I sure can understand why that Wall Street fellow felt that Obama and his administration were using him and his ilk as pinatas. Just take a look at this morning’s Times:
The initial public stock offering by General Motors will be smaller than previously suggested, and the federal government will most likely sell a relatively small portion of its 61 percent stake in the company, according to people with knowledge of the preparations.
To fetch the highest possible price for the government, G.M. is planning an overall offering of stock valued at $8 billion to $10 billion, which is lower than previous internal targets, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of restrictions on public comments before an offering.
Earlier, there were suggestions the stock offering could rival the largest in United States history, when the credit card giant Visa raised more than $19 billion in 2008. G.M. and its bankers had been pushing for the largest possible offering because that would mean higher fees for the bankers and a larger pool of investors for G.M.
But the Treasury Department has made it clear to G.M. and its underwriters that the government is more interested in setting the highest price possible for the stock rather than maximizing the size of the offering. While both G.M. and the Treasury still hope to reduce the government’s stake in the company to less than 50 percent and rid the company of its Government Motors nickname, that goal may not be met, one of the people said. (Emphasis added)
I’m heartbroken. Those poor pinatas are getting gypped out of yet another chance to loot the taxpayers to inflate their fees and bonuses. And GM is going to be deprived of “a larger pool of investors” which is certainly a higher priority than realizing a top dollar return for the current investors, being as those investors are us scum of the earth taxpayers. Since when has the general interest topped the special interest of the pinatas and the business failures? Sounds like socialism to me.
Speaking of business failures, and I realize this is off the point, but this is my blog so I can opt for stream of consciousness if I want, I must note that Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy this morning. I am far too lazy to prove this by a link, but I take it as gospel that the CEOs running Blockbuster over the past 15 years were highly compensated due to their business acumen and all around John Galt-like irreplaceability. You know- they had the god given right to make more in a year than the rest of us make in a lifetime, because they were so smart and everything. And yet…, Blockbuster apparently failed to foresee the coming demise of the big box video rental model; failed to appreciate the implications of the internet and failed to react quickly enough when the threat to their business became all too clear. Failed, in other words to become Netflix before Netflix had a chance to get going. Now, you and I have an excuse if we missed this coming (and yet, lots of us did see it coming), because you and I weren’t paid millions to see it coming, and we had better things to think about, like getting from paycheck to paycheck, but what’s their excuse? Pity those poor CEOs, who now probably must make do with a few paltry millions a year sitting on the boards of other corporations that are awaiting their turn to be destroyed by these Titans of industry.
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