Author's posts
Jun 19 2009
Why you are unemployed.
In Michigan, we have an internet job/resume bank. As one of the qualifying conditions for unemployment compensation, laid-off people are required to post their resume in the system. We currently have 1 million resumes on file and 20,000 jobs.
US fast-tracks hi-tech trade with India; GE India first beneficiary
WASHINGTON: The United States has announced a new programme to fast-track high-technology trade with India from which General Electric’s India division will be the first Indian company to benefit.
“This is an important step in enabling a more rapid and efficient flow of sensitive technology between India and the United States,” US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke announced at the US-India Business Council’s 34th Anniversary “Synergies Summit” Wednesday. –snip–
We’re looking forward to reciprocal actions from our partner,” Locke said encouraging other Indian firms also to take advantage of the programme. –snip–
The only countries eligible for the programme to date are India and China, which was approved in late April.
Last year, US companies exported $18 billion worth of goods to India, and India shipped the United States $25 billion worth of goods, Locke said. –snip–
With Democrats like Obama, corporations don’t need the Republicans in the White House.
Jun 07 2009
The real roots of the auto crisis & who’s calling the shots.
One: The real roots of the auto crisis.
Listening to Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren talk about auto woes last week left David Cole grinding his teeth. So, too, about a dozen other national reporters and anchors who have called the usually mild-mannered expert in recent weeks for his wisdom on the trials and tribulations of the Detroit Three and broader auto industry.
Cole, a scientist and engineer by training, is chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, MI. He has been seen on nearly every national TV news program explaining the challenges and perils of the troubled automotive industry. He says the local media is well-informed as are some at the national level who are assigned to cover autos. “It’s when you get to the general national media that things fall apart.”
Cole said, “This entire conversation is about the industrial future of our country. The auto crisis is not a result of a management problem, but is attributable to the massive collapse of financial markets.
And not having a true national energy policy.
And that most automakers around the world have received aid from their governments.
America is the only one that has not supported its manufacturers — that is, until recently.
Cole added that it isn’t only some journalists who don’t get it.
“Too many people are listening to what these experts and pundits are saying, and it isn’t only hurting Detroit, but the nation,” he said. –snip–
“Of all the industrialized countries in the world, we are the only country that does not understand the role manufacturing plays in our economy,” Cole said. “It is so important in our economy … and it is right on the edge of a cliff.”
He added: “If GM doesn’t make it through this bankruptcy in a surgical way, this will be a catastrophe for Detroit and the nation.”
So now that our government is supporting US autos, how’s that going?
Jun 05 2009
Obama Willing to Consider Tax on Employer-Paid Health Benefits
President Obama, in a pivot from some of his harshest campaign rhetoric, told Democratic senators yesterday that he is willing to consider taxing employer-sponsored health benefits to help pay for a broad expansion of coverage.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Obama expressed a willingness to consider changing the existing tax exclusion. The decision would probably anger liberal supporters such as labor unions, but such a tax change would raise enormous sums of money as Congress and the White House are struggling to find the estimated $1.2 trillion needed to pay for health-care reform over the next decade.
“Yeah, it’s something that he might consider,” Baucus told reporters after the meeting between Obama and Democratic lawmakers. “That was discussed. It’s on the table.” Obama had summoned about two dozen senators to the White House to keep up the pressure to enact a comprehensive health-care overhaul this year. –snip–
What is it that Baucus and his cronies just don’t get?
Jun 03 2009
Obama Willing to Consider Tax on Employer-Paid Health Benefits
President Obama, in a pivot from some of his harshest campaign rhetoric, told Democratic senators yesterday that he is willing to consider taxing employer-sponsored health benefits to help pay for a broad expansion of coverage.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Obama expressed a willingness to consider changing the existing tax exclusion. The decision would probably anger liberal supporters such as labor unions, but such a tax change would raise enormous sums of money as Congress and the White House are struggling to find the estimated $1.2 trillion needed to pay for health-care reform over the next decade.
“Yeah, it’s something that he might consider,” Baucus told reporters after the meeting between Obama and Democratic lawmakers. “That was discussed. It’s on the table.” Obama had summoned about two dozen senators to the White House to keep up the pressure to enact a comprehensive health-care overhaul this year. –snip–
What is it that Baucus and his constipated cohorts just don’t get?
May 23 2009
Unemployed? Get used to it.
Our Kleptocracy: Saving the American economy by looting it
“Economists are already floating the concept that Americans better get used to a lower standard of living. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have vanished forever in industries such as auto manufacturing and financial services. Millions of people who were fired or laid off will find it harder to get hired again and for years may have to accept lower earnings than they enjoyed before the slump.
…
Layoffs now taking place are similar to those in the 1981-1982 recession, when unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent and 2.8 million jobs disappeared, leaving industries such as durable-goods manufacturing permanently smaller. Some 14 percent of durable-goods positions vanished in that slump, and the sector never regained the employment level of June 1981.”
Apr 26 2009
Barack Obama administration seeks to change police questioning law
As an Illinois state senator, Obama sponsored a bill to require the police to videotape interrogations in capital crime cases. Illinois was the first state to do this.
Now, the Obama administration is urging the US Supreme Court to overturn a landmark decision that stops police from questioning suspects unless they have a lawyer present. Nineteen former judges and prosecutors, including Larry Thompson (ex-deputy attorney general) and Williams Sessions (former FBI director), have urged the Supreme Court to leave the 1986 ruling intact.
The Michigan vs Jackson ruling in 1986 established that, if a defendants have a lawyer or have asked for one to be present, police may not interview them until the lawyer is present. Any such questioning cannot be used in court even if the suspect agrees to waive his right to a lawyer because he would have made that decision without legal counsel, said the Supreme Court.
