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	<title>Obama&#039;s Enemies List: A Growing List of Obama&#039;s Enemies &#187; Chrysler</title>
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		<title>Former Car Czar Rats Out Obama Regime…</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/09/03/former-car-czar-rats-out-obama-regime%e2%80%a6/</link>
		<comments>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/09/03/former-car-czar-rats-out-obama-regime%e2%80%a6/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:04:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chrysler]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Hits Obama for being a &#8220;community organizer&#8221; +1 (Fox News) - Former Obama administration car czar Steven Rattner is coming out with a new book that depicts him swashbuckling through the financial crisis and also shows Obama as &#8220;out to get&#8221; the car companies and the administration making political decisions about how to deal with bankrupt automakers GM and Chrysler. The Huffington Post got a leaked copy and there is plenty there that will play into this years&#8217; elections &#8211; especially since this is the first kiss-and-tell book from the Obama team. Key points from the article and excerpts: -When Obama was told of the plan to pay GM CEO Rick Wagoner a $7.1 million severance package after Obama ordered that he be sacked, Rattner writes: &#8220;Suddenly I felt that I was indeed in the presence of a community organizer&#8230;&#8221; -Rattner describes presidential political adviser David Axelrod coming to car meetings armed with poll data to support the takeover and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel identify Congressmen in whose districts large Chrysler facilities were located. -&#8221;[Obama's economic team] veered dangerously close to having the government take control of the two most troubled banks, Bank of America and Citigroup.&#8221; -&#8221;If his team had linked arms with the outgoing administration, as President Bush&#8217;s advisers had proposed, billions of dollars could well have been saved.&#8221; Rest here> > > ]]></description>
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		<title>Slowest August Car Sales since 1983</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/09/02/slowest-august-car-sales-since-1983/</link>
		<comments>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/09/02/slowest-august-car-sales-since-1983/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:30:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cash For Clunkers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chrysler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chrysler]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[honda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lowest]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[summer-car]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Last summer car sales increased dramatically because of teh Cash for Clunkers program, which cost taxpayers $3 billion. In August of 2010 dealers and manufacturers paid the price as vehicle sales dropped to their lowest level since 1983. Every major manufacturer except Chrysler was down. Ford was -14% (vs. August 2009), GM -25%, Honda -33% and ]]></description>
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		<title>Manufacturing Dissent</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/09/02/manufacturing-dissent/</link>
		<comments>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/09/02/manufacturing-dissent/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:28:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/09/02/manufacturing-dissent/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ [Posted by Karl] I usually treat the establishment’s media bias like the weather in Forks, WA — sought by vampires, simply endured by normal people. Nevertheless, I was recently tickled by Ace’s twist on Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent : Suppose there are five possible plausible public reactions to an event or initiative. A, B, C, D, and E, ranging from rightist to leftist, and A and E representing the extremes. Media debate tends to package C and D — C, a centrist reaction, and D, a left-center but still mainstream-ish reaction — as the only two possible reactions, and debates the issue without reference to A, B, and E, as if they don’t exist, or, if they do mention them, they are dismissed peremptorily as extremist and wack-a-doo and “not serious.” Thus, at the end of the day, the public does get to “choose”… but only from the two options the media has pre-screened as permissible, C and D. Thus, consent of the governed has been “manufactured” — sure, the public chooses between C and D, but their choice was forced — as a magician forces a card on you — by a media that carefully insulated them from genuine consideration of A, B, and E. However, the toxicity of the current political environment is better explained by the slow collapse of this model. Ace’s model describes how the establishment