I think we can officially say the "auto bailout" officially worked now

Breaking news today: GM posts its highest profit ever: $7.6 billion GM earns its highest profit ever in 2011 with $7.6 billion; overseas losses cut 4Q profit So can we now, officially end the conversations and questions about the need, sense and logic of having "bailed out"--or invested in--GM, Detroit, Chrysler and the American auto workers? Please. Sure, we didn't want to do it and we didn't want to need to do it but the fact is, if we hadn't bailed them out, we would have lost that industry, for the most part, almost completely. Link to original story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQQyKL1zj8FAOWVfwO1Et4tc1VOA?docId=7878364211444f549d5c2356de1fdce9

No one burns through money like Americans, Part One

Did you see this?

The United States put one billion dollars up for a "cash for clunkers" program for its citizens so people would trade their high-fuel burning cars in for new, more fuel-efficient cars.

Seemed like a good idea, right?

I guess so.

But we put up this one billion thinking it would take us through Novemeber.

November.

Autumn.

Do you know how long it lasted--this one billion dollars?

Some people refer to it as a week--but that's not really quite true.

One billion dollars for this one program was burned through in 5 days.

Holy cow.

Was that fast.

So Congress saw how popular and successful this program was and immediately, today, upon returning to this idea, put up another two billion dollars to continue the program.

I haven't heard anyone say anything negative--or even questioning--about this yet.

Everyone seems to think and agree that this was just a sooper-dee-dooper idea.

And maybe it is.

But shouldn't someone analyze this?

If it took us 5 days to go through one billion dollars (notice I spell that out every time?), how long will it take us to throw out two billion dollars?

Will that be two weeks?

Will that be fourteen days or less?

Who knows?

And here is where the questions come in, folks.

Does it make sense for the United States to throw out, first one billion dollars--now a total of three (billion dollars) for people to trade in their cars, when its the same US government that had to put out more billions of dollars, just earlier this year, to buy GM (General Motors, now "Government Motors") and Chrysler?

We took billions of dollars of borrowed--from the Chinese--money to buy our auto manufacturers and now we're taking billions of more dollars--three billion more, to date--to get the man and woman on the street, to buy these same cars.

And everyone's okay with this?

Shouldn't someone be asking about all these loans?

Shouldn't someone be analyzing this?

And why do I feel like we're all lemmings right now?

Link to story:
http://www.newsday.com/business/house-oks-another-2-billion-for-car-trade-in-program-1.1340180

Covering the year almost gone

There's some things to be learned there.

Who's zoomin' who?

Okay, word today of a couple of things.

One, we keep hearing how the Republicans in the Senate are going to keep pushing for "concessions" on the bill to bail out the car companies.

The first thing that comes to mind is that this is what those pussy Democrats in both houses of Congress should have done when Hank Paulson and the White House came screaming out for 700 billion dollars, of all things, to help save the banks.

What hooey.

If ever we could have had concessions, it was then.

How about lose the company jets, Citigroup?

How about put in a maximum still-obscene multi-million dollar salary range for the executives?

How about losing the "credit swap" tool?

How about jettisoning "hedge funds", eventually but absolutely, since they just weaken our financial system and are, as I've said, a virtual "bet on a bet", since they're conjecturing on the position of where stocks are headed in the future?

There were all kinds of things that Congress could--and should--have demanded, since they supposedly wanted and badly needed tax money--and lots of it--to save their hides?

Pussies.

As I quoted my friend Bryce, "Republicans are evil; Democrats are retarded."

(No offense to the retarded).

Anyway, who's kidding whom here or, as Aretha Franklin so aptly put it: "Who's zoomin' who?"

Does ANYONE really think the Repugs are going to let the auto industry go bankrupt?

They'd better not.

There would be between 2 to 3+ million additional people AUTOMATICALLY out of work and on the street.

You don't think there wouldn't be some "revolution goin' on"?

Besides, they don't want that on their tombstone.

They're already so far down on the US public's popularity list, it'd be curtains, for sure.

It kills me that they're pushing so far and so hard on this.

It also gets me that people like Richard Shelby, a Southerner who has some foreign auto manufacturers in his backyard, ladies and gentlemen, would be allowed to weigh in on this.

He should absolutely recuse himself from this.

As hard as it is to believe, even though he's an American, and a representative of at least some Americans here in the States, that he'd tempt the fate of ruining both this industry and, possibly, the country, by letting this whole industry fail.

I'm no big fan of the American auto industry but hey, jobs are jobs, and we need 'em all right now.

Just now, even the White House has come out, pushing the Repug Party to accept this 14 billion dollar "loan"--or whatever you want to call it--for the Big 3 car makers.

Hey, what's a few more billion dollars to this President, right? He hasn't met money he hasn't wanted to spend yet.

Anyway, let's get over this whole "you gotta' give more concessions", crap, Senators.

The country's in a heck of a mess and, regrettably, this is something that needs to happen.

Why aren't you people angry?

The following is an email written by Lee Iacocca, according to www.snopes.com. You remember Mr. Iacocca--the former President of Chrysler Motors. He turned that company around and has been straightening everyone out ever since.

It seems Mr. Iacocca asks the right question, and that is, why the heck isn't the American people out and out angry about the way their country is being run--and has been run ever since this knucklehead took over, having stole the election in 2000?

Really, why aren't you people aware and angry?

Herewith is the email:

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He has a new book, and here are some excerpts.

Lee Iacocca Says:

"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.

But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course"

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America not the damned "Titanic". I'll give you a sound bite: "Throw all the bums out!"

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions.

That's not the promise of the " America " my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.

I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.
The Biggest "C" is Crisis!

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes.

A Hell of a Mess

So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker
for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo. We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.


Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "The Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this
happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the
middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity.

What is everybody so afraid of?

That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope I believe in America . In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also
experienced some of our worst crises: the "Great Depression", "World War II", the "Korean War", the "Kennedy Assassination", the "Vietnam War", the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing,
it's this: "You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action.

Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to "Action" for people who, like me, believe in America . It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had "enough."



That's it. That's the email. At its end, you are to email it on to other people on your email list.

I bet most people don't even do that... what with Nascar being on TV and everything.