GOP’s New Poster Child Is Not Sarah Palin…

The GOP had their response ready to go last night after Barack Obama’s address to congress. Sarah Palin had a great speech…wait what? Bobby Jindal? GOP has had a fit of genius and decided to go with a viable, credible candidate to be the face of their party. Good job GOP…good job.

Why Won’t “Joe The Plumber” Go Away?

My worst fears have come to fruition. According to a Politico.com article yesterday, Samuel Joe “The DouchebagPlumber” Wurzelbacher was invited to give his “input” at the Conservative Working Group meeting on capitol hill. This is usually organized and attended by congressional aides…who are dumb enough to apparently like Joe The Plumber.

My God people…

Is this it? Is this what the GOP considers an valuable opinion? Is this who they want the face of their party to be? Joe The Plumber is like Sarah Palin except he’s not a governor. Republicans of the world, if you enjoy being the minority in the government, if you enjoy having a democrat in office, keep listening to pompous, self-important like Joe the Plumber, who lack understanding and ability to progress.

The Republican Party is a sinking ship, and they look to a [unlicensed] plumber for input on a stimulus package. That speaks volumes on the mental state of the GOP.

GOP Updates Website to Change 2.0

Photo Source: Ars Technica

So after doing some soul searching, the GOP decided to revamp it’s website. Look familiar? Yeah…this is the new changified GOP website, GOP.gov. We got a couple of RSS feeds, some lame YouTube videos, and a bunch of other crap in what I like to call ‘”Barack New Roman”. New look, same crappy taste? Is this a move in the right direction for the GOP in terms of reaching out? Or is this just a shiny new wrapper on the same crap. What do you guys think? Drop me a comment. Also check out the original story over at Ars Technica for details and specifics on how they designed it.

Chrysler & GM Bailout Bill Dead. America Not Surprised.

I love this car...

Congress has basically abandoned any chance of bailing out rescuing GM and Chrysler, who are both teetering on the brink of full on bankruptcy. This after Republican party members have, yet again, decided to vote down a plan to ensure that 1.2 million people don’t lose their jobs, and that our economy will continue to spiral downward towards it’s ultimate end. I can’t help but feel a little deja vous, like if some how we have gone through this before.

Republicans axed this proposition because they feel that the plan agreed upon by the Democrats and The White House won’t work.

The Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said: “We have had before us this whole question of the viability of the American automobile manufacturers. None of us want to see them go down, but very few of us had anything to do with the dilemma that they have created for themselves.”

Mr. McConnell added: “The administration negotiated in good faith with the Democratic majority a proposal that was simply unacceptable to the vast majority of our side because we thought it frankly wouldn’t work.”  [NY Times]

Overall the Republicans feel that GM and Chrysler (Ford can stand on it’s own…for now) are victims to the high wages and benefits of the UAW, and feel like they should be paid according to what the japanese automakers pay their workers in their U.S. factories. I read somewhere that it would be something like a $3 dollar difference, where UAW works make on average about $29 per hour as opposed to $26. This would save about $800 million dollars a year on top of eliminating lucrative benefits, pensions, and severance packages.

Where I would agree, that yes, UAW do make a bit more than others, we can’t deny the fact that these people are still employees. They still have families they need to support, mortgages they need to pay, and kids they need to put through college. I cannot stress enough of what a bankrupt Chrysler or GM would do to our economy on life support. A sudden loss of 1.2 million jobs would hit this economy very hard. Not to mention businesses that provide these companies with capital goods would also suffer greatly and in some cases even go bankrupt themselves.

So far this bailout has been one big, toxic mess. Companies like AIG, who is about as transparent as a brick wall when it comes to how it’s using it’s bailout funds, are perfect examples. But this time around, we are not bailing out banks, we are bailing out institutions that form part of the backbone of this economy. Managerial irresponsibility is not a good enough reason to let these companies go bankrupt. The cost of bankrupt GM or Chrysler (or both) would far exceed whatever amount Congress was considering. Do they need to restructure and make products that are innovative and meet demand? Yes. Do they need to renegotiate lower contracts, or eliminate unionization all together and structure themselves similar to Japanese automakers in the US? Sure. But they need the money NOW so that next year there will be a company left to restructure.