media attempts to manufacture consent on behalf of the political class with which they identify. However, it was probably more effective 25 or 30 years ago than it is today. The increasing adoption of FM radio for music programming and advancements in satellite technology helped give rise to political talk radio on the AM band, which is dominated by conservatives like Rush Limbaugh. The increasing adoption of cable and satellite tech made cable news possible; Fox News Channel has the highest ratings for that that market segment. The reach of right-leaning media may yet fail to match that of the establishment media. For example, Limbaugh reaches roughly 15-25 million listeners weekly, but the network news — as anemic as it is — still reaches that range nightly. FNC reaches an average of 50 million viewers monthly, but that is fewer viewers than CNN on a cumulative basis. Nevertheless, the trend favors cable and online news (with radio holding steady), while network news and traditional print media slump. The center-left and its media does not like the competition, financially or ideologically. Under the prior Democratic administration, the White House counsel office spent your tax dollars producing a lengthy memo titled, “Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce.” The memo complained about “a media food chain” involving ideologically conservative journals and think tanks, the Internet, British tabloids and occasionally the US media. The Beltway press did not bite on the memo — but only because they already believed it . Thus, when Hillary Clinton later attacked the “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy” as a defense to the Monica Lewinsky scandal (a story spiked by Newsweek and revealed by the Drudge Report), the establishment media was already onboard. However, the center-left and its media had a branding problem. Labeling the competition as a conspiracy made them sound like, well, conspiracy theorists. Accordingly, under the current Democratic administration, the theory is now advanced more subtly as groupthink, rather than the secret plan of a shadowy cabal. Under the rubric of “epistemic closure,” right-leaning media is characterized as a closed, but organic ecosystem that produces “faux news” — overhyping stories the establishment tries to ignore, and even reporting fake stories. Although people pushing the “epistemic closure” line will admit that it also exists on the left, they do not want to discuss it. Worse, the “epistemic closure” obsessives generally operate from the false premise that the establishment media, operating in the closed mode Ace describes, does not produce “faux news” as a matter of routine. However, the establishment media hyped the “ October Surprise ,” Operation Tailwind and Rathergate , and fears that Diebold was rigging elections (that coincidentally evaporated after Dems won Congress in 2006), just to name a few. The establishment media failed to catch fabulists like Jayson Blair, Janet Cook, Stephen Glass and Scott Beauchamp early on, but would have everyone believe that their political prejudices did not impair their editorial judgment. The establishment media decries false stories about Pres. Obama, but spread false stories about Sarah Palin — and continues to do so years later. The establishment wrings its hands over meaningless polls about Birthers … after ignoring equally meaningless polls about Truthers. The establishment media recently joined in the left-wing’s bogus , but costly attacks on Toyota, just as they did with earlier bogus attacks on Chrysler and Audi . For decades, the establishment media has cranked out a steady stream of overhyped and bogus health and environmental scares — Alar, asbestos in schools , saccharin , silicone breast implants , acid rain , the population bomb , global cooling , etc. Indeed, a neo-Malthusian crank like Paul Ehrlich , publicly and famously discredited, is still treated as an expert by establishment outlets like The New York Times and Wired magazine. Or consider the way the establishment media treats Congressional Budget Office estimates of jobs “created or saved” by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as hard data. In reality, the CBO’s director has confirmed that these reports do not serve as independent checks on the real-world effects of the spending. Indeed, the CBO has reported that “it is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.” Why was the establishment media so slow to recognize the turnaround in the Iraq war ? Why did they largely rush to judgment when the Duke lacrosse team members were accused of rape? Why did they get the Jena 6 case wrong? Why was the establishment media narrative about Hurricane Katrina built on myths , including grisly fables about violence and death in the Superdome? And why is the establishment media celebrating it ? These examples are but the tip of the establishment media’s “faux news” iceberg. Folks on the far left probably have an entirely different list, but that is the point — the establishment media’s center-left epistemic closure produces the same problems