Dennis Buchholtz spent a lifetime in the automotive industry, working at companies that supplied parts to America’s automakers. For more than three decades, he spent his days casting iron dies used to turn sheet metal into fenders, roofs and hoods.
He left the business with no pension and no 401(k) — only an unshakable faith in the ability of Detroit’s Big Three to survive even the worst of economic times.
So when he and his wife, Judy, were weighing how to safely invest their retirement savings, they instinctively turned to the industry’s biggest player, General Motors Corp.
This is the aspect that really bothers me. Stock can go to zero and if you lose your shirt, it’s partialy your own fault for not getting out. But bonds are senior debt, and the way an investor’s bonds are being handled is dependent not on the bonds themselves and the terms you agreed to when you bought them, but how you stand with the Obama administration. The UAW’s holdings are being valued higher than other bondholders, and why? Because the current government favors the union. It dilutes the rule of law underpining our financial system and it is dangerous. If the companies are insolvent, let the bonds go into default, but have it be the same for all bondholders, and the more senior debt gets paid first. A dollar of UAW-held debt gets more of an equity stake than a dollar of non-UAW debt, and that’s just wrong. We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not of men.
[i] Comment deleted by elf.[/i]
[b]1. Andrew717[/b],
To write as you did, if not done for the sake of irony, that the government [i]retroactively [b]and[/b] preferentially[/i] altering the terms of corporate bonds [blockquote]dilutes the rule of law[/blockquote] must certainly be one of exceedingly few serious contenders for the [u]Understatement of the Year[/u] award.
Doing so does not simply [i]dilute[/i] the rule of law, it [i]repeals[/i] it. This nation has been on the road leading away from any meaningful adherence to the [i]rule of law[/i] since at least the latter part of the Hoover administration. I am simply amazed that it has taken this long for other ordinary folks than myself to realize just how far we have gone in that direction.
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
Elf, is there a word of what I wrote that was untrue?
On a lighter note, may I whimsically point out that I find it ironic that the ad at the top of the page when I looked at this article in the LA Times was for the Toyota Prius?
Also, Martial Artist (#3), as usual, I find myself in agreement with you. A society that buys into the lie of relativistic morality inevitably tends to become antinomian. And so do churches that are captive to that same relativist culture.
Keith, I’m glad that since you became an RC at Easter, you’ve continued to post here and over at Stand Firm. You’re still welcome in the NRAFC.
David Handy+
[b]5. Father Handy+[/b],
Thank you for your gracious kindness. I still comment occasionally, although on a somehwat decreasing basis, as my wife, Faith, has departed TEC for an REC parish (St. Barnabas, Shoreline, WA), although she is not certain how long she will remain there. I simply pray that our Lord will lead her where He wants her to be in His time. If I am fortunate, that may be to the wonderful Dominican parish to which He pointed me through three people who are completely unaware of each other. Insightful and incisive preaching (they are Dominicans, after all—O.P, Order of Preachers), wonderful music and liturgy, an 80-year-old English Gothic brick church, and a vibrant community cultural life.
http://www.blessed-sacrament.org/
http://www.blessed-sacrament.org/tour.html
I pray that all is well with you, and that God will bless you richly.
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
MA/Keith (#5),
You’re welcome. Yes, your new parish home sounds wonderful. When I was a seminary student at Yale Divinity School, I often attended mass at a Dominican church on the Yale campus that featured both good preaching and a superb choir that sang elaborate Gregorian Chants to perfection.
I’m sorry that my PM box seems to be full and I can’t seem to access it to delete some of the old messages, so I haven’t been able to read your PM. If you try sending me an email instead through the T19 inhouse system, I’d be happy to respond.
This is after all, the Feast of the Ascension. May you and your wife continue to experience the presence of the risen, exalted, triumphant Christ on your spiritual journeys, the one who promised to be with us always, to the end of the age. For it is he who will someday bring us all together, so that there will be one flock, and one shepherd.
David Handy+
Change the title to “Faith in Government to handle GM crisis hurts small investors” and it’s closer to the truth.