Get out your check books
Actually, no need to even do that thanks to the scam known as withholding.
Check it out America: Obama is looking at raising your taxes to pay for the “explosion” in the budget deficit. Let’s be honest. To pay for all the bailouts, “Cash for Clunkers” money and health care reform your taxes will have to go up. There is simply no other source of revenue for the government that is as easy to tap and as easy to increase as the income tax. And Obama’s administration is not just taxing the rich. No sir. He’s going to hit middle class America with tax increases. That’s you and that’s me.
The bottom line is that Obama has taken full advantage of a Democratic Congress and spineless Republican leadership to move America even closer to socialism. He’s done it by spending money like a drunken sailor on shore leave in Thailand. The good news is that now middle-class America will finally take its head out of its ass and realize that when Democrats will take only the rich, they are talking about middle-class America. The bad news is that it may be too late to stop what is already in motion. Let this be a lesson to you America. Pay attention to what your government is doing.
(Side note: I think my favorite line in the article is this one “If we want an economy that’s going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it’s going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform,” Geithner said. How does SPENDING BILLIONS on health care reform bring down a deficit? It doesn’t!!!! This is probably the worst attempt at working the party line into an answer in the history of politics. It’s hard to believe that Geithner is the best person to head up the Treasury if he doesn’t understand simple economic concepts. Spending creates deficits; it doesn’t bring them down. I totally agree that deficits need to be eliminated for the economy to achieve robust growth. But I disagree with the idea that spending outrageous amounts of money to make health care worse is the way to do it.)
Something To Be Proud Of
During the lengthy time between my posts, I have found some things in our country to be proud of and I thought I’d share them with you.
I should start off by saying that I have been adamantly against any sort of taxpayer bailout of the big 3 American auto makers. That being said, Ford made me very proud today. Instead of seeking aid from the government (and by extension, Joe Taxpayer), they have made some tough cuts in their expenses and tapped into available credit lines in order to dig in for the rough times in 2009. I applaud Ford for going against the grain and NOT taking our money to keep themselves afloat. It is not the responsibility of the government or the taxpayer to keep poorly managed companies above water. Ford has taken the stance that they are going to take the consequences that come with the sub-par management decisions they’ve made in the past. I will be keeping my eye on Ford to see if they can turn the ship around or if they end up flushing our money down the toilet like Chrysler and GM.
The other item I’ve found that makes me proud comes from our new President. For the most part, Obama’s politics don’t align with mine. But today, I’ve found an issue on which he and I see eye to eye. Obama issued a critique today of what can only be described as outlandish bonuses for CEO’s on Wall Street in these dire financial times. And I must say that I wholeheartedly agree with him on this. It is despicable that these Wall Street fat cats needed taxpayer money to keep their companies from ceasing to exist only a few months ago and now they are raking in billions of dollars in bonuses. The most disgusting piece of it all is that these Gordon Gecko’s of the world are getting billions of dollars in bonuses after RUINING THE COMPANIES THEY LEAD!!!! If you were to perform your job at such a level that it completely ruined your department/unit/whatever, you’d be fired. These douche bags are getting rich by running companies into the ground then having you and I pay to fix their mistakes. UNACCEPTABLE.
I really hope that Obama finds a way to combat problems like these in the future. There is no doubt in my mind that 2009 will bring more taxpayer funded bailouts of companies and there need to be measures in place to prevent these CEO’s from receiving a billion dollar pat on the back for a job poorly done.
Um, can Elmo count that high?
Filed under: Finance, Foreign Policy, Politics, Uncategorized, Waste
Many of you will remember the days when you actually waited impatiently for the end of Sesame Street to hear the phrase: “Sesame Street was brought to you today by the letter ‘A’ and the number ’12′ (or whatever the generously inclined alphanumeric benefactors were for that day). Well, I want to know if they are going to have an episode that is brought to you by the number 3,000,000,000,000…
Given that congress stands ready to burden the children of today with a ‘bailout’ tax bill that carries the same number, I would suggest that “The Count” get himself a packet of no-doz and a pot of coffee. It’s gonna take a hell of a long time to count that high…
One! One Woefully Wasted dollar! Ah AH AH… Two! Two Terminally Taxed Toddlers! Ah AH AH!
