Congratulations American Taxpayer

You’re now the proud owner of yet another failed corporation!

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is usually a week when Americans slow down and take some time off.  Kids are out of school, many companies are shut down or slowed down, and quite a few families are on vacation.  Congress is even on vacation, minimizing the damage they typically inflict on the wallet of the American taxpayer.

This year the Obama administration took advantage of the holiday distractions to seize control of GMAC, the financing arm of General Government Motors Corp.  This third bailout of the company that writes loans for Government Motors and Chrysler Corp. vehicles resulted in the US government increasing its ownership share of the company to 56.3%.  This, of course, once more gives the Obama administration controlling interest in what had been a privately owned company.

When the Bush administration signed off on the first $6 billion GMAC received from the US taxpayer, officials in the former President’s Treasury Department considered it “part of a broader program to assist the domestic automotive industry in becoming financially viable.”  But in May 2009, the Obama administration handed over another $7 billion in taxpayer wages to the beleaguered finance arm of what was soon to become the first US government owned auto maker.

The second bailout netted the Obama Treasury Department a 35.8% stake in the corporation, and an agreement GMAC would take on the additional liability of financing customers of Chrysler Corp.  This followed almost immediately after the President took an 8% stake in Chrysler for the US taxpayer and handed over a 55% controlling interest to the unions.

Much of the initial money will go to help GMAC shoulder new lending responsibilities for Chrysler dealers and consumers after Chrysler’s government-orchestrated Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last month. As part of the Chrysler reorganization, the government in effect dissolved Chrysler Financial and handed its business to GMAC, creating one big auto-financing arm that would service both companies.–WSJ, May 21, 2009

President Obama had already invested billions in Chrysler and plans to secure US government ownership of General Motors were in the works. Bailing out GMAC became an easy way to launder even more bailout cash to the President’s experiment with union and government ownership of former US industrial icons.  As with other stones forming the foundation of Obama’s economic policies, funneling money to the automakers through loans to their customers didn’t prove too solid.

But that’s not something the President is willing to admit yet–that his policies for stimulating the economy have failed.  No, his newest plan is to throw good money after bad and pile another $3.8 billion of YOUR money onto the still smoldering pile of waste known as GMAC.

The first $6 billion wasn’t enough to rescue the financial firm and its now-nationalized benefactors of its bad loans.  The next $7 billion couldn’t save it, but did put Obama in control of 35.8% of the company.  The second bailout also allowed the President to twist the arm of the company and force it to agree to loan more money to customers of GM, which Obama would soon nationalize, and Chrysler, which the President had recently handed over to his union backers.

Though neither of these bailouts accomplished their (supposed) goal, our omnipotent, omniscient oracle Obama, in his infinite wisdom, has determined the solution to the problem is to pour more of your hard-earned tax dollars into the bankrupt corporation,  $3.8 billion more.  But don’t worry!  The President who brought us $1.4 trillion deficits and a $12 trillion national debt has traded our greenbacks for a controlling interest in the company.

That’s right.  We now own 56.3% of a company that can’t attract private capital because it can’t manage to stem the flow of red ink from its books.  A company that cannot, on its own merits, attract private capital.  President Obama is forcing all American taxpayers to borrow money to purchase a portfolio of profitless companies controlled by politicians and bureaucrats.

So congratulations taxpayers!  Like it or not, you own yet another failed corporation run by Chairman Obama.

This is recovery?

The US unemployment rate has now reached a 26-year high of 9.7% under Obamanomics.  According to Bloomberg, “The jobless rate rose to 9.7 percent; the so- called underemployment rate — which includes part-time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking — reached a record 16.8 percent.”

Last month the libs leaped for joy when the July unemployment rate dropped to 9.4% from the previous month’s 9.5%. They proudly proclaimed the success of Obama’s so-called “stimulus” package and the turning of the tide of recession that had been washing across the land.  The mainstream media (MSM) fell all over themselves proclaiming the success of Obamanomics and the inevitable, impending period of peace, love, and happiness in the US.

Obama, his administration, and even the press seemed to forget that 9.4% was 120% of what he promised would be the peak unemployment rate if his “stimulus” was passed.  And they blocked from their minds that the President had predicted a maximum unemployment rate of 9% if he wasn’t allowed to “rescue” the economy with his $787 billion payoff to left-wing special interest groups.  Suddenly, 9.4% unemployment was deemed a blessing by the pens and keyboards of left-leaning journalists.  Utopia was approaching, or…at least…that’s what they claimed.

