Free Stuff Versus Free Choice Outcome Of Socialism
This infographic does not show the difference between the needs-satisfaction of Keep Half and the meager usefulness to anyone's life of Progressive Political Government dictated Free Stuff.
People tend to forget that the initial choice of the line on the right in this graphic allows no one person to make individual choices addressing their personal needs on the other side of the doorway. Comment left at Facebook posting:
Stuart Light - I have never regretted that I commuted as far as 130 miles per day and had a lotta jobs that I did not like but worked hard to keep a roof over my head and paid my bills. Response:
We, at MAXINE believe - You were able to keep the choices you made for your life ... YOURS!
TAGS:#FreeStuff, #KeepHalf, socialism, Capitalism, work hard, no work, Progressive, fascism, communism, personal freedom, Personal Choice, MAXINE
The French government’s tax plans have sparked threats to leave from actor Gerard Depardieu. France’s socialist president Francois Hollande suffered a setback as the country’s highest court ruled his plans for a 75pc tax on its highest earners were unconstitutional. Image Credit: AFP/Getty Images
French "Supreme" Court Says NO To Unfair Taxation
Even the French “Supreme” Court has enough legal sense that punitive taxation in the pursuit of socialism is wrong … are you listening U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts?
This excerpted and edited from Yahoo! Finance –
French panel overturns 75 percent tax on ultrarich Associated Press – 12-29-2012
Embattled French President Francois Hollande suffered a fresh setback Saturday when France’s highest court threw out a plan to tax the ultrawealthy at a 75 percent rate, saying it was unfair. In a stinging rebuke to one of Socialist Hollande’s flagship campaign promises, the constitutional council ruled Saturday that the way the highly contentious tax was designed was unconstitutional. It was intended to hit incomes over €1 million ($1.32 million). —- Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was quick to respond, saying in a statement following the decision the government would resubmit the measure to take the court’s concerns into account. The court’s ruling took issue not with the size of the tax, but with the way it discriminated between households depending on how incomes were distributed among its members. A household with two earners each making under €1 million would be exempt from the tax, while one with one earner making €1.2 million would have to pay.
The French government approved the tax in its most recent budget, amid criticism by some that it would do little to stem the country’s mounting fiscal problems and would drive away the wealthiest citizens.
Hollande’s popularity, meanwhile, has been tanking as the country’s unemployment continued its rise for the 19th straight month.
[Reference Here]
Favorite factual “Pull Quote” from the AP article – “… it would do little to stem the country’s mounting fiscal problems and would drive away the wealthiest citizens” – sounds familiar … don’t ya’ think?
Trading accusations of greed, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich challenged each other Monday to return millions made in private business as the race for the GOP presidential nomination turned increasingly acerbic and personal at the start of a three-week sprint to the Iowa caucuses. Image Credit: StarTribune Mitt - Gingrich Out-Demonize Each Other In Obama-Style Class-Warfare Attacks
Yesterday, Mitt Romney made a point that Newt Gingrich should pay back monies he was paid by Freddie Mac, a money loosing, quasi-government mortgage funding organization, for a consulting services contract he had made with the management.
Newt Gingrich felt compelled to jump ugly back into the fray at Mitt Romney by saying Romney should pay back the monies he made through downsizing corporations to make them more efficient and profitable.
This is a lose-lose tennis match where on one side, it is no one's business what one gets paid for consulting services (just, why is Freddie Mac, and its partner organization, Fannie Mae in business on taxpayer money in the first place?), and on the other hand, the Communist/Socialist argument on Capitalism where corporate leaders are able to benefit personally from an increase in profits due to making a company, and its products more attractive to consumers and the needs the company's efforts fill.
This excerpted and edited from the StarTribune -
Greed is the issue this time: Romney and Gingrich trade barbs as 3-week sprint to Iowa begins Article by: KASIE HUNT and STEVE PEOPLES , Associated Press - Updated: December 13, 2011 - 1:00 AM
Far from Iowa, the two men campaigned miles apart from each other in next-up New Hampshire, where Romney has long dominated in polls but where Gingrich is aggressively working to make inroads.Romney called on Gingrich to return the estimated $1.6 million he received for providing strategic advice to Freddie Mac, the quasi-government agency that guarantees home mortgages. Gingrich has said he acted as a historian, not a lobbyist.
"That would make him the highest paid historian in history," Romney told Fox News Channel during an interview from the Chez Vachon diner, a regular New Hampshire stop for presidential candidates. He suggested that Gingrich was an ultimate insider who leveraged his position as a former House speaker to line his pockets when he left office. Said Romney: "One of the things that I think people recognize in Washington is that people go there to serve the people and then they stay there to serve themselves."
Gingrich, campaigning in nearby Londonderry, countered quickly, saying that Romney should give back the millions he made working at Bain Capital, a venture capital firm that sometimes laid people off as part of its efforts to make businesses more efficient."If Governor Romney would give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over the years at Bain, then I would be glad to listen to him," Gingrich said. "But I bet you $10 — not $10,000 — that he won't take the offer." That was a dig at Romney's offer of a $10,000 wager with Rick Perry at Saturday night's debate.
Unbowed, Romney chided Gingrich anew, saying: "There's a big difference between working in the private economy and working on K Street, and working as a lobbyist and working as a legislator, and working to connect businesses with government." Romney's campaign also pressed the notion of Gingrich as a Washington insider, with news releases labeling him an "unreliable leader" and pictured with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. [Reference Here]
If one were to side with the Gingrich argument (in retort), one would be siding with Barack Obama and continue the the cultural and economic slide into the abyss of socialist class-warfare and Euroism. If one were to side with Romney in his attack on Gingrich, while this argument points out how one, as a Washington insider gets to support themselves, it is none of anyone's business what one gets paid for consulting services as long as these arrangements are legal.
