And so it begins

As any student of history knows, the first act of a dictator is getting rid of any dissent in the media. This was (is) true for Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Castro, Mao, Jong Il. And now you can add Obama to the list.

It seems the Lord Savior Barry Obama is no longer taking questions from reporters.

Obama even took the unusual step Friday morning of leaving behind the pool of reporters assigned to follow him, taking his daughters to a nearby water park without them. It was a breach of longstanding protocol between presidents (or presidents-elect) and the media, that a gaggle of reporters representing television, print and wire services is with his motorcade at all times.

Quel surprise that this joke of a president-elect is making a mockery of the office of the presidency. After all he is THE ONE. He doesn't answer questions from the media. He is above those pesky traditions going back to Washington. This is what change means huh?

After ordering a tuna melt on 12-grain bread, Obama approached reporters and placed his hand on the shoulder of pool reporter Philip Rucker of The Washington Post, who was scribbling away in his notebook.

“You don't really need to write all that down,” Obama said.

Did he have a little arugula to go with that 12-grain bread? We will never know of course. He instructed the reporter not to write any of it down. And yes I understand that in the big scheme of things, it doesn't matter what he had for lunch. But it should scare you that the president-elect is instructing reporters not to write things down. And even scarier that the reporters are taking orders from him not to write things down.

Maybe the MSM should have asked a few tough questions during the campaign. They might have discovered who the real Hussein Obama is. Thanks for nothing MSM. So what will you do for the next 20-30 years (you aren't so naive as to think Hussein will step down after 8 years are you)?

At some point the MSM will have to stop blaming Bush for everything wrong in the world. But since your BOY WONDER is not answering questions, it will be a little boring for you and the MSM won't sell too many newspapers simply stating over and over how awesome Barry is. And at some point one them will break down and actually write something derogatory of St. Hussein. And that happens, the poor bastard will feel the wrath of THE ONE like you cannot believe. Reporters are just useful idiots to him. The second they turn on him, their use is gone and they will be thrown to the wolves like everyone else. The MSM did this to itself. They aided and abetted the fascist takeover of this country. And they deserve the hell that is coming to this country as much as everyone else does.

So any of you Obamatrons starting to have second thoughts? Or have you had so much kool-aid that nothing will make you question der Fuhrer Obama. Even in Germany at some point people who lovingly supported Hitler the way you support Obama had an "Oh shit what have we done" moment. Unfortunately for the world, that was about 30 million deaths into the thousand year Reich. I hope in the 24/7 media world we live in today your "Oh shit" moment comes a little sooner.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Seriously?

Is that a swim cap? A hat? A beanie? A muslim prayer cap? I can only imagine the shit that will be going down in the White House next year. This pig will make Bill Clinton look prim and proper.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Saturday Suckers

Oops. Paid $724K. Now for sale at $494K. Only a 32% hit in price. Ouchie!!

But Atlanta is different don't you know, everyone wants to live here and so real estate prices will never fall here.
No way in hell a housing crash could ever happen here don't you know.
Renting is throwing your money down the drain don't you know.
Owning is the American Dream don't you know.
Real estate never goes down don't you know.
Buy now or be priced out forever don't you know.
Renting is for poor people don't you know.

And all that jazz.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Marines to Obama: meh

Here is something very unsurprising; the Marines aren't too fond of The Lord Savior Obama. While Obama was in Hawaii kicking it old school at his $25M oceanfront mansion - while you know, thinking up ways to help us 'po middle class folk - he decided to make a PR appearance at a Marine Base.

This is the reception he got:

As Obama entered the room, it was absent of the regular fanfare of cheering and clapping. The diners were polite, staying seated at their respective tables and waited for the president-elect to come to them to stand up.

The absent fanfare is the fanfare that Bush could count on at any appearance he made. Whatever faults Bush had - and he had many - I don't think any sane person could say he didn't respect the military. You could argue about the Iraq war's merits, but again, no sane person will say Bush hates the military.

