The Senate and House have passed, and Obama is expected to sign, a $1 billion “program” to help stimulate car sales.  The “program” will offer $4500 vouchers to trade in old, less efficient, cars for newer, more efficient, ones.  This is supposed to help the poor, the economy and the environment.  As always, the government thinks we are made of money.

Let’s assume I have an old clunker that get’s, say, 15 miles per gallon.  I could take my clunker down to the dealer, hand him my voucher, ask for trade money and get a loan for the remainder of the value of the new car.  Sounds great, huh?  Well, considering the fact that the government really wants these clunkers off the road, I can’t expect much for my trade.  Say I get $1000 for it.  Add that to my voucher and I’ve got a nice $5500 trade in value.  Apply that toward the over $20,000 cost of the new car or truck and I’m on the hook for $14,000 or more.

Now, I’m sure you could say, “Trade for a cheaper car.”  Ok, so I trade for a small car priced at $15,000.  I still need to come up with the funding of over $9000.  If I had that kind of money, I’d just buy a used small car.  I’m sure I could get it cheaper than $9000.  Not to mention that most who are in this kind of situation probably can’t get a loan in the current economic environment.

This is really only going to help rich folk who can’t unload their huge SUV in these days of high gas prices.  They’ll get that additional $4500, which will make up for the difference in what they paid for their vehicle and what they can get for it.  So, what we have is another really bad idea from the worst administration in our history.

He really is trying to kill America, isn’t he?

The current financial crisis and bankruptcy for GM is beginning to give many people a fresh look at how business is done.  For GM, we are seeing the important role the UAW has played in its failure.  They have driven the auto giant into the ground and to the brink of extinction.

Today, in the Detroit News, there is an op-ed piece by Rick Berman which details the UAWs responsibility in the failure of GM.  He states something have known for some time; GM needs to cut the cord with the UAW.  If GM were to sever ties with the union, workers could have a greater part in helping to reshape the company and help to make it lean enough to compete and succeed.

It makes for a good read.  Check it out.

At the beginning of this week, GM filed for bankruptcy. They announced they would be slashing about 20,000 jobs. That doesn’t count the jobs that will be lost in the related job sector either.

Today, Wal-Mart has announced that it is planning to open new stores and remodel older ones.  This is expected to open about 22,000 new jobs.  That does not include those in the related sectors, either.

So, what’s the difference?  Why is GM in bankruptcy and slashing jobs while Wal-Mart is expanding?  Aren’t they both in the same country, economy?  Isn’t GM the American icon and Wal-Mart the anti-Christ?

There is one word that is the difference; unions.  GM has worked a deal with the devil, UAW, and Wal-Mart employees continually vote down unionization.

The difference is that GM has allowed the union to dictate it’s business practices over the years.  They have caved to unreasonable wages and benefits.  The union has negotiated those benefits to the point that GM can no longer compete in its industry and cannot remain profitable.

Wal-Mart, on the other hand, has done what it can to remain at the top of its industry.  They have ensured that their prices are lower than anyone else.  This has kept buyers coming back and ensured that in an economy with high instances of forclosure and unemployment, they are talking about expansion, not bankruptcy.  The day Wal-Mart files for Chapter 11, pack up the kids, it’s time to leave.

Does this mean Wal-Mart is saintly?  No.  Their wages are decent for their industry, but they generally offer little or no benefits.  They do tend to treat employees like replacable commodities, rather than partners, as they claim, but that is the price us consumers are willing to allow so we can have our cheap products.

The problem is that there must be some middle ground, though, it most likely lives closer to the Wal-Mart model than GMs.  It also would not include unions, as their very design is to drive up prices by demanding a larger share of the profit than ownership is willing to endure, or should endure, as the workers have no risk involved.

So, maybe those 20,000 unemployed GM workers could find a Wal-Mart store to work at.  They’d have to leave their union demands at the door, though, and work for about 14 percent of what they are used to, but at least they’d have a job with a little more stability.

