United Soviet States of America: The Bailouts Continue and Respect of Law Continues to Diminish

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The chief operating officer of the New York Mets defended the baseball team’s deal to call its new ballpark Citi Field even after sponsor Citigroup Inc. was bailed out by the U.S. government. “It’s good business for both of us to have the partnership and a relationship,” Jeff Wilpon told reporters after a tour the new stadium in Flushing, New York. “I understand that there is some upsetness in the marketplace, but we don’t agree with it.” The U.S. government agreed on Nov. 23 to insure the second- biggest bank by assets against losses on $306 billion in troubled assets and inject $20 billion of capital, on top of the $25 billion it also invested in October. Shares of Citigroup had plunged 60 percent that week to close below $4, sparking concern customers may withdraw their money. Citigroup signed the richest naming-rights agreement in sports in November 2006, paying $20 million a year over 20 years to put its name on the Mets new ballpark. The deal surpassed Reliant Energy Inc.’s $300 million, 32-year stadium sponsorship of the Houston Texans of the National Football League.

I have an idea, in the "great depression" communities printed their own currency for use in their communities (it is legal to do so). How about "We the people", or what is left of us, print our own currency and start using it, and tell this current government that they can not have any of ours. Think that would get their attention?

Show me your Carbon Credit Papers Comrade.

Misery loves company. It is easy to look past all of the good things that America has and focus on all of the bad things. Even though the US economy and the govt are sinking ships, lets not lose sight of all the blessings that exist in this country. What can you do about the situation other than bitch about it? It's already a done deal. Does the normal Amercian citizen even understand the complexities of how this govt is ran or how the economy operates, or do they just listen to the media? There is no question Americas reign is nearing the end, anyone can see it. However I challenge everyone that reads this article to be true to thyself and during this holiday season and look past all the meaningless nonsense and find the true meaning of the Christmas Spirit. This should be enough positive energy to burn through all crap that we wipe everyday. Happy Holidays!

The hearings for the auto bailout was the real joke. Every expert said 34 billion is no where close to being enough to make these companies viable. So what do the geniuses in congress do? Give 15 billion just to stay out of bankruptcy and come back for more later. Congress didnt listen to anybody. they have to be the most incompetent group I have ever seen. This country has become to corrupt to be viable going forward. P.S. Hey bernanke and Paulson, quit buy stocks to prop up the markets with my tax dollars

Cody i want to thank you for your honest opinions of what is going on as you want the car ceos to take pay cuts and should be allowed to fail what about congress why dont they give up their pay cut their expenses stop flying on us maybe legal action against the bond rating companys for improperly doing their job maybe instead of telling us whats wrong why dont you find out what really has been done and why has our countrys freedom just ben taken from us and sold to the world bank just a thought. congress bailed out banks in a hurry was that so you wouldnt look any deeper and now all you talk about is cars congress and the banks did this start looking around 1997 banking laws just a few of my what ifs keep up the good work Guy

You got it right -- the country has changed to something between 1984 and the Grapes of Wrath. The losers who run Congress are a joke, think back when the Marines were taking Falliusa Iraq and they were having meetings on steroids in baseball -- what a joke. So does anyone think they are going to fix this mess -- not going to happen. Billions of dollars already spent and NO accountability. God help our country. As for the Big Three -- whatever. I don't know anyone who has ever bought a car from those losers that didn't get a beating. Bottom line, they build cars people don't want and all the "legislation" in the world can't change that.

Nickin Washington: you have to change your withholdings to a 5-9 changing it to zero gives more money to the monarchy. You still would have to file a 1040 along with a dollar and request an extension. Very few folks will do this as it involves having a lack of scruples.Join an organization like the John Birch Society whose numbers could make a difference. Like all things you need to take action on your own comfort level. Doing nothing will ensure that all things will stay the same or get worse depending on how much our so called leaders think they can get away with. Just look at what they have gotten away with so far even with mass internet protest. What we really need is bodies hitting the street in protest.

