Obama Warns of More Job Loss Should Congress Reject Rescue Plan

[JonLP24]

Source: Bloomberg

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama warned Michigan voters that more jobs could be lost and losses in the automobile industry may worsen should Congress fail to pass a $700 billion rescue plan aimed at shoring up the country's financial system.

``If the financial markets collapse and loans aren't available, businesses large and small will follow,'' he told a crowd today in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The auto industry is getting ``even more decimated because people can't get car loans right now. Small businesses aren't able to make payroll. If this continues, we could see the unemployment rate jump even higher.''

Obama and Republican rival John McCain were among the 74 senators who voted to approve the rescue legislation last night in the Senate. Twenty-five senators voted against it. The House of Representatives, which rejected an earlier version of the bill two days ago, is set to take it up again by tomorrow. Both Obama and McCain are urging lawmakers to pass the measure.

``Democrats and Republicans in the House need to do what the Senate did last night. They need to go ahead and deal with this immediate crisis,'' Obama, a first-term Illinois senator, said. The plan won't ``solve the long-term problems here in Michigan, but it can prevent it from getting worse.''



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJiQhO.ElONI&refer=home

[Kolesar]

1. Bailout focus on House as crisis spreads

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE4912JS20081002

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shockwaves from the global credit crisis spread on Thursday, hitting industry and jobs worldwide and putting pressure on the U.S. Congress to finish up a $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial sector.
...
At the Paris Auto Show, top automakers including General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co warned of tough times, as evaporating credit for consumers cuts demand and could force production cuts and job losses.

"The problems of subprime and credit crunch are now all over the world," Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said. "The downturn is longer and deeper than we foresaw a year ago," he said.
...

"The bill that's before the Houses of Representatives tomorrow is a bill that has got the best chance of providing liquidity, providing credit, providing money so small businesses and medium-sized businesses can function," Bush said on Thursday.
...

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Problem is that it does not matter how much info is shared, this is

not happening

It is like talking to the global warming deniers

[EFerrari]

9. People don't get it. I guess if your pay check isn't threatened

or you do all your business with a small local bank or credit union, maybe you wouldn't get it yet.

How many people like that are out there? A lot, it looks like.

[bean fidhleir]

3. Listening to his speech in 2004, it was obvious he was advertising his willingness to sell out

And here we see it in flower, just as we did with the giveaway to the telcos.

[JonLP24]

4. You got to admit it is a tough vote

He pointed out to positive aspects during his house floor speech last night and has repeated this isn't the only plan to bailout the middle class. Overall when you balance out he is a great person for this country on so many levels and under an Obama Administration I really feel like the unemployment rate will drop, jobs are created, etc

[bean fidhleir]

6. I wish we were in a position to bet on the outcome, because I feel certain enough

that he's not going to come through with anything unusually good that I'd be willing to bet a fair bit of money against it. I'd truly be shocked if, for example, he produced even a no-brainer change like genuine universal healthcare. But I don't expect to be shocked, except possibly by the willful gullibility of those who will alibi Obama as once they alibied Clinton.

[Kolesar]

5. giveaway to the telcos?

Whazzat?

[bean fidhleir]

7. Immunity

[Kolesar]

8. Ex post facto prosecution

To the chauffered-Lexus-riding set it would seem that way.

"We were only doing what was expected of us as good citizens. Besides, the White House told us to".

"I thought that people would care about protecting America"

[bean fidhleir]

10. I've no slightest doubt that they'd all emit some variation on the

overprivileged "naturally we didn't think those laws applied to *us*", but there's the example (bad example though it was) of the Nürnberg show trials to point to as the precedent for ignoring their assertions of privilege.