On the other hand Obama has made it clear on numerous occasions over decades what he thinks of the military.

And as usual for Obama, actions speak loudest.

The president-elect spent about an hour with the troops. Obama transition aides say that Obama did not eat with the uniformed men and women -- he ate at his beach home with his family and friends Christmas night.

Wow, a whole hour break from his Hawaii beach vacation to mingle with the masses. What a hero. And seriously, you expect Sir Barry to dine with uniformed men and women? Ugh. That would mean the possibility of touching one of them and catching some sort of disease. No, no, no. Much safer to eat dinner in the friendly confines of the $25M beach house with leftists like Bill Ayres who blows up military installations.

What a piece of filth this man is.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2209

Laughable

The wizards of spend just don't give up. The day after Thanksgiving was a flop. Not surprising given the fact the HELOC nation is broke.

Christmas season was an even bigger flop. No more giving $2000 TVs bought on the 22% Visa as a present. And ditto for the $500 jeans being stuffed in the stocking with care.

But not to worry, CNBC is breathlessly telling me that today, Boxing Day (for those of you reading in the Great White North) is the new Black Friday. Sales of 60, 70 even 80% off will finally bring the consumer back to the malls today. It's a little like the heroin addict who is trying to kick the habit and the dealer calling up and offering an 80% off heroin sale. It is pathetic and disgusting. For shame JC Penney. For shame Macy's.

Just once, I want to see someone on TV say what needs to be said. Americans need to stop spending for a few years. I don't mean stop spending all together of course. I mean stop buying a new TV every 2 years. Stop buying the latest iPod every 6 months. Stop getting a new phone every 6 months as soon as a new model comes out. Stop getting a new car every 2 years. A pair of jeans has been known to last more than 3 months before requiring replacement.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

A Jolly Christmas in the ATL

Stories like these make me so happy on this most joyous of days.

I moved to the Atlanta area about 2 years ago. Being a sane person, I did not buy a house here. When I was looking for rentals, I talked to a few real estate agents along the way way. Without exception these experts in the field told me I was crazy to rent. You see, Atlanta is different and so would never experience a housing downturn like the rest of the country. Everyone in the world wants to live in Atlanta and so housing prices will go up up up for the next 10 years. Prices will be at least double in 10 years and even more in some areas.

And the other story the real estate shills were selling was this notion of an Atlanta ghetto renaissance. All this new development would magically transform the ghettos of Atlanta into areas with $500K homes selling like hot cakes. The fact that the median income in Atlanta is $45K, which makes the notion of $500K homes laughable, never entered the minds of the shills. Real estate agents are like a Barbie doll that talks. Pull the string and she says "NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO BUY". Pull it again she says "RENTING IS THROWING YOUR MONEY AWAY". Pull it again and she says "(INSERT CITY NAME HERE) IS DIFFERENT AND IT IS NEVER GOING TO FALL IN PRICE".

Well fast forward 2 years and we get this:

It’s a uniquely intown Atlanta story, where areas once blighted by crime found new life from renovation and construction of an unprecedented level of new infill housing — only to see those same houses fall into abandonment and disrepair as the market crumbled.

And what happened to the prices of those magical new homes that were supposed to double and triple in value over the coming decade?

Cal Wimberly, an Atlanta real estate agent, said there are so many nearly new homes on the market in northwest and southwest Atlanta and so few buyers that new homes now sell for half or less than their original price. He recently sold a nearly new house in the Pittsburg community for $30,000. It had once been listed for six times as much, he said.

From $180K to $30K. I'm not one of them fancy Wall St experts or one of those fancy real estate agents who took a weekend seminar. But to me that seems like a pretty bad investment. And I think that looking back on the past 2 years, renting a house for about 60% of the cost of owning the exact same house has ended up being a good financial move.

