Reading the restructuring plan that General Motors put together makes me wonder whether, in a broad sense, there isn't an insuperable conflict of interest between members of Congress and the automakers. Consider just one aspect of the plan:
...the number of GM retailers is expected to decline to 4,700 by 2012. This will occur primarily in metropolitan and suburban areas where GM has too many dealers to serve the market. In the Plan, it is projected these dealers will be reduced by 35%, increasing annual throughput for the remaining outlets to a more competitive level with other high-volume ...Continue reading
Does Congress think Detroit is a good investment?
It appears that <a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081117/D94GUIK80.html">the auto bailout</a> is stalled for now, as congressional leadership and the Bush administration have come to loggerheads over providing $25 to $50 billion in loans to General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler.
I found it interesting that, as of December 2007 (the most recent date for which disclosures are available), just 27 of the 535 members of Congress owned stock in at least one of the big three automakers, according to <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org">Open Secrets</a>. They disclosed holdings worth ...
Continue readingOpenSecrets.org updates Financial Disclosure database
Want to know what members of Congress disclosed owning stock in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, American International Group or Bear Stearns on their most recent financial disclosure reports?
Want to see who reported owing money to Countrywide Financial? (Try here and here.)
OpenSecrets.org has provided the latest digitized data on financial disclosure forms filed by members of Congress, searchable by member, by company name or by keyword. Find out what assets, liabilities and transactions were popular on Capitol Hill.
The most recent disclosures covered data as of the end of 2007; in June 2009 we'll get a look ...
Continue readingNorth Carolina Businessman Pays for Campaign Ads
In late July this year, two North Carolina state legislators and a pharmaceutical industry executive set up a political non-profit to run ads focusing on the present financial crisis ahead of the November election. The nonprofit has spent more than $600,000 to produce the ads, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Real Time has been following various ads using our new "Follow the 527s" widget, available on the right side of the site.
The nonprofit, RightChange.com, Inc., was set up by a pair Republican lawmakers, state Sen. Fletcher Hartsell ...
Continue readingFinancial bailout: Senate approves bill
Details here, vote tallies here.
But does the bailout bill even address the underlying conditions that caused the crisis? Via InstaPundit comes this measured analysis of what went wrong that caused the need for the bailout:
Note that Mr. Paulson's proposal was not intended to solve the teaser-rate mortgage problem, either now or in the future. In the transactions that created the teaser-rate mortgages in the first place, both parties made bad decisions " the lender and the borrower. Mr. Paulson's proposal was not intended to help either. One of its unavoidable side effects, however, was to relieve lenders ...Continue reading
Who’s Paying for Election Ads? Follow the 527 Widget…
The 30-second ad is typical fare for a campaign: the taxing and spending of a candidate, in this case former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., is pilloried. Her Republican opponent, Sen. John Sununu, facing a tough race, did not pay for the ad out of his own campaign funds. Instead, FEC filings show, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ponied up the $750,000 to attack Shaheen.
Political nonprofits are playing a bigger role than ever in election 2008, and Real Time (with assistance from Sunlight Labs) is making it easy to find the latest information on ads run by ...
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: Correlation in contributions and votes in House
Financial Bailout: Comparison of plans
Mark Tapscott of the D.C. Examiner posts a comparison of what was in the original plan submitted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and what congressional negotiators have arrived at now.
It will be interesting to see both the final language and the conference report. I wonder if the bill will end up including things like taxpayer funding for peanut warehouses to bring reluctant members on board.
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Financial Bailout: A look at the House GOP negotiators
Continuing the theme of last night's post (and of several prior posts -- just scroll down), we're taking a look at some of the key players in the financial bailout negotiations, looking at their career contributions from and personal interest in the industry. Thanks to Open Secrets, the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics, all this information is easily accessible online.
Over the course of his political career, minority leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has raised $2,933,009 from political action committees, employees and their immediate family members of organizations in the finance, insurance and real estate ...
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: Deal hammered out?
That's what a series of members are saying on a press conference I happened to tune into a few moments ago -- there's an agreement, but details have to be worked out (including getting it all down on paper).
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., cited Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., as being critical to the negotiations, along with Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
The House Republican negotiator, Rep. Roy Blunt, on now, cited Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.
Dodd ...
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