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I see that Bush is delightful as always:
Complaining about what it termed partisan "gridlock" in Congress, the White House late Friday called on lawmakers to let U.S. auto makers get quick access to a $25 billion federal loan program, by dropping a requirement that the money be spent on converting to fuel-efficient vehicles.
David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.
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For McCain, it’s really all about the fake snow
Comments
View as Flat
stevenearlsalmony Posted 6:34 pm
15 Nov 2008
Precisely what have these self-proclaimed Masters of the Universe been doing for billion dollar year-end paydays?
Yesterday we found out.
In recent years "the brightest and best" have perfected the rule-making governing the manipulation of 'free' markets and the institutionalization of fraudulent financial instruments and business models.
What still mystifies me is this: What have these heirs of Ozymandias done in 2008 to merit this self-enrichment? More manipulation and more fraud for more ill-gotten gains, I suppose.
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population,
established 2001
http://sustaianbilityscience.org/content.html?contentid=1 ...
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Sean Casten Posted 11:10 pm
15 Nov 2008
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us--if at all--not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
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ekologkonsult Posted 11:34 pm
15 Nov 2008
Give me more money, I promise they will buy our next gasoline guzzling monster. Just give me one more chance, please.
And if the US would do this, it would be impossible to complain if Europe felt itself forced to subsidize Airbus
http://theorchidblog.blogspot.com
"I have nothing to declare, but my genius." O.Wilde
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caniscandida Posted 1:28 am
16 Nov 2008
<<
Remorse -- is Memory -- awake --
Her Parties all astir --
A Presence of Departed Acts --
At window -- and at Door --
Its Past -- set down before the Soul
And lighted with a Match --
Perusal -- to facilitate --
And help Belief to stretch --
Remorse is cureless -- the Disease
Not even God -- can heal --
For 'tis His institution -- and
The Adequate of Hell --
>>
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
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Wolverine Posted 1:48 am
16 Nov 2008
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Bob Wallace Posted 3:24 am
16 Nov 2008
The spillover of lost jobs both within and without the industry would wreck the upper Midwest.
We need to be creating more jobs, not getting rid of more jobs. It's recession time. Best to not make it depression time.
We can't create a new public transportation industry quickly enough to keep money flowing to all the non-auto people in the area.
I don't think we have any choice but to keep the Big Three running at the time and, perhaps, along with the bailout loans get an agreement to produce more efficient cars. (But I think the market will take care of the efficiency thing.)
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stevenearlsalmony Posted 5:32 am
16 Nov 2008
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Delay And Deny Posted 5:46 am
16 Nov 2008
One reason the Republicans were defeated is that, like Bush, they represented real social change. Rich Libs have been hammered by their hedge funds and oil stocks going south.
Now, the poor are coming on strong with more buying power than ever, thanks to Bush policies:
Prices May Have Tumbled as Economy Sank: U.S. Economy Preview
By Bob Willis
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The cost of living in the U.S. probably fell in October by the most in almost sixty years, while manufacturing and homebuilding sank deeper into a recession, economists said before reports this week.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a ...
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Bob Wallace Posted 7:18 am
16 Nov 2008
They moved a vast amount of wealth from the middle class to the very wealthy.
And they failed to regulate the financial markets which allowed the huge derivities market bubble which just burst.
But those were just a couple of things that got them kicked out.
Add in lying us into war, fielding an amazing number of corrupt legislators, pissing on the environment, maligning Hispanics, not attending to infrastructure needs, ....
BTW, don't think you understand economics well enough to realize that prices are falling largely because people can't afford to buy. It's what happens when we head into a deep recession....
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Wolverine Posted 9:20 am
16 Nov 2008
You obviously don't get the enormity of the lack of public transit in this country. The plan I suggested would provide far more jobs than the auto industry ever could, and it would be good for the environment instead of bad for it. As to whether we can afford to let the industry die, that's not an environmental issue. From an environmental perspective, we can't afford to let it continue.
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Sean Casten Posted 9:27 am
16 Nov 2008
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Bob Wallace Posted 10:28 am
16 Nov 2008
We don't have time, I fear, to convert Detroit to the production of public transportation at this critical point in time. We've got a short term crisis which, if we don't fix, could drive our unemployment to levels that would be very hard to tolerate.
Short term we might have to prop up Detroit as they transition from ICE to hybrid drive for most of their vehicles. That's doable now. Detroit has already started the process.
Large scale public transportation projects are something that we can deal with a little further down the line.
Here in California we took a big step earlier in the month to start high speed rail. But it will be a long time before that project creates a significant number of jobs.
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sindark Posted 12:52 am
17 Nov 2008
This strategy is likely to be politically problematic. For one thing, it impinges on the flawed notion that people have a right to drive whatever they want and can afford. For another, the production of highly inefficient, high-margin vehicles is concentrated in North America. Nonetheless, if this is to be a one-off rehabilitation, rather than a temporary reprieve from systemic problems, the North American auto industry needs to shed much of its past philosophy and approach. It is remarkable that no automobile assembled in North America meets China's fuel-efficiency standard. Along with the structural financial problems in the industry, that is a situation that will need to change.
a sibilant intake of breath
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