart to start making ads with individuals who have been hit by the debit card fees while on unemployment. Again, reinforcing the point that big banks get theirs but the rest of our citizenry gets punished by the mess the banks created.
A juxtaposition of “the banks get bailout $ and bonuses paid for by tax dollars and the people get their retirement, houses and jobs taken by the banks,” would create the appropriate response from the public. Especially if the ad ends with, “support your local banks and credit unions…” with a website to go to that lists local community banks and credit unions which have not received TARP funds to date.
Congress couldn’t get those bank and insurance regulatory laws written fast enough once those ads run.
Yup. If it were aimed at 20-somethings, you’d want it accessible by mobile and iPhone apps, as well.
This is off topic but still regards the US auto industry and deserves a read. Did you know that Toyota is not building its plant in any southern state but, instead, will build in Ontario, Canada? The southern states offered hundreds of millions in incentives and Ontario did not. The reason for the decision is that the southern worker is too illiterate. This says so much about the US education system…
http://southernstudies.org/200…..great.html
I figured it was Canadian health care. But their education point would be more “in your face” to the Plantation Caucus.
Dayum, the InnerToobz is gettin’ interesting!
So very delighted that I logged in this morning ;-))))
Gooooooooooooo Michiganders!
Would be fun if people could send in photos of their ‘card cutting celebrations’ to one location; be interesting to put a montage together.
I’m no fan of Chase, but where are your scathing commnts re: Cerberus Capital management? It’s not Chase’ responsibility to bail them out. If the *PRIVATE* owner isn’t willing to risk its own capital to save the firm, why should anyone else?
I can see the Government deciding to step in if it chose to, but I can’t see it re:Chase. Forcing banks to make more bad loans is as stupid an idea as there is. It’s all well and good to put pressure on the banks to lend, but lend to whom? Chrysler is the worst of the Big Three for good reason: no capital, no product, and no raison d’etre.
Better you should save your ammo for helping the Fiat merger than follow this route. It’s the first time in my meory that Empty Wheel has taken such a weakly-reasoned and thought-through stance. Granted Detroit and Michigan need help. Granted we need to save the city and the state, but why Chrysler? There’s no “there” there.
Wow, you’re totally misunderstanding what’s going on. I’m not asking JPM to give money to Chrysler. And Cerberus has already written off their equity.
But the only way to help the Fiat merger is to make sure that JPM Chase takes a haircut on its Chrysler debt–which is what I’m (and Granholm is) asking them to do.
Does anyone know anything about this:
Treasury opened $5B finance support “to help auto suppliers keep parts flowing to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC . . ..”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200….._bailout_5
(I posted it on the Boycott Chase article, but I think it got lost amidst all the trolls. I hope it is good news, but am not in a position to assess that.)
OT, a little something on the mentally bewildered Bill O’Reilly.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com…..997/-1/RSS
Where is President Obama on this? Granholm is right, but the silence form Washington and teh White House is deafening.
yeah, I know the auto industry may be more deserving than the banks, but Chrysler, fuck ‘em:
Their only new car is Tah Dah! an SUV!
http://www.americablog.com/200…..r-its.html
People wanted small cars when gas was expensive. If American gas were like European gas, maybe our taste in cars would be like the Europeans.
“U.S. auto dealers remain packed with surplus small cars that, like hybrids, have lost the sheen provided by last year’s spike in gasoline prices.”
I think better gas millage cars are better for the environment, but that does not mean they will be better for the bottom line of the auto. companies.
Politicians should create incentives but they are not experts at predicting what cars will sell. Anybody should be able to predict that when the bottom falls out of the economy, people stop buying cars (especially new cars).
A lot of people were buying SUVs because they got a tax break. Most of them seem to be driven by one person with no visible passengers or cargo, which to me is a good argument for turning the behemoths in on smaller vehicles.
Same goes for a lot of those full-sized pickups.
(I saw an SUV swerve onto the wrong side of the street this evening to avoid a rough patch of pavement. It wasn’t too rough for my hybrid ….)