Thursday, June 14, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, June 14, 2012


Freda Payne, baby...

Posted by at

3 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_NKOREA_MISSILES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-06-13-14-08-29

Japan has evidence that a Chinese company exported to North Korea vehicles capable of transporting and launching missiles, in possible violation of U.N. sanctions...

China called the reports inaccurate, and denied violating any U.N. restriction.

* HMM... WHO TO BELIEVE... OUR ALLY JAPAN OR OUR ADVERSARY CHINA...? (*SMIRK*) HMM... I WONDER WHO OBAMA BELIEVES...???

The U.S., which has previously said it took China at its word that it was complying with the sanctions...

* D'OH!

...said Wednesday that in recent weeks it has raised with Beijing allegations that Chinese companies assisted North Korea's missile program.

(*SNORT*) SO... IT TOOK THE JAPANESE PUBLICLY OUTING CHINA IN ORDER TO FORCE MADAM HILLARY'S HAND.

[T]he Asahi, a major Japanese newspaper, said the evidence was shared with South Korea and the United States, but claimed that Washington requested it not be made public.

(*SMIRK*)

On April 19, after press reports on the possible Chinese origin of the launch vehicle displayed in the military parade, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said that China had provided repeated assurances that it was complying with the U.N. sanctions.

"I think we take them at their word," he said.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

According to the Japanese reports, four of the vehicles were shipped from Shanghai to North Korea last August aboard the Harmony Wish, a Cambodian-flagged cargo vessel. Japanese authorities tracked the ship by satellite...

* HMM... YOU'D THINK THAT WE'D BE DOING THIS - WOULDN'T YOU?! (YA GOTTA LUV THE "SEE NO EVIL" APPROACH OF THE CLINTON STATE DEPARTMENT!)

Such vehicles - called TELs, for transporter, erector, launcher - became the focus of international attention when North Korea displayed what looked like several of them during a military parade in its capital, Pyongyang, in April. They are a concern because they could give the North the ability to transport long-range missiles around its territory, making them harder to locate and destroy.

* FOLKS... EVERYTHING THIS ADMINISTRATION TOUCHES...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

June 14, 2012 at 11:02 AM
William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303768104577462650268680454.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The preferential treatment given to the United Auto Workers accounts for the American taxpayers' entire estimated $23 billion in losses from the 2009 auto bailout.

Had the UAW received normal treatment in standard bankruptcy proceedings, the Treasury would have recouped its entire investment.

Three "irregularities" in the bankruptcy case resulted in a windfall to the UAW.

A bedrock principle of bankruptcy law is [- or at least used to be -] that creditors with similar claims priority receive equal treatment. If you owe $1,000 each on two credit cards, in bankruptcy you cannot choose to pay $900 to Citi and only $200 to Chase. Each of the creditors is entitled to an equal percentage recovery.

* MEANING IF THE COURT DECIDED "CREDIT CARD REIMBURSEMENTS" WOULD BE LIMITED TO $1,100. AND YOU HAVE TWO CREDIT CARDS, EACH CARD HOST WOULD RECEIVE PARTIAL PAYMENTS OF $550.

GM and Chrysler owed billions of dollars to the union's Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) when they went bankrupt. The union and the auto makers created VEBA in 2007 to assume responsibility for the UAW's generous retiree health benefits. The benefits allowed UAW members to retire in their mid-50s with minimal out-of-pocket health-care expenses for the rest of their lives. GM owed $20.6 billion and Chrysler owed $8 billion to VEBA as unsecured claims.

[T]he administration gave the unsecured claims of VEBA much higher priority than those of other unsecured creditors, such as suppliers and unsecured bondholders.

* SO MUCH FOR "BEDROCK PRINCIPLES OF BANKRUPTCY LAW." INDEED, SO MUCH FOR THE VERY RULE OF LAW ITSELF.

VEBA got 17.5% of new GM and $9 billion in preferred stock and debt obligations. Based on GM's current stock price, VEBA collected assets worth $17.8 billion — $12.2 billion more than if the administration had treated it like the other unsecured creditors.

The same thing happened at Chrysler, only to a greater degree. Chrysler's junior creditors recovered none of their $7 billion in claims.

* NONE. ZIP. ZERO. ZILCH!

In normal bankruptcy proceedings, the UAW would have also collected nothing. Instead it walked away owning almost half of new Chrysler and a $4.6 billion promissory note earning 9% interest.

* FOLKS... AMERICA HASN'T BEEN AMERICA FOR A LONG TIME. CERTAINLY ONE OF THE KEY STRAWS TO BREAK THE CAMEL'S BACK WAS THIS BLATANT GOVERNMENTAL THEFT FROM CERTAIN PARTIES TO OTHER - POLITICALLY FAVORED - PARTIES.

* OH... AND HERE'S THE KICKER:

Had the stock and note gone to the Treasury instead, the bailout would have cost taxpayers $9.2 billion less.

* MEANING... BAD ENOUGH TO ROB CERTAIN CREDITORS IN THE FIRST PLACE... BUT TO SCREW THE TAXPAYER WHILE ENRICHING A POLITICAL ALLY... UNCONSCIONABLE! (BUT, HEY... THAT'S AMERICA IN THE AGE OF OBAMA!)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

June 14, 2012 at 2:39 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

The administration also insulated the UAW from most of the sacrifices that unions usually make in bankruptcy — at taxpayer expense.

Section 1113 of the Bankruptcy Code enables reorganizing companies to improve their post-bankruptcy competitiveness by renegotiating union contracts to competitive rates. (In April, for example, American Airlines proposed using this power to bring down its labor costs to the level of its rivals, just as Delta and United had in earlier bankruptcy filings.) The administration decided not to do this at GM.

The UAW did accept sharp pay cuts for new hires.

* FOR NEW HIRES!

But they only made modest concessions for their existing members, like eliminating the much-maligned Jobs Bank that paid workers even when they were laid off.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

As a result, GM still has higher labor costs ($56 an hour) than any of its competitors. (Indeed, Steven Rattner, the Obama administration's former "car czar," told the Detroit Economic Club last December, "We should have asked the UAW to do a bit more. We did not ask any UAW member to take a cut in their pay.")

Had bankruptcy brought GM compensation in line with its competitors' (approximately $47 an hour), we estimate the resulting savings would have increased the value of the taxpayers' stake in GM by $4.1 billion. (This would still leave UAW members making 40% more than the average American manufacturing worker.)

Finally, GM's decision to assume certain pension obligations of Delphi, the bankrupt former GM subsidiary, also increased the cost of the bailout. "New GM" no longer had an obligation to support Delphi's pensions. Yet it decided to spend $1 billion to top up the pensions of Delphi's UAW retirees.

* HEY... WHAT'S A BILLION BUCKS OF TAXPAYER BAILOUT MONEY BETWEEN FRIENDS... RIGHT?!

Delphi's nonunion retirees and retirees in other unions did not fare so well. GM gave them nothing.

(*SMIRK*)

President Obama did not bail out the auto industry. He bailed out the United Auto Workers.

June 14, 2012 at 2:40 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)