bailout Archives - Page 2 of 14 - Where Is The Outrage?

Saturday Night/Sunday Morning News Roundup

Kevin Costner did a marvelous job at Whitney Houston’s funeral.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is really caught between a rock and a hard place. He really has to win Michigan. Losing his home state of Michigan would be as devastating to him as losing Tennessee was to Al Gore (it cost him the election). The fact that Newt Gingrich has gotten another injection of millions of dollars of cash can only help Mitt Romney. The Republican Party seems to be split up into those who can’t stand Mitt Romney and those who think he’s okay. Rick Santorum is taking most of the I can’t stand Mitt Romney vote. If Newt becomes a viable candidate (Newt has really never been a viable candidate), he will siphon off some votes from Rick Santorum. Mitt, though, has also run into a buzz saw with his stance on the auto bailout. The Tea Party portion of Republicans really hate the idea of any bailout whatsoever. Romney continues to insist that he wanted some sort of bailout, just not a government bailout. That doesn’t sit well with the Tea Party. Mitt is trying to walk this fine line in order to promote a market-driven solution, one supposed to impress the fiscal conservative Republicans. They don’t seem all that impressed with his answer either.

The Heartland Institute has been pushing an anti-global warming agenda for some time. Internal documents reveal 19 corporations that have been funding the Institute.

An Arizona sheriff (no, not that one) was the co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in Arizona. He stepped down in the face of allegations that he was going to deport illegal gay man. Somehow, sex is involved, or at least allegations of sex are involved… sort of. Anyway, it’s a huge mess for the sheriff. Oh, did I mention that the sheriff was openly gay? Somebody get the popcorn. I’m going to be following the story. A gay sheriff in Arizona who is also running for Congress. You can’t make this stuff up.

In Wisconsin, Scott Walker asked a judge to delay the recall vote so that he can have time to verify all of the one million signatures. The campaign originally had 10 days to examine all the signatures and the judge granted an extra 20. The friends of Scott Walker were asking for more time. The judge said no.

One of the best articles I’ve read today points to the six people to whom Congress should have listened about birth control. First, Doctor Regina Benjamin, surgeon general. I know Doctor Benjamin personally. She is thoughtful, knowledgeable, poignant and passionate. She would’ve been fabulous. Secondly, talk to working moms. I think this was good advice. Thirdly, talk to Sarah Palin. This was not immediately obvious until I read the author’s description of why – “only because her grasp of the English language is so tenuous and fraught with peril that every time she opened her mouth, whatever cause she is advocating get set back 20 years.” A female drug addict. Loretta Lynn. Kathy Griffin, comedian and actress who was talked about her Catholic faith.

Paul Krugman, in the following graph, points out that austerity has not worked in Europe. Those countries who have forced austerity measures and decreased government spending are now, two years later, worse off.

from Paul Krugman

Simply put, Americans do well when unions do well.

Do you remember Elizabeth Smart? She was the 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped in Salt Lake City. She was held for nine months. She just got married. I wish her and her new groom well. After that ridiculously harrowing experience, she, like all of us, deserves happiness.

Here’s the golf shot of the day –

Any thoughts, questions, concerns? What’s on your mind?

By ecthompsonmd|2012-02-19T00:33:53-04:00February 19th, 2012|Economy, Entertainment|Comments Off

Romney’s continued attack on the auto industry

I’ve been been working on and off for the last two hours on trying to get a decent post together on Mitt Romney and his attack on the auto industry bailout. I have either writer’s block or brain freeze or some combination of both. Let’s see what Steve had to say on this subject –

Mitt Romney has earned a well-deserved reputation for taking both sides of several dozen issues. As a rule, however, the Republican presidential hopeful tries to take these positions one at a time.

Romney’s position on President Obama’s rescue of the American automotive industry is a little more complicated. On the one hand, Romney wants to take credit for the policy, since he suggested managed bankruptcy. On the other hand, Romney wants to condemn the same policy, at the same time, since Obama used public funds to keep the industry’s head above water during the restructuring process.

The Detroit Free Press’ Tom Walsh, who talked to Romney about this the other day, noted the former governor “must be exhausted from trying to twist the facts into a narrative that sounds (a) like he’s happy for Detroit auto workers who still have jobs and are sharing in profits; (b) yet also virulently anti-Obama and anti-labor-union.”

It’s this same twisting that leaves Romney saying strange things.