critics identify in the conservative media. That the critics are only concerned about closure in conservative media — and dismiss the theory that conservative media closure is partially caused by the establishment’s marginalization of conservatives — suggests they are less interested in solutions than they are in further marginalizing the right. In addition to claims of “epistemic closure,” the establishment media is increasingly resorting to attacks on those outside their closed system as racists and bigots : It does a disservice to both sides to say that the left, pure and simple, has radicalized the right. But for too many on the left, the right already is so radical — so unreasonable, irrational, kooky, atavistic, and unthinking — that it hardly matters whether the second America tries to protect and advance its interests politely or viciously. When it plays nicely, they believe, the second America is engaged in the tactic of papering over the bigotry that animates it at a foundational level. The only thing the second America can do to earn goodwill from this influential segment of the left is to abandon and denounce its primitive worldview and its cruel policies. Not quite convert or die , but — almost worse from the far left perspective — convert or be ruthlessly marginalized and stigmatized . Confronted with such a choice, Americans — not just from the second America, as its enemies on the left should know — are inclined to stop being polite and start getting real. As with the epistemic closure obsessives, don’t hold your breath waiting for the center-left to consider that that their shrill stereotyping only adds to the problem. And as with the epistemic closure obsessives, the offense they give to everyone else is fueled in part by the double or triple standards at work. If you think the Ground Zero mosque is a bad idea (as I do), you are deemed a religious bigot, or are empowering religious bigots. In contrast, if you think Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptists protesting at military funerals (or Bill Keller setting up shop near Ground Zero) is a bad idea (as I do, for many of the same reasons ), the center-left does not unleash the same gushing firehose of vitriol. When the passage of California’s Proposition 8 caused people to engage in anti-Mormon protests and boycotts , and to practice the politics of personal destruction against Miss California, the center-left was not denouncing it as religious bigotry. And to bring it full circle, if the folks behind the Ground Zero mosque are not entirely gay-friendly , the center-left media ignores it. The ad hoc nature of these ad hominem attacks only reinforces the perception that the center-left uses them as a cudgel in an attempt to force everyone back into their closed model of public discourse. The center-left is no longer able to marginalize conservative views solely by control over a select number of media outlets. Accordingly, it must resort to stigmatizing those views and trying to arrogate to itself the power of classifying which speech is hateful , to be dismissed without further thought or discussion. Like the theory of “epistemic closure” itself, this does not require any conspiracy, just a media ecosystem with converging economic and ideological interests. Ultimately, these attacks are a marker of the degree to which the establishment has become both reactionary and isolated. The establishment media seethes over issues like the Ground Zero mosque and illegal immigration in no small part because broadly bipartisan segments of the public think the mosque is a bad idea and support the key provisions of Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law. The establishment media is increasingly the public voice of a political class greatly out of step with mainstream opinion, not only on issues like the Ground Zero mosque and illegal immigration , but also health care , the value of government spending , free markets , and the limits on federal power . As the establishment media is exposed as manufacturing dissent on behalf of narrow, unpopular elite, they become marginalized themselves — and act out accordingly. However, the more they try to tighten their grip on the public discourse, the more the audience slips through their fingers . &#8211;Karl ]]></description>
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		<title>Conservative Leaders: Big Labor Excessive Influence Disastrous</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/09/01/conservative-leaders-big-labor-excessive-influence-disastrous/</link>
