zlacker

>>giveme+(OP)
In general I would rather the government take a stake in corporations they're bailing out. I think the "too big to fail" bailouts in the past should have come with more of a cost for the business, so on one hand I'm glad this is finally happening.

On the other hand, I wish it were a more formalized process rather than this politicized "our president made a deal to save america!" / "Intel is back and the government is investing BUY INTEL SHARES" media event. These things should follow a strict set of rules and processes so investors and companies know what to expect. These kind of deals should be boring, not a media event.

>>jjcm+Ef
If a company has truly become too big to fail that it makes sense for the federal government to bail them out, then why are we even leaving the welfare of the company up to private industry in the first place? It's just asking for ways to siphon taxpayer money out of the government through their willingness to buy shares. It inflates the stock price because it shows that the government might buy more share in the future at market rate. Its operations should be required to be more transparency, since if they're large enough that their failure would dramatically impact the welfare of the whole country, their operations should be subject to more direct democratic will (at least, more direct than the many steps removed from what is happening to Intel).

>>treyd+cm
Maybe. I have worked in the corporate world for decades. My partner works in the government. My perspective is that the government office wastes so much time (and therefore $$) that I often have to keep my mouth shut to maintain peace in our relationship. There is no “disagree and commit” mentality. More like 9 months into a project and someone starts to feel “uncomfy” about something and we’re back to the drawing board.

I do believe the government is in a better position to provide services to the poor, but they are in no way going to be cheaper in the long run.

That being said, I do live in Seattle, which has a particularly “bogged down” government. Look up the “Seattle process” for some horror stories