Yes, yes I realize I was not as cool as those enlightened intown residents who lost 80% of their investment. Actually more like 100% of their investments since they lost 100% of the down payment. And I also haven't been making $800 a month lease payments on the Range Rover that these same real estate geniuses make. I have nothing but anectodal evdidence for this, but I would imagine next to L.A., Atlanta has to have the highest number of Range Rovers on the road.

Silly me, I make $0 a month payments on the used cars I own outright. The cars that get me from point A to point B as quickly as the Range Rover would. My entire car costs for a year including registration, insurance and repairs is the equivalent to 1.5 months of the typical Atlantan's monthly lease payment.

But then again 90% of people in Atlanta voted for Obama. 'Nuff said.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Housing bottom is here

I was getting a little worried. Almost a week had passed by without yet a new call of a housing bottom. Today's call is not only a call of a bottom, but a prediction that prices will "soar" next year too. So says an expert named Richard Bove.

This puts the count at the number of housing crash bottom calls since 2006 at an estimated 121,871 by my count.

The rationale from monsieur Bove is that the refinancing boom will cause house prices to rise. Hmmm interesting. Except people refinancing don't buy houses. They simply refinance existing mortgages. New buyers, ie those not refinancing, are the people who determine prices. Despite what every real estate shill may tell you, buyers, not sellers, set prices.

And these new buyers that will supposedly come out of the woodwork as young Mr. Bove suggests still don't really exist. The typical American still thinks buying a house is a good idea. He thought this way a year ago and 2 years ago as well. He kept on buying, getting 125% mortgages with $0 down. Now, even if the typical imbecile American wants to buy - and there are plenty who do - he can't get the 125%, $0 down loan anymore. And that means no matter how low the interest rate is, the American making $40K a year can no longer buy the $750K house. You could have 0% interest rates and no bank in the universe will lend the $40K a year earner enough to buy the $750K home.

And there is also that pesky new thing called a down payment that went the way of the do-do beween 2001 and 2007. 20% is the new 0% these days as far as downpayments are concerned. At a bare minimum you need 5%. Yet most Americans have $0 in savings. The vast majority of Americans have negative equity (for thoe of you who voted for Obama that means they owe more money than the values of their assets). The days of sign and own are gone.

And also there is also that quaint notion that when 550K people lose their jobs every month, chances are they won't rush out to buy a new home. Even assuming they have the 20% saved up. In every single past recession going back as far as records exist on the issue, housing prices fell during recessionary times. It is the one thing in economics you can be sure of. When people lose jobs or are afraid of losing jobs they don't go out and buy a new house. Even the most optimistic predictions are saying 8% unemployment in 2009. Today it's under 7%. That means millions of new people without a job in addition to the millions currently without a job. How can anyone possibly predict higher asset prices - especially real estate - when it is a given that there will me millions of jobs lost? It's insane.

So in this current environment mortgage interest rates are almost a non-factor. Housing prices began falling in 2006 when rates were around 6%. Prices fell when rates went to 6.5% in 2007. And prices fell even more when rates went below 6% in 2008. And each week along the way, experts were predicting the bottom was at hand and prices were sure to bounce right back up.

Just remember one thing when listening to expert advice. About 98% of experts didn't see the housing crash. About 98% of experts didn't see the stock market crash. 100% of executives who worked at Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Countrywide were considered experts.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Transparent eh?

This is the funniest thing I've read about the stimulus plan.

To address the concerns of bailout-weary lawmakers and taxpayers, Biden and Summers stressed that the money spent on stimulus will be monitored closely. Summers noted the Internet may be used to ensure transparency and track projects' progress. "And there will be accountability for the success in carrying out those investments," he said.

As someone who has worked in IT for the past 10 years I can only laugh out loud at this idea. I've seen companies who spend millions of dollars on projects and they can barely figure out on any given day a) where the money was spent and b) the progress of a project. And these are people who work in IT full time and whose job it is to figure this out. And for companies with a few thousand workers and at most a few billion in sales all contained in one corporation.

