Another Boneheaded move from the Obama Administration….

Another smooth move from the Harlem Globetrotter Administration. This time towards Michigan, The Detroit News laments:

President Barack Obama’s proposed cap-and-trade system on greenhouse gas emissions is a giant economic dagger aimed at the nation’s heartland — particularly Michigan. It is a multibillion-dollar tax hike on everything that Michigan does, including making things, driving cars and burning coal.

The president is asking for a system of government limits on carbon emissions. The right to emit carbon would be auctioned off to generate revenue for more government spending programs.

The president’s budget projects receipts totaling $646 billion through 2019 from the sale of these greenhouse gas permits.

The goal, according to the president’s budget outline, is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide to 14 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

Doing so will drive up the cost of nearly everything and will amount to a major tax increase for American consumers.

Such a tax will hit the Midwest particularly hard, which is why House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, told the New York Times, “let’s just be honest and call it a carbon tax that will increase taxes on all Americans who drive a car, who have a job, who turn on a light switch, pure and simple.”

The carbon tax will be paid by energy companies, manufacturers and public utilities, who will pass the cost on to their consumers. Michigan will be especially targeted. It gets 60 percent of its electric power from coal plants, and the state’s economy is still reliant on heavy manufacturing such as car and truck assembly and auto parts production.

Michigan will lose as carbon tax money is shifted to states with a greater presence of high-tech and service businesses.

The proposed tax would take effect in 2012 and has the very real potential to throw the nation back into recession, if indeed the expected recovery has arrived by then. It’s impossible to raise costs for such basics as manufacturing and energy production by more than half a trillion dollars over a decade and not have the effects felt across the economy.

The nation’s gross domestic product contracted at an annualized rate of 3.8 percent in last year’s fourth quarter — the worst economic record in nearly three decades. Is this really a good time to be talking about a carbon tax? How will such talk impact investment decisions?

Obama promises to use some of the revenues for tax relief for certain workers and some of the rest for subsidies for alternative energy. But that won’t make up for the damage this huge new tax will do to the economy, especially in Michigan.

I would be willing to bet that many people here in Michigan, who voted for the magic moon bat are having a bad case of buyers regret today. This is what happens when you run a Presidential Administration that caters to special interests on the far, far, left and basically tells the rest of the Country to go to hell.

The liberals once made a movie called “Who Killed the Electric Car?” Pretty soon those same Liberals will be making a movie called “Who Killed the Detroit Auto Industry?”

Grim Local News – GM, Chrysler seek more money and will cut more jobs…

Kind of a depressing local story for me:

Video:

The Story:

Billions of dollars in government loans to prop up General Motors and Chrysler won’t be enough. The companies, which have received $17.4 billion so far, filed plans with the government more than doubling that request to a staggering total of $39 billion.

The requests, made in government-required restructuring plans filed Tuesday, were accompanied by plans for thousands more job cuts, slashing of models and brands, union concessions and the prospect of even further expense cuts.

In a dramatic acknowledgment that conditions in the U.S. auto industry have grown significantly worse in just two months, GM alone said it would cut 47,000 jobs globally by the end of the year — 19 percent of its work force. It also said it would close five more U.S. factories, although it did not identify them.

Chrysler said it will cut 3,000 more jobs and stop producing three vehicle models.

The grim reports came as the United Auto Workers union said it had reached a tentative agreement with GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. on contract changes. Concessions with the union and debt-holders were a condition of the government bailout.

GM said it could need up to $30 billion from the Treasury Department, up from a previous estimate of $18 billion. That includes $13.4 billion the company has already received. The world’s largest automaker said it could run out of money by March without new funds and needs $2 billion next month and another $2.6 billion in April.

“We have a lot of work to do,” General Motors Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said. “We’re still going at this with a great sense of urgency.”

via The Associated Press: GM, Chrysler seek billions more, to cut more jobs.

I think I’ll just refrain from public commentary on this one. There’s family, my family involved here; so, I’m totally biased. I just do not think those Conservatives who opposed this money to these companies really get it. All I am going to say. Anyone that’s read this Blog, or wants to know what I think. Do a search on “Tarp Loans” and you’ll see why I feel the way that  I do.

Local News – ACORN to Sponsor Detroit Mayoral Candidates Forum Tonight

Acorn, much noted for their voter fraud, is sponsoring a Forum for the Detroit Mayoral Candidates.

As Detroit gets closer the Feb. 24 mayoral primary election, the candidates are getting another opportunity to put their ideas before voters.

The community group ACORN is sponsoring a forum on foreclosures at St. Paul AME Church on Hunt Street in Detroit tonight at 6.

