Did Obama Team Abuse Chrysler's Creditors, or Justly Target Evil "Speculators"?

You better watch your mouth Mr. Task, you are standing up to the omniscient Obama! :)

True, but while I feel bad for automakers these are very different situations. The US auto industry failed due to bad managment, cars, and union contracts. The banks failed in a large part because the government set up an environment where bad lending was backed by low interest rates and backed securities. Car companies 25 years of being bad while bankers had 5 years of being stupid

The whole idea of speculation is that people are betting on uncertain outcomes. Sometimes people will get rich, sometimes they will loose. In general the chance of getting "excessive" returns happens when people are betting on very risky prospects (either really risky or ones that everyone thinks are risky). If someone punishes "speculators" just because they speculate, it only increases uncertainty in the future, and the market will treat the assets as MORE risky in the future, and the potential returns will be higher. Otherwise people will not invest in the assets that we need to fund our industry.

I'm hiding in the closet because Obama thugs are in my house! I can hear them!

You think Chrysler was bad wait till the goons in treasury get done with everybody else.Since when has it been wrong to expect companies to honor contracts. Gee I had kind of a rough year should I stiff all the credit card companies becuase they are all greedy speculators. It is always funny the rules don't apply to Goverment they always say do as we say not as we do we will put you in jail if you do waht we do.

its all payback to the unions

Lame. Yeah, the double standard is wrong, but from the other end. The AIG bonus contracts should have been ripped up.

I was watching and listening to Obama, when he bad-mouthed Perella Weinberg Partners, for not aquiescing to government demand that they take .30 on the dollar. It was a veiled threat, not very well veiled. This fund was looking out for their investors. That is what they are supposed to do. Just a power play from the Administration. Funny, they played hands off with the Wall Street Bankers!! Wonder why?? POLITICS!! JIM HSV ALA

Historically, the government has always proven to be incompetent. This government should NOT be involved in any business period. If a business is going to fail, let it fail.

Something had to be done, a protracted court battle was not it.

someone had to do it

Suggestion: for the title 'Did Obama Team Abuse Chrysler's Creditors, or Justly Target Evil "Speculators"?' the quotes should be around "Evil", not speculators. Your positioning leaves a bad impression that speculators are evil by default, which appears inappropriate for a writer specializing in finance.

The difference is that the car companies shot themselves in the foot by being "bad", but the bankers and their minions committed acts that were unethical and criminal in many cases (i.e, mortgage originator lying to applicants and misleading lenders by falsifying income levels).

As far as this old WASP (10th and 12th generation, conservative) is concerned, we ought to drag the hedge fund managers out of their posh environments, hang them by the ears with ice tongs, and beat them like piñatas until they burst.

Attempting to "rescue" the economy is fraught with peril, and Obama's team is using Reagan style government spending at the expense of insanely increased debt load... Furthermore, there hasn't been the kind of ground up job creation that seemed to be targeted as a priority during the elections... However, the American auto industry has (in particular) been distinguished by irresponsible management on top of a legacy of burdensome contracts resulting in the kind of inefficiency normally associated with the level of government bloat in national defense spending. Banks by contrast are suffering from profound growing pains associated with excessive deregulation with allowed them to over-leverage and to function without responsible assumption of lending associated risk.

The Obama administration is using their power to pay back its debt to the UAW for helping his campaign. The evil lenders(hedge funds) didn't back him so therefore they were left oput in the cold. Now he is targeting small business(the dealerships). Although these are privately owned small businesses that cost their manufacturers nothing(even GM and Chrysler agree on this) the auto task force for some reason is telling the manufacturers that they need to cut dealerships to get more loans. This will put up to 100,000 people out of work and give GM and Chrysler less dealers in which to sell their products.

This will prove to be a terrible decision by the Obama administration. They have effectivly voided the Bankrupcy laws by forcing a group of 'secured lender' (whose inveatment is secured by hard assets like land and factories) and giving control of the company to an organization with no financial investment in the company (the UAW). If you have money in a bond mutual fund that buys 'commercial paper' - your investment is at risk of similar treatment. The fund managers that refused to settle, were ,right to object, and they are cowards to give-up. Their obligation is to the investors in their funds, not to subsidise the auto industry. When the funds took the retirements savings, pension funds, personal savings or 401(k) savings and purchased the Chysler bonds, they were promised that their investment was 'secured' . They were promised that if Crysler went broke, they would be paid first. And now, thanks to Obamanomics, that has all changed. If anyone ever invests in another company, your investment is at risk of being given away.

Suck it up guys. Thank god you have someone taking the lead (Obama) because for 8 years others would not. I bet the GM group does not have any issues taking him up on an offer... smile...

Fidel Obama is not to be messed with... be careful very careful.... We have thugs in the White House..

As one comment said: "its all payback to the unions". Don't think for a second that BO isn't stroking the unions so he get's their vote again later. But the real truth is this - if bond investors get raped by the government for loaning money (and that is exactly what a bond is, a legal lon to be paid back by the company) then you can kiss any financing help goodbye for these ailing companies. It is bad enough to take a risk with stocks but when you get screwed as a bond investor things are really bad. My prediction: BO doesn't get elected in 2012. He will really have the country screwed up by then. In truth he doesn't WANT an investor class. He wants a ruling class - the govenment bosses and a worker class - everyone else. Pure socialism. My bet is Americans will wake up to that fact when the pidgeons come home to roost from what he's done already.