Jon Stewart on ‘The Detroit Three’ Bailout

As always a great commentary by Jon Stewart. This time around it’s about the Auto Industry bailout and how congress is dragging it’s feet when, and turning a blind eye to the massive repercussions of a bankrupt auto industry. 

“Now Congress, I think I know what this whole thing is about. You gave the financial industry $700 billion but you may not give the car industry $35 billion because you don’t really know what the finance industry does, do you?…See here’s the problem. The auto industry has a product that is tangible and easy to complain about. I should know, my first car – this is true – was an AMC Gremlin…It’s a car that existed so that Pinto drivers would have something to **** on…but it got me from here to there and while I was doing it, it preserved my virginity along the way. That’s the thing about cars. Even the crappy ones are useful. But you won’t bail out the people who make cars. You’ll only bail out the people who make car loans. Not even car loans! The people you bailed out make derivitive paper transfers speculating on the future value of enormous groupings of said loans to China. Fine! Detroit’s business model is bad. We know they lose $2,000 for every car they sell. Wall Street lost $7 trillion without selling anything! At least when Detroit loses money we get cars. So give them the money! And by the way, if you see my Gremlin, tell her I ended up getting laid when I got a Mustang.” – Jon Stewart

He is absolutely spot on. These companies, as poorly managed as they are, are VITAL to this nations economy. We may grill the CEOs for flying private jets and gas guzzlers all we want. In the end, we need swift action, we need regulation, and we need to stop this showboating and demand restructuring and give them this money. 

The Failure Of The Bailout Bill: My Thoughts On The Bill Itself

First of all, I am glad to see the markets are bouncing back a bit. But I really wanted to communicate my thoughts about the Bill itself and what I think it means for this nation. 

A lot of people I know have asked me if I support this bill and what it means for the financial system of this country. And I usually reply with “Well, what do you mean by support?” I believe that this bill is not intended to bailout wall street fat cats and keep the golden parachutes falling. I believe this bill is intended to keep people in their homes, keep student, home, and car loans flowing, and to make sure small-businesses have the credit they need to ensure they maintain their operations and make sure they keep their employees paid, and their product shelves stocked. This bill takes those bad mortgages off the balance sheets, frees up capital, and makes this stuff happen. 

On the tail end, this piece of legislature has the propensity to change our financial system forever. This bill is most assuredly going to blur the “free” in free market a bit. The second Government becomes involved in a free market system, it becomes unfree. This bill is a hard, nasty pill for this country to swallow, but it is imperative to the stabilization and survival of this nation’s economy. Bankruptcy for problems like this on the small scale is the final option. However, this is on such a LARGE scale that we have to realize that letting all these institutions, and in the end home and business owner crumble would be a massive hit to our weakened economy. And if we faced a bitter recession, or even a Second Great Depression, it would slam this nation hard. Call this bill Socialist, call it Marxist, or call it what ever you want. In the end, it’s a necessary evil. It is something that must be passed in order to spare more hardship, and to begin healing the economy. 

The Failure Of The Bailout Bill: An Addendum After The Chaos.

I want to make somethings clear, especially now that I have gotten a chance to cool down from my patriotic, panic driven, stock tumbling meltdown I had this afternoon. When I said that I would not vote Republican, I sincerely meant it. Do the Democrats have some blame in this? Absolutely. I think both sides are to blame in the big picture of this economic crisis. But in regards to today, the Republicans have dropped the ball for no good reason what-so-ever. At a time when President Bush, Democrat, and Republican leadership were UNITED under the idea that this plan is nasty and dirty but EXTREMELY necessary to ensure that people keep their money and stay in there homes. I mean thats the point of this. This Bailout Bill is more of a rescue bill. Rescuing us from a second Great Depression.