Next week, President Obama will place VP Joe Biden before the microphone to propagate his lies.  Biden is set to report on the number of jobs “saved or created” by the “stimulus.”   The “stimulus” bill was intended to “create or save” 3.5 million jobs by the time it was finally passed.  Instead, our economy has shed 3.1 million jobs since the inception of Obamanomics.   Still, the VP will take the stage to lie and claim the administration saved us from inevitable destruction.  The graph above gives evidence the effect of the “stimulus” was a huge waste of money accompanied by a net loss of jobs.

In fact, the only two sectors in which employment has been steadily growing since the “stimulus” was passed have been government and health care.  Of course growth in government does little to actually improve the economy since the money to fund these jobs must first be taken from the economy.  We can liken Obamanomics’ theory on economic growth to trying to fill a swimming pool by dipping bucketfuls of water out of one end, walking around to the other end, and dumping the buckets back in.  According to liberal economic theory, the pool will miraculously become full!

So for now, there’s only one segment of the economy functioning in a healthy manner.  And we all know the plans Obama has for the health care industry.  If the President has his way, the entire industry will be an arm of government.  Libs probably think that will certainly cure it’s disease of remaining healthy while all around it become ill.  The reality is Obama now wants to put the last remaining health economic sector under the knife.  Not an exploratory surgery to discover why it’s still healthy, but a surgery to “fix” it so it functions like all of its sickly siblings.

Luckily, Americans aren’t as stupid as the President thinks.  More and more of those who voted for him are losing faith, standing up, and shouting this isn’t the change we wanted.

PAYGO won’t mean a balanced budget

Original post on Boot Berry

What would you call a Congressman who voted for a bill that led to the US being on the hook for nearly $24 TRILLION, then voted to spend billions more on the two most inefficient American auto companies, then voted to spend another $787 billion on a stimulus plan that didn’t stimulate the economy, then voted for a federal budget that QUADRUPLED the deficit in just one year, and after all that, claimed to be a fiscal conservative?

Hypocrite seems to fit the bill.

After voting for all the irresponsible spending noted above, last week I received an email from Berry titled “Join me in my support of PAYGO.” Just in case you don’t know, PAYGO is the short, misleading name for HR 2920 that passed the US House on July 22 of this year. The name of course leads one to believe this bill will force Congress to pass a balanced budget every year once it becomes law. So you may be asking yourself why would we have a problem with it?

It’s simple. This bill DOES NOT force Congress to pass a balanced budget. It’s nothing more than a typical Washington con job, intentionally designed to fool the American people. Marion Berry and his Democratic colleagues expect you to see the title and read no more. They don’t expect you to read the bill and they don’t expect you to look back to the previous grossly irresponsible, wasteful votes listed above.

But we did read the bill and the Democratic hypocrisy is more blatant than we could have even imagined. After pages and pages of lawyer language demanding the return of fiscal responsibility in DC, we arrived at the final section of the bill. Section 11 is titled “Exemptions” and as its name implies, it enumerates all the government programs the DC swindlers can continue to spend more money than we have on. Now, if you want to read them all, you’re going to be here a while.

Here’s a list of programs that the government will still be able to spend more than it takes in on, even if this supposed “PAYGO” legislation becomes law. This list just makes the hypocrisy of Berry and the rest of the DC Democrats as obvious as the nose on your face.