All candidates are expected to be there — except Detroit businessman Dave Bing, who said he has a scheduling conflict.

via Detroit Mayoral Candidates Forum Tonight – Detroit Local News Story – WDIV Detroit.

Hmmmm… I just wonder, will ACORN allow the voter fraud in the Detroit Mayoral Election like they did in the election of  B. Hussein Obama?

Notice also, that WDIV never mentioned the voter fraud at all? Now, why I am not surprised. 🙄

Breaking Local News – G.M. to offer buyout packages to all union employees.

This is interesting…:


General Motors Corp. will offer buyouts to all of its hourly employees, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday, as the troubled automaker continues to slash costs.

GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said the buyouts will mainly target GM’s 22,000 retirement-eligible hourly employees, though any union employee can take the offer.

News of the buyouts first broke on Monday. A union official told The Associated Press then that GM would offer $20,000 in cash and a $25,000 car voucher for workers who retire early and those who simply leave the company. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because workers were not yet notified of the packages.

via GM To Offer Buyouts To All Hourly Employees — WDIV Detroit.

Just another sign of the times. For the record, G.M. has done this in the past, when times were bad. Hopefully some of the guys that have been with the company and are about ready to retire will take this buy out. Hopefully, this will help the problem and G.M. will become viable.

Shocking Opinion Piece of the Day

I must confess; when I read this, my jaw about dropped to the floor. 😮

Quote:

I propose that, from this day forward, we stop telling the tale of two Americas and instead document and celebrate the full and storied, multicultural and multidimensional story that is America in all of its colors, geographies and passions, in all of its ups, downs and exhortations.

I propose that, for the first time in American history, this country has reached a point where we are can stop celebrating separately, stop learning separately, stop being American separately. We have reached a point where most Americans want to gain a larger understanding of the people they have not known, customs they have not known, traditions they have not known.

I propose that this month. 142 years after Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 that allowed for the Southern states to be re-admitted to the Union, we adopt our own personal reconstruction goals to admit into our lives people who are different, people whose origins differ from ours, people who can teach us so much if we listen.

I propose that this month we become not the America of Rush Limbaugh or the America of Al Franken, but to become an America where all opinions matter and hope trumps hate.

I propose that this February, we become not an America of black or white or Hispanic or Asian but an America of black and white and Hispanic and Asian, an America where each of those heritages is a mandatory part of school curriculums. We don’t need more amendments to the U.S. Constitution; we need more amendments to our own personal behaviors, beginning with changing how we treat each other.

Where did I see such a thing?

In some newspaper in the south? On a White Nationalist Website? Nope. In the Detroit Free Press.

Color me shocked.

Someone needs to tell that this to Rev. Joseph E. Lowery; that post race racialism is wrong and should stop.

In case you forgot:

Now, who’s the real racists? 🙄

Memo to America: Michigan Winters Suck!

I have been reading with mild amusement and slight concern about some other Bloggers adventures in dealing with the wonderful white stuff in the cold north that we call snow.

Yeah, I know, I linked to Ed, even if he did insult my dad. 😡  But it’s a new year, and I am not one to hold a grudge for long.

Anyhow, I just got back in from driving around the corner to get some hamburger buns for supper; I might be a recovering liberal, but I like my beefy hamburgers. Anyhow, I was out there, let there be no misunderstanding; it is freaking COLD here in Michigan! (Currently 14 Degrees!)  My Dad, whom has a heart of pure gold; (although he drive me nuts at times!) let me borrow his big coat and gloves, I wore my trusty dusty, Handy Dandy, Chevrolet cap on the ol’ bean. I looked like the Great Nanook of the North out there! 😆

Anyhow, I did have a bit of misfortune. I was trying to release my windshield wiper from my frozen windshield with my ice scraper, so, the wipers would work, and prompty broke the stupid thing. Smooth move there. 🙄

Thankfully, the wiper was on the passenger side of the car. I did make it around the corner, and got said buns, and got my rather frozen hairy behind back in the warm house.

Al Gore can kiss my rather obese, hairy, happy-go-lucky, white behind! Next time I hear a damn Moonbat liberal opining about Global Warming, I’m just gonna pop him in the mouth. Come live in Michigan right and talk that idiot crap. I dare ya.

It’s going to be one long winter season, and I’m already tired of it. Oy!

Sad News: Ron Asheton Original Guitarist and founding member of the Stooges — Dead at 60

This is just horrifically bad news. Sad

ron-asheton-death-200lvg010609

Ronald Frank Asheton

July 17, 1948 – January 1, 2009

Via Spinner:

Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton was found dead at his Ann Arbor, Mich. home Tuesday morning. The official cause of death is not yet known, but it is believed the Asheton suffered a heart attack. Police discovered Asheton’s body on a couch after his personal assistant had been unable to reach him for several days. He was 60.