Yet Obama thinks that the government will somehow manage to track $1 trillion worth of projects spread out over 50 states, with thousands of contractors, tens of thousands of subcontractors and - supposedly - 3 million workers. All that will be tracked on a website run by the government....the same government that runs such successful organizations as the DMV and the Post Office and public education system. The same government that had oversight of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The same government that produced the infamous $1000 hammers. The same government that runs the border patrol which allows 2 million people to sneak by every year. The same government that runs Amtrak which has never, in its 40 year history not lost money.

This bloated, unionized, inefficient, outdated, lazy, incompetent federal government is going to allow me to go online and see where my tax dollars are being spent?

Thank you Obama. That laugh I just had after reading the article was a great Christmas present.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

So it will work?

The MSM headlines these days have taken an odd - yet predictable - twist. They have shied away recently from asking "WILL" the Obama socialist plan work to "HOW WELL" will it work. It is now a given in the MSM that taxing those that produce in order to send checks to that that don't produce is a winning stragey. The fact it failed in the 1930s in the US and failed even almost as badly in the 1990s in Japan is irrelevant these days. Obama has a plan. Obama is the the new savior (Happy B-Day by the way Barry for your big day tomorrow). Therefore everything he does will work.

There is no skepticism left in the MSM about socialism. Used to be, even 5 years ago, that socialism was discredited. It had been tried in 1/2 of Europe for 70 years and failed. It had been tried in North Korea and it led to millions of people dying to death from lack of food, even though Kore is one of the most fertile places on earth. It had been tried in Cuba where people still drive cars from the 1950s and children beg for money from foreign tourists on beaches.

Now all that doesn't matter. The idea of spending $1T on building bridges and caulking high school windows, paid for with a 55% marginal tax rate on upper earners is now a given to create millions of jobs and prosperity.

Only question now is how long until the MSM is allowed to ask the question. When unemployment hits 8% in mid-2009, it will be Bush's fault. When it hits 9% in late 2009 it will be Bush's fault. But at some point in 2010 when we hit double digits, even the NY Times will have to start asking a question or two of the Messiah. Only question is will they be allowed to? Or will the Blago Chicago Machine be so entrenched in all levels of society by then that any dissident will be dealt with swiftly?

Obama promised to mandate compulsory volunteerism for all 18-25 year olds. What do you think those 18-25 year olds will be training for? I suspect it will be training in how to "re-educate" doubters of the Messiah. And by the time everyone figures out what's really happening, it will be too late.

Hey but he got a gay hating reverend to say a prayer, so it will be OK.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Perfect

Right after the election, the MSM was in full Obama euphoria. They had worked hard for 18 months to elect this man. And damn it they waz gonna party like it's 1999. 5 million people would join that party in DC screamed the headlines. It would be a true coronation of the CHOSEN ONE. The world would turn out to see history. Children would be there to witness history. They would tell their kids and grand kids they saw the greatest spectacle on earth as the Lord Jesus Obama was sworn in as benevolent dictator of the masses.

Well now reality is starting to sink in to the leftist vermin. The 5 million is now cut to 2 million. If 1 million show up I will be surprised.

But isn't this a perfect metaphor for the entire presidency? 5 million down to 2 million in less than two months...and down to 1 by the time it happens. This kind of disappointment will be felt again and again by the leftists out there who think the Lord Savior Obama will solve every one of their problems. The free mortgage, the free car, the free health insurance...might not happen after all. The union slobs will not be saved, even with the Gm bailouts. The deadbeats who can't afford to pay their bills will go bankrupt. Hurricans will still happen. Blizzards will still happen.

All that will still be the case, except I will be paying twice as much in taxes and pigs like Obama and Blago will be twice as rich.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

This is getting freaky

Hey what do you know? The latest round of housing numbers are piss poor yet again. I guess all those "REAL ESTATE HAS BOTTOMED" headlines were.....shockingly....wrong again. The best call for the bottom of the housing marktet was Dave Ramsey, the Charlatan in Chief of real estate hacks. He said that the week before Thanksgiving was the bottom. Mind you he also said that somewhere in late March of this year the economy had bottomed and there would be no recession.