• ‘Activities resulting from private donations, bequests, or voluntary contributions to the Government.
• ‘Activities financed by voluntary payments to the Government for goods or services to be provided for such payments.
• ‘Administration of Territories, Northern Mariana Islands Covenant grants (14-0412-0-1-808).
• ‘Advances to the Unemployment Trust Fund and Other Funds (16-0327-0-1-600).
• ‘Black Lung Disability Trust Fund Refinancing (16-0329-0-1-601).
• ‘Bonneville Power Administration Fund and borrowing authority established pursuant to section 13 of Public Law 93-454 (1974), as amended (89-4045-0-3-271).
• ‘Claims, Judgments, and Relief Acts (20-1895-0-1-808).
• ‘Compact of Free Association (14-0415-0-1-808).
• ‘Compensation of the President (11-0209-01-1-802).
• ‘Comptroller of the Currency, Assessment Funds (20-8413-0-8-373).
• ‘Continuing Fund, Southeastern Power Administration (89-5653-0-2-271).
• ‘Continuing Fund, Southwestern Power Administration (89-5649-0-2-271).
• ‘Dual Benefits Payments Account (60-0111-0-1-601).
• ‘Emergency Fund, Western Area Power Administration (89-5069-0-2-271).
• ‘Exchange Stabilization Fund (20-4444-0-3-155).
• ‘Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Deposit Insurance Fund (51-4596-4-4-373).
• ‘Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FSLIC Resolution Fund (51-4065-0-3-373).
• ‘Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Noninterest Bearing Transaction Account Guarantee (51-4458-0-3-373).
• ‘Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Senior Unsecured Debt Guarantee (51-4457-0-3-373).
• ‘Federal Housing Finance Agency, Administrative Expenses (95-5532-0-2-371).
• ‘Federal Payment to the District of Columbia Judicial Retirement and Survivors Annuity Fund (20-1713-0-1-752).
• ‘Federal Payment to the District of Columbia Pension Fund (20-1714-0-1-601).
• ‘Federal Payments to the Railroad Retirement Accounts (60-0113-0-1-601).
• ‘Federal Reserve Bank Reimbursement Fund (20-1884-0-1-803).
• ‘Financial Agent Services (20-1802-0-1-803).
• ‘Foreign Military Sales Trust Fund (11-8242-0-7-155).
• ‘Hazardous Waste Management, Conservation Reserve Program (12-4336-0-3-999).
• ‘Host Nation Support Fund for Relocation (97-8337-0-7-051).
• ‘Internal Revenue Collections for Puerto Rico (20-5737-0-2-806).
• ‘Intragovernmental funds, including those from which the outlays are derived primarily from resources paid in from other government accounts, except to the extent such funds are augmented by direct appropriations for the fiscal year during which an order is in effect.
• ‘Medical Facilities Guarantee and Loan Fund (75-9931-0-3-551).
• ‘National Credit Union Administration, Central Liquidity Facility (25-4470-0-3-373).
• ‘National Credit Union Administration, Corporate Credit Union Share Guarantee Program (25-4476-0-3-376).
• ‘National Credit Union Administration, Credit Union Homeowners Affordability Relief Program (25-4473-0-3-371).
• ‘National Credit Union Administration, Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (25-4468-0-3-373).
• ‘National Credit Union Administration, Credit Union System Investment Program (25-4474-0-3-376).
• ‘National Credit Union Administration, Operating fund (25-4056-0-3-373).
• ‘National Credit Union Administration, Share Insurance Fund Corporate Debt Guarantee Program (25-4469-0-3-376).
• ‘National Credit Union Administration, U.S. Central Federal Credit Union Capital Program (25-4475-0-3-376).
• ‘Office of Thrift Supervision (20-4108-0-3-373).
• ‘Panama Canal Commission Compensation Fund (16-5155-0-2-602).
• ‘Payment of Vietnam and USS Pueblo prisoner-of-war claims within the Salaries and Expenses, Foreign Claims Settlement account (15-0100-0-1-153).
• ‘Payment to Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (24-0200-0-1-805).
• ‘Payment to Department of Defense Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund (97-0850-0-1-054).
• ‘Payment to Judiciary Trust Funds (10-0941-0-1-752).
