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Posted on June 1st, 2009 by Mark.
Categories: News.
Come on. It’s enough already. Does the Obama Administration think that the Chinese government is as dumb as the American public? Apparently, as Obama keeps sending envoys to China to convince them that they shouldn’t believe what they read or trust their lying eyes. This week, it’s Timmy Geithner that is in China trying to convince the communist regime and bankroller of American debt, that all is well. It would be laughable if not for the fact that it’s so darn pathetic. Here we are, the United States of America, and we’re trying to convince CHINA that we’re worth the investment.
“Chinese assets are very safe,” Geithner said in response to a question after a speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student in the 1980s.
His answer drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting skepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home.
But later in the day, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said it was important for the two nations to show the world they are working together through their joint economic dialogue.
“We must through our dialogue send a clear signal that China and the U.S. are engaged in practical cooperation to address the crisis,” Wang told Geithner.
Poor Tim Geithner, students are LAUGHING at the guy… but then China has little to laugh about as it finds itself in a position where it either sinks or swims depending on our ability to keep buying JUNK. Tim made sure that the Chinese had nothing to fear in the way of exporting the aforemention JUNK to our shores and onto the shelves of retail giants. At the same time in an effort to likely dissuade the Chinese from a move away from the dollar it seems that Team Obama is looking to make China a bigger economic player, offering it a larger role at the IMF.
Geithner offered U.S. backing for a higher-profile role for China in running global institutions including the IMF — a controversial proposition since it raises the sensitive issue of reducing Europe’s voting share in the global lender.
“The United States will fully support having China play a role in the principal cooperative arrangements that help shape the international system, a role that is commensurate with China’s importance in the global economy,” he said.
In words clearly intended to soothe Chinese concerns that its vibrant export economy might be targeted by U.S. lawmakers who are feeling pressure from soaring American joblessness, Geithner said the Obama administration would resist any such moves.
“As we go through the severe stresses of this crisis, we must not turn our backs on open trade and investment,” he said. “In return, we expect increased opportunities to export to and invest in the Chinese economy.”
Tim expects increased opportunities to export and invest in the Chinese economy? Wow, it seems that the Treasury Secretary is tragically naive when it comes to our relationship with the Chinese on an import/export basis. I’m sure that comment elicited laughter from the Chinese government. I’m wondering what we’d export to China anyway given that we don’t seem to manufacture anything.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s open mic night/amateur hour in the US government… and we’re all along for the ride.
Posted on June 1st, 2009 by Mark.
Categories: Editorials, News.
We knew it was coming. We knew that General Motors was going to go belly-up. It should have happened sooner rather than later. We have thrown good money after bad for far too long. GM should have been in bankruptcy a long, long, time ago. The company is in the hole for a reported amount of $173 BILLION DOLLARS. Excuse me? How is a company that owes $173 billion, VIABLE, in any sense of the word?
What’s even more amazing than the amount owed by GM however, are the galling comments that Barack Obama made about the bankruptcy. Apparently he wasn’t going to allow GM to become a welfare ward of the American taxpayer. Really? Then why the hell is he throwing another $30 billion at GM?! What do we get for the near $50 billion we’ve pumped into GM thus far? We get a 60% stake in a company that is WORTHLESS. To top it off, the government is going to be purchasing a fleet of vehicles from the “new” GM. No, no corporate welfare to be seen here… shuffle off. Is this guy for real?
I remember when Barack Obama said that he had no interest in running GM. Well, I think somebody missed the memo because while GM is closing plant after plant, it’s also going to open a new plant that will build small cars, apparently the smallest ever offered by the automaker. Seems to me that GM has gotten Obama’s message (more like mandate) loud and clear. Who is it that is going to buy these tiny vehicles? Have Americans shown a real interest in buying these micro vehicles that GM is set to start selling? No…. but hey, who cares, it’s not like GM is actually conducting BUSINESS. After all, when the US government is your sugar daddy, you really don’t have to worry about making something people want to BUY.
This is insanity. It’s time for conservatives and people that believe in CAPITALISM to walk away from every company currently taking money from this government. We cannot REWARD these companies for their failures by buying what they’re selling. These are not American enterprises be they banks, insurance companies or automakers. Abandon them wholesale. You might be stuck with a bank for your mortgage, but you can move investments, insurance policies, retirement funds, checking/savings accounts from these parasitic companies and reward those companies that are conducting a quality business.
Sorry for the rant, but I am enraged by these developments. That Barack Obama would pretend that GM is not still on the government dole because of this bankruptcy filing is an OUT AND OUT lie. We are now in deeper than ever. Make no mistake about it.
Posted on May 31st, 2009 by Mark.
Categories: Editorials, Just Dumb, News.