I promise you, what has happened today is inexcusable. Politicians in this country have given in to this partisanship hatred. Because thats what it is, it’s hatred. You can see it too, you can see it in their faces, in their eyes. You can see it in John McCain’s face when he was debating Barack Obama the other night. This hatred only causes problems, not solutions. The reason the DOW fell 777 points today is because Republican Party voted with partisanship in mind. Check this video out for a second, and see what I mean:

I think this speaks for itself. So I will move on…

I was writing a blog this morning, preparing to endorse a candidate for President, somthing that I have been putting off for a while, because I think it’s around times like these where politicians show their true colors a bit.  Usually closer to election time, candidates have debated a few times, and I can more or less feel them out. Well I am done deciding. I am an Independent voter supporting Barack Obama for President. By no means am I endorsing or registering as a Democrat, I like being an Independent, it gives me leeway to slam both parties. But I strongly believe Barack Obama is the lesser of two evils. I believe that the partisan hate is weak in him, I believe in the man, and I agree with most of his positions on the issues (minus of course his stance on Abortion for reasons of my faith). In a time like this we need to raise taxes to the rich and corporations, we need to enter a “take in more, spend less” mind set when it comes to government funding and spending. So there you have it. Peace Out. 

Check Out My Thoughts on the Bailout Bill Itself by Clicking Here.

The Failure Of The Bailout Bill: Congress Has Turned On It’s People.

Well, there we go. The House has turned down the Bailout Bill, and the partisan blame game has just begun. I am officially scared, and frankly, I am rarely scared about things like this. We are in for some seriously rough times. Ok, my calm tone will now end, and my angry tone will now take over.

God Damn It. I cannot believe that this did not pass. I CANNOT fathom that these people, these “adults” are in charge of our government. You guys shoot this plan down and then start bickering and pointing fingers. I cannot stress enough how badly we need this bill to pass. This is not even close to the perfect solution but this is a step in the right direction. Our economy is slowly falling, banks, financial institutions that have been around for close to 100 years are crashing all around our feet and all you can do is sit around and bicker.

I love this country so damn much that to see this scares me to the core. It scares me that Congress cannot sit down and say to themselves “Lets cut the crap and do what is best for this nation.” People are losing their money. Companies are cutting jobs and banks are closing doors. The DOW dropped 777.68 points. Congress has let us down. The Democrats yielded 140 Yea, 95 Nay, successfully rallying the majority of their party behind this bill. The Republicans voted 65 Yea, 133 Nay. The Republicans have voted against this because Nancy Pelosi made comments about how Bush destroyed Clinton’s established surplus. See the full article here.

Pelosi said “$700 billion [is a] a staggering number, but only a part of the cost of the failed Bush economic policies – policies that were built on budget recklessness … combined with an anything goes economic policy, [that] have taken us to where we are today.”

I want to make this clear. You can’t argue this, there is no doubt, the Republicans have said this themselves. There is no conjecture, there is no speculation or anything to take out of context. The REPUBLICAN PARTY has taken comments made by Nancy Pelosi personally and is punishing this nation for it. They have voted against their own President, their own presidential candidate, and their own party leaders. The reason this bill failed because of Republican House Members. 

I am SO OUTRAGED that I am almost to tears frankly, something that is very unlike me. The Republican Party has shafted this nation out of stupidity. A REPUBLICAN WILL NEVER GET MY VOTE AGAIN. I am forced to do this because of the ineptitude and unprofessionalism of this party, it is irrefutable! The DOW is down 777 points because of them. If tomorrow morning there are bank runs and economic panics it will be BECAUSE OF THEM. If more banks fall tomorrow, it will be because of the handful of Republicans that let this happen. This is beyond presidential elections, beyond Sarah Palin, and beyond anything else. This is the Republican Party acting contrary to the best interests of this nation because they are offended. Country First? No. Country Last. 

Please Visit My Addendum to this Blog by Clicking Here.