Great comments, and yes, we are doomed. There is no one group that is more responsible for this mess than Frank, Dodd, Mazzulo, Bernakee and those idiots at Fanny and Freddie. They crafted the mortgages so that "everyone" could afford a home. Guess what? Not everyone can or should be homeowners. Affordable housing Mr. Frank, is not getting a mortgage. It is being able to pay for one, every month, without borrowing more money to do it. Treating your house like a piggy bank was a BAD idea. How much of the economy was based on spending money that was "perceived" (the rise in the value of your house) wealth? To hear Dodd say that some of these CEO's should go to jail is laughable. He should go for the way he FAILED to address ANY banking issue in 2008 until September. Just why does a federally backed company (Fanny and Freddie) need to make campaign "contributions"? To get lawmakers to look the other way? The top two recipients were Dodd and Frank, who sit on and chair the Banking Oversight Comittee. Those were bribes. They are USELESS, DANGEROUS scum and they are helping to undo America. My predictions: Unemployment will top 13% in April. Don't forget, if you aren't collecting unemployment, you aren't counted. So if you exhaust your bennies and don't qualify for an extention, you fall off the rolls. One of the "big 3" will be gone by 1st day of spring. The Mideast will explode before Jan. 20. And Dodd, Frank and Pelosi will get re-elected.

So let it go is what I read? I see a lot of crying going on here but no answers to the problem. Yes the Auto industry and the banks have given US a real kick in the shorts, but let millions go homeless is not a good answer. You are right to say let them fail, but you will be dead right to let it happen. The goverment is attempting to keep this from getting worse, and the fact they are trying is a good start. I think we should do 1. have the banks make the loans to the autos with the money already given to them. 2. allow home owners to write off the loss in home value based on percentage. 3. Break up the car makes by product line and let them fight it out no more big three the problem if you ask me is that goverment has allowed business to get so big that we have lost our edge as a creative free thinking country. Once that is restored things will get better. Keep your head up and keep moving forward we will work this out.

Brace for incoming hyper inflation in a socialist nation, oh wait socialist nations get more services than we do.

As any one brought up that GM also owns a bank, called GMAC Financial Services and there asking for money. Why are we giving them money there just avoiding the inventible that the big there auto manufactures are failing they did it to them selves there nothing but big bloated miss-managed companies and they have been kneeling down every time to the UAW. If we the average American citizen can not go to congress and ask for money, and people are loosing there house jobs left and right. Personally let them fail why take my tax dollars and go to them; I rather give it to the education system or the welfare system where people need it the most. Not the coffers of these high paid executives and the first time they had a private jet fly them to capital hill idiot’s fire the lot of them start over. There’s also a ford commercial out saying that there products are good as Honda or Toyota who is fooling who. If the big three auto makers made such great cars they would not be in this mess in the first place, reason why they make bad quality products.

I would rather see a bail out given to the auto Industry than to more Wallstreet Crony's. No questions are being asked of them and all they are doing is buying up other banks to make themselves bigger and richer. At least the bail out to the auto Industry will keep people working.

Well, it's unfortunate that the only real investment bankers are now the governments. That loss of normally smart invested capital is now managed by people that really don't have the expertise or the resources. That's why we look a lot like the Kremlin these days. There is an opportunity here. Now, there is room for a clean startup investment banking company. It needs to get funding from several large Angel investors-- most which have already lost 50% of their value. With a transparent balance sheet, a new investment banking company can cleanup in the market.

Careful Cody. You might end up on somebody's list.

Who was the first to be on the Tonight Show ?

Assuming the big 3 get a bailout, and assuming they continue till Jan-Feb,... assuming this there is still some unanswered issues. If no one is buying vehicles, and the plants aren't producing them, the supplier chain will have the massive layoffs, dealerships will close and/or have massive layoffs and...well...the manufacturers will be sitting on the taxpayer money. Only the UAW and Big 3 employees will receive this benefit. has anyone thought of the fact that filling the coffers of the automakers will not cause a sudden buying frenzy to energize the chain of businesses from suppliers, to manufacturers to retail dealerships. It'll pay the UAW wages though and do nothing to spur sales and energize these companies.

