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Banks and other corporations are not jobs programs or welfare programs for their local communities. The fact that they create local jobs is nice side benefit, b

Banks and other corporations are not jobs programs or welfare programs for their local communities. The fact that they create local jobs is nice side benefit, but that's not why they exist. They exist for the benefit of their shareholders and their customers, not their employees. The fact that banks take taxpayer bailout money should not change this -- demanding that a bank prefer local employees over less expensive foreign employees will make it less efficient and therefore less competitive at a time when it is already weak, which is counter to the bailout's central purpose of saving the bank.

claydavisss 8y ago
The banks were not bailed out because people cared if the corporation of the bank prospered. The banks were bailed out to prevent millions of mortgages being put into jeopardy. The banks coexist with Federal agencies that underwrite, protect and regulate savings and mortgages. They aren't food delivery startups. This is why many nations have the notion of "chartered" banks - to recognize that the banks aren't just yet-another corporation. Once the banks accepted bailouts, they accepted a new mission. Same with GM - it effectively became a temporary jobs program once the government started underwriting it.
- ardy42 8y ago
  Looks like you've been shadowbanned since this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18519412 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18519412 No one can see what you post unless another account vouches for it.
ralph84 8y ago
Thank you for your succinct summation of the "privatize the gains and socialize the losses" philosophy.
- twblalock 8y ago
  We socialized the gains too. The shareholders and customers of banks vastly outnumber the employees of banks, and they all benefitted from the government's preventing the collapse of the banking system. The government even made a positive return on the taxpayer money it spent on the bailout. Did you honestly believe we all would have been fine if the banks had failed in 2008? A collapse of the banking system would have destroyed the economy and badly hurt every individual American. We didn't bail out the banks for the sake of the banks, but for our own sake. Taking the moral position that the banks deserved to fail would have hurt us more than it hurt the banks.
deleted 8y ago
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claydavisss 8y ago

The banks were not bailed out because people cared if the corporation of the bank prospered. The banks were bailed out to prevent millions of mortgages being put into jeopardy. The banks coexist with Federal agencies that underwrite, protect and regulate savings and mortgages. They aren't food delivery startups. This is why many nations have the notion of "chartered" banks - to recognize that the banks aren't just yet-another corporation. Once the banks accepted bailouts, they accepted a new mission. Same with GM - it effectively became a temporary jobs program once the government started underwriting it.

ardy42 8y ago
Looks like you've been shadowbanned since this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18519412 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18519412 No one can see what you post unless another account vouches for it.

ralph84 8y ago

Thank you for your succinct summation of the "privatize the gains and socialize the losses" philosophy.

twblalock 8y ago
We socialized the gains too. The shareholders and customers of banks vastly outnumber the employees of banks, and they all benefitted from the government's preventing the collapse of the banking system. The government even made a positive return on the taxpayer money it spent on the bailout. Did you honestly believe we all would have been fine if the banks had failed in 2008? A collapse of the banking system would have destroyed the economy and badly hurt every individual American. We didn't bail out the banks for the sake of the banks, but for our own sake. Taking the moral position that the banks deserved to fail would have hurt us more than it hurt the banks.

deleted 8y ago

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