Obama pushes for tax increases to bailout his fubar fiscal policies

When it comes to budgets and spending, Peter Principle in Chief Obama hasn't earned the right to say anything. He hasn't shown the intelligence, ability, experience, trustworthiness, or record to say anything regarding spending. He broke Bush's records on spending, and now demands a tax increase to bail himself out.

From Yahoo

Claiming a mandate from his election romp over Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama announced on Friday that he had invited congressional leaders to the White House next week for talks on how to steer the battered economy away from a "fiscal cliff." Obama said he was open to compromise with Republicans—but that any final deal needed to raise taxes on the richest Americans.

"This was a central question during the election," the president said in brief remarks in the East Room of the White House. "It was debated over and over again, and on Tuesday night we found out that a majority of Americans agree with my approach.

"Our job now is to get a majority in Congress to reflect the will of the American people," Obama said. "I'm not wedded to every detail of my plan. I'm open to compromise. I'm open to new ideas. I'm committed to solving our fiscal challenges. But I refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced."

Boehner needs to tell Obama to go perform an unatural act on himself. Obama hasn't signed any budgets in forever. Push your budget, and make Obama veto it.

I don't like this comment. 

Republican House Speaker John Boehner, speaking shortly before the president's appearance, said he was looking to Obama "to lead" and that he had a short, "cordial" conversation with the president earlier this week about ways to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

"We both understand that trying to find a way to avert the fiscal cliff is important for this country," Boehner said. "And I'm hopeful that productive conversations can begin soon so we can forge an agreement that can pass the Congress."

He's not my leader. He's not my boss. The problem is that people treat a glorified executive director as a king. That's how we get stuck with this American Idol 'rockstar' crap instead of actual competence for once.

Both political parties are unacceptable on spending. Boehner needs to push through a balanced budget, and dictate to the Peter Principle in Chief. It's Boehner's job to lead the house, not defer to the Peter Principle in Chief.

No tax increases.Spending cuts. Those two things need to be non negotiable. Don't raise the debt ceiling anymore either.

Barack Obama enables outsourcing of auto industry (Chrysler)

I'll start out with saying this. I'm from a Ford family. I own and drive Fords. Always have, and probably always will. I'll also never own a foreign car. That includes foreign cars built here as profits go overseas. That also includes Big 3 cars built outside the US. Ford Fusion's in Mexico to me is the same as a Toyota. When my parents took advantage of cash for clunkers (mostly helped foreign cars) Fusions were out. No Mexican cars allowed. This goes beyond partisan politics here. I root for the Big 3 to do well - as long as the jobs stay in the US, particularly Michigan.

One of the biggest myths that gives Obama a good chance to hang on to win in Michigan (not if I have anything to say about it) and  Ohio is that he supposedly saves the auto industry. Bullshit. Romney wrote an editorial calling for reorganization and the NY Times editors gave it the headline "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." Here's the little secret. GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt - even after the Bush and Obama bailouts. I'm going to repeat that. GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt. They went to bankruptcy reorganization. Obama and Romney both aren't far apart on that. Romney supported loan guarantees, similar to Chrysler in 1979.  As a Big 3 supporter and owner, they could have been better on this, but they could have worse, like Bob Corker, Gary Ackerman, Michael Cupano, Richard Shelby, and Henry Waxman. Shelby I understand because his state had foreign car plants. I don't like it, but I understand it. Corker I don't get his deal with Saturn being from his state. Nissan has plants in Tennessee, so that's also an influence. With the dems, it's the progressive movement's religious jihad against the Automobile Industry in the name of global warming going back to Al Gore's push to ban the internal combustion engine. John Dingell, hardly a conservative, was pushed off of commerce chair because he supports the auto industry.

The industry will survive, but it isn't what it was. At least 50,000 direct jobs were cut, not counting the suppliers. The Hummer was agreed to be sold to China. Saturn is gone. Pontiac is gone.

I'm not going to say that Romney is as good as Joe Knollenberg, Thad McCotter, or John Dingell when it comes to the domestic auto industry, but he's not a Corker. Obama isn't as bad as Waxman, but he's not Dingell - however there's one real nasty part of Obama's team and its reorganization demands regarding Chrysler. Obama put Chrysler under. foreign control and ownership - to a company that has never been able to break through in the US. Fiat.

From 2009 - Forbes.

Chrysler must become friends with Fiat pronto.
The U.S. government has threatened to suspend federal aid for Chrysler unless it secures a deal with the Italian carmaker within 30 days, senior administration officials told Forbes.

The repercussion of Obama forcing Chrysler to go to Fiat  is right here.

From Bloomberg news.

Fiat SpA (F) Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne set a target two and a half years ago to sell 6 million cars annually by 2014, a goal that analysts and industry observers at the time deemed impossible to achieve. They were right.