I was unable to make it to the Nashville Tea Party, being in the middle of the day and all, but I decided to make time to go to the one in Murfreesboro.  There is strength in numbers, after all, and today we are all one big number.  It was very encouraging to hear the numbers from Nashville (somewhere between 3000 and 10,000), so I didn’t know what to expect here in the ‘Boro.

Murfreesboro Tax Day Tea Party

I got to the square a few minutes after 6pm and was shocked.  I’m not super with estimating crowds, but I’d say there was somewher between 500 and 1000.  The whole east side of the courthouse was packed.  I saw quite a few cars circling and honking their horns.  When they cheered, it was loud.  It was better than I’d hoped for.
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Every year on tax day, I share my thoughts on taxes, spending and the IRS with Congressman Bart Gordon (D-TN).  I feel it my duty to keep him informed of how I feel regarding his policies.  I thought today, Tax Day Tea Party Day, I’d share it with you to encourage you to write your congressman a similar note.

Today is another tax day.  It is another day when we are reminded of the failed spending policies of our government.  Today, people across the country are joining together by the tens of thousands to protest the recent spending abominations and continued oppressive tax policies of this nation.  Please take note of the large numbers and note that we are fed up with the current path this country is on and will no longer stand silently by.

There are two courses of action that can, and should, be taken to ease the burden the government has laid on the people.  First, elimination of the current tax code is a must.  It is oppressive and complicated.  Twenty-three cents, sometimes more, are added to every dollar of the cost of every item we purchase.  These taxes are hidden and unfair.  A better, fairer tax system must be adopted.  One such as the Fair Tax, which eliminates all payroll and corporate taxes and replaces them with a simple tax added at the point of consumption, would be must easier and better for average Americans.  The more someone spends, the more they pay.  This would mean those with more to spend would pay more.

Second, Congress must put an end to all pork spending.  These pet projects have added billions to our debt, at a time when we can no longer afford them.  They are unnecessary, wasteful and immoral.  At current rates, newborns delivered today, April 15, 2009, are already responsible for $47,000 in national debt.  This is absurd and utterly immoral.  It cannot continue.  Most pork projects should be funded at the state or local level, not by Congress.

Congress has already overstepped its Constitutional authority.  Please help restore it to its rightful place.  Eliminate wasteful spending and oppressive and immoral taxation before our nations falls on the world scene and we become utterly irrelevant to the world.

Head’s up to Ken over at Blue Collar Muse for a wonderful piece on economic growth.  He points out that it is not increased government that provides for the people.  The real way to grow an economy is to cut taxes and spending to the bone.  This was done under Reagan and Kennedy.  By cutting taxes, they were able to preside over vibrant, growing economies.

Instead of following this pattern, the Obamessiah is following the pattern of FDR.  Many economists today, looking back, believe his New Deal prolonged the Great Depression and made matters worse for everyone.  Unfortunately, we are still living with those errors, as they were government programs that are still with us today, such as Social (in)Security and the wonderful TVA.

As Ken points out, by ignoring these facts, Obama is either stupid or lying to us to keep us dependent on him.  While I have written that Obama is an idiot, as Ken points out, he is, in this case, intentionally misleading us to keep us dependent on him and big government.

I still stand by my belief that the end of America and our prosperous economy are his, and the Left’s, goals.

Bob Parks of Black & Right has the word, inherit, as his word of the day.  He shows several quotes from Obama and Geithner, in which they complain that the Obamessiah has “inherited” the current economic mess.  It’s a theme Obama keeps throwing around, hoping to deflect any anger or negative ratings that might come his way due to it.  He also wants to make sure that when or if we come out of it, he will be praised for his miracle working ability.