We are just putting off the inevitable. Bailouts address the symptoms, but do nothing about the risk taking and greed that got us here. This means that we're on a not so merry-go-round and destined to be back at this point once again. There is no cure for poor behavior other than accountability. Given that Congress itself would have to admit its own avarice and poor judgement, the country will be waitng for a long while. We need to take our medicine and be done with it.

The Republic for Which it Stands has been sold out. I agree it is difficult to see the difference in policies between The USSA and the re-emerging USSR Our Judicial system is as corrupt as any of the countries that our lawmakers decry. Our legislative and executive branches are equally corrupt.There is no government of the people and by the peopleleft. Our elected representatives travel in opulence and granduer befitting the royalty they believe themselves to be. This phase of our history is tragic. Historic? Oh yeah! I wonder what laws and policies will be forced on the states for accepting the Centralized Federal Government bailouts.These billions are not without strings attached. I think the solution might be easier than we think to catch Washingtons attention. How about a polite letter, or not so polite if you prefer, to the IRS in April stating that we the Citizens of the United States will no longer tolerate Taxation without Representation. Surely they won't try and arrest all of us. At the time that we decided to change the Kings policies towards the Colonies the tax rate was approximately 4%. Now it is somewhere upwards of 30% not to mention the taxes and "fees" that have been imposed on the other aspects of our lives.We watch those that are supoosedly in office to watch out for us give away billions to corrupt bankers, mismanaged industries and foreign aid programs. I for one do not mind helping my neighbors, but not when my own family is starving.What is even worse is when the government is raiding our pantries in the middle of the night and giving it away without our consent. Those of you who still have jobs go in and change your withholding to 0. It is time to evict the Royalty from their offices and re-shape our country to what it was intended to be. Write that letter in April !

The day democracy died was brought in by cheering crowds of young uneducated children. They had attended federally backed public schools and attended federally backed collages. Shortly before that, the huge bail out was passed in the Senate and House of the USA and was cheered on by the Wall Street and Big Companies. Mostly you have been sold out by the government, schools, and they were bought off by the big business and bankers. We The People no longer have a true say in the way things are run. With the government contuning to bailout every one with a tin cup out we are in for a long dark chapter of the USA. When they have to start paying China and Russia back the huge amount of money owed to them and have to raise our taxes to do it, you will see true panic. NAFTA and CAFTA sold our top industies down the tubes and the deals given to foriegn car companies and huge companies like Wal-Mart are good examples of how badly you have been sold out from the federal government, threw the states, county, and local governments. The whole system has been corrupted by both the far left and right. Mostly I have heard the Dems won because no one else wanted to clean up the mess created by the current government. And it is in a huge mess. I am just going to contunie to look for work overseas and try to get as much of my family out of here.

Here's a thought for those who have either been laid off from the auto industry or are facing a lay off. Don't get irritated at the American people who don't want their tax dollars supporting failed business. If you don't know where your CEO's and Presidents and VP's live then Google it. Get yourself a hammer, and some pry bars and any other tool deemed useful for demolition and feel free to dismantle their homes piece by piece.

ugh, Cody, I was just commenting on the first headline you mentioned over on BloggingStocks.com. Are you kidding me? Really? It's embarrassing what our government is doing, not to mention aggravating and insulting to those people that have come up with well-thought out and researched solutions to some of our economic woes that have received zero attention. Just keep throwing money at everything that's failing, that's a great solution. what happened to Economic Darwinism?! ugh, kt

question: If congress requires Gm CEO to resign should not the UAW president be required also? The UAW is as responsibile for this as management. We know how much the CEOs make how much does the president of the UAW make?

The bail outs have gained a momentum and seem to be rolling along with little true oposition from gov't (they out on a show during hearings but we all think the money will be handed out to the auto's). It seems clear that most non politicians are largely against the bail outs but what can we do...how do we even slow down the process...and when does it stop? How many very large industries are in real trouble...how can we possibly bail them all out?