Marchionne, who runs both the Italian automaker and Chrysler Group LLC, has said he will revise his forecasts when the two companies announce third-quarter results tomorrow. Analysts estimate his sales target will need to come down by 15 billion euros ($19 billion).
“Marchionne was too optimistic in 2010,” said Giuseppe Berta, a professor at Bocconi University in Milan who has written several books on Fiat and has worked as a company historian. “Fiat and Chrysler can’t grow by self-propulsion to the famous 6 million-car target.” 

And here's the devil in the details.

Fiat’s problems are bigger than many rivals’ because its troubled home country accounts for half its sales in the region. Its plants in Italy, where car sales are on pace to plunge this year to the lowest level in more than three decades, are running at 50 percent of capacity, far below the 80 percent threshold typically considered profitable.
To counter the severe slump in European sales, Marchionne is considering building Chrysler models in Italy, including Jeeps, for export to North America. The Italian government is evaluating tax rebates on export goods to help Fiat. Marchionne may announce details of his plan as soon as Oct. 30, the people said.
“This makes sense on multiple levels” as it will boost plant utilization and would cap “Chrysler’s own potential, limiting the likely cost to Fiat shareholders of buying out the Chrysler minorities,” Stuart Pearson, an analyst at Morgan Stanley in London, said in a note to investors today. “However we see no quick answers, and fear debt could surprise negatively first,” said Pearson, who rates the stock underweight with a target price at 3.90 euros.

Jeeps built in Europe to be imported here? Jeeps outsourced? You got to be kidding me. That's an American icon. Keep in mind that it was Obama's demand that Chrysler goes to Fiat.

Romney's getting heat for his comments and ad about outsourcing, but Bloomberg's story here shows that he's not off the mark. GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt under Obama, and Chrysler WAS put under foreign control with outsourcing, and Chrysler's manufacturing may very well go to Europe, if not necessarily China.  

If the Peter Principle in Chief Obama wins a second term thanks to being lucky that reorganization happened when he was CEO (so he can portray himself as the hero he isn't), he's not going to have to worry about this anymore. I expect Marchionne to announce the outsourcing to be official November 10th or so, no matter who wins. Election cover.

Dumb and dumber at it again (Feds micromanaging schools)

This may be one of the biggest money wasting items I've seen since the stimulus package. Only the nanny state thinks of this stuff.

From Todd Starnes at Fox News

A Florida school district is considering a plan to install surveillance cameras on cafeteria trash cans to monitor what kids are throwing away – after they discovered that students were tossing out their federally-mandated fruit and vegetables. The Lake County School Board said more than $75,000 worth of vegetables have been thrown in the garbage. The veggies and fresh fruit are party of the Obama administration’s policy to force schools to provide healthy produce in lunch rooms.

“It’s fairly specific recipe of what they would like us to serve,” Lake County School Board member Tod Howard told Fox News. “Unfortunately, much of it has to do with fresh fruit and vegetables and it seems to be going into the trash. And that’s not okay.” So Howard suggested the district attach security cameras to the trash cans to monitor exactly what is being thrown away. “It will also give us documentation so that we can go back to the federal government and say here’s what we are finding,” he said. “We do know there’s an issue.”

School districts across the nation are furious with the Obama administration’s orders. Some students have staged strikes while others have launched petition drives urging the federal government to change their policy. But Lake County is believed to be the first to actually videotape kids tossing their veggies – and that has some parents upset.

Dumb - Cameras used for surveillance to make sure kids are eating the vegetables. How much do they cost? How is this going to be enforced? Is it possible to enforce? Etc. In Howard's defense, he SAYS that it's for evidence to tell the feds that the policy doesn't work.

Howard called those concerns “conspiracy theories” and said they were not going to force kids to eat their vegetables.

“I don’t want anybody to be on camera at all,” he told Fox News. “This would be aimed directly into the trash can. By no means would any of our students be in the picture.” He said the cameras were meant to give the school district evidence they need to push back against the federal guidelines.

Surveillance cameras aren't needed for that. Take a picture of the trash bin and send it to the dipsticks at the federal government. While I'll take Howard at his word here, the feds may just tell them to do exactly what Howard said he doesn't want to happen in the era of Obamacare. That leads to dumber.

Dumber - The Feds. What the Hell are they doing involved in what should be local decisions in the first place?  We have school boards. They work for our local communities. We hire and fire them as voters, and also vote with our feet. While local school boards have their issues, they are a hell of a lot more qualified than some federal bureaucrat in DC. I thought "No child left behind" from Bush and Kennedy was bad and this is even worse. Whether the kids eat or do not eat their vegetables are not the feds business. It's mom's business, not the Peter Principle in Chief's business.