What is much more important as a takeaway from Romney's query, however, is with all of the Government resources (read, TAXPAYER) laid at the doorsteps of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, why were the executives who ran Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae able to walk-away while making bonuses in the millions of dollars as these organizations took the worldwide economy into the massive junk-mortgage tailspin of a property value downgrade we find ourselves now? Four words (two hyphenated phrases): Ruling-Class Slush-Fund!
Next debate from Sioux City Convention Center in Sioux City, Iowa, to be aired on FOXNews, Thursday, December 15, 9:00pm ET ... the gloves will be thrown to the ice and it might be time for the more recognized Conservatives as seen in Rick Santorum or Michelle Bachmann to rise above the fray in the ugly, ankle-biting "Newt Romney" back-and-forth, Iowa Caucuses.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks during the Official Arrival Ceremony for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on the South Lawn of the White House, June 7, 2011. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy The Barack Obama Economy - Greece-ing Our Skids
Yesterday, the United States stock market dropped about 1.5% on fears of extreme unrest in Greece on the news that the citizens there, who have lived in an entitlement/socialist society for decades, have nearly bankrupted the country and can no longer receive the supports to their lifestyles they were accustomed to.
Greece is struggling with a nearly half a trillion dollar debt load, and is working to avoid having to restructure, or worse, default on its debt. However, the Greek public has protested deep spending cuts and austerity measures to save their economy, and plans to privatize government-held entities have fallen far short of the necessary capital requirements.
Last week, President Barack Obama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and one of the issues they discused was this ongoing problem of the Greecian economy. Greece has already received $161 billion in European bailout assistance, largely orchestrated by Merkel. Now, European finance ministers and international lenders are working on a second round, on the order of an additional $1l7 billion to $146 billion.
After his meeting with Merkel, Obama said the U.S. would participate in the bailout on condition that Germany takes the lead. In a sense, as the largest contributor to the International Monetary Fund, the United States is already participating.
This excerpted and edited from CNBC's moneycontrol.com -
US is in even worse shape financially than Greece: Gross moneycontrol.com - Published on Tue, Jun 14, 2011
When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco`s Bill Gross told CNBC Monday.
Much of the public focus is on the nation`s public debt, which is USD 14.3 trillion. But that doesn`t include money guaranteed for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which comes to close to USD 50 trillion, according to government figures.
The government also is on the hook for other debts such as the programs related to the bailout of the financial system following the crisis of 2008 and 2009, government figures show.
Taken together, Gross puts the total at "nearly USD 100 trillion," that while perhaps a bit on the high side, places the country in a highly unenviable fiscal position that he said won`t find a solution overnight. ---- Should the debt problem in Greece explode into a full-blown crisis-an International Monetary Fund bailout has prevented a full-scale meltdown so far-Gross predicted that German debt, not that of the US, would be the safe-haven of choice for global investors. [Reference Here]
We, at MAXINE, are compelled to ask: Why are we bailing out Greece when we should be bailing out ... ourselves?
This is not the time to approve an increase the debt ceiling as the President insists on having the Congress and the Senate agree with him to do. Our country is already way too much in debt on un-funded liabilities alone.
It's time to hit the spending brakes and stop this skid into Government entitlement oblivion.
"Obama has cut the remembering-what-we-don't-like-about-Democrats stage of this process down from two to four years to about 10 months. Folks, I'm convinced that if we all work really hard, we can get it down to three months." - Ann Coulter, from "That Old Obama Magic Is Back" 1-20-2010 - Image Credit: Organizing For America
Barack Obama's second year begins - More 153 & 411 moments
This morning, Don Imus mentioned that Barack Obama has given about 153 interviews and issued or delivered 411 comments and speeches on health care reform since he has taken office.
Obama’s failure to communicate on health care By Jon Ward - The Daily Caller 01/20/10 at 9:14 pm
President Obama on Wednesday said the reason his health-care reform is on life support because Congress took too long to debating it and he didn’t talk enough to citizens about its benefits for them. ---- “One of the things that I have learned in Washington is you have to repeat yourself a lot because because unfortunately it doesn’t penetrate,” he said.
The president, making his first public comments after a Republican candidate on Tuesday won the special election to fill Sen. Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat, said he understands that some Americans view his administration as a bunch of “technocrats up here … making decisions.”
But he said the main reason for this was not his policies but rather his communications strategy.
“What I haven’t always been successful at doing is breaking through the noise and speaking directly to the American people in a way that during the campaign you could do,” he said. ---- He also admitted he has failed to “change the tone here in Washington.” Reference Here>>
With the context of this being the first day of the second year of this 44th Presidency, why don't we just recognize what we can see is the obvious delusional mind of Barack Obama ... it isn't that He has failed to change the tone in Washington, just the TONE DEAFNESS.
Also, He fails to hear the American people when they speak through Tea Party gatherings, Town Hall questions, and now votes in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts ... even though he believes that the American people have NOT been listening and hearing what he has said over the 153 interviews and 411 comments and speeches.
We American people have heard what has been said ... when will the Obama Administration resolve to begin to listen to the American people, in this, the first day of year two, of the destructive path of this 44th Presidency?
'CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY' - In Wide Release October 2nd /// "It's a crime story. But it's also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it's also a love story. Only it's about an abusive relationship. /// "It's not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make. /// "It's a comedy." — Michael Moore [ctrl-click to launch movie trailer]. Caption & Image Credit: mmflint
Moore Gaining More Through "Capitalism"
As much as Michael Moore hates capitalism (you know - Product, Price, Place, and Promotion), he sure keeps going back to the well to churn out more product which he can sell to his loyal, fearful, and hateful hoards.
In his latest project titled "Capitalism: A Love Story", Michael leaves no doubt how much he loves the money he makes by never straying from his basic formula. A Documentary style, smattered with dubious "FACTS" and a confrontation from Michael Moore, himself, the true love story of this latest (or any, for that matter) effort.
With Michael Moore, he is not happy unless he has a villain(s) upon which to heap disgust and insult as he sets himself up as the showman arbiter of a proper social justice. Politically, socialism is always the answer for Moore as he drags in the capitalist cash from his little, yet very profitable film enterprise!
U.S. director Michael Moore (L) and his wife Kathleen Glynn pose for photographers on the red carpet at the 66th Venice Film Festival September 6, 2009 [ctrl-click to launch movie trailer]. Image Credit: Tony Gentile
This excerpted and edited from Reuters -
Michael Moore's "Capitalism" economical with facts By Deborah Young - Mon Sep 7, 2009 8:22pm EDT
Simplifications are Moore's stock-in-trade, and his documentaries are not known for their impeccable research and objectivity. But here his talent is evident in creating two hours of engrossing cinema by contrasting a fast-moving montage of 50s archive images extolling free enterprise with the economic disaster of the present. Given the desperate state of the world economy, this provocative film should find attentive audiences along with many angry detractors who will give it free publicity.
As in his previous films, Moore is himself the chief character, offscreen narrator and investigator. Wearing his inseparable baseball cap and T-shirt, he pretends wide-eyed surprise as his interview subjects recount personal dramas related to America's economic meltdown. These are genuinely moving stories: a couple whose farm is in foreclosure, a family that discovers the father's company has taken out a lucrative insurance policy and earned $5 million on his premature death, tearful workers whose factory is suddenly shut down, commercial airline pilots so underpaid they live on food stamps.
Moore has assembled a collection of nearly unbelievable horror stories to illustrate why capitalism and democracy do not go hand in hand. ---- The second half of the film is even more chilling in suggesting, through interviews with a number of worried members of Congress, that the country's $700 billion bailout was legalized bank robbery, a "financial coup d'etat" run through Congress just before elections and engineered principally by Goldman Sachs and Henry Paulson.Though it blames all political parties, including the Democrats, for caving in with the bailout, the film is careful to spare President Barack Obama, who remains a symbol of hope for justice. His support for the workers who stage a sit-in at their factory is paralleled to Franklin D. Roosevelt's call for a new bill of rights -- never implemented -- guaranteeing universal health care. Reference Here>>
Over the next few weeks to months, we will see how much stomach our movie-going society has for Socialism as we discuss the Public Option and Triggers when the Obama Administration and our Democrat Party led Congress tries to shove socialized universal health care down our collective tax-payer throats with impossible promises and 51 Senator "Yes" vote reconciliations.
As far as Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" ... the Paramount Vantage/Overture project opens in limited release on September 23 in New York and Los Angeles. With any luck, due to political overload caused by health care and other Obama Administration and Democrat Party leadership agendas, the movie will go straight to DVD/Blu-ray after the first week due to lack of interest!
Retrospective on Michael Moore by Cox & Forkum: "Blowing Smoke"
Barack Obama - President Obama asks supporters to declare their support for his three core principles for health care reform, and to share their personal stories to help build support for the reforms that are so desperately needed. [ctrl-click to launch video] Learn more at http://my.barackobama.com/healthcare
"Madoffing America" - The Marketing Of ObamaCare
The atmosphere here in America is laden heavy with the feel of Caveat Emptor ... let the buyer beware.
We are being told almost daily, that the Government needs to get what the Obama Administration wants to get done in terms of (name program here) legislation immediately, otherwise (name imperative here) will befall all of us and people are suffering.
Further, the Obama Administration is responding to the information that is leaking out about some programs they are fighting for with plastered over non-truths in order to be able to give the patina of cover for the Congress as they go back to their districts during the summer recess.
Linda Douglass - In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White Houses Health Reform Office, addresses a story that makes it look like the President intends to eliminate private coverage, when the reality couldn't be further from the truth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0XCl6OHgiM
The Obama healthcare agenda, ObamaCare, is rife with misrepresentations and lies that are designed to have people believe that what this Administration is proposing is not a single payer, a one-size fits all healhcare system, that will push out and eliminate free market solutions that exist today.
Just like Bernie Madoff, who induced investors to give his company money with promises of unbelievable returns, the Obama Administration, with the help of the Democrat Political Party leadership in Congress, are promising something they can not, and do not intend to deliver.
The principles, as outlined on the wbsite - http://my.barackobama.com/healthcare - claims the following so that we citizens can feel comfortable about the proposed Government take-over of one-sixth of our economy - the healthcare system.
Example:
The Principles
President Obama has announced three bedrock requirements for real health insurance reform:
* Reduce Costs — Rising health care costs are crushing the budgets of governments, businesses, individuals and families and they must be brought under control
* Guarantee Choice — Every American must have the freedom to choose their plan and doctor – including the choice of a public insurance option
* Ensure Quality Care for All — All Americans must have quality and affordable health care
All of the above principles are not only untrue ... they are impossible promises to deliver given the text of H.R 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (currently 1,018 pages) passed through the House Energy and Commerce Committee on a 31-28 vote last Friday.