		<comments>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/09/01/conservative-leaders-big-labor-excessive-influence-disastrous/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:51:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Coal]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[ MEMO FOR THE MOVEMENT LABOR DAY 2010: Excessive influence of BIG LABOR on Obama Administration and Congress has been disastrous for American workers and the Nation's economy RE: The tremendous amount of power &#038; influence that officials of organized labor have over this administration &#038; congress is adding to the growth of government and makes no sense given that only 7% of the private sector workforce and 12% of the overall workforce are members of a labor union. Last year, for the first time in history, the majority of union members in the country were working for the government-not the private sector. The Obama administration &#038; Congress' decision making disregards the 93% of the private sector workforce in order to payback Big Labor bosses for previous campaign support-much coming from the dues money collected from workers who are subject to compulsory unionism. "We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama--$60.7 million to be exact and we're proud of it." Andrew Stern, former President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) ISSUE-IN-BRIEF: As Americans prepare to observe Labor Day, the nation's unemployment rate continues to remain at record high levels and the federal deficit continues to grow and place a long term burden on every American taxpayer. The Obama administration and Congress have handed out one favor after another in special interest favors to union officials without regard to the public policy ramifications. For example: · Ten days after being sworn in President Obama issued 3 Executive Orders that curtail federal contractor's free speech during union organizing drives, provide job security for employees of federal service contractors, and require federal contractors to notify employees of their right to join a union. · One week later President Obama signed another Executive Order announcing a government preference for Project Labor Agreements (PLA's) on all federally funded large-scale construction projects. As a result of this, many projects financed by the so-called "economic stimulus bill" are subject to PLA's and performed by unionized workers. · The Obama Department of Labor rolled back several rules issued during the Bush administration to increase union transparency on forms required to be filed with the government as required under the Labor Management Reporting Disclosure Act. · The Obama Treasury Department forced financially troubled General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy and swinging a deal granting the United Auto Workers respectively 17.5% and 55% stakes in GM and Chrysler. Gallup found for the first time since it began asking the question in 1997 that a majority of Americans now think "unions mostly hurt the economy." · According to official records, the person who most often visited the White House in 2009 was Andy Stern, then President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)-a union that had given more than $4 million since 2006 to scandal ridden ACORN and its affiliates · An overwhelming majority of congressional democrats co-sponsored "card-check" legislation designed to deny workers a secret ballot election to determine if a union would represent them. · The Obama administration and Congress reduced funding to the Department of Labor's Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS)-which is the only agency in the entire federal government assigned the responsibility for oversight of organized labor. · President Obama circumvented the Senate-that had objections to NLRB nominee Craig Becker-and recess appointed him as chairman. Becker had previously worked for both the AFL-CIO and the SEIU. · Some in Congress are now proposing a $165 billion union pension bailout. As FOX Business Network reported, these pensions are in bad shape; as of 2006, well before the stock market dropped and recession began, only 6% of these union pension funds were doing well. Gallup recently found for the first time in more than 80 years of asking the question that only a minority of Americans now "approve of labor unions." Conservative Action Project William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government Virginia Thomas, President, Liberty Central Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council Tom Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform Duane Parde, President, National Taxpayers Union Wendy Wright, President, Concerned Women for America Edwin Meese, former Attorney General David N. Bossie, President, Citizens United Ken Boehm, Chairman, National Legal &#038; Policy Center Tom Winter, Editor-in-Chief, Human Events Karen Kerrigan, President, Small Business &#038; Entrepreneurship Council Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring Ron Robinson, President, Young America's Foundation Andrea Lafferty, Executive Director, Traditional Values Coalition Mario H. Lopez, President, Hispanic Leadership Fund Dr. Herbert London, President, Hudson Institute David McIntosh, former Member of Congress, Indiana Donna Hearne, Executive Director, Constitutional Coalition Gary Bauer, President, American Values Herman Cain, President, The NEW Voice, Inc. Susan Carleson, Chairman &#038; CEO, American Civil Rights Union J. Kenneth Blackwell, former Treasurer, State of Ohio Becky Norton Dunlop, President, Council for National Policy James