Here is my prediction: this week every expert out there will predict this is the bottom and there has never been a better time to buy. And I will keep on renting for a fraction of the cost of "ownership" and keep mocking these boneheads.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Man of the people

Remember back during the election when McCain was killed by the media for having money and expensive houses? And remember how poor humble Obama was portrayed as a man of the people who will fight for the middle class? And remember how Bush was mocked for playing golf while the nation suffered economically?

Some man of the people he is here, vacationing in a $9M house in Hawaii and playing golf.

It's almost as if the media was playing favorites of something during the campaign. But that would be silly since everyone knows there is no media bias.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Really?

California is in free fall. It has the 3rd highest unemployment rate in the country a 8.4%. 1/2 the population of California is comprised of illegal aliens who speak no English, pay no taxes, yet use up resources such as hospitals and education. It has a bloated bureaucracy full of janitors in LA school district earning $100K+ a year. Business are leaving the state due to high taxes and regulation. The state alone has a $40 billion deficit that is growing by the hour.

So what is Arnold's #1 priority? Why global warming of course. The same global warming that is creating -30 degree temperatures in Chicago and 10 degree temps in Atlanta and which also produced close to a foot of snow in Las Vegas last week. And how will he solve this non-existent problem? By taxing and regulating some more.

Sometimes you just have to shake your head and say fuck it. The people of California deserve this. People get the government they deserve and Californians deserve what is coming to them.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Obama making it up as he goes along

Hey good news everyone. Obama will now "create or preserve" 3 million jobs. Dude that is awesome. Originally it was only 2 million. So he has just created an additional 1 million phantom jobs in the past week alone. This guy is on fire. By next month we will have 10 million new jobs.

And how will all these magical new jobs appear? Well we don't need to worry about that. He is the messiah you know and nobody dare question the messiah.

What is interesting about his plan is the "create or preserve" statement. It's fucking brilliant really. If 5 million jobs are lost in the next 4 years, which is probably a conservative estimate, Obama will be able to say 'yeah but 8 would have been lost without my plan'. And of course there is no way to know either way. And given the average IQ of the typical Obama voter is somewhere just above the retard line, they will believe it.

And in 2012 when unemployment is hovering around 12%, the Obamatrons will vote for him because they think it would be 17% without his brilliance.

Sometimes it is amazing to think that the same country that sent a man to the moon, created the assembly line, is the home of Silicon Valley, won WW2 and the Cold War is also collectively stupid enough to believe Obama will create jobs out of thin air by taxing the most productive people out of business in order to send checks to the least productive people.

What the hell happened to this place?

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Don't Be Fooled

I have to give credit to Obama. The guy is a master of disguise.

He appoints Warren to be his pastor or reverend or whatever the title is at the inauguration. He pisses off the gays and conservatives have new found admiration for him. Over what? A prayer.

It is amazing to me how people are falling for his bullshit. The man is a committed Marxist. Everything he has done over the past 20 years shows that he is a Marxist. He is anti-military. He is anti-gun. He is for high taxes. He is for unions. He is for amnesty. He is for abortion on demand with no questions asked. He is 1/2 Muslim. He stands for everything that conservatives oppose.

But all that doesn't matter anymore because he will have an evangelical Christian say a prayer. If it's that easy to fool conservatives and Republicans, we are in deeper trouble than I thought. And he's also promised to spend $850B to build roads, I guess he can't be that bad right? I mean Hitler built the autobahn and he turned out OK. Right? Nothing to worry about folks. Just go about your business and know that you are in good hands with the Obama/Warren team.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Back

I was out of town for a while. Went to the belly of the bailout beast...New Jork City. And while I hear they do have the internets there, I didn't bother writing.

