Bailouts…
January 10, 2009I may have missed it, but except for one government representative during one of the auto bailout discussions in past weeks, no one seems to have said anything about the wisdom of bailing out companies who offshore outsource their customer service, manufacturing and/or parts. Just think of the last few times you called a company’s customer service department and your call was answered by someone who barely spoke the English language, or who spoke it with a very heavy accent. How long did that call take? Do you think your customer service experience was helped or hindered by translation issues caused by language barriers?
Why bail out a company whose customer service department is peopled in New Delhi or Manila? I don’t think that my tax money should be used to keep Rajid in New Delhi employed. I think that the company for whom Rajid works should be hiring Brian or Susan in Chicago and keeping jobs in America.
People in the United States of America are hurting for jobs, and employers are taking advantage of this desperation by offering low wages for duty-heavy jobs in the few positions still open in this country. IT positions are offering lousy wages and require lots of job responsibility and a college education (with at least a Bachelor’s degree) to boot.
It’s illogical and unreasonable to expect someone to manage an office, for example, for $12 an hour when they live in Southern California. The net income on those wages for a full time position would do a poor job of supporting a single person. Thus, many people are working more than one job to attempt to make ends meet. One can only imagine what this would bode for single parents of young children.
A gallon of whole milk averages $3.50 at this point at major groceries in the Los Angeles area. Eggs are considered a bargain at $1.50 a dozen. A loaf of halfway decent bread, on sale, will run about $2. Doctor visits, vaccinations, clothing, housing, utilities and more often leave people with too much month at the end of the money.
Let’s require these companies who have come forward with their hands out to only hire from within our country’s borders. That customer service departments, manufacturing, service and parts come from within the United States of America.
If my taxes are going to help bail out these idiots, I should have some say in the requirements attached to the bailout check.
Doesn’t that sound fair to you?
UPDATE 1-10-2009: The banks want the Fed to start buying their bad paper so they look better…
LifeBunny's Blog 
The bailout means more to Detroiters than any other people on the planet. I know. I’m a life long Detroiter. The bailout isn’t just helping three guys in grey suits who represent the big three auto makers. It’s helping the restuarant owner down the road where linesman ate lunch every Friday. It’s the dad who works at the GM dealership who wants to pay for his kid to take piano lessons. It’s 25% of Michigan’s population leaving the state because there is no work, no housing and no longer a good public school system. I don’t care how you get the bailout. Make the CEO’s accountable down to numbering their own boxer shorts. However the money has to come, just get it here! I completely understand the frustration of the above post. In a lot of ways I agree with it. But I can honestly tell you there were unemployed construction workers who have eaten nothing but rice devouring plate after plate of holiday food at my table because it was the first real food they’d eaten in a month. At this point, I am worried that my neighbors won’t have enough heat to make it through the winter. I can’t make ski hats fast enough for all kinds of people including the children of nurses and doctors. We need help. And we need it now.
Michele,
I can understand your point of view, I truly do, however, I’m not seeing real oversight on these bailout funds. If we’re going to be bailing out companies, we need to be bailing out companies that hire American citizens here in the United States instead of hiring people who are citizens of other countries.
Right now, many of those companies who got bailout money the first time around are still handing out millions of dollars in bonuses, but instead of calling them bonuses, they’re calling them something along the lines of “retention payments”. However, when all is said and done, it’s still a bonus and these people aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing, which is using these funds to help their companies survive this economic nightmare we’re all experiencing right now.
Right now, The Shrub is looking at asking for the other $350B to hand out before he leaves office on January 20th of this year.
We need to demand tougher oversight on where this money is going. This is ultimately our money that he’s giving away, because our taxes will go to pay for it all.
And now, off my sandbox. I hope I didn’t offend you.
What oversight?? There is none. There is something terribly wrong when a CEO is pulling down millions and doctors are getting nickeled and dimed to death by insurance companies. Obama said – and I really hope he follows through – that tax breaks will go to the companies that keep their employees in the US and tax those who don’t. GM has had it’s problems since the ’50’s! Ford at least mortgaged all of their property to the hilt to save their company and didn’t say hand me money now. Their CEO dropped his pay a long time ago and their request to us – the taxpayer – was ‘would you set up a line of credit in case the economy doesn’t recover in a timely fashion’. Yes I know they have done stupid things also but not anywhere near the crap GM has pulled. I’d much rather see Detroit saved than what is going on with the banks.