Obama to Jane Sturm: Hey, take a pill - Jane asks the President if her 100 year old mother (now 105) would have gotten a pacemaker under his plan. Well now that's a tough one ... that costs a lot and maybe we will have to say, just take a pill. Priceless. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-dQfb8WQvo
This excerpted and edited from the Charlotte Conservative Examiner and About.com -
Obamacare: death and taxes Hailey Wilson - Charlotte Conservative Examiner - August 4, 12:13 AM
House Democrats have narrowly pushed Obama’s Healthcare bill - H.R 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 - through a key congressional committee this past Friday. ---- The official vote [by all of Congress] should be sometime in September, leaving little time for representatives and Americans to learn what the bill is really about.
Here is a start:
This new healthcare plan will take the independence you have in deciding where and how you get your healthcare and put those decisions into bureaucratic hands.
Think about it this way: going to your doctor will be like going to your DMV—long waiting lines, substandard service and inefficient care.
There is one very important difference, however: you or your loved one will be sick, hurt or dying. The inevitable delays in government-funded healthcare mean death, pain or a worsened condition. And what is worse, the government will decide what quality of healthcare is acceptable.
Here are some of the provisions in Obama’s Healthcare bill:
Page 29: Health care will be rationed.
Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services. ---- About.com: Page 57, under section 163, there is something that would give the government power to reach into benefits recipients' bank accounts. It is called "Administrative Simplification," and Subsection 1173A of this measure, "Standardize Electronic Transactions" has a provision (a)(2)(B) that ensures that this new governmental power:
"be authoritative, permitting no additions or constraints for electronic transactions ..." (C) "be comprehensive, efficient and robust, requiring minimal augmentation by paper transactions or clarification by further communications;" and, finally, (D) enable the real-time (or near real-time) determination of an individual’s financial responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility, which may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card;" ... (E) "enable, where feasible, near real-time adjudication of claims ..." (Emphasis added) ---- Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
Page 167: Any individual who doesn’t have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected."
Page 241: Doctors: no matter what speciality you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.
Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia.
Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time. Reference Here and Here>>
There is more ... a lot more (and will be updated here from time to time) and it is not pretty.
Single Payer as articulated by now President Barack Obama at an AFL-CIO union meeting.
People are up in arms, showing up in record numbers at politician summer recess community meetings and having their voices heard. Last weekend, 10,000 people showed up at one of these gatherings in Ohio and the press reported that only 200 citizens were in attendance.
The Democrat Political Party leadership have drafted up some talking points to confront this display by condemning it as a manufactured response organized by "Big Insurance" companies, yet AARP, one of the biggest insurance marketers, is on record in supporting the Obama Administration's efforts - no matter what.
We, at MAXINE, are reminded of an anthem song produced by Bob Marley and the Wailers - "Get Up, Stand Up ... Stand Up For Your Right! [ctrl-click to launch music video] - don't give up the fight!" The time is now to not be duped by the efforts of our one-party leadership scheme and its efforts to nationalize healthcare, no matter how minimal their intrusion. Medicare and Medicaid are government programs that have failed, and all the Democrat leadership wants to do is give all of us this type of program as our only option.
Be very aware of the efforts of the one-party leadership represented by the Obama Administration and the Democrat Political Party led Congress to convince us to invest in their healthcare (big, bigger, biggest government control) ponzi scheme ... their Madoffing of America.
If you're fed up with the Presidential politics, and want to get away from it with a little Xbox escapism, don't play Burnout Paradise. The racing game features VIRTUAL BILLBOARDS URGING GAMERS TO VOTE FOR OBAMA. Is the addition of political ads in console games change you can believe in? Caption & Image Credit: therawfeed.com
The Tripe With TARP & The Obama-Nation
The Troubled Asset Relief Fund (TARP) was originally created by the Bush Administration to help as a buffer for homeowners, who were in trouble of loosing their home when the flexible interest rates of the “sub-prime” mortgages they had used to initially purchase their home … increased. The idea was to be able to have the mortgages reset, or better, renegotiated to a level that the mortgages providers would not have their financial instruments be defaulted on by the people who had committed to pay the mortgages.
By having about 700 Billion dollars of TARP (read that as taxpayer money) set aside, the Federal Government felt that banks would be less inclined to foreclose on, or end the financial contract and the economy would remain relatively level and undisrupted.
This may have been effective … MAY … if the Federal Government applied the monies only where there they were needed. What has happened, however, is a massive level of “mission creep” where the Federal Government has decided to force all financial institutions to take money TARP money in exchange for specialized preferred stock, and if these banks did not participate, they would suffer additional activity brought about through audits and other Governmental investigative activity that hinders a bank from transacting a profitable business.
Further, the Federal Government unilaterally converted the Preferred Stock (non-ownership type) to Common Stock (ownership type) and now own an interest in the banks themselves … and remember, many of these institutions never participated in the issuing and selling of mortgages that are the topic of the TARP monies and/or do not have any loans in default.
The Federal Government forced a transition of ownership of privately held, once profitable businesses to be under the management control and influence of Federal Government bureaucrats who have never managed a private business for profit … in the first place.
The above description is an ugly enough scenario without looking at the additional uses of the original Troubled Asset Relief Fund (TARP).