Romney insisted … he would have steered the companies into managed bankruptcy — but with loan and warranty guarantees, not tens of billions of dollars in bailout cash.

And who would have made the big loans that Romney would have federally guaranteed? The private credit markets were frozen in the financial panic of late 2008 and early 2009, leading many experts to conclude that no private lender would have stepped up to finance bankruptcies as huge and risky as those of GM and Chrysler.

When I pressed Romney on this point, he insisted that if the U.S. Treasury issued bonds or guarantees, plenty of private lenders would have surfaced.

No serious person believes this, not even those who used to agree with him on the issue. Does Romney even remember the crash and near collapse of the global financial system? It’s why a Chrysler executive responded last year to Romney’s position by suggesting he’s “smoking illegal material.”

On CBS News last night, General Motors Chairman and CEO Daniel Akerson wasn’t quite that colorful, but when asked about Romney’s argument, Akerson responded, “I think you could have written off this company, this industry, and this country” with such an approach.

Mike Jackson, chairman and CEO of AutoNation, added that Romney’s argument is “reckless, detached from reality, and dishonest.”

By ecthompsonmd|2012-02-18T18:01:47-04:00February 18th, 2012|Economy, Party Politics|Comments Off

Friday Morning News Roundup

The NY Knicks have a problem. Jeremy Lin has taken the league by storm. New York has almost forgotten about the Giants, who won a Super Bowl, and have just jumped on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon. I follow Spike Lee on twitter. He has been going nuts over Lin’s outstanding play over the last week. The only reason that Lin is in the lineup is that superstar Carmelo Anthony has been hurt. Melo is now healthy. There is only one basketball. Now what? This is going to be interesting. Lin has been on a very unique hot streak. Here is what Lin has meant to basketball –

Greece is closing in on a bailout deal. Germany may want more.

Why does Rupert Murdoch still have a job? Why hasn’t the board of directors fired him? Murdoch is rushing back to London to try to calm nerves since the arrest of several high-level officials. This just gets worse and worse.

NY Times journalist died in Syria. He died of an apparent asthma attack. He was covering the war in Syria.

The 189th republican debate (have there been fewer..? it seems like more) has been cancelled by CNN. It appears that only Newt was going to show up. I think that would have been perfect. Newt debating with himself for over an hour about whether, frankly, he is the greatest candidate of all time. Now, that would have been TV worth watching.

There was a plane flying in presidential airspace on Thursday. As per protocol, F-16 fighters were scrambled and intercepted the prop plane. It may be the most expensive drug bust in a while because the plane was full of pot. Busted for transporting pot because you flew into presidential airspace.

The multi-millionaire Rick Santorum backer went on the tellie to mention that all of this stuff over contraception is overblown. He said, “Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.” Of course, back in the good ole days women had back room abortions which frequently ended in death. Back in his day, women were forced to marry early because they knew nothing about sexual education. Back in his day, it was rare for women to go to college and have a career. Back in his day the dinosaurs roamed the plains, as did woolly mammoths… you get the picture. Women need to have information. They need to be free to make their own decisions about contraception. They don’t need advice from this guy.

Ron Paul could still win Maine in a non-binding straw poll/caucus-type thing that really means nothing since no delegates were decided. Our political process gets uglier and uglier the more I examine it.

Unemployment claims decreased.

Did you know that the economy is growing in spite of President Obama? Yep, that’s the Romney line for today.

Romney’s campaign is in trouble. He is at risk of losing his home state of Michigan. So, he decided that it would be a GREAT idea to give a major speech in his home state bashing the auto bailout and unions. That’s a winning formula for Michigan!!

Jokes about the tragic death of Whitney Houston, I guess, if told by someone with taste, could be okay, but calling her a “crack ho” was out of bounds and a radio duo got suspended for their thoughtless and tasteless remarks. When I said on the air that Whitney Houston had a huge problem with drugs and that her problems have been well documented. I think that was okay. I said that I would be surprised if drugs and alcohol did not contribute to her death. I think that was also okay. I don’t think that it is okay to call her a crack ho and ask why it took so long for her to die. These morons are doing what morning drive time guys do, push the envelope of taste. This is why folks listen to them. Sad that you have to be offensive to get an audience these days.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-02-17T10:21:25-04:00February 17th, 2012|Civil Rights, Domestic Issues, Economy, Media, Obama administration, Party Politics|Comments Off