• ‘Payment to Military Retirement Fund (97-0040-0-1-054).
• ‘Payment to the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund (19-0540-0-1-153).
• ‘Payments to Copyright Owners (03-5175-0-2-376).
• ‘Payments to Health Care Trust Funds (75-0580-0-1-571).
• ‘Payment to Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund (15-0333-0-1-054).
• ‘Payments to Social Security Trust Funds (28-0404-0-1-651).
• ‘Payments to the United States Territories, Fiscal Assistance (14-0418-0-1-806).
• ‘Payments to trust funds from excise taxes or other receipts properly creditable to such trust funds.
• ‘Payments to widows and heirs of deceased Members of Congress (00-0215-0-1-801).
• ‘Postal Service Fund (18-4020-0-3-372).
• ‘Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund (15-8116-0-1-054).
• ‘Reimbursement to Federal Reserve Banks (20-0562-0-1-803).
• ‘Salaries of Article III judges.
• ‘Soldiers and Airmen’s Home, payment of claims (84-8930-0-7-705).
• ‘Tennessee Valley Authority Fund, except nonpower programs and activities (64-4110-0-3-999).
• ‘Tribal and Indian trust accounts within the Department of the Interior which fund prior legal obligations of the Government or which are established pursuant to Acts of Congress regarding Federal management of tribal real property or other fiduciary responsibilities, including but not limited to Tribal Special Fund (14-5265-0-2-452), Tribal Trust Fund (14-8030-0-7-452), White Earth Settlement (14-2204-0-1-452), and Indian Water Rights and Habitat Acquisition (14-5505-0-2-303).
• ‘United Mine Workers of America 1992 Benefit Plan (95-8260-0-7-551).
• ‘United Mine Workers of America 1993 Benefit Plan (95-8535-0-7-551).
• ‘United Mine Workers of America Combined Benefit Fund (95-8295-0-7-551).
• ‘United States Enrichment Corporation Fund (95-4054-0-3-271).
• ‘Universal Service Fund (27-5183-0-2-376).
• ‘Vaccine Injury Compensation (75-0320-0-1-551).
• ‘Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Trust Fund (20-8175-0-7-551).
• ‘(B) The following Federal retirement and disability accounts and activities shall be exempt from reduction under any order issued under this part:
• ‘Black Lung Disability Trust Fund (20-8144-0-7-601).
• ‘Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System Fund (56-3400-0-1-054).
• ‘Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (24-8135-0-7-602).
• ‘Comptrollers general retirement system (05-0107-0-1-801).
• ‘Contributions to U.S. Park Police annuity benefits, Other Permanent Appropriations (14-9924-0-2-303).
• ‘Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Retirement Fund (95-8290-0-7-705).
• ‘Department of Defense Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund (97-5472-0-2-551).
• ‘District of Columbia Federal Pension Fund (20-5511-0-2-601).
• ‘District of Columbia Judicial Retirement and Survivors Annuity Fund (20-8212-0-7-602).
• ‘Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Fund (16-1523-0-1-053).
• ‘Foreign National Employees Separation Pay (97-8165-0-7-051).
• ‘Foreign Service National Defined Contributions Retirement Fund (19-5497-0-2-602).
• ‘Foreign Service National Separation Liability Trust Fund (19-8340-0-7-602).
• ‘Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund(19-8186-0-7-602).
• ‘Government Payment for Annuitants, Employees Health Benefits (24-0206-0-1-551).
• ‘Government Payment for Annuitants, Employee Life Insurance (24-0500-0-1-602).
• ‘Judicial Officers’ Retirement Fund (10-8122-0-7-602).
• ‘Judicial Survivors’ Annuities Fund (10-8110-0-7-602).
• ‘Military Retirement Fund (97-8097-0-7-602).
• ‘National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust (60-8118-0-7-601).
• ‘National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration retirement (13-1450-0-1-306).
• ‘Pensions for former Presidents (47-0105-0-1-802).
• ‘Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (24-5391-0-2-551).
• ‘Public Safety Officer Benefits (15-0403-0-1-754).
