Why did Obama attack only one group?

One of the groups President Obama attacked in a recent speech were investors and hedge funds that he said holding out for up to twice the amount that other investors had already settled for in the Chrysler restructuring plan.

Naturally, my first question was what were these investors offered and how greedy were they really being? The president did not consider it necessary to give us these details, but it only took me a couple of minutes of research to come up with the answer. These investors were being offered 33 cents on the dollar. Now I am not an expert here, but even if these investors were holding out for twice this amount, they were still suffering a significant loss. So I don't know that I would characterize investors that were trying to lose less money as being greedy, but according to the president, in a situation like this, everyone has to make sacrifices.

So it would certainly seem to be fair to ask what the United Auto Workers were sacrificing, since they are significantly larger share holders in Chrysler than this group of greedy investors. The UAW settled for 50 cents on the dollar. A significant loss, but not as little as those greedy investors, but wait, that is not all the UAW got. The Autoworkers also received a 65% controlling share of Chrysler stock.

Actually, if Chrysler becomes a viable company again and their stock rebounds, the UAW could actually make money on the deal. Now perhaps, as a bigger shareholder, the UAW should be able to negotiate a better settlement, but it certainly does not seem like the UAW is being asked to sacrifice nearly as much as these other investors that the president was attempting to vilify.

So why is one group of investors being criticized by the president for not settling for less money than another group? Well, the United Auto Workers are major supporters of the president's political party. I've seen enough Illinois politics to connect these dots.

Does this seem like change we can believe in? Or does it seem more like politics as usual?

Scott Schmidt

Arlington Heights