One would think that Robert Gibbs, the President’s Press Secretary would be a little more media savvy. Where former Press Secretaries would dismiss comments made by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, or in this case the British press, Gibbs seems keen to take on all comers straight away. Bad move, Bob (or does the President call you Bill too?).
Politico has an extraordinary report on Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, launching a furious broadside against the British press. Here are Gibbs’ sneering and condescending remarks:
“I want to speak generally about some reports I’ve witnessed over the past few years in the British media,” Gibbs said. “In some ways, I’m surprised it filtered down.”
“Let’s just say if I wanted to look up, if I wanted to read a write-up of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champions League Cup, I’d might open up a British newspaper,” he continued. “If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I’m not entirely sure it’d be the first pack of clips I’d pick up.”
Gibbs’ juvenile comments followed an article in The Daily Telegraph relating to the President’s decision not to release new photos reportedly showing appalling prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib by a tiny minority of military personnel. The straightforward news piece, hotly disputed by the White House, is based upon an interview with Major General Antonio Taguba, who oversaw the inquiry into the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal.
Bob, may I call you Bob? Your boss wants this story to go away. The US military wants this story to go away. The American people want this story to go away. So, when you’re asked about it, why not just say, “The President did what he felt was in the best interests of our fighting men and women still in harm’s way,” or, “We’re not going to comment on every press account as relates to an issue that has been thoroughly covered.”? It’s all really rather simple, Bob. You don’t need to diminish the whole of British media with a snarky retort. Please Bob, a little professionalism. You should be out there elevating your neophyte boss in the eyes of the world and here you are playing down at his level? Come on, man… think.
Leave Limbaugh and the media (British or otherwise) alone. Think of these items as the third rail of Press Secretaries. You have managed to elevate a talk show host to the level of world power, while lowering the British press to the level of The National Enquirer. Just nod, smirk and say nothing… you can handle that kind of work cantcha Bob?
You’re an idiot Mr. Gibbs, but you’re our idiot. I don’t like to see you savaged in the foreign press, even if deserving of it. Elevate your rhetoric sir, please, for the sake of your rock star boss.
Posted on May 29th, 2009 by Mark.
Categories: Editorials, News.
Senator Cornyn, do us all a favor and practice what you preach. How dare you judge editorial worth by whether or not somebody is an “elected official”.
“I think it’s terrible… This is not the kind of tone any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advise and consent.”
Cornyn dismissed Limbaugh and Gingrich, adding: “Neither one of these men are elected Republican officials. I just don’t think it’s appropriate. I certainly don’t endorse it. I think it’s wrong.”
Have you read the Constitution of the United States of America, Senator? It is every American’s RIGHT to speak their mind and I would go further and state that it is their civic duty. I suppose you being a Senator makes you a more worthy judge of Sonia Sotomayor? It seems you’ve taken as elitist a view as the judge, elevating your position as a Senator above that of the unelected. Perhaps you two could compare and contrast your assertion that elected opinions matter more than those of the unelected, with her view that latina women are better judges than white males.
Excuse me sir, but Gingrich and Limbaugh owe you nothing. They surely don’t owe you their silence. Perhaps if you weren’t such a yellow bellied coward they wouldn’t have to take it upon themselves to speak out. Perhaps if you were as committed to the defense of conservatism as you claim to be, you would understand why the words of Sotomayor are so concerning. Perhaps if you were a man of convictions rather than a hack consumed with being re-elected, you’d be out in front leading on the issue instead of calculating risks to your own political ambitions.
Right is right, sir. Cowardly is cowardly… and you sir, you Senator Cornyn, you are a coward.
Posted on May 29th, 2009 by Mark.
Categories: Editorials, News.
I had to laugh when I read this story. It seems that Ahmadinejad is trying to buy the votes of the poor in Iran by doling out potatoes.
Two weeks from today, Iran’s presidential election will determine whether Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust-denying, Israel-hating, America-bashing incumbent, remains in office, whether his country continues its drive to become a nuclear power, and whether a state with a key role in Iraq, Afghanistan and other international flashpoints remains hostile to the West.
The stakes could scarcely be higher, but it is the lowly potato that has been grabbing attention.
The Government is handing out 400,000 tonnes of free spuds in rural towns. It says that it is merely distributing the surplus from a bumper crop, but Mr Ahmadinejad’s opponents accuse it of bribing the poor. “Death to potatoes,” they chant at rallies.
One would think that the idea is madness and that the people could see through such things (especially given that Iran has a very high unemployment rate that Mahmoud has done nothing about) but perhaps not. After all, look at us here in the United States. We bought off on a juvenile and populist notion that Barack Obama would deliver “hope” and “change”. Given that the US seems to be doing worse off now than when he took office, it seems that Ahmadinejad’s potatoes are a much stronger offering than Obama’s cheap promises.