Transportation Stock and Bond Certificates - Chrysler Corporation, Delaware, USA, 1970: $1,000 Sinking Fund Debenture certificate featuring the famous "Chrysler" radiator cap flanked by allegorical female character and company logos. Also includes traffic scenes showing old trucks and vintage cars in the background. Walter P. Chrysler, formerly of Buick and Willys, acquired Maxwell-Chalmers in 1923 and the first car bearing his name was produced in 1924. Chrysler laid the foundations for a motor empire to rival General Motors and Ford when he took over Dodge and launch the Plymouth Four and the De Soto Six in 1928. Punch cancelled. Scarce. VF+ - Red (12" x 8") $95.00 - Image Credit: stocksearchintl.com
This item published three days before Barack Obama took office excerpted and edited from the Washington Post –
U.S. Expands Aid To Auto Industry
Chrysler Financial Gets $1.5 Billion From Treasury; Ford Credit in Talks
By David Cho and Kendra Marr - Washington Post Staff Writers - Saturday, January 17, 2009; Page D02
The government expanded its bailout of the nation's troubled auto industry yesterday, announcing a new $1.5 billion loan for Chrysler Financial while Ford Credit said it was in talks to obtain federal aid.
The money for Chrysler Financial will come from the government's $700 billion financial rescue program. Senior officials from the Treasury and Federal Reserve are hoping the assistance, combined with earlier support for General Motors' chief lender GMAC, will keep auto loans flowing until the two agencies can make more funds available for credit cards, student loans and small business loans.
The developments came on a frantic last work day at the Treasury Department, as officials pushed out the door several key deals and announcements related to the rescue program, known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP.
----
Last fall, Paulson told lawmakers that the TARP would be used to buy bad assets. But soon after the bill was approved by Congress in early October, he moved away from the idea to provide more direct aid to financial institutions.
----
The moves to aid the financing arms of the nation's automakers draw the federal government more deeply into Detroit's troubles.
To date, the government has committed TARP money to provide $17.4 billion for General Motors and Chrysler, $6 billion for GMAC, and now the new loan to back Chrysler Financial.
----
"We're still funding our business," said Ford Credit spokeswoman Margaret Mellott, who confirmed the talks, which have been going on for months. "We have strong liquidity . . . It's an ongoing dialogue to free up credit."
Although Ford has said it can survive without federal aid or intervention, it continues asking to be treated the same as its struggling cross-town rivals GM and Chrysler.
----
The support for Chrysler Financial is structured differently than most other loans the Treasury has made from the TARP. Instead of investing money directly into Chrysler Financial, the company is creating a special entity that will receive the government loan. Chrysler Financial can then withdraw those funds to make new auto loans.
----
In addition, Chrysler Financial agreed to reduce by 40 percent the pool of bonus money for its senior executives relative to the 2007 levels, among other limitations on what it can pay its top officials.
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"This will provide a great economic stimulus for car buyers across the country," Jim Press, Chrysler vice chairman and president said in a statement.
Chrysler Financial applied for TARP funds in November. In December, Chrysler's sales slid 53 percent compared with the corresponding month a year before.
"This funding will better position us to withstand the current economic challenges until funding becomes available through more traditional commercial sources," said Thomas F. Gilman, vice chairman and chief executive of Chrysler Financial in a statement.
----
Yesterday was supposed to be their last day of work, but many senior Treasury officials kept their government-issued BlackBerrys rather than turn them in. They were given Federal Express envelopes to ship their devices next week, in case they had to work over the weekend.
So, just about three months down the road, Chrysler declares bankruptcy!
The company is broken up into several parts where the United Auto Workers Union becomes the majority share owner – surprise, surprise.
Oh, and the people who invested their money in good faith in the company to get a return on their investment protected by our country’s bankruptcy laws which stipulate that the primary share owners are first honored? The Obama Administration shafted their interests and moved them to the back of the line only allowing them, the investors, a chance at a loss on their investment.
MODERN TIMES: If only the UAW were such a victim as they are depicted here in this R.J. Matson cartoon. The worker caught in a web of gears waiting to crush them up - the truth is that with a 55% ownership of Chrysler, THEY ARE the gears ... they had created through negotiation and now own. Image Credit: R.J. Matson, The New York Observer
This excerpted and edited from CBS News –
Chrysler Bankruptcy Exposes Dirty Politics
Declan McCullagh: Obama Calls Creditors Who Lent Money To Chrysler "Speculators," But What About the Rule Of Law?
May 7, 2009 | by Declan McCullagh
Chrysler's sad tale that led to this week's bankruptcy hearing in New York is not only an important business and political story. It also encompasses morality, the rule of law and strong-arm tactics used by some politicians.
----
During its slide, Chrysler borrowed money from lenders and in return signed a contract promising that as so-called senior creditors, they'd get paid before anyone else if the company went under.
These creditors, by the way, represent something of a cross-section of America: the University of Kentucky, Kraft Foods' retirement fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pension funds, teachers' credit unions, and so on.
A normal bankruptcy filing would be straightforward. Senior creditors get paid 100 cents on the dollar. Everyone else gets in line.
But President Obama and his allies don't want that to happen. So they interfered on behalf of unions (the junior creditors) and publicly upbraided the senior creditors who were asserting their contractual rights and threatening to head to bankruptcy court.
Last week Mr. Obama lambasted them as "a small group of speculators" who "endanger Chrysler's future by refusing to sacrifice like everyone else."
Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, sent reporters a statement calling the creditors "vultures" and "rouge hedge funds." Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm piled on, taking aim during her radio address at a "few greedy hedge funds that didn't care how much pain the company's failure would have inflicted on families and communities everywhere."