"I am in shock," Stooges frontman Iggy Pop said in a statement. "He was my best friend."

Asheton, along with his brother Scott on drums, Pop and original bassist Dave Alexander, formed the Stooges in Detroit in 1967. They released two albums, ‘The Stooges’ and ‘Fun House,’ before Ron Asheton took over bass duties. As a guitarist, he created a bevy of iconic riffs, including those for ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ and ‘TV Eye.’

After the Stooges’ initial split, Asheton played in several other bands, including the Wylde Ratttz, featuring Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, Mudhoney’s Mark Arm, Dinosaur Jr.’s J. Mascis and Mike Watt. Watt joined Asheton once more when the Stooges reunited in 2003, and Asheton returned to his original place as Stooges guitarist on 2007’s ‘The Weirdness.’

"We are shocked and shaken by the news of Ron’s death," a combined statement released by Pop, Asheton’s brother Scott, saxophonist Steve Mackay, Watt and the Stooges’ management read. He was a great friend, brother, musician, trooper. Irreplaceable. He will be missed. For all that knew him behind the facade of Mr Cool & Quirky, he was a kind-hearted, genuine, warm person who always believed that people meant well even if they did not. As a musician Ron was ‘The Guitar God’, idol to follow and inspire others. That is how he will be remembered by people who had a great pleasure to work with him, learn from him and share good and bad times with him."

It’s times like these when you really realize just how long ago the damn 1960’s were. All the great one’s, musically speaking, are simply dying on us. Such a tragic ending to a life with such talent. May he rest in peace. I don’t think that it would be out of place to say a little prayer for the family of this man tonight. Praying

…and for what it’s worth, I don’t know the politics of Iggy Pop or the rest of the guys, nor do I give two shits. This is not about that man. This is about the passing of a local Detroit area icon.

Some Videos in the Memory of Ron and the rest of those rowdy bastards.

I believe this video is from the Goose Lake Pop Festival of 1970.

And lastly, one of my favorite songs, “No Fun”. (Content Warning)

That’s what those guys were about, just having fun. It’s a sad loss for the Detroit Rock Music scene of the 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Toyota is feeling the pinch too.

So much for that stupid  Neo-Con line saying that the slump in auto sales is the automakers fault.

Via the New York Times:

TOKYO — Toyota Motor will idle its plants in Japan for 11 days in February and March to reduce output in the face of steeply declining global vehicle sales, the company said Tuesday.

The Japanese auto giant said the suspension would affect production at all 12 of its directly operated domestic plants, which include four vehicle assembly plants and also factories that make transmissions, engines and other parts. The closings are in addition to a three-day shutdown this month at these plants that Toyota had already announced.

The move is unusual for a company that just a few months ago seemed unable to keep up with voracious global demand for its fuel-efficient vehicles. But even strong players like Toyota have failed to escape the drastic slowdown in the global auto industry.

The company said it would idle the plants to reduce stocks of unsold vehicles amid a relentless slide in sales, particularly in the United States, its biggest market. Last month, Toyota’s sales there dropped 37 percent, a larger decline than at its struggling American rivals General Motors and Ford.

Plunging sales and a stronger Japanese yen, which reduces the yen value of overseas profits, forced Toyota to forecast last month its first annual loss in 70 years at its vehicle-making operations.

Toyota did not say how many vehicles would be affected by the suspension announced Tuesday. The company said its four domestic assembly plants produced 1.5 million vehicles in 2007, the most recent year for which the company has figures. Toyota-brand cars are also made by other companies in the Toyota group.

The company had already announced that it would shut down truck production at two United States plants for three months

Its American rivals — General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler — have also idled plants across North America in response to the slowdown.

For once, I am in agreement with a Liberal, and yes, it is the same knuckle-headed liberal that insulted Conservatives. Hey, I am one that praises when it’s due and bitches when it’s due too; At least I’m fair. 😉 😀 😛

Matthew Yglesias Weighs in:

This is the conceptual problem with efforts to “save” the car industry through bailouts or union busting or whatever you like. One assumes demand for cars will get higher than it is right now, but the industry has a whole just has more capacity to build cars than there is demand for new cars. Which is fine. When you look across the developed world and try to take stock of the medium- and long-run problems facing the OECD nations there’s just no way you’re going to reach the conclusion that an automobile shortage is a big concern. But obviously it’s not fine for the companies that make cars. There’s going to be a need for some shrinkage.