• ‘Rail Industry Pension Fund (60-8011-0-7-601).
• ‘Retired Pay, Coast Guard (70-0602-0-1-403).
• ‘Retirement Pay and Medical Benefits for Commissioned Officers, Public Health Service (75-0379-0-1-551).
• ‘Special Benefits for Disabled Coal Miners (16-0169-0-1-601).
• ‘Special Benefits, Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (16-1521-0-1-600).
• ‘Special Workers Compensation Expenses (16-9971-0-7-601).
• ‘Tax Court Judges Survivors Annuity Fund (23-8115-0-7-602).
• ‘United States Court of Federal Claims Judges’ Retirement Fund (10-8124-0-7-602).
• ‘United States Secret Service, DC Annuity (70-0400-0-1-751).
• ‘Voluntary Separation Incentive Fund (97-8335-0-7-051).
• ‘(2) Prior legal obligations of the Government in the following budget accounts and activities shall be exempt from any order issued under this part:
• ‘Biomass Energy Development (20-0114-0-1-271).
• ‘Check Forgery Insurance Fund (20-4109-0-3-803).
• ‘Credit liquidating accounts.
• ‘Credit reestimates.
• ‘Employees Life Insurance Fund (24-8424-0-8-602).
• ‘Federal Aviation Insurance Revolving Fund (69-4120-0-3-402).
• ‘Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Fund (12-4085-0-3-351).
• ‘Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Flood Insurance Fund (58-4236-0-3-453).
• ‘Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).
• ‘Federal National Mortgage Corporation (Fannie Mae).
• ‘Geothermal resources development fund (89-0206-0-1-271).
• ‘Low-Rent Public Housing–Loans and Other Expenses (86-4098-0-3-604).
• ‘Maritime Administration, War Risk Insurance Revolving Fund (69-4302-0-3-403).
• ‘Natural Resource Damage Assessment Fund (14-1618-0-1-302).
• ‘Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Noncredit Account (71-4184-0-3-151).
• ‘Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Fund (16-4204-0-3-601).
• ‘San Joaquin Restoration Fund (14-5537-0-2-301).
• ‘Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance Fund (36-4009-0-3-701).
• ‘Terrorism Insurance Program (20-0123-0-1-376).
• ‘(h) Low-income Programs- The following programs shall be exempt from reduction under any order issued under this part:
• ‘Academic Competitiveness/Smart Grant Program (91-0205-0-1-502).
• ‘Child Care Entitlement to States (75-1550-0-1-609).
• ‘Child Enrollment Contingency Fund (75-5551-0-2-551).
• ‘Child Nutrition Programs (with the exception of special milk programs) (12-3539-0-1-605).
• ‘Children’s Health Insurance Fund (75-0515-0-1-551).
• ‘Commodity Supplemental Food Program (12-3507-0-1-605).
• ‘Contingency Fund (75-1522-0-1-609).
• ‘Family Support Programs (75-1501-0-1-609).
• ‘Federal Pell Grants under section 401 Title IV of the Higher Education Act.
• ‘Grants to States for Medicaid (75-0512-0-1-551).
• ‘Payments for Foster Care and Permanency (75-1545-0-1-609).
• ‘Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (12-3505-0-1-605).
• ‘Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (75-1552-0-1-609).’
• (d) Economic Recovery Programs- Section 255 of BBEDCA is amended by adding the following after subsection (h):
• ‘(i) Economic Recovery Programs- The following programs shall be exempt from reduction under any order issued under this part:
• ‘All programs enacted in, or increases in programs provided by, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
• ‘Exchange Stabilization Fund-Money Market Mutual Fund Guaranty Facility (20-4274-0-3-376).
• ‘Financial Stabilization Reserve (20-0131-4-1-376).
• ‘GSE Mortgage-Backed Securities Purchase Program Account (20-0126-0-1-371).
• ‘GSE Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (20-0125-0-1-371).
• ‘Office of Financial Stability (20-0128-0-1-376)
• ‘Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (20-0133-0-1-376).
• ‘Troubled Asset Relief Program Account (20-0132-0-1-376).
• ‘Troubled Asset Relief Program Equity Purchase Program (20-0134-0-1-376).
• ‘Troubled Asset Relief Program, Home Affordable Modification Program (20-0136-0-1-604).’