Who on earth REALLY thinks that this is a good idea? I mean seriously… do these idiots go home and tell their kids that if the piggy bank doesn’t have enough that they can raid the “Monopoly” box for the rest?
AUGGGGGGHHHH!!!! I could spit nails. In fact, I might. Just to see if it helps.
Auto Bailout Update
Quick update on the auto bailout.
First, I pointed out a while ago that Union’s will do anything to retain their considerable power. They’ve already flexed their muscle regarding the bailout by stating they they would make no wage or benefit concessions with the auto companies and they expect the government to step in to make sure that the American auto industry doesn’t crumble. Now they are showing their true colors. After some Southern Republicans sank an auto bailout bill in the house, UAW leaders accused these Senators of conspiring with the foreign auto makers to drive UAW wages down so that there would be no benefit to joining the union. The UAW knows that their time of controlling the auto industry and having enormous political power is ending, so they will do whatever is necessary to retain that power. Even if it means accusing members of Congress of conspiring with their competitors.
Personally, I think these Senators should be commended for saying enough is enough. I’ve made my thoughts on the bailout of the auto industry quite clear but I’ll reiterate them here. The American auto industry has been completely mismanaged for decades and they are going to die with or without our money. Don’t drag out their death by wasting our money; let them die now.
The truly sad part of this whole story is that the actions of these Senators will be all for naught in the end. The Bush administration has that they will make money available to the auto industry, possibly from the $700 billion bailout kitty.
The second thing I wanted to comment on is this announcement from GM. They are temporarily cutting production and jobs in order to adjust to declining demand for their cars.
I don’t what’s funnier – that it’s taken GM 20+ years to make a sensible business decision or the fact that this is all a temporary move. They are facing extinction and their answer is to temporarily cut production as opposed to permanently cutting capacity and costs.
Do they think that the American public will one day again clamor for poorly made American crap?
Random Stuff
I’m taking a page from my compadre and posting a few random thoughts about the economy and the runoff election in Georgia.
First, there was a report issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research that states the US has been in a recession since December of 2007. That’s right, it’s taken almost a year for the NBER to figure out what the American public has known for quite some time. What was it that clued them in? Was the housing crash? The financial crisis/credit crunch? The drop in the Dow? Hard to believe that these academics are almost a year late in determining that we are in a recession. Further proof that you college folks shouldn’t take everything your professors say as gospel. Do they teach you some good stuff? Yes. Are they the foremost experts on every economical and political issue? No. They spend too much time patting themselves on the back for their perceived intellectual prowess to realize what’s going on in the real world.
Up next: Ford. Ford’s CEO, Alan Mulally, must have giant brass balls. He has stated that he will work for only $1 a year if the government supplies them with bailout dollars to keep the company afloat. That’s a very generous gesture. I’m assuming that it would be modeled after Ed Liddy’s contract at AIG ($1 in salary but loads of company stock). Here’s the problem. If Mulally really wanted to see Ford succeed, he would have cut executive salaries and reduced his own salary long before Ford hit rock bottom. Instead, he has waited until it looks like his company might not get the tax payers money and made one last desperate grab at our money. He sacrificed everything he could before he was willing to cut his own bloated salary. And anything over $0 is bloated for a man who has helped destroy one of the largest companies in the world through poor management. Sadly, I think that Congress will fall for this move and give Ford and the other automakers $25 billion of our money.
Finally, Georgia held its runoff election today between Democrat Jim Martin and incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss. As of 9PM, Chambliss leads Martin 59% to 41% (50% of precincts reporting). This lead is good for 2 reasons. First, if Saxby retains his seat, then the Democrats will not have a super majority in the Senate. This is good for the long term health of our country. Nothing would be worse than a liberal president and more than enough votes in the Congress to back anything he wants to do (like expand social programs and government run health care). Second, and perhaps most importantly, there will be no more Chambliss and Martin campaign ads on TV. And after enduring 6 months of these ads, I’m sick of seeing them.
More on the Auto Bailout
Here’s a couple of follow-up pieces regarding the proposed bailout of the auto industry.
