Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed over the treatment of the auto industry and Wall Street banks, during the CNN Democratic debate in Flint, Mich. March 6. (CNN)
Please see the article excerpts below for the history on this matter, which demonstrates that Hillary Clinton’s politically damaging claim against Bernie Sanders is completely untrue. It does not matter what the meaning of “is” is.
Here is a summary of what happened:
- In late 2008, President George Bush made a start of cleaning his messes by passing the Financial Industry Bailout.
- Bernie Sanders voted against this Bailout, claiming that Main Street could not afford it, and that the money should not come from the middle class.
- Democrats passed a separate Auto Bailout bill, which Bernie Sanders voted for, but Republicans obstructed.
- When the Auto Industry needed funds to stay afloat, President Bush elected to use funds that had been designated for the Financial Industry Bailout to begin saving the Auto Industry.
- After his election, President Obama continued on the path that had begun under President Bush.
The claim that Bernie Sanders voted against the Auto Bailout is blatantly untrue. Just as saying that Bernie Sanders “will dismantle” Obamacare is a deception. Just as untrue as claiming that “free college education for all” will hurt private Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as Hillary Clinton and Representative Jim Clyburn have asserted. Saying that we can’t figure out how to make big positive changes without negatively affecting constituencies that we care about is disingenuous as well as to limit our own intelligence.
Very politically shrewd and very deceptive, and part of an ongoing pattern of obfuscation for the purpose of scaring voters. Is it any wonder Secretary Clinton has a trust problem with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents?
Perhaps this makes Hillary Clinton the most qualified candidate to compete with Donald Trump (or whomever the Republican clown car selects to complete in the General Election)? Or, perhaps this is another indication that Hillary Clinton is not a good candidate to represent the Democratic Party.
In Sunday's Democratic debate in Flint, Mich., Clinton underscored her support for that bailout and -- somewhat disingenuously -- suggested that Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) didn't support it.
"I voted to save the auto industry," she said. "He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference."
What Clinton said is technically true, but it glosses over a lot of important nuance, including the fact that Sanders is actually on the record as supporting the auto bailout. He even voted for it.
As the magnitude of the 2008 financial crisis swept the nation in the waning days of his presidency, President George W. Bush announced he was injecting $17 billion in taxpayer money to auto giants Chrysler and General Motors, which warned they needed an immediate influx of cash to stay afloat.
Bush was pulling money out of the $700 billion financial rescue program that Congress had approved two months earlier, most of which was intended for and eventually went to prop up Wall Street banks and insurance companies.
Bush didn't want to use that money for the auto industry; he had hoped Congress would approve a separate bailout for GM and Chrysler. Democrats in Congress tried to, but in December 2008, Senate Republicans blocked a $14 billion plan over a disagreement about its terms. … Clinton and Sanders were both in the Senate at the time, and contrary to what Clinton implied Sunday, both supported the idea of an auto bailout. … But Sanders was vehemently against the larger $700 billion bailout to prop up the banks. (As evidenced by his presidential campaign, Sanders is no fan of Wall Street.) So he voted against the bank bailout. … Clinton is technically correct that Sanders voted against releasing the money that went to the auto bailout, but Sanders can also correctly argue that he supported the auto bailout when it wasn't tied to the Wall Street one.
Senator Bernie Sanders voted against the $700 billion bail out of the financial services industry but he says this package is different: (Sanders) "The problem is if you don't act in the midst of a growing recession what does it mean to create a situation where millions of more people become unemployed and that could spread and I have serious concerns about that I think it would be a terrible idea to add millions more to the unemployment rolls."
Clinton twisted a Sanders vote on the Wall Street bailout package to claim he was “against the auto bailout.” … Clinton accused Sanders of being “against the auto bailout” in 2009. That’s a stretch. … In fact, Sanders voiced support for a $15 billion package of aid to the auto industry after it passed the House Dec. 10, 2008, in the final days of the Bush administration. The measure was supported by President-elect Obama and an overwhelming majority of House Democrats, but died in the Senate when it failed to reach the floor for a vote. After the Senate failed to act, President Bush decided to help automakers by tapping the Wall Street bailout package that Sanders had opposed and then Sen. Clinton had supported on Oct. 1, 2008. Specifically, Bush agreed to provide $13.4 billion to GM and Chrysler in Troubled Assets Relief Program funds, as explained in a January 2009 report by the Congressional Research Service. Clinton referred to a bill that came up in January 2009, but that measure was mostly about bailing out failing financial institutions and reducing home foreclosures, not about saving the auto industry, as Clinton claimed.
[This article is also a good read, regarding the history of this issue. However, I will not quote from it here, as it is Republican-leaning, and I am trying to not get suspended by the site owner. However, it’s important to note how the approach that President George Bush began, as he took steps to clean up his mess at the end, the Obama administration seamlessly continued. Speaking of which, please see the next link/excerpt…]
[More of this article deserves being shared all on its own in a separate diary.]
The corruption of Stock Buybacks at GM
While noting that the "auto industry just had its best year ever," Hillary ignores the outrageous case of financial strip-mining at GM. She couldn't mention it because it would also show the revolving door between the Obama administration and Wall Street.
Harry Wilson, the Obama administrator who helped to negotiate the GM bailout, then left for a hedge fund job. The 43 year-old Wilson and his investors proceeded buy up 34 million GM shares. Why not? By then he was a GM expert, trained at taxpayer expense.
He then demanded that GM use its cash reserves to buy back its own shares to make he and his investors tens of millions of dollars....for doing nothing at all.
The American people bailed out GM to save hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the Midwest. Many of us hoped that once GM returned to financial health, it would use its reserves to build the most environmentally sound cars in the world, thereby helping retain U.S. jobs and help our planet survive.
Instead, Wilson pressures GM to use its precious cash reserves to buyback its own shares in order to put money into his deep pockets and the pockets of his investors. Increase GM wages? Increase training? Increase R&D. No way.
His wish was GM's command. On January 13, GM announced a $9 billion stock buyback plan.
But Hillary couldn't talk about any of this. Because if she did, she would be forced to admit that her fairytale version of capitalism will never work as long as Wall Street dominates the economy.
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We need Hillary to fight Donald with better lies.
Voters have a good B.S. meter. The more authentic, honest candidate will win.
This diarist is a meanie. He does not deserve to vote. Banish him from this realm!
Let’s agree to disagree. And keep voting till one candidate has more than 50.0% of pledged delegates.
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