Let The Big Three Fall

I constantly hear the argument that if we don't bailout these companies out that we are going to fall right into a depression.

This is the same argument that teenagers use if they don't get a new iPhone or the latest pair of $200 jeans to hit madison avenue.

I am not denying that the economy and Wall Street need help. What I am denying is the idea of Welfare for failing companies. We don't give people Welfare while they are working for companies that are failing so that they can survive a "POTENTIAL" job loss.

I agree we need to help people that have fallen down. We do not help businesses that are in the process of "FALLING DOWN"

We need to build new industries. Prop of up Green Companies before we prop up failing evil companies like Banks and Hedge Funds. They don't do the country any favors. They don't do anyone any favors, nor do they help build a sustainable economy.

I served in the Air Force for four years. I didn't get shit for serving the country for four years. The jerk offs at GM, Ford, and Chrysler get more benefits than I did in the Military and I have to bail them out because they are lazy and their management doesn't give a fucking shit about the environment, quality, or making good business decisions.

The executives at Ford and GM are totally disgusting business men. Their family and friends should be ashamed to be their family and friends.

For Mulally and Wagoner to fly into Washington, DC and ask for billions and be unwilling to take $1.00 annual salaries is disgusting. For them to keep their salaries and the go to to the unions and also ask them to take less pay and benefits is beyond selfish.

The Union members, Mulally and Wagoner deserve to lose. You do not get to ignore what matters for decades and at the 11th hour coming running with your hands out and ask the american tax payers for money.

Apparently Robert Nardelli is the only man at the table with a brain and the courage to do the right thing.

I know people make the argument that we are bailing out the banks and that if we are going to bail them out that we should bail out the big three. NO NO NO. They are wrong. None of them deserved to be bailed out.

Why in the hell should we bail out a company that pays ridiculous rent to house their employees in the most expensive city in America. You want bailout money. Than move your ass to Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi, or better yet Detroit.

I don't want to bailout anybody that has offices or headquarters in New York City. It is wasteful to have offices in New York City. It is not fiscally responsible to have office space in New York City.

Those reasons might seemed stupid to you but they are not to someone that owns a company or that is starting a new company. You might need to go to NYC for meetings or need a few offices but you don't need to be headquartered downtown Manhattan.

I am rambling because I am pissed off. I am pissed off that we are bailing out these companies that fucked us in the first place.

I am pissed off that more people are not as pissed off. Bill Maher said it on his show. He doesn't understand why more people are not outraged at the government for approving these bailouts.

People need to understand that we are bailing out companies that pay their management teams billions of dollars. Billions. Compensation has nothing to do with intelligence. We have high priced executives fucking us on the way in and now they are fucking us on the way out and the country is just standing around the bubbler saying things like "Wow this economy is bad, huh"

People are more worried about their gas prices than they are with what is going down on Wall Street and the Federal Government.

Hank Paulson. Ben Bernanki. They need to be fired. Not because of their skills or lack of, but because they cannot instill confidence. There are a lot of people that can teach you how to throw a ball or that can teach you how to hit a ball. These people cannot coach the New York Yankees. You need to be able to manage people. You need to instill confidence and mentor your team on an individual and group basis.

Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanki could not coach anything successfully. I would argue that neither of them could even come close to being a decent professor or high school teacher. These two guys are smart but they are not leaders and what this country needs now more than ever is great leaders.

This is why UNIONS are antiquated institutions that don't work in todays society. It does nothing to build leaders or to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit. We have lawyers. We have phones that can record calls and record videos. Phones that take hundreds of pictures. We do not need Unions to protect our working conditions or the way we are treated by our bosses. There are millions of lawyers out there that are willing to help you sue your employer if you are being wrongfully treated.

The biggest problem with Unions is that they turn the employees against the employers. It becomes a battle. They are no longer on the same team working toward a common goal. This is not how you win in a global economy. You need to be on the same team and have respect for everyone on your team. Unions and Company executives are in a constant battle.

This is why Union based companies do not deserve a dime. They are not working together for a common cause. They are both selfish entities looking out for one person. Each person wants the most they can get for themselves and that is the only goal. Who cares if we make inefficient vehicles or that Toyota is crushing us on a daily basis. All I care about is my ability to earn 96% of my pay for 2 years if I am laid off.

Both of my parents were in Unions. My uncles were in Unions. They all taught me individually responsibility and the value of team work. Yet their Union leaders trained them to think in a different way. They had a different way of thinking when it came to their jobs and the companies. What is amazing to me is that each and every company that they worked for eventually collapsed due to the global economy or non Union competitors.

We all have to change our habits. We all have to stop spending our money on bullshit products that we don't need a Walmart that are produced in China.

We need to stop carrying so much debt as a nation and as individuals.

We need to stop thinking that companies owe us something more than a paycheck. Great leaders and Great companies know that to be competitive you have to provide more than a paycheck. If the company you work for does not do more than you can bank on the fact this company will not survive. Patagonia and Toyota provide more than a paycheck and they don't have unions.

We need national healthcare that works. I had national healthcare when I was in the Air Force and it worked. Why couldn't I just pay into the same system when I got out? I paid for supplemental insurance so that I could see other doctors. It was a great system that worked no differently than the healthcare from Aetna that costs me $970 a month. Well actually it is a huge difference because that is more than what I got paid per month when I joined the Air Force and my prescriptions were filled for free.

Bailouts of this size should be used to get this country running on wind and solar energy so that we can become an energy independent nation.

We should use the bailout money to build schools that surpass the quality of any developed nation in the world so that we gain the intellectual property necessary to remain competitive and to build a better, cleaner, safer planet.

Here is a my favorite comment from a Toyota employee in the south.

"I make $40.00 an hour working for a successful automotive company that treats me well. Why should my government use my tax dollars to bailout the union workers in detroit that are getting paid $75.00 to do the same job I do for a failing company that pays their executives tens of millions of dollars per year to keep running these companies into the ground."

American Express gets bailed out by the government and yet they will do not do a thing for card members.

I have over 1 million points with American Express and they have taken them away. They will not allow me to redeem them to get product that I might be able to sell on eBay to help payoff my balance due.

But the government bailed them out by granting them bank status.

I want to know how the executives make decisions at American Express. How do they have members on their staff like Michael Barry that do not call people back.

I talked to American Express today. I spoke with operator SSTA421 and he told me that American Express is unwilling to work out a payment plan.

It is amazing how executives get in line for bailout money and bailout status help in order to prop them up for Wall Street and their shareholders.

Tax payers are getting bent over by companies like American Express and AIG. We are going to get higher taxes. We are going to get less service and consideration because the rich and greedy screwed up the financial markets which caused the economy to spiral out of control.

Lets see what Kenneth Chenault, Ed P. Gilligan, Alfred F. Kelly and Daniel T. Henry have to say.

You should also take a look at the amount of AXP stock Kenneth I. Chenault unloaded over the past two years. Tens of millions of dollars.

Coincidence, I think not!

Amazing that I cannot get some help from the staff at American Express. If you own a business and you take American Express you get bent over on the fees and the power the consumer has over your business.

Here we have American Express getting in trouble and they get bailed out by we the people. The government.

Yet, American Express is unwilling to even discuss a payment option with its customers.

American Express is just as greedy as the next crook on Wall Street. I just wish that a few of the folks at the top at American Express would have given a big chunk of their money to Bernard Madoff.

What comes around goes around.