Martin, Chairman, 60 Plus Association Myron Ebell, President, Freedom Action Mathew D. Staver, Founder &#038; Chairman, Liberty Counsel Michelle Easton, President, Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute Phil Burress, President, Citizens for Community Values Alfred Regnery, Publisher, American Spectator David Y. Denholm, President, Public Service Research Foundation Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ.com Jordan Marks, Executive Director, Young Americans for Freedom Bob McEwen, former Member of Congress, Ohio Rev. Lou Sheldon, Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition Marion Edwyn Harrison, Past President, Free Congress Foundation (All organizations listed are for identification purposes only) FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON ORGANIZED LABOR AND THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION &#038; CONGRESS PLEASE VISIT THESE WEBSITES: http://www.gallup.com/poll/122744/Labor-Unions-Sharp-Slide-Public-Support.aspx http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6290/obamaafl-cio_lovefest_once_again_labor_hopes_president_will_prove_loya/ http://union-yes.blogspot.com/2008/05/barack-obama-in-organized-labors-pocket.html http://www.unionfacts.com/ http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB124227027965718333.html http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/congress-pushing-165-billion-union-pension-bailout-94828874.html http://www.faegre.com/showarticle.aspx?Show=8938 http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/1/30/143556/925 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20090130_obama_gives_labor_unions_a_boost/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/31/obama-supports-union-organizing/ http://www.nlpc.org/stories/2010/01/13/top-ten-union-corruption-stories-year http://biggovernment.com/rmanning/2010/01/20/transforming-the-u-s-department-of-labor-to-the-department-of-organized-labor/ http://www.nlpc.org/stories/2009/04/30/labor-department-rescinds-revised-lm-2-and-lm-30-rules-invites-potential-corrupti http://www.dwt.com/LearningCenter/Advisories?find=65354 http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052702303491304575188263180553530.html http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/244369/cops-and-robbers-daniel-foster ]]></description>
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		<title>Biden&#8217;s Low Bar for GM</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/08/24/bidens-low-bar-for-gm/</link>
		<comments>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/08/24/bidens-low-bar-for-gm/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:40:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chrysler]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Biden is pleased with the results of the administration's bail-out of GM. The vice president said the recession that started in 2008 could have destroyed 100s of thousands of jobs in the automobile industry if the government hadn't extended emergency loans to keep the companies afloat. He said 431,300 auto industry jobs were lost in 2008, but that since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy last year, employment has rebounded by 76,300 jobs. "It's a huge reversal and one we'd never have seen had we listened to those who told us to walk away," Mr. Biden said. But Cato's Daniel Griswold is not sold , and notes " the horrible injustice of stiffing the taxpayers of Indiana and others who bought GM bonds and should have been in line ahead of the more politically connected United Auto Workers union." Griswold adds: To curry favor with organized labor, President Obama put $50 billion of taxpayer resources at risk. A post-bankruptcy GM turned a profit last quarter, along with most other automakers, but it is doubtful its anticipated IPO in the next few months will raise anything like the $80 billion or more needed to return the "investment" to taxpayers. On top of that, the bailout of GM went far beyond any valid power granted to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution, and it blatantly favored two companies over a multitude of others in the very competitive automobile market. And the the folks at Economics21 are also skeptical : As many have pointed out since the auto bailouts took place, a fatal flaw in the GM restructuring was that the deal failed to address the crippling weight of pension obligations GM was subject to. Without massive reform of the largest private pension plan in the world, many worried that the restructuring would do little toward the long-term health of the company. And they list some of the frightening details: GM has $100 billion in unfunded, long-term liabilities in its pension fund. Currently there are six retirees poised to draw pensions for every current worker at GM. Roughly speaking, this means that 87,500 workers must support 531,500 pensioners. The amount of the unfunded pension liability is calculated assuming a long-term rate of return of 8.5%, an extremely optimistic number bordering on the absurd.. In contrast, most analysts would assume a rate equal to Treasury bonds for such assets, closer to 2.6%. The larger issue is that, as with so many other of the Obama administration's interventions during the financial crisis, the GM bailout can only be justified if you assert the absolute worst-case effects of non-intervention ("destroyed 100s of thousands of jobs") as the alternative. Once you start talking about other actions that were available to the administration, arguments like Biden's fall apart. ]]></description>