With all of these “exemptions,” does anybody really believe this bill will provide for a balanced budget? This is a typical Berry tactic. In the months leading up to an election, Berry dons a conservative hat. As soon as he’s elected, or his liberal Democratic colleagues need his vote, he’s all too willing to turn on his conservative Arkansas constituents.
Don’t let him fool you. Berry’s no fiscal conservative.

Obama’s Climate of Fear

by Dan Kennedy at Townhall.com

Recently I had a long lunch with an old friend. He sits on the board of one of the largest and most successful publicly traded regional banks in America. He got his seat when that regional bank acquired the very successful community bank he built from the ground up. I will not name him or this bank, but I will pass on a few things he said to me.

He said, “Our bank’s leadership team and others I know at the local or regional level feel paralyzed and intimidated by the climate of fear created by the Obama administration. We believe we are targets of a very deliberate conspiracy.

“The new and proposed regulations will remove every competitive advantage of the community bank, and make every bank identical, forced to operate exactly as does Bank of America,” he explained. “Then, absent competitive opportunity, all of the independent banks will be greatly de-valued and handicapped. They’ll be vulnerable and easily rolled up into the handful of remaining giants … the small bank’s wealth made into fresh food for the insatiable hunger of the big banks’ deficits and losses. This is, I and others believe, the next step in Obama’s plan to take total control of the financial system and money supply, a requirement of dictatorship. “

What is most significant about these statements is the person making them. This is not some freak like the fellow Mel Gibson portrayed in the movie “Conspiracy Theory.”. He’s not somebody stockpiling food in a cabin hidden away in the woods, to escape to when anarchy erupts. Not anybody you would expect to hear express such thoughts. And he’s not a lone voice.

…More

The Triumph of Crony Capitalism

by Fred Barnes at The Weekly Standard

First President Bush, then President Obama poured billions into General Motors and Chrysler to keep the companies alive but barely breathing. That was just for starters. Next came Obama’s creation of an Auto Task Force to oversee the auto companies. To head the task force, the president picked Steve Rattner, a Wall Street investor with no experience in automaking but lots in raising campaign money for Obama and Democrats.

GM and Chrysler were quickly restructured, mostly to the benefit of the United Auto Workers, the union which spent millions in 2008 to elect Obama and Democrats. The UAW now owns 17.5 percent of GM and 55 percent of Chrysler–quite a return on an investment of zero dollars. Obama said all parties should “sacrifice,” but only bondholders did. They got a fraction of what they were legally entitled to receive. UAW retirees, in contrast, got a gift of $9.5 billion at GM and $14.2 billion at Chrysler.

There’s an epilogue. Delphi, the auto parts manufacturer once owned by GM and still its biggest supplier, has been in bankruptcy for four years. To acquire its assets and run the company, Delphi and Obama’s Auto Task Force picked an affiliate of the private equity firm Platinum Equity. There was no auction or competitive bidding, though Platinum stands to make millions in the deal. Why Platinum? The UAW favored it, sources said.

There’s a name for all this: crony capitalism. Obama insists he believes in capitalism, but it’s not the free market variety that he’s been promoting since he became president. Obamanomics is a different strain entirely.

…More

The California Albatross

by Meredith Turney on Townhall.com

Within a matter of weeks, the great state of California will be out of money. For months state leaders have warned of the yawning $24 billion budget deficit; even exploiting the deficit they created in a failed attempt to scare voters into increasing their taxes in the May special election. The proposed tax increases and budget gimmickry were soundly rejected by voters, sending a clear message to Sacramento that Californians will no longer finance the bloated, inefficient government’s insatiable appetite for more tax dollars. Now the day of reckoning is upon California, and how the Golden State resolves this massive problem will impact the entire nation. … The fate of the world’s 10th largest economy is inextricably linked to America’s overall economic fate. Could America’s already fragile economy absorb California’s debt? With the federal government already trillions in debt, what’s another $24 billion? The problem is not the amount of debt, but the precedent it will set if the federal government is forced to bailout one of the country’s largest states. …More

53% say Obama’s “stimulus” hurts economy

According to the latest Rasmussen poll, 53% of Americans believe increasing government spending has an anti-stimulus effect on the economy, hurting instead of helping it.  The poll of 1000 likely voters conducted June 7-8, is more evidence of the trend in recent polls that the American people are beginning to recognize that Obama’s change isn’t what they believed they were voting for last November.  Only 27% remain dedicated, die-hard fans of the President’s stimulus strategy, still clinging to the fallacy that drastic spending, quadrupling the deficit, and enslaving future generations of Americans with debt will somehow revitalize the economy.

The number of Americans who correctly believe tax cuts stimulate the economy continues to grow.  A full 58% accept the evidence history provides and stand on the opposite sides of the fence.  Last month only 55% believed this irrefutable fact.  So in less than a month, Obama’s radical changes to our American way have led 3% to lose faith in his approach to saving the economy and embrace that of his predecessor, the Left’s nemesis President George W. Bush.

Obama recently realized his plan isn’t working, but mistakenly believes it’s because he hasn’t spent enough of the money, or spent it fast enough.  So, he announced he’ll be accelerating the pace of his spending spree–blowing more money faster.  But another recent Rasmussen poll shows Americans don’t think this is such a wise idea.  When asked if the government should cancel the rest of the new government spending in the President’s monstrous $787 billion “stimulus” package, 45% said the administration should stop this madness now vs. only 36% who thought the President should go ahead and waste $787 billion.