First, if you paid close attention to my first post regarding the the auto bailout, you will notice that I mentioned that the UAW was lobbying the Democrats to send an obscene amount of money to the auto makers to delay their inevitable demise.
Looks like I was correct. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger has stated the workers will not make any more concessions to help the slumping auto makers. Gettelfinger called for Congress to act quickly on a bailout plan for the auto industry.
Don’t you just love this? The UAW refuses to make concessions and then demands money from the government. Does it matter that a big reason the auto industry is failing is because unionized employees blackmail employers into paying far more in benefits and salary than they are worth? No. What matters is that unions retain their power. If Ford and GM go under, these unions and union leaders suddenly hold no power and they will not stand for that. So, instead of making concessions from their insane salary and benefits demands, they require that government give the industry money to keep it afloat. They trade the votes of the union membership for money in order to retain their power. Democrats are more than willing to play along since they are also seeking to retain power in the government.
Now to address another article I read regarding the auto industry bailout. I stated before that the Democrats were putting on a clinic on how to buy votes by pushing for an auto bailout. As it turns out, the current administration is guilty of this as well.
Bush is suggesting that the money used to bailout the auto industry come from loans that were approved in September (but not dispersed). He is suggesting that Congress accelerate the availability of these loans. Originally, these loans were earmarked for the purpose of helping auto makers build more fuel-efficient vehicles so that they could become more competitive in the global marketplace (even though they have failed to do this for decades spending their own money). Now these loans will be used to simple keep the companies from crapping out financially.
To sum up – Democrats want to send $25 billion from the financial bailout to the auto makers to secure their votes and Bush has upped the ante by allowing money that was originally set aside for the development of fuel efficient vehicles to be used to keep the auto makers from going under. Looks like the Republicans are going to secure a few votes for themselves in the next election.
Its bi-partisan vote-buying like this that has driven me to libertarianism. And the worst part is that they are buying votes with MY money.
Wait, Did Paulson win the lottery?
Jumping in where Beezer left off, guess who else wants a bailout? The mayors of three cities; Philadelphia, Phoenix and my illustrious home town of Atlanta. Why the hell should a bailout that was originally intended to shore up the financial markets be used for anything but that?? (You will notice that I as well am opposed to the idea of financially blunting the effects of poor business decisions).
When I heard about this yesterday, and after a brief period of ‘impolite sililoqy’, the first thought that came to my mind is a bunch of redneck relatives coming out of the woodwork to see if they can get a piece of someone’s lottery winnings. It actually made me laugh a little. Why is this even happening? The bailout bill was passed with wording that actually gives Henry Paulson the power to do whatever he wants with the money that he thinks will shore up the American economy. This is political genius in it’s purest form. Now not only is Paulson the only one that can make the decision, he is also the only one who can be blamed for screwing it up!! It was an act of purest optimism to believe that the government would (for once) do something that didn’t have detrimental effects on the taxpayers of the US. Now we have made ‘Uncle Henry’ everyone’s favorite rich uncle. Such disgusting behavior…
I don’t know about the other two cities, but Atlanta could use a serious clean-out of city hall. The city is a bloated, incompetent bureaucracy with dozens and dozens of un-needed (and essentially useless) employees. Decisions are not made on fact, but on how best to keep the SCLC, NAACP and ACLU from protesting. The administrators of many of the various departments are unintelligent, career government employees who couldn’t run a lemonade stand for a profit (or to break even for that matter) because they’ve never had a job that required that they spend their own money. Waste and fraud are chronic and customer service is seen less often than the half-invisible pink, sparkly unicorn that lives in the right hand elevator shaft on the third floor. Sometimes he prances down to the building department, but I think that the mythical “Customer Service” is locked in Shirley Franklin’s desk. She lets it out occasionally when her administration is in the grinder over something, but poor C.S. is largely serving a life sentence in “middle-right drawer solitary confinement.”
This leads me back to the city asking for a bailout. We have been told that it is essentially to help pay for pensions for former city employees. WHAT?! You mean the city didn’t have a privately run independent retirement fund that would continue to pay regardless of tax income?? What a dim decision that was… wait, it’s government. This is why career government (generally union) employees are useless and expendable. The people of Atlanta ought to DEMAND top to bottom reform out of the city government and a total independent audit of every cobweb in the joint. Maybe they could use the bailout money for that instead….
