Comments on: Will You Feel Sorry for this GM Retiree?

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:00:35 +0000

Did Gm deserve the bailout? You Ask me I would say NO.. why? When Honda and Toyota were out inventing new cars, GM was busy boasting about its pride and Showing off its hungry hungry Daughter the Hummer

By: 09allin

09allin — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:11:23 +0000

Evidently interest in this topic has vanished as more and more people are realizing that the economic meltdown affects them personally? It was clear two years ago that this was not going to limited to a small group of people who made stupid decisions. It was also shaping up that a majority of people thought that they, their families, and their friends were above it all, but that is increasingly becoming claer to not be the case. Let’s invent a game wherein we select a group of fellow citizens to assign the blame to. That would be much easier than actually figuring out what a group of concerned citizens could do, on an individual basis, to start correcting this mess. It seems to me that we need to start acting in our own best interest. What are we/you doing on a local basis to start helping the national/global picture? I would be truly interested in hearing from people who actually have, and are implementing, actions.

By: 09allin

09allin — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:04:01 +0000

Matt SF

Don’t mistake what I am saying. I have absolutely no tolerance for saving people who knowingly went “upside down” in their personal finances, with sub-prime mortgages, autos they could not afford, had to have every new gadget offered, etc. I also have no tolerance for those who profited from the financial scandal being visited upon our economy by profiting from the schemes and scams that fueled the present condition. Giving billions in bailouts to people and banking institutions is ridiculous, most of the financial personnel involved should be classified as criminals, not given huge bonuses and perqs at the taxpayer’s expense.
All of that said, and ascribed to, I still know that there are thousands and thousands of Americans who have been “thrown under the bus” through no fault of their own. You point out that we get to clean up the mess and nurse their hangovers. I would submit that your comment makes you one of the victims along with the rest of the people who continue to do the right thing.
I also believe that the vast majority of the American people simply do a good job every day, work hard, and try very hard to do the right thing. My notion is that these are the people who are not heard from and are not being represented in this mess.

By: Matt SF

Matt SF — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:24:44 +0000

“When we look across the land we see people everywhere who are being made victims through no fault of their own.”

Morons who signed NINJA loans and falsified their income to buy homes they couldn’t afford are at fault. GM management teams who continually rolled out cars that no one wanted to buy are at fault. I can find fault in most places I look.

You can make statements of our theoretical greatness and the way things are “supposed to be” all day long. But at the end of the day it’s all words — nothing has changed. I think we’ve gotten a healthy dose of reality served to us and no one likes how it tastes. The fact is a limited group of people made ultra ridiculous decisions, and now the collective must pay the price for their greed (lenders) and stupidity (consumers).

Like most “mindless bloggers”, we didn’t accept the invite to the spendthrift orgy but please allow us the option to voice our opinions while we clean up someone else’s mess, nurse their hangover and help pay their bills.

By: 09allin

09allin — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:13:23 +0000

I agree, and have spent my life being responsible for myself and family. I have steadfastly tried to invest wisely, save faithfully, pay all bills, maintain a stering credit rating, and sucessfully changed careers at 54 years of age. That was after working 34 years for one of our major manufacturers. I am independant and will remain that way. I believe that Americans are being duped at every level of government and have been for a great many years. When we look across the land we see people everywhere who are being made victims through no fault of their own. Picking one person out and pointing fingers at them does nothing to start solving the issues. I would really like to see conversations being started that are focused at solutions. Our unemployment rate is soaring to all time highs, our educational system is in dissarray, people are frightened, the gap between the haves and have nots is growing rapidly. Finding a good paying job is very difficult for any generation. It really is time for a focus on what is good for our country, our people, and our way of life. This is a great nation, and the people deserve better.

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:38:51 +0000

09allin: You make an excellent point but I think it needs to balanced with a concern that the more we use collective resources (government/taxpayer) to solve individual economic problems, we are gradually impairing the ability or willingness of those individuals to be responsible for themselves.

By: 09allin

09allin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:53:27 +0000

Hi
It is interesting to note that at this defining moment in our history we are 100% caught up in finger ponting and blaming one another. Any intelligent population would realize that this is a global problem/opportunity, and that the nation, community, population that decides to work together will most likely prevail. The United States is the nation that has provided all of us with opportunities that do not exist anywhere else in the world. Rather than capitalize on these opportunities we waste our resources. Those resources are our intellectual caital, our time, and our collective will. Rather than getting involved in positive efforts to move our economy forward, let’s instead, devote our resources toward taking shoots at one another over events that are history! This country is in a crises that we have not experienced during our life times. Are you voting? Are you participating in local community efforts focused at improvement? Are you actively engaging in any efforts other than mindless blogging?
What we failed to understand during the ’70s and ’80s is the concept of consensus. We learned that other countries used this for decision making and we decided that it meant that small groups of people should learn how to make decisions. Our global competition has used this concept at a higher level of abstraction that we seem unable to comphrehend. We can either continue to support other nations while we amuse ourselves by taking shots at people who spent their lives working in our industries; Or we can recognize that it is time to gather the collective will of the American people and bend that to solutions. “I have met the enemy, and it is us”. End note. I most certainly do not have the answer(s), but I do think that I am perceiving parts of the problem.