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		<title>Obama Cripples Ford&#8217;s Funding, Then Subsidizes It</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/08/06/obama-cripples-fords-funding-then-subsidizes-it/</link>
		<comments>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/08/06/obama-cripples-fords-funding-then-subsidizes-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:08:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ At the 1986]]></description>
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		<title>Obama Champions Auto Industry Turnaround in Michigan</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/07/30/obama-champions-auto-industry-turnaround-in-michigan/</link>
		<comments>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/07/30/obama-champions-auto-industry-turnaround-in-michigan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:36:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Filed under: Barack Obama , Economy , Obama Administration , Unemployment , Jobs , Transportation , White House Obama's tour of Michigan auto plants allowed the president to bask in some positive economic news: Post bailout, Ford, Chrysler and GM are in turnaround. ]]></description>
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		<title>Friday NY Times rare gem: “G.M.’s Electric Lemon” (Chevy Volt)</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/07/30/friday-ny-times-rare-gem-%e2%80%9cg-m-%e2%80%99s-electric-lemon%e2%80%9d-chevy-volt/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ From the diaries, by Erick &#8220;Government Motors&#8221; and its new Chevy Volt is an epic fail. Taxpayer money bought a bankrupt business, which then proceeded to build cars that no one wants to buy. Friday&#8217;s New York Times offers a rare opinion that actually makes sense: G.M.’s Electric Lemon By EDWARD NIEDERMEYER Published: July 29, 2010 (&#8230;) For starters, G.M.’s vision turned into a car that costs $41,000 before relevant tax breaks &#8230; but after billions of dollars of government loans and grants for the Volt’s development and production. And instead of the sleek coupe of 2007, it looks suspiciously similar to a Toyota Prius. It also requires premium gasoline, seats only four people (the battery runs down the center of the car, preventing a rear bench) and has less head and leg room than the $17,000 Chevrolet Cruze, which is more or less the non-electric version of the Volt. $41,000! $41,000!! Is there a market for a $41,000 car that&#8217;s too small for the average American family? is there a market for a car that&#8217;s essentially the same as those selling at 1/3rd the cost? In short, the Volt appears to be exactly the kind of green-at-all-costs car that some opponents of the bailout feared the government might order G.M. to build. Unfortunately for this theory, G.M. was already committed to the Volt when it entered bankruptcy. And though President Obama’s task force reported in 2009 that the Volt “will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term,” it didn’t cancel the project. How can Obama force people to buy this turkey? Make energy costs (gasoline) necessarily skyrocket. Have the EPA outlaw all other vehicles. That&#8217;ll do it. Don&#8217;t you love government? Are other countries laughing at us yet? So the future of General Motors (and the $50 billion taxpayer investment in it) now depends on a vehicle that costs $41,000 but offers the performance and interior space of a $15,000 economy car. Ding! Ding! Ding! That&#8217;s the problem in a nutshell. Quantifying just how much taxpayer money will have been wasted on the hastily developed Volt is no easy feat. Start with the $50 billion bailout (without which none of this would have been necessary), add $240 million in Energy Department grants doled out to G.M. last summer, $150 million in federal money to the Volt’s Korean battery supplier, up to $1.5 billion in tax breaks for purchasers and other consumer incentives, and some significant portion of the $14 billion loan G.M. got in 2008 for “retooling” its plants, and you’ve got some idea of how much taxpayer cash is built into every Volt. Remember how Barbara Walters and Joy Behar on The View grilled President Obama about this auto bailout fiasco yesterday? No? If G.M. were honest, it would market the car as a personal donation for, and vote of confidence in, the auto bailout. Unfortunately, that’s not the kind of cross-branding that will make the Volt a runaway success. Nice job, Edward Niedermeyer. His website is The Truth About Cars . From PluginCars.com : In Marketing