It must be a coincidence that the United Auto Workers has handed $25.4 million to federal politicians over the last two decades, with 99 percent of that cash going to Democrats. And that Mr. Obama's final campaign stop on Election Day was a UAW phone bank.
If those politicians thought about this a bit more, they'd probably realize their mistake. Creditors didn't force Chrysler's management to head to the capital markets and beg for funds: It was poor management, uncompetitive wages, and a union that opposed pay cuts.
Without those greedy "vultures" and "rogues" injecting sorely-needed cash into a business they knew was risky, Chrysler might have been forced to declare bankruptcy much earlier. (And now that lenders know they may be demonized by the president, will they be as likely to help out next time?)
One of the better critiques of this unusual situation comes from Clifford Asness, managing partner at a $20 billion hedge fund named AQR Capital Management. His essay responds to what he called "toxic demagoguery" and says "the president's attempted diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it to a labor union that delivers money and votes for him."
----
A document that the non-TARP creditors filed with the bankruptcy judge about the proposed sale to Fiat says: "The sale is far from an arm's length transaction, but rather, is the result of a tainted sales process dominated by the United States government... It is a sale that was orchestrated entirely by the Treasury and foisted upon (Chrysler)... Well before the filing, (Chrysler) had ceased to function as an independent company and had become an instrumentality of the government."
So if you're keeping score, you have a bankrupt company depending on the government for money negotiating with some TARP-funded creditors depending on the government for money and still more creditors who may hold insurance policies with AIG, which depends on the government for money. And we're already hearing similar allegations about General Motors and political interference.
One disturbing report came from a well-respected attorney representing the dissident Chrysler creditors. Thomas Lauria, the head of White & Case's bankruptcy practice, says that he was threatened by Steven Rattner, the White House's auto task force chief. (A White House spokesman denies making any threats.)
"I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday," Lauria said on a Detroit radio show. "One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That's how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence." Lauria said that his clients were willing to compromise on 50 cents on the dollar, but the government offered them only 29 cents.
In the Federalist Papers in 1788, James Madison wrote that "laws impairing the obligation of contracts are contrary to the first principles of the social compact, and to every principle of sound legislation." Unfortunately, Washington politicians seem to pay little attention to history, morality, or the rule of law.
All of this economic upheaval and Federal Government takeover of private enterprises are only the beginning of the misuse of tax money and the trust of the American people.
Within the first six weeks, a "Stimulus" appropriations bill was passed that increased the budgets of all Federal Government entities by an average of nearly 80% followed by the "Omnibus" appropriations bill that increased the budgets of all Federal Government entities by an additional 8%. Some agencies in six weeks saw a 100% increase in the amount of tax money they could spend ... this at a time of under 4% inflation.
We, at MAXINE hope you are enjoying these first four months of Carter's Second Term!
In back-to-back press conferences (held Nov. 24, 2008) by Bush (first) and Obama (second), the men either stated or implied that they were sort of working together to muscle the nation through this tough economic period. Bush said, “I talked to Obama about the decision we made. I told the American people, and I told the president-elect when I first met him, that anytime we were to make a big decision during this transition, he will be informed, as will his team.” The plans discussed are still in play to this day during the Obama Administration. Image Credit: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (2008)
Ebony & Ivory - Obama Deficits & Bush Deficits Together
These figures do not live together in perfect harmony here in Carter's Second Term.
Question:
Did you know that the Barack Obama Administration inherited deficits from the previous Bush Administration? Really?!
How can the Obama Administration continue to float the tired old saw that they just happen to inherit large deficits so it will take more just to dig ourselves out?
After sixty short days, the Congress that the Obama Administration actually DID INHERIT, and Barack Obama himself, increased the commitments to spend taxpayer money on social programs alone from the 3% of GDP to 20% of GDP ... or an increase in social spending programs of an eerie 6.66 times greater level.
It is called Deficit Spending (socialism) - and now foreign countries (China and Russia) are suggesting that the world economy adopt a new currency on which to peg/judge the value of other currencies other than the United States dollar - the formally most stable currency in the world.
Graphic showing the Bush Administration and the committed and projected Obama Administration deficits side-by-side. Graphic Credit: The Washington Post via the Heritage Foundation (2009)
This excerpted and edited from the Heritage Foundation - Bush Deficit vs. Obama Deficit in Pictures The Heritage Foundation - Posted March 24th, 2009 at 10.20am
President Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that his budget would cut the deficit by half by the end of his term. But as Heritage analyst Brian Riedl has pointed out, given that Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package, pledging to halve it by 2013 is hardly ambitious. The Washington Post has a great graphic which helps put President Obama’s budget deficits in context of President Bush’s.
* President Bush expanded the federal budget by a historic $700 billion through 2008. President Obama would add another $1 trillion.
* President Bush began a string of expensive financial bailouts. President Obama is accelerating that course.
* President Bush created a Medicare drug entitlement that will cost an estimated $800 billion in its first decade. President Obama has proposed a $634 billion down payment on a new government health care fund.
* President Bush increased federal education spending 58 percent faster than inflation. President Obama would double it. ---- * President Bush tilted the income tax burden more toward upper-income taxpayers. President Obama would continue that trend.