When asked in this poll if the tax cuts included in the “stimulus” package should be canceled, only 20% believe the government doesn’t take enough of our money, while a full 55% believe the tax cuts should stay in place.  So again, in this second poll we see a majority of Americans who apparently believe tax cuts stimulate the economy.

These two polls substantiate our report on the developing trend of more people finding Obama’s policies less and less attractive.  Though the President continues on his march toward the Socialization of the US economy, legislators who face re-election next year are sure to be watching these polls and should begin to resist more and more of the President’s “change” as we go forward.  If the GOP plays their cards right and can manage to convince voters they’ve turned the corner and returned to their principle of sound fiscal policy, we just might see an encore of the ’94 voter revolt against the party that has long been (and has now demonstrated that, in spite of their promises, it remains) the tax and spend party.

“I don’t know anything about cars.”

So said President Obama’s new Chairman of the Board of Uncle Sam’s newest acquisition, GM.  Edward E. Whitacre, Jr went on to say “A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars.”  Under that premise, a successful hot dog vendor on the streets of New York could lead the board for the bankrupt money pit American taxpayers just invested in.

Whitacre retired from AT & T in 2007 after 44 years with the company.  Though the last 17 years he served as CEO and Chairman of the Board at the telecom company,  his first job at what was then Southwestern Bell was setting fence posts.  Without a doubt, he started at the bottom and worked his way to the top. But telecom analyst Victor Schnee calls his appointment to lead GM “bizarre.”

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained, “What was required was somebody with savvy, big-business experience that could take a company, change its management culture, make some of those tough decisions to put it on that path toward viability.”  But how does Whitacre’s experience at AT & T compare to that required to turn around the new Government Motors?

At AT & T, he started with the smallest of the “Baby Bells” and gobbled up its competition in mergers to create the largest US telecom company.  Along the way, competitors cried foul, accusing the ever-growing AT & T of using its might to price them out of business and ignoring regulations smaller companies had to abide by.  In reference to a 2001 complaint filed by the Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC) Association of Michigan, then CLEC-MI president Brad Kruse said “Companies are limited in the service they can provide in Michigan because of SBC/Ameritech’s (now AT & T) actions, and the pace of competition is slowing.  SBC/Ameritech is unilaterally setting telecommunications policy in Michigan, disregarding the rulings of regulators and the policies set by legislators alike, while blocking competition.”

Could this be exactly what the administration seeks for GM?  A go-for-the-jugular Government Motors bent on crushing competition.  Might we see the taxpayer-bought-and-paid-for bankrupt company buy out the smaller Chrysler then use its government backing to try and drive Ford Motor Co. (Which by the way is the only American auto company that didn’t take a taxpayer bailout.) out of business?  If so, and if successful, Obama will have accomplished the nationalizing of the entire American auto industry!  Why else would he choose a Chairman of the Board who, in his own words, doesn’t know anything about cars?

Could the administration’s motivation have been political?  Mr. Whitacre made a lot of political contributions in the ’08 election cycle, mostly to Republicans.  But one donation, in February of 2007, might raise an eyebrow when one’s asking how Whitacre was chosen for his new job–$1000 to Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s current Chief of Staff.  The natural question is, what would cause a Texas Republican to donate to the campaign of a Democratic Congressman in Illinois?  On the same day Whitacre made his suspicious donation, AT & T’s COO Randall Stephenson also contributed $1000 to Emanuel’s campaign.  Coincidence?  Maybe.

On May 1 of this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Emanuel has taken a lead role at the Treasury Department and if “Rahm wants it” it’s almost certain to happen.  Just a couple of days ago Kevin Hasset, in a piece on Bloomberg, opined that he believes Obama’s plan is to put policies in place that drive every American business to need a bailout, and then “Rahm Emanuel can stack the boards of all of our companies with his political cronies.”  Perhaps the idea that Whitacre’s appointment, who knows nothing about the auto business by his own admission, to head the new Government Motors is political payback by Rahmbo isn’t so far-fetched.