A few observations:

1. The toll for the tunnels is $8 these days. Last time I remember paying a toll for the Holland Tunnel was $4 about 7 years ago. 100% increase in prices in less than a decade. But Bern Bernanke says inflation is 0%.

2. Flight was 100% full in both directions. And ironically enough on the way back I wa reading an article about how the travel industry is suffering in this economic "CRISIS". Guess everyone is suffering but Delta. And the Atlanta Airport parking lot which as always was overflowing with BMWs and Range Rovers. Seriously, I have never seen a parking lot with more luxury cars than ATL's lots.

3. 5th Avenue was a awash in SALE signs as was the Columbus Circle mall. So the $4000 coat and the $1200 jeans were slashed to a low low $2500 and $700 respectively. And still the stores were ghost towns. Guess the idea of buying a $1000 pair of jeans on the old 23% Visa isn't looking so hot anymore. On the other hand FAO Schwartz was full of people buying stuff.

4. Italian restaurant in SoHo...dead. Irish pub in midtown, packed. Same night about an hour apart.

Conflicting economic signs all over the place. But I'm not worried. Jan 20th is just around the corner and GDP will be growing by 12% by February.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Where did that backbone come from?

Color me impressed. The GOP has found a backbone and said HELL NO to yet another bailout of a failed industry. I honestly did not think this would happen and am quite pleased with the outcome.

So now the question is will George W. Bush come to Jesus in his final days as President and also say no? Or will he throw one last middle finger up at conservatives by siding with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and sending GM a check nonetheless? Given the past 3 months of socialism engineered by Bush, I'm not holding my breath for him to do the right things.

But then again as GOP Senators showed, there is always hope.

And let's say that GM gets the money. Does anyone think this company can realistically survive when the money runs out? Are there millions of Americans out there just waiting to buy a Buick that will run to the dealership tomorrow if the check is in the mail to Detroit? GM has been dying a slow and painful death for decades. Only reason it is still alive is due to the SUV craze of the $10 oil 1990s followed quickly by the the housing bubble which gave the lower middle class access to HELOC money which allowed them to buy $60K Escalades and sustained with the 0% financing and $0 down programs of the past couple of years.

That's all over. The guys making $12 an hour with a 500 FICO is not goig to get the $60K loan to buy an Escalade like he could 3 years ago. Without these people, there are not enough people who can afford to buy a $60K Escalade or a $40K Suburban, the vehicles that make money for GM. The only things the lower middle class can now afford are the compacts and subcompacts. Unfortunately for GM, it loses money on those cars. They are a loss leader for the company.

So eve with this bailout, it is only delaying the inevitable. The Big 3 will become the Big 1, with Ford possibly surviving into the long term. That is reality, and it's time everyone - Bush, Obama, Reid, Pelosi - started accepting this new reality.

Yeah but Ed you are such a heartless prick, what about the millions of people who will be left jobless in Michigan and Ohio? To that I say, yes I am a heartless prick. But be that as it may, remember once upon a time Pennsylvania was dependent on the steel industry. And that industry, like the auto industry, was bankrupted by unions in the 1970s. Yet here we are 30 years later and the state is doing just fine. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are not ghost towns last I checked. Michigan and Ohio will figure it out too.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Is it wrong to be so right?

Remember back oh I dunno 6, 12, 24 months ago when real estate experts like Dave Ramsey were saying now is the best time ever to buy real estate?

Here is an example of a dumb ass that fell for those lies...lies which are still being repeated by charlatans like Dave Ramsey today.

I can see the conversation that took place:

Real Estate Agent: This is a steal. You will never get anything so cheap again

Dumb Ass: Yeah but $479,000 is a lot, especially since I only make $47K a year.

Real Estate Agent: You kidding me, this will be worth $700K in 2 years, slam dunk. And you just refi then and it's no problem. And this is Atlanta remember. It's different here. We can't possibly have a housing crash. Everyone is moving to Atlanta, we're the new New York don't you know?

