Here's a topic to discuss: The Federal Govnerment is set to announce that it will be taking a major stake in the financial services company CitiBank. On a local level, Pennsylvania-based department store chain Boscov's has been promised aid from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and from several local municipalities, including the cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.
Is this right? Should government be using tax money in this manner?
I have mixed feeling about this. On one hand, I think it's important that the government take steps to prevent things like the Great Depression from happening again. On the other hand, it bothers me that greed-heads on Wall Street can spend almost two decades engaging in reckless speculation via the scam called "mortgage securitization", and then come to us and expect the taxpayers...by and large who did not benefit from all of this...and expect us to make up for their failings. Yes, I know that many of the issues at play in the financial services industry can be traced back to over-lending in the area of mortgages, but that's just too bad. No one ever forced a company to lend money to someone else for a home purchase.
On a local level, we have Boscov's. What isn't readily reported is the fact that the company spent hundreds of millions a few years ago buying out Mr Boscov and Mr Lakin when they retired. That, coupled with over-agressive explansion plans, resulted in the bankruptcy filing. Now I don't necessarily want to see the company go under, but I do find it troubling that Mr Boscov is getting money to fix a problem that I think he, at least in part, helped to create.
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"Hope at least gives you the option of living" - Harry Nilsson
Well it seems as though my post never made it ... I had posted to this topic and well I don't know what happened to it ...
So here goes ...
I think that as long as this is a loan and not just a handout then it can be a good thing ... we cannot afford to lose any more jobs in our area ... not even low paying part time jobs.
I am hoping that this is a loan ... I don't have a lot of information on this ... and am by no means a financial wizzard ... Is this a loan Ag ... or simply a government handout?
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Glenn Cashuric
Date:
RE: 11-24 Hot Topic: Government Bailouts...Your Thoughts?
The fact that it is a loan means nothing if it isn't personally guaranteed by Mr. Boscov. This was a bad idea. The store is an anachronism. Even the Christmas specials in the paper look like something from a 1965-era Globe Store ad.
Ok ... I understand what it is you are saying. If it isn't personally guaranteed then he can go bankrupt and not be responsible for paying back the money.
I do not however agree with you on te Ads ... I think they have nice Ads. But everyone is entitle to their own opinion ... Glenn does not like them ... I do ...
In general, keeping a department store afloat really only enriches the owners of the store, as there are no clerks there making sizeable livings who then go out and spread their wealth throughout the community. In the case of Boscov's, you have the added wrinkle of keeping the Steamtown Mall afloat.
In a larger sense, this points to the use of tax policy to promote business. In some other boards, people rant and rave about KOZ-this, KOZ-that, and while I personally don't feel that tax money should be used obstensively as a bride for businesses, I do realize this: if we didn't take advantage of these programs, OTHERS STILL WOULD, and Scranton would be even more of a ghost town.
So in the end, I guess it's all about striking a balance. If these business-promoting programs are out there, then it makes sense for Scranton to use them. Would it be nice to see, for example, this kind of money used to bring in a large manufacturer to the area (as some, in other boards, mention)? Sure it would, but those days have past in the United States. It simply isn't going to happen. The days of "get through high school and get a lifer job at the plant" are over with.
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"Hope at least gives you the option of living" - Harry Nilsson