Volt, GM Uses &#8220;It&#8217;s a Real Car&#8221; Defense, Potentially Hurting Rest of Plug-in Industry Nick Chambers · 11 hours ago The comparison is inevitable: Nissan LEAF versus Chevrolet Volt. As the only two mass market plug-in cars available for the first two years of the coming global wave of plug-in releases, the companies have found themselves locked in what seems to be a rather reluctant marketing battle—waging a delicate war of words as they try to woo customers. (&#8230;) COMMENTS abasile · 10 hours ago Too bad we are all shareholders in Government Motors. In my opinion, that was one bailout we didn&#8217;t need. At this point, while I hope for success for both the Volt and the LEAF, I think that Nissan&#8217;s simpler, battery-only approach will do better in the market. Paying an extra $8,000+ and losing one seat just wouldn&#8217;t cut it for my family. Or most families. No one at Government Motors could figure that out? From the Detroit Free Press : Posted: July 29, 2010 Limbaugh rips GM, Chevy Volt He questions range of electric vehicle BY JUSTIN HYDE FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF WASHINGTON &#8212; Radio host Rush Limbaugh tore into General Motors on Wednesday over the Chevrolet Volt, while saying he had taken advertising money from GM last year during its rescue by the Obama administration. (&#8230;) Limbaugh spent much of the first part of his show criticizing the Volt and the $41,000 price GM revealed on Tuesday, questioning why the U.S. government needed to add a $7,500 tax credit. &#8220;Obama and the government are admitting nobody wants this,&#8221; Limbaugh said, repeatedly referring to GM as &#8220;Obama Motors.&#8221; (&#8230;) Ahead of Obama&#8217;s visit Friday to GM&#8217;s Detroit-Hamtramck plant where the Volt is built, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the Volt was symbolic of the auto industry&#8217;s comeback. Don&#8217;t even try to spin this disaster, Gibbsie. Today&#8217;s &#8220;Freep&#8221; tries some spin as well: Posted: July 30, 2010 Visiting Obama deserves credit for saving GM, Chrysler BY TOM WALSH FREE PRESS COLUMNIST President Barack Obama comes to Detroit today, looking for love in the factories of America&#8217;s hardest-hit big city. Beset by a sputtering jobless economic recovery, Obama will tout the federal rescues of General Motors and Chrysler as bold moves that staved off another Great Depression and saved thousands of jobs. (&#8230;) Sorry, but the auto rescue critics are all wet. This was much more than a handout to weather a slump. Obama&#8217;s auto task force totally reshaped a bloated and dysfunctional industry, forcing sacrifices from all, into something that now looks sensible and sustainable. Rush Limbaugh must have sent his Obama kneepads to this guy instead of Joy Behar. Government Motors was never sensible and is not sustainable. The Volt is an overpriced lemon&#8211;and that&#8217;s today&#8217;s New York Times talking! SUMMARY Haven&#8217;t we said all along that the auto bailouts were a disaster? Doesn&#8217;t most of America agree when polled about it? What kind of government goes ahead and does this anyway? Message to Obama: Stop in at American Coney Island and be sure that every camera snaps you eating a real Michigan &#8220;Coney Island hot dog.&#8221; Be upbeat. There will be TelePrompters at GM, so no worries. Step in a Chevy Volt. Ooh! Aah! Big smile. Say &#8220;built right here in America!&#8221; Get out and stand next to the Volt and in front of the large American flag. Works every time. Note to NY Times: Your headline is probably an insult to lemons. ]]></description>
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		<title>How the New Beetle Got Old</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/07/29/how-the-new-beetle-got-old/</link>
		<comments>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/07/29/how-the-new-beetle-got-old/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:07:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Turns out the second time's not the charm. VW's New Beetle only lasted 12 years in production (2010 will be the final year; 1998 was the first year). Though it arguably can be credited with almost single-handedly launching what became the "retro" trend in new car design -- spawning similarly historically-minded new/old cars like the Chrysler PT Cruiser, Chevy SSR, Mini Cooper and (most recently) the revived Camaro -- it never got its hooks into the public psyche the way its predecessor, the original Beetle did. There were several reasons for this. First, despite the generally familiar shape, the New Beetle was functionally nothing like the old one. It was built around a front-engined/front-wheel-drive layout while the old Beetle was, of course, rear-engined and rear-wheel-drive. The latter arrangement gave the old Beetle much of its charm -- as well as desirable attributes that included impressive tenacity in snow because the weight of the engine was right on top of the drive wheels, which aided traction. The New Beetle's engine was also water-cooled (like almost