Re:SoftBank to write down WeWork by $6.6B, compounding portf...
by jlmorton on Thursday April 30, 2020 @10:38AM
(#23031260)
That's not exactly true this time. The airlines, for instance, are getting about $35 billion in outright grants, and $15 billion in loans and warrants equal to 10% of the total.
The large part of it is free money, and many major US airlines have been the worst offenders at financial engineering, spending the large part of their free cash flow on stock buybacks, and running the business on razor margins.
Re:SoftBank to write down WeWork by $6.6B, compounding portf...
by onlyrealcuzzo on Thursday April 30, 2020 @10:52AM
(#23031441)
The loans are forgiveable if used for salaries and rent and interest on existing debt, as long as you hire back or keep 90% of your staff at 90% of wages.
So any company can say that they used 100% of the money to pay for the approved things for 8 weeks, and that amount of money is forgiven.
Most of the loan is like free money to most companies.
Re:SoftBank to write down WeWork by $6.6B, compounding portf...
by dv_dt on Thursday April 30, 2020 @11:01AM
(#23031570)
No, the 2008 recession saw Fed Quantitiative easing put in $4.6T in money that was never paid back to outright buy assets off of banks at full value. People only get told about TARP which was a temporary loan, but the vast magnitude of bailout was around the QE buyouts.
(And, every time bailouts are mentioned, I have to notice that it's not free money, it's loans, with interests, and 2008 bailout have actually made money for american taxpayers in the end. May be not as much money as other investments would, but it also had a nice side effect of saving american (and probably world) economy from even worse disaster).
Edit: OK, I was wroung about free money, by bad. But when the 2008 bailour is mentioned, I feel that most people discussing it still think of it as some sort of handout.