Indiana Says ‘No’ to Socialism

Three cheers for the state of Indiana, who is taking bold steps to block whatever they can to avoid the federal power grab and so the state won’t lose money, which is what it deems will occur if the government gets involved:

Indiana will no longer invest in bonds issued by banks and automakers who receive federal bailout money.

Bondholders are supposed to be at the head of the line for repayment if a company goes bankrupt. But State Treasurer Richard Mourdock says the government rewrote the rulebook for the Chrysler bankruptcy, leaving investors with 29 cents on the dollar. Mourdock says that cost state investment funds $5.6 million.

Mourdock says the state won’t sell bonds it already holds — he says that would lock in losses. But he’s ordering fund managers not to buy any more bonds from Chrysler, GM, or banks covered by the bailout.

In a related story taking place in Indiana, state funds have already lost money due to the auto industry debacle.

Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock announced effective immediately that no portfolios under his control will make additional investments in secured corporate debt of businesses that are receiving infusions of federal funds. In addition, Treasurer Mourdock is communicating his message to Hoosier fiduciaries of public monies who might otherwise make investments in securities that can be devalued due to the unilateral action of the federal government.

“I serve as the Trustee of the Indiana State Police Pension Fund and am responsible for investing the Major Moves Construction Fund. Both of those funds suffered losses when the Obama administration overturned some two-hundred years of established law by redefining ‘secured creditors’ to mean something less,” explained Treasurer Mourdock. “In the past, to be ‘secured’ meant an investor was ‘first in line’ in the event of a bankruptcy and ‘non-secured’ creditors would receive value after secured-creditors were paid. In the Chrysler bankruptcy, however, secured creditors received $.29 on the dollar even as non-secured creditors received higher values and ended up with a 55% ownership of the new company, which is fundamentally wrong and a dangerous precedent to the capital markets.”

“Indiana’s pensioners should not be punished as a result of investment managers making historically sound decisions. The managers did nothing wrong, but the portfolios have been victimized due to the actions of the federal government in the Chrysler bankruptcy. Losses have happened once, due to the action of the feds, and as fiduciaries, we must be certain Indiana pensioners and portfolios are not victimized again. Henceforth, we will not add to the portfolios ‘secured’ debt from companies such as General Motors, other manufacturing companies, or those insurance companies who have or will be receiving bailout funds. Given the recent actions of the federal government, the risk is too great for any prudent investor to accept,” clarified Treasurer Mourdock.

The Dawning of Obamunism… GM is Officially Government Motors

Stalin would be so proud!  The Donkey’s are controlling the cars:

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There should be no question as to why the auto industry accepting the new CAFE standards today…

General Motors Corp’s (GM.N) plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company’s healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

The source, who would not be named because he was not cleared to speak with the media, did not specify a purchase price. The new company is expected to honor the claims of secured lenders, possibly in full, according to the source.

The remaining assets of GM would stay in bankruptcy protection to satisfy other outstanding claims.

GM has about $6 billion in secured debt, including a secured revolving credit and bank debt.

The government’s plans include giving stakes in the new company to GM’s union and bondholders, although the ownership structure of the company is still being negotiated, said the source who is familiar with the company’s plans.

In addition, the government would extend a credit line to the new company and forgive the bulk of the $15.4 billion in emergency loans that the U.S. has already provided to GM, the source said.

As I have been stating… we will never see our taxpayer dollars for any of this bailout nonsense.  These bankruptcies were inevitable and they just threw money down a black hole!

The government has given GM until June 1 to restructure its operations to lower its debt burden and employee costs.

Not ‘gonna happen!

If those talks failed, the company has said it would follow rival Chrysler LLC into bankruptcy.

My father mentioned yesterday, on his birthday, that he would be finding out whether or not he would have a job today… GM will follow Chrysler, the question is when and how soon this summer?

Setting up a new company to buy the healthy assets is aimed at reassuring consumers who might not be willing to make a major purchase from a bankrupt company, fearing it would not honor warranties or provide service.

The board of the new company would be established with the tacit approval of the government. Fritz Henderson, who took the helm of GM earlier this year after the government pushed out Rick Wagoner, would likely head the new company, the source said.

GM could not be immediately reached for comment.

GM shares were up about 9 percent at $1.29. (Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

George Soros – stop buying up GM shares for yourself!

Government Control You Can Believe In!

But…but…but I thought the Democrats, and especially Obama, cared about all those little people – you know, the ones who own small businesses and employ workers and bring revenue and business to our economy?

Below is a letter from a Floridian businessman who once owned a Chrysler dealership/franchise… Not anymore!

My name is George C. Joseph. I am the sole owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu, a family owned and operated business in Melbourne, Florida. My family bought and paid for this automobile franchise 35 years ago in 1974. I am the second generation to manage this business.