In either case, if Obama’s seeking to completely nationalize the entire auto industry with the “Kingpin” of the telecom industry or if Rahmbo made the call to pay off a favor, the fact that Whitacre steps into the limelight announcing he knows nothing of the business doesn’t allay my fear that this “investment” is going to be one big boondoggle.

But maybe every GM car will come with a new AT & T phone.

Now he wants to be responsible?

Then-Senator Obama voted for the $700 billion bank bailout

Then-President-elect Obama called the Bush bailout of GM and Chrysler a necessity.

President Obama then rushed the massive, pork-laden $787 billion “stimulus” package through Congress.

President Obama then followed his “stimulus” package with a $3.4 trillion budget that rocketed the federal deficit to $1.8 trillion, four times last year’s record.

President Obama has demanded Congress complete work on his health care reform plan, that nobody can accurately calculate the cost for, by August.

President Obama also sunk more billions of taxpayer dollars into the two failed American auto manufacturers in a Socialist venture that’s more than likely going to cost billions more.

This President has, without a doubt, proven himself the most fiscally irresponsible leader of the free world in history. And he’s achieved all of that in his first 5 months in office.

Then today, unbelievably, this same not-quite-a-closet Socialist had the audacity to suggest we adhere to a pay-as-you-go policy because that’s the responsible thing to do. What does this man know about fiscal responsibility? From everything he’s done in his first months on the job, the answer is obvious. Nothing.

He must really believe the American people are drooling fools, willing to believe anything he says, regardless of his actions. He and his team have proven themselves to be economic illiterates and/or outright thieves. Thieves of future generations’ ability to avail themselves of the opportunity to realize the American dream. If his overly optimistic projections of returns on his spending squandering of citizens’ cash had come from a fortune cookie or a 900-number psychic, they’d likely be more realistic. He has placed a yoke across the shoulders of the American taxpayers, their children, and grandchildren that will act as an anchor as they try to eke out a living as his piles of newly printed money become worth less and less. And what have we gained?

The President claims to have “saved or created” 150,000 jobs over the same period when more than 3 million have joined the ranks of the unemployed. He recently promised to create 600,000 more “stimulus” jobs over the summer, but more and more are laid off.  The President’s projected peak for the unemployment rate has already been surpassed and may yet get worse, but the MSM refuses to press Obama or his press secretary Robert Gibbs when they throw out such numbers and the administration has yet to explain exactly how they arrived at their figures.

The reality is Obama’s “stimulus” failed to stimulate the economy. His idea that frivolous government spending could create jobs proved flawed. The American people were duped into paying for the Left’s liberal agenda to socialize the American economy by the smooth-talking, teleprompter-dependent Chicago shyster and his Democratic cohorts in the House and Senate. And still he demands more.

And at the same time tells us he now wants responsibility.  If you believe that, you’re probably in the market for some beach front property in Arizona.

Have We Got a Deal For You

by George Will on Townhall.com

WASHINGTON — “I,” said the president, who is inordinately fond of the first-person singular pronoun, “want to disabuse people of this notion that somehow we enjoy meddling in the private sector.” He said that in March, when the government already owned 80 percent of AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “When a difficult decision has to be made on matters like where to open a new plant or what type of new car to make, the new GM, not the United States government, will make that decision.” But the government is GM’s largest shareholder, customer, tax collector, regulator, partner in determining employees’ compensation, protector of dealers and pension guarantor. GM’s other large owner, the United Auto Workers, is increasingly a government dependant.

Yet Steve Rattner and Ron Bloom, two of the president’s fixers of Detroit, recently wrote in USA Today that government “will play no role” in running GM. They were not under oath.

“What we are not doing — what I have no interest in doing — is running GM,” says the president who, when not firing GM’s CEO, purging its board of directors and picking new members, is designing new products (imposing fuel economy requirements that will control size, weight, passenger capacity and safety). The president, overcoming his professed reluctance to run GM, resembles the journalist Don Marquis when, after a month on the wagon, he ordered a double martini and exclaimed: “I’ve conquered my g**d** willpower.”

Washington mandates that Detroit must build cars for which there is much less demand than Washington demands that there be. Then Washington tries to manufacture demand with a $7,500 tax credit for purchasers of the electric Chevrolet Volt, supposedly GM’s salvation. So, GM is to be saved by a product people will not buy without a cash incentive larger than the income tax paid by 83.4 percent of America’s families.

…More