Yellow, which received a pandemic loan, is winding down operations ahead of an expected bankruptcy filing. The closure of the company would mean the loss of about 30,000 jobs.
The money is only being spent on replacing the outdated military hardware that's being sent over to Ukraine, which would otherwise be sitting and rotting in storage and would need replacement or expensive repairs to get running again. The US loses nothing from sending weaponry to Ukraine, and has everything to gain. It prevents continued Russian aggression on other countries (and Russia has explicit plans to invade more countries), saves Ukrainian lives and drives away the invaders so civilians aren't being murdered in their homes, and boosts the economy through the increased number of jobs created for building the newer, better replacement equipment.
To claim that the money is being wasted is naive and misinformed at best, and actively disingenuous and malicious at worst. Putin would love for the US to stop sending support so he can continue his genocide.
So that's how the economy should be fixed. Let more people get away from paying what they agreed to pay. The only reason people are so for student loan forgiveness is because it actually effects them. You agreed, you signed the paper.
Or, we seize the assets of the rich, redistribute it to the poor, implement a wealth and inheritance tax, universal healthcare, free college education and universal basic income. As someone who doesn't have student loans, fuck the paper and fuck this greed-driven system. Why does the richest nation on the planet still have poverty and homelessness and shit medical systems where people literally vomit shit because they can't afford treatment?
No one signs anything agreeing to be sucked dry by greedy companies while they desperately scrounge for affordable housing food and a job that pays a living wage with a company that doesn't treat its employees like cattle. People sign with the idea that going to college will increase their chances of a better life; that's what the "American dream" promises. People bust their ass, do everything they are supposed to do, but America (and the companies that run it), break promises (if not out right lied to begin with). How is anyone supposed live up to their end of the bargain, when America doesn't live up to their's?
In July 2020 [during the pandemic], the Treasury Department announced it was giving a $700 million loan to the trucking company, helping it to stay afloat. But the loan immediately raised questions, in part because the firm was struggling financially and was being sued by the Justice Department over claims that it had defrauded the federal government for a seven-year period.
Seems like defrauding the government should make one ineligible for government money.
As of the end of March, Yellow’s outstanding debt was $1.5 billion, including about $730 million that is owed to the federal government. Yellow has paid approximately $66 million in interest on the loan, but it has repaid just $230 of the principal owed on the loan, which comes due next year.
Must be nice, can I get that on my student loans?
“We recommend that all Yellow employees who have personal belongings and tools at the terminals should take them home today,” wrote John A. Murphy, a co-chair of the Teamsters freight industry negotiating committee.
The relationship between Apollo and the White House runs deep. In 2017, Josh Harris, a founder of Apollo, advised the Trump administration on infrastructure policy and discussed a possible White House job with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. That same year, Apollo lent $184 million to Mr. Kushner’s family real estate firm, Kushner Companies, to refinance the mortgage on a Chicago skyscraper.
Yellow has paid approximately $66 million in interest on the loan, but it has repaid just $230 of the principal owed on the loan, which comes due next year.
Which is exactly what students deal with every day. But it's ok to give millions of dollars to criminals, just not to students who are trying to improve themselves and the economy. If a college student cheated on their federal taxes for seven years, would they get a government bailout?
There is a large difference between a 700 Million dollar loan and a 40 Billion dollar forgiveness. I'm not saying the student loan forgiveness is bad but there is a big difference in the dollar amounts between these two things.
Criminals giving criminals money, then socializing the criminals' losses, then gifting the criminals a golden parachute. There is the ruling class and everyone else. Most of the country is distracted by UFOs and drag queen brunches to care about the real problems.
That loan saved the pensions of those people working at Yellow, if you maybe want to take that into account while you're fitting people for black hats.
Even if it did, it's not like the government has lifted a finger to help any other workers or students recently, and actively works to make their lives harder instead.
That’s right. People are missing the fact that Yellow was sucked dry by the do-nothing non-working parasite shareholders like 5 years ago. They begged the union for a “temporary” salary cut of 15% across the board AND a 75% cut in pension funding. It was made permanent by the company unilaterally while the suits further enriched the people with still too firmly attached heads. They also never restored health insurance funding which was another “temporary” concession.
The rich need to learn to be mortally afraid of the workers again.
I know several different people who work in companies that deal with shipping, Yellow has always been awful to deal with with a much higher rate of shipping damage.
Yellow has been a horribly managed mess for at least 25 years. I was involved in LTL logistics back then and we avoided those dunderheads like the plague. It's a shame that they're taking $500 MIllion of taxpayer money with them since they can't repay their loan but that company should have died years ago.
Gotta be a special kind of incompetent to crumble in a booming economic period.
Yellow has been horribly mismanaged for at least two decades. They should have died long ago and in any environment but one that's literally awash with money looking for investment opportunities they would have. For structural reasons IC is drying up so we're going to see a lot more badly run and unprofitable companies going belly up. This is a trend that's already started and its just going to pick up speed from here.