I hope that in the future those voting Democrat will demand more of their candidates. It’s time for them to get back to basics… passing out cigarettes, instead of handing off bogus promises.
Posted on May 28th, 2009 by Mark.
Categories: Editorials, News.
I keep hearing that Chrysler and GM are going to survive albeit as much smaller entities. I keep hearing that America’s big three will survive this economic “downturn”. I keep hearing that Mr. Obama will make sure it’s so. Nonsense. America is down to ONE car manufacturer and that is Ford. If you’re going to buy American, you need to set aside GM and Chrysler as wholly UNAMERICAN. GM and Chrysler are now government entities within the market. They are not American corporations, they are not capitalist endeavors engaged in the risk and reward of business. Until the Obama government is out of GM and Chrysler, these two companies are the antithesis of capitalistic enterprises.
If you want to buy “American” support companies still doing business within the capitalist model. At this point buying Toyota, Honda or Nissan is in essence more in line with “Buying American” than if you bought from either GM or Chrysler. Government is NOT supposed to take over corporations. We have courts and a process called BANKRUPTCY which companies in the straits faced by Chrysler and GM are supposed to utilize to weather such storms, or to fold up and die. We have thrown tens of billions of dollars at both of these auto companies in an attempt to keep them viable. In the end, both Chrysler and GM ended up in bankruptcy anyway. So I ask? What was the POINT?
Congratulations tax payers, we own two worthless companies. Congratulations bond holders, you got robbed. Congratulations union employees, a bunch of you are going to be let go, but hey, your dues have managed to allow your “representatives” to own a stake in these worthless companies as well. I don’t know, is this supposed to be the “feel good” moment?
Forget about helping your fellow American or the economy by buying a Chrysler or a GM car. The temptation will be great when all of the dust settles. It will seem like business as usual, but it won’t be. Business won’t be “as usual” until the US Government is out of the industry. You have to look beyond the little guys where it concerns your next auto purchase. If you believe in capitalism, and further that it has served this country well, then you have to reject GM and Chrysler products. Neither of these companies represents American capitalism. They are now monuments to the Obama dream of a socialist economy in which government is expanded and expanded and expanded. Obama has brought 70,000 people into the government at a median income of $75,000 per year. Was this the hope and change that we were supposed to embrace? Now we can add tens of thousands more to the government payroll under the subheadings of “Chrysler” and “General Motors”. Yeah, a real feel good moment for America and American industry. Give yourselves a pat on the back. Shake your own hand. Job well done.
Posted on May 26th, 2009 by Mark.
Categories: Editorials, News.
I don’t even have to go very far on this one. Is Sonia Sotomayor a great jurist? Nope apparently not. From the various reports trickling in from colleagues, it seems that Ms. Sotomayor leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to her abilities. I have serious questions about a woman that intimates on video that courts, “set policy”. Courts are NOT supposed to set policy, they are supposed to interpret the law. Further, it seems that Ms. Sotomayor thinks that her experiences as a latina female make her somehow more qualified to render judgment than say, a white male on matters of race and sex. Really? How so? If a judge is supposed to work within the context of the LAW, what personal experience is it that she wishes to impart where it concerns her application of said law? It seems that the law will be trumped by Ms. Sotomayor’s life experience. Oh how nice for all of us that she is going to bring her bias to the bench.
Congratulations Ms. Sotomayor, not for being a learned scholar of law, but for being female and latina… that seems the most pressing of criterias in Mr. Obama’s selection of you as a Supreme Court Justice. How does it feel to have subjected yourself to years of education and to then find that what qualified you was obtained at your birth? Somebody with a wee bit of self respect might be offended, but hey, you said it yourself, you’re only half the woman your mother is.
Posted on May 26th, 2009 by Mark.
Categories: Editorials, News.
Memo to Barack Obama, Kim Jong-il and Ahmadinejad don’t give a hoot what you think. After detonating a “test” nuke, it was nice to see Mr. Hope and Change come out and condemn it (after following prompts from China and Russia) and followed up by hastily tossing the matter off to the UN. Way to lead Mr. President.
Last week Benjamin Netanyahu paid Washington a visit. Without a doubt he voiced his terrible concerns with regard to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. After all, Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric hasn’t exactly been reasonable whilst he’s chased down “the bomb”. Barack Obama is the biggest advocate of the two state solution to ever hold the office of President of the United States, and it doesn’t matter a lick. The tiny tyrant is unimpressed. Iran does as it likes, Ahmadinejad continues to make threats and what does Obama tell Netanyahu? He says that he wants progress with Iran on nuclear weapons by the end of the year. I wonder if Barack Obama would be so cavalier if nuclear weapons were being installed in Cuba and Castro was threatening to wipe Florida off of the map. Somehow I’m not convinced that he’d do much of anything to stop it. Hey Mr. Putin, you might want to finish what Khrushchev started.
