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David Harsanyi has interesting points of view.
… Today, a comparable, spontaneous grassroots effort has materialized. This one celebrates free-market principles rather than statism. Not surprisingly, there is also a sudden shift in perception. The once-glorified citizen activist is now nothing more than a radical, slack- jawed, proletariat yokel. …
… Specter, rather than admit that the only way he can win an election is as a Democrat, has perpetuated the following mythical narrative:
“Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent,” the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat explained, “the Republican Party has moved far to the right.” (All of a sudden Ronald Reagan provided a big tent? Who knew?) …
… There was no greater friend to expansion of government than President George W. Bush. I know this because anytime I mention the massive debt and regulation that Obama has already saddled us with, a helpful Democrat will appropriately point out that Bush started it. Which, apparently, makes it all tolerable. …
Howard Kurtz, who hosts CNN’s Reliable Sources, which is the best of the Sunday morning offerings, writes a great column; part on the different media reactions to GOP or Dem defections, and part stream of consciousness musings on the cable news cycles.
I was surfing the cable news channels, where the swine flu outbreak was being treated as possibly the next bubonic plague, displacing the news of President Obama’s 99th day in office, when word broke that Arlen Specter was switching parties.
The political bombshell reverberated across the screen for hours, until the networks ditched the Pennsylvania senator for a low-speed police chase of a stolen rig with a man clinging to the back. I was waiting in front of a camera at that moment to talk about the feverish flu coverage on Headline News, and never did make it on the air.
News seems more ephemeral than ever in this age of TiVo and tossed-off tweets. But it’s worth hitting the pause button to examine how media organizations chronicled the Specter saga.
The political elements, naturally, were front and center — Specter’s fear of losing a GOP primary next year, and his moving the Democrats within one Al Franken victory dance of a filibuster-proof majority. But in the straight-news reports, little attention was devoted to this question: Was this a betrayal of the voters who elected Specter? …
Last week the kid president was frustrated with some creditors who refused to go along with the haircut touted by the car czar. At the same time he offers 20% of the company to Fiat for nothing. Fiat not investing one lira. The country was presented with a Fiat accompli. We start with a number of Corner posts.
… Obama’s Auto Task Force has already used the run-up to Chapter 11 as an occasion to demonize Chrysler’s creditors. In what amounts to a pre-packaged bankruptcy, the task force and Chrysler in the last week buttoned-up an alliance with Fiat as well as concessions from the UAW. Union leaders trumpeted the “sacrifice” of a freeze in pay for its hourly workers (salaried workers have been under a freeze for years) as well as giving up such health-care benefits as Viagra. With those deals in hand, the president then turned both barrels on Chrysler’s creditors at his news conference, calling them “speculators” who sought to imperil Chrysler’s future for their own benefit. “I do not stand with them,” Obama thundered. …
… Yesterday, Obama said, “I stand with Chrysler’s employees and their families and communities,” and not “those who held out when everybody else is making sacrifices.” Does that mean he doesn’t stand with the thousands of Americans who have retirement plans with Oppenheimer Funds?
… At all times in the negotiations, OppenheimerFunds sought fair treatment for the shareholders of our funds and we were willing to make very significant sacrifices to reach an agreement. Along with more than 20 other secured creditors, OppenheimerFunds rejected the Government’s offers because they unfairly asked our fund shareholders to make financial sacrifices greater than those being made by unsecured creditors [a.k.a. the UAW — SS]. Our holdings in secured Chrysler debt are entitled to priority in long-established US bankruptcy law and we are obligated to our fund shareholders to support agreements that respect these laws. …
Not everyone showed this kind of backbone. I don’t know about you, but knowing that Oppenheimer’s managers were willing to stand up to immense political pressure on behalf of their investors kind of makes me want to open an account there. …
ABC News’ Jake Tapper reports on BO’s threats against bondholders.
A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.
The White House said the story was false.
“The charge is completely untrue,” said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, “and there’s obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way.”
Thomas Lauria, Global Practice Head of the Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Group at White & Case, told ABC News that Rattner suggested to an official of the boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners that officials of the Obama White House would embarrass the firm for opposing the Obama administration plan, which President Obama announced Thursday, and which requires creditors to accept roughly 29 cents on the dollar for an estimated $6.8 billion owed by Chrysler. …
Conor Clarke in Atlantic Monthly’s Business Blog follows on this story. Even the Atlantic sees the problems when BO becomes a thug.
… And to the substance: It isn’t that hard to see how getting tough on hedge funds could go wrong. A day before the administration released some details of the Chrysler plan, it released an update on applications to its public-private investor program to repurchase toxic assets. This program, whether you like it or not, relies crucially on the partipation and confidence of private investors. The administration extended the application deadline, and it reportedly had some trouble rustling up qualified applicants. (On just about every conference call with potential investors, a couple will express wariness about partnering with the government.) Even in purely horserace terms, it’s not obvious going after the holdout creditors is a good idea. ..
Reuters has the story too.
Power Line closes out the section.
The Chrysler reorganization is shaping up as another milestone in the decline of the rule of law under Barack Obama. We’ve said for quite a while that bankruptcy is the only viable option for Chrysler and General Motors, not–as Obama claims–because they don’t know how to make the right kinds of vehicles, but because their unsustainable union contracts make it impossible for them to be profitable. That reality has now been turned on its head, as the administration has tried to bully Chrysler’s secured creditors into going away, while the United Auto Workers Union, solely on the basis of political clout, would be paid at an implied rate of 50 percent and would emerge owning 55 percent of the company, with the government also holding a stake.
This is banana republic capitalism at its worst. Political influence, rather than the law, dictates the rights of the parties. When some of the secured creditors refused to be intimidated, Obama libeled them in the press, saying, outrageously, “I don’t stand with those who held out when everyone else is making sacrifices.” Actually, under Obama’s plan the politically favored parties, principally the UAW, will benefit–will steal money, to put it crudely–from the parties who held out. Those parties call themselves the “non-TARP lenders.” …
Richard Epstein calls for faster release of drugs to cancer patients.
Roger Simon on the comic relief that is Joe Biden.
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