*Update* – I was looking at the wrong Govtrack vote totals. Congressman Steve Buyer and Congressman Baron Hill voted in favor of the bailout. Totals have been updated below. Here are the votes from the Roll Call votes from the House Clerk.
The House passed the Auto Bailout bill 237-170. So how did Indiana’s Congressmen vote? 7-2 in favor of the bailout.
Indiana
Aye IN-1 Visclosky, Peter [D]
Aye IN-2 Donnelly, Joe [D]
Aye IN-3 Souder, Mark [R
Aye IN-4 Buyer, Stephen [R]
Nay IN-5 Burton, Dan [R]
Nay IN-6 Pence, Mike [R]
Aye IN-7 Carson, André [D]
Aye IN-8 Ellsworth, Brad [D]
Aye IN-9 Hill, Baron [D]
Congressman Souder and Congressman Buyer joined Democrats in support of the bailout.
Not that I’ve been a fan of any of these bailouts, but Steve Dalton of Porter County Politics raised a good exit question on Twitter: “Is anyone else wondering why it’s OK to bailout auto makers but we clapped triumphantly when home builders went bust last year?”
Is anyone else wondering why it’s OK to bailout auto makers but we clapped triumphantly when home builders went bust last year?
I don’t remember any triumphant clapping; on what date last year did home builders go bust?
At least part of the difference is that nobody expects that we’ll stop building homes in the US, and start buying homes imported from the orient.
But it won’t make any difference if the Senate doesn’t vote on it.
Mark Souder really was between a rock and a hard place. He has a big GM truck assembly plant up in Fort Wayne. Though we keep hearing about Baron Hill being a “blue dog” Dem I’m surprised the Clark and Floyd county folks didn’t bend his ear – considering quite a few employees at Ford’s Louisville Assembly and Kentucky Truck plants live across the river in Indiana.
In light of the update I stand corrected on my post above.
For all of the flack Congressman Burton gets he has at least voted against the bailouts and supports substantial tax reform that would make American industry more competitive.
And then there is Buyer. *just sitting here shaking my head*
Wow, this sure goes a long way towards establishing Pence’s conservative credentials.
Or, is he now a “compassionate conservative”?
What moron really thinks that these auto companies will suddenly vanish off the face of the earth without more handouts?
What moron really thinks that these auto companies will suddenly vanish off the face of the earth without more handouts?
Someone who was in Fort Wayne in the early 1980s, when first the Scout plant, and then the rest of the International truck production suddenly vanished.
I get the impression most folks don’t understand ‘bankruptcy’ is not ‘close the doors’. It actually presents them with an opportunity to renegotiate contracts and to become streamlined/efficient. Look at Kmart. They filed in 2002, and two years later they bought Sears for $11B.
The ‘big 3′ doesn’t need a bailout.
Bingo John, my point exactly.
I get the impression most folks don’t understand ‘bankruptcy’ is not ‘close the doors’
Actually, bankruptcy IS “close the doors”. Reorganization isn’t – but reorganization only works when you have money to operate with. The automakers don’t have an income stream, nor do they have any financing available, so they can’t operate. The only option is to close the doors.
Look at Kmart. They filed in 2002, and two years later they bought Sears for $11B.
When Kmart filed for reorganization, they had $2 billion of debtor-in-possession financing lined up, and only only had $1.25 billion in liabilities, so this gave them a nice pile of cash to use for operating capital.
They also had strong demand for the goods and services that Kmart was offering; Target and Walmart were reporting record sales. Kmart’s problem was that they had too many stores in bad locations. Kmart was able to void leases, letting them close stores in bad locations. Their remaining stores were profitable, and once they redid those stores to look fresher and more inviting, even more profitable.
It’s a little different with the automakers. GM can’t line up DIP financing, because economy is FUBAR.
It’s not a matter for GM of jettisoning unprofitable car models and keeping the profitable ones. Because sales are at a 27-year low, the entire industry, both foreign and domestic, is unprofitable.
Yes, they have structural problems, including an older workforce that has high health care costs, and a lot of retirees. Bankruptcy won’t allow them to jettison their older workers and their retirees; age discrimination against those 45 and older is forbidden by federal law.
The ‘big 3? doesn’t need a bailout.
You’re right. They need an undertaker. Maybe they can get a group rate, though, to include everyone in the midwest.
The national unemployment rate was 12.5% last month according to the BLS. You’ll see the rate hit 20% nationally if the big 3 file for bankruptcy, and hit 30% in Indiana.
Just in case anyone cares: the number that Harl is using is described in the Bureau of Labor Statistics as: “Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers..”
This, of course, means that the 12.5% includes…a good segment of employed.
“A good segment of employed”? I don’t know what you’re smoking, Joel, but I bet your friends would like to have a toke.
Persons employed part time for economic reasons are only PARTLY EMPLOYED. It’s worse than being riffed, because you don’t qualify for unemployment compensation.
Marginally attached workers are NOT EMPLOYED AT ALL. They’re persons not in the labor force who want and are available for work.
So that’s why they report the U-3 number (i.e. the official unemployment rate)? Come on. You are simply being melodramatic and we all know it.
Also, do you realize that it is Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy code? It is fine if you want to niggle the definition of bankruptcy, but the media and most people call Chapter 11 “Bankruptcy” just as they do Chapter 7. For the most part, Chapter 7 has not been discussed regarding the auto companies, just Chapter 11–and it has been called “Bankruptcy” ever time.
What’s melodramatic about calling it “unemployment” when someone wants a full-time job, and can’t find one?
Saying that those people are employed is like saying that the minimum-wage workers in fast-food restaurants are all billionaires.
Chapter 11 of Title 11 of US Code is called “Reorganization”, not “Bankruptcy”.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode11/usc_sup_01_11_10_11.html
“How many legs does a dog have, if you call his tail a leg? The answer is four, because calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.” — Abraham Lincoln
There are many reasons why the bailout of Wall street and the auto industry is wrong but most importantly because the federal government is far more powerful than it was ever meant to be. Now the government can be a stockholder? Sounds too much like socialism.
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