Who is spearheading the Obama effort on North Korea? Hillary Clinton? No. It seems that the Secretary of State is being relegated to second fiddle while we pass the buck to the UN and to Susan Rice, who by my estimate is a neophyte. Remember this is the woman that said that neither Clinton or Obama were ready for a “3 AM call” during the campaign. Isn’t it nice to know that Ms. Rice is bringing her own brand of naivete to reining in North Korea? Rice isn’t ready for a call, period. Watching her on the morning talk circuit this morning inspired no sense of confidence within me… and today, the missiles continue to fly despite all of the “condemnations”.
This is madness. Nuclear proliferation was poised to become epidemic, unfortunately the election of Barack Obama has made what was going to be a tough job (stopping it/slowing it) impossible. Meanwhile, in Pakistan… the Taliban marches on.
Sooner or later we have to expect this president to commit to a course of action on SOMETHING. Giving away the store and bankrupting tax payers for the next half a century somehow now seems irrelevant in the scope of wondering if this guy is going to twiddle his thumbs on the road to Armaggedon.
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 by Mark.
Categories: News, Politics.
Barack Obama is set to unveil his economic team on Monday. At the forefront and heading up the Treasury will be New York Fed president Timothy Geithner. To hear people speak about this guy, is to hear nothing but high praise. Is he the panacea that the economy and our Florida mortgage applicants, so desperately need? Wall Street hunting up any straw on which to hang, seemed to react positively to the news of Geithner’s impending appointment as Treasury Secretary. The market closed up 494 points Friday afternoon supposedly on the news. Will it last? The market seems to have a short memory when it comes to good news. If recent history is any kind of indication, the market will fall back to reality quickly, focusing in on the more pertinent indicators and the glow of Geithner will be a fast passing fad.
Still, the man has an extensive history within government, heading up the New York Fed as well as playing a key role along with Bernanke and Paulson in trying to contain the economic mess. At the very least he will come to the table knowing exactly what’s been going on. Considering he’ll be inheriting Secretary Paulson’s stewardship of $700 billion in bailout funds, it seems fortuitous that he has been so closely involved in the process to date. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Geithner is keenly aware of what it is that is occuring on Wall Street and his appointment would signal a very real desire to address the concerns of the market.
One thing is clear, if there is one sector of the country that truly requires “change” it is the economic sector. At the same time, hopefully Geithner will be able to impart to the President elect, the need to reconsider implementing tax hikes in the near future. Wall Street cannot be pleased with the notion that a President Obama would enact tax increases while the country stumbles through this economic bog.
Is Timothy Geithner the answer to the nation’s economic woes? We can only hope so.
Posted on November 13th, 2008 by Mark.
Categories: News.
I have said it many times, MSNBC is a worthless news outlet. I have mentioned that their anchors are morons. I have singled out David Shuster as one of the biggest imbeciles on the entirety of the wannabe Fox of the cable medium. Case in point, Shuster and MSNBC bit off on this fake Palin story…. *snicker*
NEW YORK (AP) - MSNBC was the victim of a hoax when it reported that an adviser to John McCain had identified himself as the source of an embarrassing story about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the network said Wednesday.
David Shuster, an anchor for the cable news network, said on air Monday that Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, had come forth and identified himself as the source of a Fox News Channel story saying Palin had mistakenly believed Africa was a country instead of a continent.
Eisenstadt identifies himself on a blog as a senior fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy. Yet neither he nor the institute exist; each is part of a hoax dreamed up by a filmmaker named Eitan Gorlin and his partner, Dan Mirvish, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
The Eisenstadt claim had mistakenly been delivered to Shuster by a producer and was used in a political discussion Monday afternoon, MSNBC said.
“The story was not properly vetted and should not have made air,” said Jeremy Gaines, network spokesman. “We recognized the error almost immediately and ran a correction on air within minutes.”
The economy is in crisis, Obama is vetting his appointees more thoroughly than he himself was to become PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and these morons are still all about Sarah Palin? Guys, get a life, the woman was on the losing ticket. How about we explore the way that President Elect Obama is conducting himself these days? How about you explore whether or not Obama is going to maintain commitments he made during the election? Why not look at how past affiliations of potential cabinet members matters when for two years he told us his own dealings were irrelevant?
The hypocrisy is rife and still these morons at MSNBC are focusing in on the Republicans who have been rendered powerless by this election. Unbelievable. No, let me correct that… in the case of MSNBC, TYPICAL.