We currently employ 50+ people and before the economic slowdown we employed over 70 local people. We are active in the community and the local chamber of commerce. We deal with several dozen local vendors on a day to day basis and many more during a month. All depend on our business for part of their livelihood. We are financially strong with great respect in the market place and community. We have strong local presence and stability.

I work every day the store is open, nine to ten hours a day. I know most of our customers and all our employees. Sunshine Dodge is my life.

On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them. My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009. Without the Dodge franchise we can no longer sell a new Dodge as “new,” nor will we be able to do any warranty service work. Additionally, my Dodge parts inventory, (approximately $300,000.) is virtually worthless without the ability to perform warranty service. There is no offer from Chrysler to buy back the vehicles or parts inventory.

Our facility was recently totally renovated at Chrysler’s insistence, incurring a multi-million dollar debt in the form of a mortgage at Sun Trust Bank.

HOW IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CAN THIS HAPPEN?

THIS IS A PRIVATE BUSINESS NOT A GOVERNMENT ENTITY

This is beyond imagination! My business is being stolen from me through NO FAULT OF OUR OWN. We did NOTHING wrong.

This atrocity will most likely force my family into bankruptcy. This will also cause our 50+ employees to be unemployed. How will they provide for their families? This is a total economic disaster.

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN IN A FREE MARKET ECONOMY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

I beseech your help, and look forward to your reply. Thank you.

Sincerely,

George C. Joseph President & Owner Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu

Breaking: President Obama To Announce New National Fuel-Economy (CAFE) Standard; UPDATE: Cost to Consumer $1,300 Per Vehicle

The new “national emissions policy for autos” will ramp up to a new mileage-per-gallon standard in 2016. (approx. 35 miles/gallon)

The details will be hashed out tomorrow and will most likely involve the climate change legislation and “greenie” police we will come to expect from this far left administration/congress:

California, 13 other states and the District of Columbia have urged the federal government to let them enact more stringent standards than the federal government’s requirements. The states’ regulations would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and trucks by 2016.

Officials said Tuesday’s announcement moves toward the 30 percent goal by 2016, starting with model years 2011 and beyond.

Obama’s move also would effectively end litigation between states and automakers, who sought to block state-specific rules. The new federal rules would prompt automakers to drop their lawsuit. Two car companies who have been part of the litigation, General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, have received billions in government loans during a dramatic downturn in car sales and weakened economy.

So what will be the cost implication to all of this and why does the government feel the need to control one more thing in average Americans’ lives?  This is getting creepier by the minute ~ OBEY!

UPDATE:

President Barack Obama outlined Tuesday the nation’s first comprehensive effort to curb vehicle emissions while cutting dependence on imported oil, calling the plan an historic turning point toward a “clean-energy economy.”

Obama thinks that Americans will believe that more regulations will make us more energy independent, just as he and his liberal buddies want Americans to believe that cap and trade will also create independence with wind and solar power (two technologies that are still incredibly inefficient and we don’t know much about… no hydro, nuclear or domestic oil).  Sadly, most Americans won’t get it – they are too concerned with the season finale of Idol to care.  And of course the auto industry went along – they all saw what the White House did to GM and Chrysler!

He said the new rules amounted to removing 177 million cars from the roads over the next 6 1/2 years.

Oh Good – so we can really boost the economy by staying home and being bed ridden…

While the new fuel and emission standards for cars and trucks will save billions of barrels of oil, they are expected to cost consumers an extra $1,300 per vehicle by the time the plan is complete in 2016. Obama said the fuel cost savings would offset the higher price of vehicles in three years.

Yeah, sure the vehicles will be more expensive in three years, or maybe all the gullible suckers who voted for Obama will start to catch on that he just lies and deceives to create a perceived crisis to pass what he wants… One can hope!

Obama Head up Butt

Captain Obvious Moment of the Day: Debt Unsustainable, We Must Stop Borrowing From China

Thank you Captain Obvious… err… I mean Obama!

Captain Obvious

Ironically enough the debt and the borrowing that Obama is concerned about will mostly come from his irresponsible spending habits within his first 100 days.  When Dick Morris mentioned that Obama’s first 100 days would come back to haunt him, he was right!

President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

That calls for a big “DUH!” but that is simple common sense, something that is much like an endangered species in the halls of D.C.

The amusing part of all of this is the fact that Obama is just simply unwilling to look in the mirror and realize that he has quadrupled the debt and increased our deficit more than any other president in history.  He has spent more in his first 100 days than all presidents throughout history combined – and that includes Bush to all you liberals.

Obama continuously uses the blame Bush rhetoric for having to take “drastic” measures, but as any intelligent human being should realize, when the government and politicians make things out to be a crisis, yet you don’t really feel that way (unlike a physical attack against your country), you should be incredibly wary.  Politicians lie, they lie to pass an agenda, and Obama is a genius when it comes to manipulation, deceit, and drama.