Vote Buying 101
Senate Democrats are putting on a clinic in Washington on how to buy votes. They are pushing forward with plans to introduce legislation that would earmark a portion of the $700 billion bailout for the failing American auto companies.
So how is this vote buying? Simple. The auto makers employees are members of the UAW. The UAW is lobbying the Democrats to send money to the auto industry in exchange for votes. If the Democrats send money to the auto makers, the unions will strongly suggest (i.e. coerce) that their membership vote Democrat in the next election.
The Democrats don’t give a crap about whether the workers in Detroit and other auto factories across the country keep their jobs or not. They care only about seizing power and using that power to steal the American public’s money and spend it on more vote buying programs so that they can maintain power.
Now, I think it’s been evident from other posts that I’ve made, that I am against the bailout. But just the possibility of the auto makers being bailed out makes me madder than anything else. The auto makers have been failing for years – why should they be bailed out now (other than the aforementioned vote buying scam)?
Companies like AIG, Bank of America, etc. are being bailed out because they got caught up in the booming economy and made some incredibly risky decisions revolving around the expanding credit markets. Things suddenly went sour and they lost a ton of money. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t think that’s an excuse to bail them out, but it makes more sense than the auto makers.
Auto makers – and let me be clear, I’m talking about GM and Ford – have a history of making poor decisions that long ago crippled them and begin their demise. They weren’t caught off guard by a slumping economy and suddenly found themselves in the tank. They’ve been in the crapper for a long time.
Why? Because they allowed their employees to unionize and control all their employee related costs. Because they failed to understand the American auto market and adapt quickly. Because they failed to make themselves more efficient when their competitors (Honda and Toyota) were revolutionizing the industry with how they assembled cars and changed production lines. Because they failed to control overhead by reducing the number of employees, factories and dealerships as the demand for their cars fell.
For all of these reasons, GM and Ford don’t deserve our money. All this $25 billion will do is delay the inevitable. GM and Ford are ill equipped to compete in the auto market in today’s economy because they have completely failed to change the way they do business. Even as they lay dying, they continue to crank out SUV’s, even though the American market is moving away from gas guzzling behemoths. They will crash and burn with or without our money.
This is another opportunity for us as Americans to use our purchasing power to make a statement to government and private industry that we are displeased with the bailout. Don’t buy Ford or GM products. Actually, I don’t really need to say that, as most people don’t buy them now.
Don’t let the Democrats get away with buying votes using your money. Contact your Senator and make him or her fully aware of your displeasure in what the Democrats are attempting to do. Make them aware that your vote cannot be bought and will be used to support another candidate should they support the Democrats in their bid to buy votes.
You have a voice America. Use it.
Strike Back at the Bailout
If you’re like me, you’re not a fan of the government bailing out companies who decided to to make incredibly risky bets with borrowed money and companies that have been chronically mismanaged. When it’s all said and done, it’s not the federal government paying to bail-out these companies – it’s you and I. How do you suppose the government is going to pay back the money they borrowed to lend to these companies? Cut spending? Not a chance in hell – especially with Barack in the White House. If you think Bush spent a ton of money, just wait for the Obama Era.
Nope. The government will come to it’s people for the money. And they’ll come to us in the form of taxes. That’s right, they won’t ask us to help them out; they’ll forcefully take our money in the same way that they’ve been taking it since February 12, 1918 – through the income tax and other forms of taxation.
For the time being, you and I are powerless when it comes to avoiding taxes (unless you want to go to prison). However, we do have power over the companies receiving the bailout money. We can refuse to use their products and services. We can refuse to do business with them. If we’re already doing business with them, we can take our business elsewhere. If you’re really bold, you can demand your share of the money in the form of cash or discounts from these companies.
You’re government isn’t looking out for you – you have to look out for yourself. For a list of the companies and how much they’ve received thus far check out ProPublica. And for a blog with bailout news, check out BailoutSleuth.
Don’t just sit around and let these undeserving, foolishly managed companies take your money. Make your voice heard – use your power as a consumer to fight back.