The US Justice Department is arguing that the existing rule is unnecessary and outdated. The sixth amendment of the US constitution protects the right of criminal suspects to be “represented by counsel”, but the Obama regime argues that this merely means to “protect the adversary process” in a criminal trial.
The Justice Department, in a brief signed by Elena Kagan, the solicitor general, said the 1986 decision “serves no real purpose” and offers only “meagre benefits”.
Critics argue that the 1986 decision is important to protect vulnerable defendants such as the mentally disabled, poor or juveniles who could be easily swayed by the police.
“Your right to assistance of counsel can be undermined if somebody on the other side who is much more sophisticated than you are comes and talks to you and asks for information,” said Sidney Rosdeitcher, a New York lawyer who advises the Brennan Centre for Justice at New York University.
So according to the Obama administration, the criminal rights of the mentally disabled, poor and juvenilles are too meager to be bothered with, and the Bush administration’s crimes are too important to look back on in anger or with thoughts of revenge.
Where the hell are their high priced consultants, their values, their heads? There is no way this administration can sell taking away rights and justice from America’s most vulnerable while protecting torturers and fraudulent banks. If this isn’t morally and politically bankrupt on all counts, I don’t know what is.
Somebody really needs to let President Obama in on the screwed up messages “the Obama administration” is sending out in his name, and Democrats better remember that even the Iraq war got a honey moon. If Obama and the Democrats don’t deliver the change they promised, they will lose to it; and this country can’t afford to have them blow another opportunity to enact the progressive change that the people and the country so urgently need. Democrats can either be the hero and keep power for 30 – 40 years, or they can be the goat and concede power in 4 years.
I want to believe, but he keeps pissing me off.
tip of the hat and cross posted here
Apr 21 2009
To: Alma
Alma,
Writing you your very own personal diary is a little weird, but I’m not very good with “search”, and I wanted to give you the information I got from my Vet. Rep. Steve.
Sorry for the delay…I’ve checked with various sources and it appears at this point that veterans currently receiving disability compensation will receive a one-time $250 payment.
MORE
A one-time Economic Recovery Payment of $250 will be made in 2009.
People do not have to file a tax return to receive the payment.
Who is elegible?1. Retiree’s, disabled individuals or an SSI recipient (payment will come from SS Administration)
2. Disabled veterans will receive the payment via the VA.
3. Railroad retiree’s will receieve payment via the Railroad Retirement Board.
Hope it helps you and your friend.
Apr 10 2009
Selling of America
“People who are my age have no idea what they are going to do,” Suter said, trying to angle a workbench into his trailer. “How they are going to live on $12 an hour without benefits when we’re used to $29 with benefits? You can’t make an economy on cleaning somebody else’s shirts or selling mutual funds. What are towns like Ypsilanti going to do?”
Ypsilanti is not the most besieged city in Michigan, but is an auto town, and its problems mirror those of the larger industrial Midwest. Just four square miles and 35 miles west of Detroit, it has lost more than 25 percent of its population since 1970. Schools have closed, as did its two other auto-related plants. Outside the Visteon plant, located on Factory Street in Ypsilanti alongside Interstate 94 and Ford Lake, the building that housed the UAW Local 849 is for sale. –snip–
Mar 30 2009
Obama forces Wagoner Out..Contracts only matter when they belong to WS
Apparently contracts and sacrifice from the people receiving taxpayer money are only off limits when it applies to Wall Street.
I have no clue if Wagoner was good or bad or should have or haven’t stayed. What I am totally pissed at is the double standard. I won’t detail it, we’ve all been living and paying for this administration’s double standards. When it comes to Wall Street or bringing justice to war criminals and profiteers, they would rather “look forward”. When it comes to bailing out Americans, whether it is their jobs or their homes, it is time to right the wrongs and make sacrifices for America.
Mar 28 2009
fuel-efficient 40-foot hybrid mass-transit bus
Fisher Body to build the Fisher GTB-40 bus, a 40-foot ultralightweight hybrid that boasts twice the fuel efficiency of current hybrid buses. It uses a lightweight, nitrogen-strengthened stainless steel unibody; has no traditional engine for propulsion; and relies on Swiss-made batteries to drive motors for each wheel. The buses are half the weight of other hybrid and diesel models.
A small diesel engine powers a generator that keeps the batteries charged longer. Energy from the brakes is captured for reuse. Automotive News
Mar 05 2009
Damn Those Welfare Queens: Health Care
Imagine vice presidents, Board of Directors, and stock holders all cashing in on denying you benefits while collecting your premiums. If you are uninsured, try calling any one of the 23 CEOs listed below and see if they will give you free insurance.
Feb 15 2009
They didn’t want him as the DNC Chair, either.
Why not Dean for HHS? He did a hell of a job, and he gets squat while failed WS bankers get billions for failing.
In backing Dean, Newsweek columnist Eleanor Clift admitted he’d be an unconventional choice. But as The Nation noted in a recent editorial, isn’t that what Obama’s “team of rivals” philosophy is all about?
Obama prides himself on how magnanimous he is, so you can’t rule out that he might reward someone who like him was an early and consistent opponent of the Iraq War, who helped lead the party out of the wilderness and who many Democrats think has been badly treated. Obama certainly wouldn’t have to give Dean the dual portfolio with the White House title that he had so easily conferred on Daschle. And Emanuel is a political realist. If Obama went with Dean, he wouldn’t fall on his sword over it; he’d probably find other ways to get his revenge. That’s how Washington works: don’t get mad, get even.