Dumb Ass: OK, you're the expert, where do I sign?

Those waskally Republicans

Here is the screaming headline from Yahoo News:

Auto rescue bill in peril, opposed by GOP senators

Man I tell, you. Those evil Republicans are at it again. Why the wonderfully wonderful Democrats are trying to **RESCUE** these poor companies, which through absolutely no fault of their own, are hurting. And yet these nasty, mean spirited, kitten eating Republicans come along and say no.

Nowhere in the MSM are any of these points ever mentioned

1. UAW union members make $73 an hour on the assembly line. That works to about $150,000 a year. That's $150K a year for a job that requires zero education and almost zero skill. Any trained monkey could be on an assembly plant tightening lug nuts 8 hours a day. And this generous package includes up to 8 weeks vacation, $0 deductible and $0 co-pay insurance and a guaranteed pension plan. Raise your hand if you have any of that? Didn't think so. And so what the UAW thugs and their pals in the Democrat party are demanding is that the 99% of taxpayers who don't make $150K, don't have a $0/$0 health plan and don't have a guaranteed pension plan, bail out the 1% that does.

2. Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai, Nissan all have US and/or Canadian assembly plants. The majority of Accords and Camrys sold in N. America are made in N.America. Hyudnai is in the process of building a new plant in Georgia. None of these companies are in DC begging for money. Why? Simple. Because instead of paying $73 an hour to union slobs, they pay $40 an hour to non-union employees. And as a bonus the quality of the product is heads and shoulders above the junk coming out of Detroit since the employees can actually be fired for showing up drunk to work unlike their UAW counterparts.

3. What the fuck happened to capitalism? You know the system where some companies prosper and some companies fail. The system I thought we had up until about 3 months ago when George Bush decided no company can ever fail again. So GM goes under, fine, let it go under. The cars that it sold will be sold by someone else. The people it employes will be employed by someone else. The MSM and Dmeocrats are making it sound like if GM goes every person that works at GM willbe unemployed forever. Bullshit. Ford will hire some. Toyota will hire some. Honda will hire some. And the rest, well they will work at McDonald's where they should have been working all along, given their skills set and education levels.

4. If GM and Chrysler can't sell cars today, there is no reason to think they will be able to sell cars in 6 months. That is when he first payment of the loan is due. Of course they will not have the money to pay the loan back. And so the "loan" will become a gift. And at some point in 2009 the $15B "loan" will become $30B. Then $50B. Then $100B. And none of the money will ever be paid back.

5. The notion that somehow "green cars" will save GM is laughable. Green cars were a 2 month fad in June and July when gas was $4.50. Now at $1.50 you can't give away small cars anymore. Even in Europe electric car sale are falling off a cliff. People do not want to drive cramped, unsafe cars. They want comfortable, spacious cars/trucks/suvs. GM's product line is not the issue. The issue is it costs too much to build compared to competitor products. I could make the world's best cup of coffee. But if I have to pay my employees $25 an hour, while Starbucks pays $9 an hour, I will be out of business very quickly. Product offering becomes almost irrelevant.
I hope the GOP is finally finding a backbone and will have the courage to fight this. They caved with TARP and look at the great results that yielded. Come on GOP, get your act together and filibuster this thing.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009

Tax Dollars at Work

The government has given GM $15 billion of your tax dollars. So what will be done with that money? Give it to deadbeats it seems.

I heard a commercial on the radio today that essentially said this: Come on down and buy a Chevy. Credit scores don't matter, GMAC will approve anyone with a FICO over 550 due to recent actions by the federal government.

So the whole economic meltdown was caused by people borrowing money that they could never pay back. So how is the problem being fixed? By providing government money to lend to deadbeats with a FICO of 550 that they will never pay back.

I guess pretty soon a 550 FICO score will mean automatic approval for a $750K mortgage. That's the only logical way to stop the housing crash right?

It is beyond perverse.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009