all modern engines) and like all modern engines, it was a highly complex piece of machinery beyond the skill set (and tool set) of the average Do-it-Yourselfer. This meant that when the car needed work, a trip to the dealer was all but inevitable. With the old car -- powered by a 1930s-era air-cooled "boxer" flat four with a single one-barrel carburetor, single fan belt, no radiator or water pump and a screen for an oil filter that you removed by turning out a single easy-to-reach bolt on the bottom of the engine case -- virtually all normal maintenance could be done in the driveway by any reasonably handy person with a few basic, inexpensive hand tools. This kept ownership costs low, which was always a key reason why people loved the old car so much. Sure, it was slow and it leaked carbon monoxide into the passenger compartment (and water , when it rained). It was rust-prone and it often needed a turn of the screwdriver here or a trip to the NAPA store there. But it almost never cost you real money and while little troubles did pop up, they could usually be fixed -- by you -- in the space of 10 or 15 minutes. This was empowering, even if it was a minor hassle at the time. Few things are more defeating in this life than being stuck by the side of the road with a dead car and no clue what to do as you wait helplessly for someone who does . A final problem for the New Beetle was that in a market that craves change, the car was very hard if not impossible to update without it becoming something else entirely. The old Beetle was more or less the same for decades and no one minded because in those days, people were content with a slower pace and satisfied with the familiar -- and with what did the job well enough . That won't sell today. The life cycle of a modern car is maybe four years before the market demands a major reworking, which amounts to a complete re-styling and re-engineering. Not even Jaguars -- formerly known for their ageless design that endured for decades, as in the case of the old XJ sedans -- are safe from the march of time… and trendiness. ]]></description>
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		<title>Aunt Pittypat&#8217;s Democrats</title>
		<link>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/07/27/aunt-pittypats-democrats/</link>
		<comments>http://www.obamashitlist.com/2010/07/27/aunt-pittypats-democrats/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:09:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>markboabaca</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ With Obamacare dragging behind them and only 97 days until the November election, Democrats have descended into a state of near panic. Their congressional leaders have, temporarily, abandoned Obama's agenda, preferring to spend what is planned to be the longest recess in congressional history trying to explain to voters why the biggest spendthrifts in American history should be left in charge of the national checkbook. In the White House, it's much worse. All the way back in February 2009 our first black Attorney General said that " Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards." Cowards, history teaches us, react rashly and fearfully to real or perceived threats. Which is precisely what the Obama administration did in unceremoniously firing Shirley Sherrod -- an Agriculture Department employee -- over a two-decade old video clip which showed her apparently celebrating discrimination against a white farmer. The White House denied having anything to do with Sherrod's firing despite the lady's statements to reporters that there were three calls to her saying the White House wanted her out and demanding her resignation. And when the full story came out -- Sherrod was reportedly explaining her epiphany against reverse discrimination -- the president called to apologize as did Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack who offered to create a job for her. (So much for the skeptics who don't believe Obama is creating jobs.) Sunday's Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking poll showed that 25% of American voters strongly approved of Obama's job performance while 45% strongly disapproved. The primary key to that weakness is the economy: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' June report, employers took 1,647 mass layoff actions that month affecting 145,538 workers. Unemployment continues to hover around 9.5% and new unemployment claims surged to about 454,000 last week alone. And now Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said it's time to kill the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy. It's enough to make Republicans rejoice. Congress is theirs for the taking. Or is it? Not quite. The Tea Partiers are a lot more relevant and effective than the National Association for the Advancement of (Democratic) Colored People, which has devolved to be a shill for the libs. But Repubs still lack the two things they need to sweep November: a theme and a leader. Barry is a redistributionist]]></description>
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