If Bush had complained that he “inherited” a situation where the world was safe for terrorists, one in which bin Laden were allowed to roam free and do as he pleased from Clinton, he would have had every right.  If he had claimed he “inherited” a country that was the laughing stock of the world for the shenanigans of its leader from Clinton, he would have been right.  He had no input into either situation.

Obama, on the other hand, cannot claim to have “inherited” this situation.  He was funded and partner with ACORN, who are responsible for terrorizing banks if they chose not to make questionable or dangerous loans.  He was in the Senate for the last two years, casting votes and requesting pork money, leading to a meltdown and huge deficits.  He must accept at least some of the blame.  He was part of the problem.

On second thought, in his two years in the Senate, he was running for President, not casting votes (although he did find the time to request millions of dollars in pork), so maybe he can claim he’s not responsible.  I’ll believe he not a responsible person.

CNN Money is reporting that last year’s HOPE program to help stop forclosures has helped since its passage.  One person.  One.

This is the program we were told would help 400,000 families avoid losing their homes.  Since passage, it has only had a little over 700 apply and one family refinanced.  So, it’s time to “revamp” the program.  Thus, we give you HASP, Homeowner Affordability and Stabilization Plan.  This will surely save us!
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Trying his best to reassure us and get us to go along with trillion dollar debts, the President has stated that we are heading in the right direction.  While a majority of Americans aren’t buying it, we must look at the direction we are heading and the direction Obama feels is the right direction.  Getting our bearings straight on this will really open our eyes and help us plan ahead.

Since coming to office, the Obamessiah has overseen some of the largest spending bills in the history of our country.  And it’s only been two of them.  These bills have been ladden with pork and special interest spending, increasing the size and scope of government to levels FDR and Stalin would be jealous of.  They have had the government seize (oops, I mean rescue) assets from banks and businesses, leaving capitalism teetering on the brink of oblivion.

In all fairness, though, Bush started this mess with the original TARP bill.  He felt there were certain compaines which were just “too large” to fail.  Obama has just taken this definition and soared to new heights with it.

So, what is the direction our nation is heading in?  Well, for starters, we, the taxpayers, are now owners of large portions of investment banks, other financial institutions and a couple of auto companies.  We have leveraged our children and grand-children’s futures on these socialistic seizures.  And don’t expect that they are done.  Treasury Secretary, and tax cheat, Tim Geitner wants another $1 trillion to continue mortgaging our future.  He wants to buy more toxic debt.

Of course, of interest is the fact that China is buying the debt we are incurring to buy these bad debts.  So, the Chinese are buying toxic debt (Treasury bonds) so we can buy more toxic debt.  Can you say catastrophic economic failure?!

Next on the horizon are more bailouts for other industries, including newspapers.  The idea is that only the government can save us from ourselves.  To do that, the government must own more of the industires.  To to that, the government will need a larger slice of our income to do so, so taxes need to go up.

With proposed increases in education, restrictive environmental policies and a socialization of the healthcare system, estimates are that we will be $10 trillion in debt, annually, before long.  It doesn’t take a geneous to realize that kind of spending will have us all living like Third World citizens soon.

Obama incurred a lot of political debt to get where he is.  Just 5 years ago, he was an unheard of politician who was not on anyone’s radar.  Now, thanks to George Soros, MoveOn, PETA, the Sierra Club and the extreme side of the Democrat Party, he is at the top of the political food chain.  And, he has a lot of people to repay for that.  Unfortunately, it will be us, and our children, who pay.

So, with government getting larger and larger, the people becoming more and more dependent on government and wealth redistribution right around the corner, it’s not hard to believe Obama when he says we’re heading in the right direction.  The problem is that most Americans don’t agree with that definition of “right”.  The question is, what will we do about it?

I think my head’s going to explode!

First, it was Obama appointees to Cabinet positions, with Treasury Secretary Geithner leading the way, who had failed to pay taxes.  These people claimed ingorance, paid their back taxes and expected us to simply overlook it.  They went on like it was not big deal.
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