Yeah, I know, most likely some of the Conservatives who are basically scraping my blog for content are going to try and deride me as a fake conservative, because I stick up for the middle class and because I happen to be the son of retired General Motors Worker and U.A.W. member. Well, I got two words; screw you and the rest of the asshole Madison Ave. Conservatives. 😡

Anyhow, I happen to agree with Matthew here, I live here in the Detroit Area. If the auto industry dies, so does this area. That will cause my parents to suffer, they need the health insurance, as they are both diabetic and the amount of medications that they take is staggering.  Anyhow, this article above disproves and basically strikes down the “Meme” that was going around in the Conservative Blogosphere that the issues with the auto industry was the fault of the automakers. Which I totally dismissed as abject bullshit of the highest order. It was the fault of President Clinton for putting pressure on the loan companies to give those toxic subprime loans to those who were considered high risk. That is what started this whole thing. Of course, equal blame can be given to the Republican Congress of 2003 for not changing the laws, after all, they were warned by the Bush White House to do something; and they did nothing at all.

Best thing they could do, was have a hearing, of which the CEO of Freddie Mac pulled the race card, and congress backed off. So, all the blaming of the Auto Companies was nothing more than a feeble attempt by the Republicans at scapegoating the wrong damned people.

Here’s hoping that Japan’s auto industry totally collapses and people, both American and otherwise, have to buy American products, for a change!

Funny Video: Sponsor an Executive

This was sent to me by the smartest Democrat I know………………My Mom.  😀

President Bush authorizes $17.5 Billion Dollars in low interest loans to Automakers

Better late than ever, I suppose. To listen to some Conservatives talk, the loans are open ended and there’s no accountability. Which is, of course, wrong. Waiting

From The Politico:

President George W. Bush stepped in Friday to keep America’s auto industry afloat, announcing a $17.4 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler, with the terms of the loans requiring that the firms radically restructure and show they can become profitable soon.

"If we were to allow the free market to take its course now, it would almost certainly lead to disorderly bankruptcy," Bush said at the White House, in remarks carried live by the national broadcast networks. "In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action. The question is how we can best give it a chance to succeed."

Bush said that "bankruptcy now would lead to a disorderly liquidation of American auto companies."

"My economic advisers believe that such a collapse would deal an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans far beyond the auto industry. It would worsen a weak job market and exacerbate the financial crisis," he said. "It could send our suffering economy into a deeper and longer recession."

The money will come from the Wall Street bailout passed by Congress, a reversal for the White House. President-elect Barack Obama and Democrats had long advocated that course, and Bush had resisted it.

Of the total, $13.4 billion will be paid out in December and January, administration officials told reporters in a briefing. The last $4 billion is contingent on release of the second installment of the Wall Street bailout funds by Congress.

As you can see here, there is accountability, there are conditions on the loans, they are not open ended, and if the auto companies do not get their acts together, the loans will be recalled.

Of course, that is not good enough for some Conservatives like Michelle Malkin, who says that someone should sue the Government over the loans to the Auto industry. Yeah, Michelle, like that will really work. Rolling Eyes  The Party that you are a cheerleader for, is already in the minority, has been driven to the wilderness; because of that beady-eyed bastard in the White House, why not just drive a damned stake through the heart of the party?  I think Michelle needs to seriously look into going to the hospital, because I believe that "Sickness" that she has, is going to her brain. Silly

Yeah, I know, defend Malkin one day and whack her on the ass with a wet towel the next, it’s all about Equal Opportunity around this Blog. TongueWinking

Anyhow, some also believe that this will soften Bush’s image a bit, The Moderate Voice’s Joe Gandelman Notes:

It will help add a positive note to the legacy of Bush who, at best, will be considered a highly flawed President and, at worst, rank as one of the worst in American history. The Republicans in the Senate, acting on ideology, regional politics and anti-union sentiment, had scuttled the bailout — giving the GOP an image once again of a party stuck on ideology.

I agree and I disagree; it might soften his image a bit amongst Independents and some moderate Democrats who did not like that guy, but amongst the hard left, I suspect that President Bush will be the most hated President ever.

Personally, I think Bush did what he felt was right, he put his Party politics aside for a change and did what was right, I commend him for it. I just hope that the auto industry uses this money for the proper purposes and gets their damned act together. Our Government has done the right and proper things, now it is time for the Auto Industry to do theirs. Many people are pessimistic about this; I, on the other hand, try to remain positive about this and hope like bloody hell that G.M. does get their act together. For the sake of the retirees, for the sake of all those who have families that work for those companies, for the sake of all the employees of the local and not so local suppliers and their families.