* President Bush presided over a $2.5 trillion increase in the public debt through 2008. Setting aside 2009 (for which Presidents Bush and Obama share responsibility for an additional $2.6 trillion in public debt), President Obama’s budget would add $4.9 trillion in public debt from the beginning of 2010 through 2016. Reference Here>>
What the American people inherited with the Clinton and Bush Administrations (and thrust forward with the Obama Administration) were the building blocks of economic slavery and communism.
First, the Government took the position that every person that lived in America (citizen or non-citizen) deserved to be able to participate in home ownership. The Clinton Administration formed the quasi Governmental financial institutions backed by taxpayer money of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to insure low interest loans with reduced qualification requirements. Bonus programs were implemented and paid to the political (Democrat) management of these organizations.
Banks did not want to lend money with this level of low proof, so the management of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae had community development organizations (ACORN) prod them to loan money through lawsuits. In order to fuel demand for these weak mortgages (purchase commitments without the ability or intention to pay), the Government regulating agencies allowed them to be bundled and packaged as grouped financial instruments and sold to the highest bidder through insurance companies and financial institutions (AIG, WAMU, Wachovia, banks in France, Finland, Germany, and etc.).
What triggered this collapse is the increased payment demanded the mortgage companies when the initial period of artificially low inducement interest ran out and the actual value of the house became greater than the mortgage value of the home. People who originally had no real means to afford the home they committed to purchase in the first place, simply walked away with no real damage to their lives leaving all of the intuitions holding the mortgages without an income stream. The asset value of the bundled "Junk Mortgages" dropped and the economic crisis begins.
The sick logic in all of this is that the two-party Bush Government got our economy into this position and now the one-party Obama Government (of Obama/Pelosi/Reid) is smart enough to get us out … with heavier intervention and greater spending commitments - all on the American Taxpayer.
Does anyone in Government realize that this deficit spending of our collective money will all implode eventually?
We, at MAXINE, believe this strategy will turn our currency into the value of the bundled "Junk Mortgages" that helped to put us into this place to start with - all on the back of the Government move toward social engineering!
Simpsons characters pictured in a mob revolt with tourches. Image Credit: The Simpsons
Let The Revolution Begin
It's ironic that Barack Obama, whose friends were disciples Saul Alinsky, an ardent social revolutionist, becomes president and sparks a revolution toward conservative American Values.
A revolt might be happening already and the signs of this revolt began yesterday. First in Arizona and Second on the floor of the stock exchange when a reporter for CNBC talked with people who work to invest money ... to make money for their clients and themselves.
The wake-up call is startling in that the mainstream media will not report the groundswell of reaction to the demonization of taxpaying, mortgage paying citizens who are cast a losers in this brand new Obamaworld ... Carter's Second Term.
Protests outside of Dobson Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona where President Barack Obama unveiled his mortgage bailout plan. Photo features "Swastika Guy" and "Hammer-and-Sickle Guy" in close proximity to Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin and Sen. Josh Penry. Image Credit: of ProgressNow Colorado
First, this excerpted and edited from the Arizona Republic -
Ask what the country CAN do for you by E. J. Montini, The Arizona Republic - Feb. 19, 2009 12:00 AM
President Barack Obama came to ground zero in the foreclosure crisis on Wednesday and offered a mix of government assistance and personal responsibility.
To which a lot of folks in Arizona said: "Nice try, but we ain't buying it."
There's no need for a complicated analysis of Obama's speech.
We can sum up what the president said at Dobson High School in Mesa, as well as the reaction of many local residents, by using two quotes. The first is from Obama, the second from a reader of The Republic responding online to the president's remarks.
OBAMA: "So solving this crisis will require more than resources - it will require all of us to take responsibility.
"Government must take responsibility for setting rules of the road that are fair and fairly enforced.
"Banks and lenders must be held accountable for ending the practices that got us into this crisis in the first place.
"Individuals must take responsibility for their own actions.
"And all of us must learn to live within our means again."
READER: "What about stoops like me that still pay their payments on time and live within their means and didn't buy a pool or a Hummer? I deserve something, don't I?"
After all these years, we appear to have decided that John F. Kennedy was wrong and that we CAN ask what our country can do for us.
Or as another reader put it: "We should all just let our houses go and our jobs, then live off the government and let someone else pay for this turkey's 'stimulus'!"
Obama tried to make the case that we're in this mess together. ---- One man responding to a blog I wrote for azcentral.com said, "Let's get this country back on track and stop the government from trying to be everything to everybody. The Constitution only guarantees 'life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness.' "
Another added, "So let's see if I understand - all of us who pay our debts and taxes now get to fund the rescue of homeowners who are upside down. Ummm. I can see a tax revolt forming in the near future." ---- What might work is appealing to our self-interest. Reference Here>>
CNBC's Rick Santelli, while broadcasting for “Squawk Box” on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, called for a referendum to see if we want to "subsidize losers' mortgages" or buy cars and houses in foreclosure and "give them to people who might actually prosper down the road." As traders cheered, he went on to say that we should "reward people that can carry the water instead of drink the water." [click-image to launch video] Image Credit: CNBC via lolfed.com
Second, this excerpted and edited from StreetInsider.com -
Rick Santelli - The Rant Heard 'Round the World' February 19, 2009 12:24 PM EST
The rant heard 'round the world'. The Drudge Report is highlighting CNBC's Rick Santelli's rant on CNBC this morning ripping Obama's mortgage plan:
'The government is promoting bad behavior... do we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages... This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage? President Obama are you listening? How about we all stop paying our mortgage! It's a moral hazard'... Reference Here>>
In this 44th Presidency of the United States, people who actually hold a long-term job, invest their money wisely, follow through with their monetary commitments are targeted and become losers (and those who behave in the opposite – Rewarded, with Government money transfer programs).