Earlier this week, the Obama administration revised its own budget estimates and raised the projected deficit for this year to a record $1.84 trillion, up 5 percent from the February estimate. The revision for the 2010 fiscal year estimated the deficit at $1.26 trillion, up 7.4 percent from the February figure. The White House Office of Management and Budget also projected next year’s budget will end up at $3.59 trillion, compared with the $3.55 trillion it estimated previously.

Two weeks ago, the president proposed $17 billion in budget cuts, with plans to eliminate or reduce 121 federal programs. Republicans ridiculed the amount, saying that it represented one-half of 1 percent of the entire budget. They noted that Obama is seeking an $81 billion increase in other spending.

We are now learning that the supplemental spending for war funding and emergency funding that is sitting in the House and Senate are both over $90 billion at this point.  There will most likely be a compromise of some sort between the House and Senate but I believe that the real amount of additional appropriations will most likely stay above the $90 billion threshold.

Let’s not forget that under the Obama administration and this radical left Congress that government is growing and the private sector is shrinking.  Entitlement programs are growing because liberals know that the more you can put your thumb over people and oppress them by getting them “hooked” on entitlements and the government, the more they will win votes… that’s just cruel.

The issue is that we are going to go bankrupt quicker by upping the ante on entitlements.  Entitlements themselves are already unsustainable.

Baby boomers — that 70-million-strong population lump — begin officially retiring this year. That means the government’s bill for retirees’ pensions and health care has no where to go but up, for decades to come.

Everyone knew this day would come. And virtually every economist and actuary who had run the numbers could tell you, within a few years’ certainty, the system was going bankrupt.

But all this seemed to happen in the distant future. Last year, both political parties virtually ignored the topic during their presidential campaigns. It became a non-issue issue.

Well, thanks to a profligate federal government, which will double the national debt to $11.5 trillion in just four years, and a recession that has weakened federal tax revenues, we can no longer ignore the problem. The day of reckoning is at hand.

The Social Security Board of Trustees reported Tuesday that costs will exceed revenues in 2016 — a full year sooner than expected just last year. And total assets — including more than 70 years of “surpluses” built up in the “trust fund” — will be completely gone by 2037 — four years earlier than in last year’s report.

The deficit over the next 50 years is expected to be about 2% of taxable payrolls — up from 1.7% last year. By the way, changes in the last year alone have added $5.3 trillion in costs to the program.

Long-term, unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare top $53 trillion — about four times the size of current GDP. Taxes must either rise or benefits shrink by that amount to close that gap.

Maybe we could try to work on some issues that really matter, those that could possibly destroy people’s lives?  Instead of criticizing private social security accounts, maybe we should revisit the idea and work from there.  Many economists argue that private accounts of some sort would be more cost effective and better for everyone.

We also cannot forget that Obama and his lefty contemporaries want to reform health care and create a possible single payer system.  Many do not believe that the single payer legislation will get passed, but something that makes the private sector compete with the public sector by providing a choice.  The issue that I have/see with this “competition” is how the government can become so forceful and, as it has done in the past, force out of business anything competing with it.  Either way, any additional programs provided by the government must come out of taxpayers’ pockets, so medical care will never technically be free – it will only be free to those who don’t work or pay taxes.  This is the crux of the problem.  Health care provided by the government will just increase our debt to China even more…

Obama is concerned with China?  He’s concerned with owing the Chinese more and more?  Well, maybe if we took a look at the recent auto industry news regarding GM it would be evident that all we do is take China’s money, give China jobs, and all in all are in the pocket of China.

As thousands of General Motors workers await word on more U.S. plant closures, reports that the company plans to import Chinese-made vehicles to the U.S. have created a political problem for the automaker and the White House.

The reports, which GM will neither confirm nor deny, could mean trouble because GM is supported by $15.4 billion in U.S. government loans, largely due to the Obama administration’s desire to preserve the company’s 90,000 U.S. jobs.

The United Auto Workers charged last week that the Detroit automaker intends to almost double over the next five years the number of vehicles it imports to the U.S. from Mexico, South Korea, China and Japan.

“GM should not be taking taxpayers’ money simply to finance the outsourcing of jobs to other countries,” Alan Reuther, the union’s Washington lobbyist, wrote in a letter to U.S. lawmakers.

Maybe if the Unions were not allowed to lobby on Capitol Hill to force the hands of Democrats and completely crush the auto industry, this would not have been a problem and the outsourcing of jobs would not have been so enticing to the ailing auto giants.  But why would Democrats ever put the good of the country or an industry over that of a big donor?

I have an idea for all who read this – let’s attempt to elect someone who is for the people, by the people – not bought and paid for.  Let’s elect somebody who is honest and integrity means more to them than politics and agenda… Stop electing these corrupt, pathological liars and maybe we can get our country back on track.

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