The economic model for all of this targeted upheaval is found in the principles of Keynesian Economics, a macroeconomic theory based on the ideas of 20th-century British economist John Maynard Keynes. The theory emphasizes the role of demand-side factors, as opposed to supply-side factors, in the determination of aggregate output.
In a nutshell, the value of money is placed not on wealth creation but dollar bill creation. The Government can choose to print the amount of money required to place the economy on a path that the Government feels is the correct path. This is as opposed to a free market determination which recognizes the free will of the consumer and the value of money that is placed in the popularity/supply of an item and the willingness for someone to pay the price someone else is willing to pay.
Even Vladimir Putin is warning the Obama Administration against the downside of a socialist economy stating that it was a “Five Year Plan” central planning Keynesian economic model that brought down the Russian Empire.
Image Credit: The Wall Street Journal Online
Putin Speaks at Davos The Wall Street Journal - JANUARY 28, 2009, 2:29 P.M. ET
The following text is a transcript of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Good afternoon, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, ---- Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state's omnipotence is another possible mistake.
True, the state's increased role in times of crisis is a natural reaction to market setbacks. Instead of streamlining market mechanisms, some are tempted to expand state economic intervention to the greatest possible extent.
The concentration of surplus assets in the hands of the state is a negative aspect of anti-crisis measures in virtually every nation.
In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.
Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.
And one more point: anti-crisis measures should not escalate into financial populism and a refusal to implement responsible macroeconomic policies. The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous stock-jobbing. Reference Here>>
CONTEXT QUOTE:
Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable.
The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.
A reflection in a stock market display in Tokyo. Image Credit: 2005 - Katsumi Kasahara
From Lost Decade To Lost Generation
Barack Obama, in his first news conference of his tenure as the 44th president of the United States, dashed all hope and signaled a change from the United States being a free enterprise economy to a socialist based economy.
Citing the economic downturn as the reason why our elected leaders should pass the current large scale government spending legislation (with interest, over one trillion dollars) that is in front of them, Barack Obama invokes other economic downturns in the world.
One of the key examples he used as how a government spent itself out of economic troubles was the “Lost Decade” that Japan went through when their economy shrank and the government took over the fiscal control of many business enterprises. The funny thing is, the economy in Japan turned around when the government turned over major government operations back to the private sector after holding on to them for nearly a decade.
If our congress passes this spending bill, our country will not only revisit some of the worst economic times we have ever experienced (most recently the “Stagflation” Carter years with a misery index of 22 – currently the misery index stands at 7.6), we will loose major freedoms of choice for not just one decade … but a generation.
Another perplexing element tucked away in this trillion dollar “Stimulus” bill is the government’s reach into an un-funded yet subsidized health care.
The Democrat Party led Senate has confirmed New York Federal Reserve Bank Chief Timothy Geithner as President Obama's Secretary of the Treasury. The vote was 60-34, as many lawmakers questioned Geithner's failure to pay all of his taxes ($46,000) from 2001, to 2004. He has since paid them in full. Image Credit: NECN
This excerpted and edited from Congress Daily via NACS Daily -
Stimulus Package Contains Risky COBRA Provisions Congress Daily - February 10, 2009
Senate leaders began debate on Friday on an economic stimulus bill that has some business community leaders concerned about the costs associated with the proposed health provisions, particularly one that would expand COBRA coverage.
Congress Daily writes that the health provisions of the Senate’s version of economic stimulus bill would subsidize COBRA premiums to allow “laid-off workers to afford to keep their job-based insurance for up to a year” However, the House-passed $819 billion version of the stimulus bill would “go a step further” and allow those who have been “on the job at least 10 years and who are age 55 or older to keep their job-based insurance until they become eligible for Medicare.”
On Friday, Senate leaders agreed to “a $5 billion reduction in COBRA subsidies for unemployed workers to buy health insurance” and instead of having the federal government subsidize 65 percent of the cost for nine months, as prescribed in both the House and Senate bills, the Senate bill reduces the subsidy to 50 percent but extends it for one year,” writes Congress Daily. ---- These costs would significantly increase if people could keep COBRA longer as they approach Medicare eligibility...COBRA should not be considered a long-term source of coverage and was not intended to be one...Both current employees and their employers would face significant cost increases to finance the committee’s proposals to indefinitely extend COBRA coverage.” ---- The Senate – with pressure from President Obama – is expected to pass its version of the economic stimulus package today. The bill will then head to a conference committee to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions. Reference Here>>
This additional drag on the structure of business expenses has the opposite effect on the economy as it relates to stimulus and growth.
The new Treasury Secretary of the Obama administration, Timothy Geithner, has just announced his new plan that proposes yet another two (yes, that’s 2) trillion dollars of taxpayer money committed to propping up our mortgage banking industry.
Process without consequence is NO PROCESS at all.
We are living in the parallel universe described in the Superman comic books known as Bizzaro World (all things are flipped to the opposite) ... where everything Good is labeled and reacted to as Bad - and everything Bad is labeled and reacted to as Good.
In this real world, the outcomes and consequences are not flipped and actually remain the same.
United States' Social Engineering through the US Congress created entities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, left unchecked ... has led to this world economic disaster.
All "Bailout" scenarios leave these Social Engineering processes in place.
A trillion here, two trillion there ... WHY NOT? is what we, at MAXINE, say!
Bend over and kiss the future generation’s economic and personal freedoms goodbye.