Outside of the eyes of the parents, whether kids eat their vegetables or not will be their decision. The nannies don't want to hear that, but that's just the way it was, is, and will be unless you have armed guards patrolling the lunchrooms enforcing that policy under criminal penalties. That's quite possible in the future as lines between public schools and prisons are blurring some in the post Columbine era of "zero tolerance." .

The federal government is neither smart enough, nor trustworthy enough to be involved in local school matters. 

Peter Principle in Chief "fouls" up the budget problems.

I'm frankly shocked that the US Government credit rating isn't at junk bond status right now. S&P sounded the warning alarm. This is what happens as a result of the combination of the Peter Principle with Obama, the biggest joke in the country with the US Senate led by Harry Reid, and a cowardly Republican house still living in 1995 and 1996 fears. In response to the S&P decision, Obama's yesman "economic advisor" didn't talk about spending less, but accused them of "amateurism". Are you f'ing kidding me? That's coming from the administration which is the embodiment of amateur hour in action. Dumb and Dumber. When 12 trillion isn't enough, there's a problem. Bailous, stimulus, Obamacare, and this.

Just as bad was Congress and the GOP house caving like this. This isn't 1995 or 1996. The same rules don't apply, there's no Okalahoma City bombing, and there is no balanced budget. The internet is bigger today. Obama isn't Bill Clinton and doesn't have the same effect on people as in 2008 now that the "we can elect a black president," "Bush fatigue", and the "stop the war" push is over. I'm no Clinton fan, but one thing I agree with him on is "A few years ago, this guy would be getting us coffee." That was the quote in 2008. Clinton was young when he was elected, but had 11 years of executive experience as governor, interrupted by a statewide defeat and comeback.

Obama on the other hand rose way beyond his level of incompetence. He didn't get to where he was at by what he knew. He only got there because he was a useful tool to influential power brokers. At Harvard Law, he was the president of law review, but had no articles published. None. Why? Anyone that went to law school knows that one of the expectations on law review is to write articles. That goes double for the person in charge. If he didn't write articles, how did he get there? From there, he was ACORN's attorney, and he then ran for state senate in a special election of 96.

The one thing that Obama actually is good at besides sticking his nose in the air and running his mouth is campaigns. Chicago politics. He and Axelrod know what they are doing there. He got his first opponent kept off the ballot. That's Chicago politics. He was unopposed in 98 and 2002. In 2004 he ran for US Senate, and got lucky when there was a major mess on both party sides. The frontrunning dems had scandals on one side. On the GOP side. Maverick Peter Fitzgerald (despised by state GOP leadership for his corruption stances) decided not to run again. This was in the era of George Ryan. Ryan was the GOP version of Rod Blagojevich and went to prison. Typical Chicagoland politics. Jack Ryan won the nomination. Obama's people and media allies were leaking his supposed to be sealed divorce file which had a skeleton, and Ryan dropped out. Marylander Alan Keyes replaced Ryan and Obama won with 70%. He also that same year had a major speech at the 2004 DNC convention which set him up four years later. Friends in high places.

That's a real rapid and lucky rise for someone who until there was nothing more than a two bit state senator and ACORN's attorney. It's also a big jump from a two bit junior league less than one term senator to being the Peter Principle-in-chief. Tony Resko, Bill Ayers, and company taught him well.

Obama can campaign, and he can organize, but he doesn't know anything about budgets. He is showing his incompetence. He has no experience balancing budgets at an executive level. While in Congress, the budget increased every term. He voted for them. He voted for the Bailouts. He enacted the stimulus package. He signed budgets that shattered Bush's records. The Peter Principle in chief then sticks his nose up in the air and has the arrogance to lecture all of us on budgets. Boehner needs to screw civility tell him off in the matter what former Coach Bob Knight did to a media person who didn't get his facts straight. It won't happen.

Knight's quote - "I'll handle this the way I want to handle it now that I'm here. You F@%#ed it up to begin with, now just sit there or leave. I don't give a @%## what you do." This clown needs to be told to sit there or leave.

This deal obviously didn't work. The credit ratings are down. Markets are dropping. What is as bad as the deal is the fact that Boehner bragged about it like it was a good thing. What he should have said is that "We control one branch of government. The democrats control two. This is the least worst option that slowed growth of spending although it didn't make cuts. We wanted to avoid the default as we think this is the worst case scenario. In order to actually balance the budget, we need to get rid of Obama and Reid."

A balanced budget and actual cuts need to be pushed. Not "cuts in growth" over 10 years. Not 2008 levels. Balanced budget.

This is also going to be a big weekend in Iowa. August 13th is the day of the famous Ames Straw poll. This will likely start narrowing the field of declared candidates further. Nobody is running away with the nomination right now. After suffering for four years of the Peter Principle in chief, we need to make sure someone with actual experience and intelligence beyond American Idol Campaign styles and reading a teleprompter gets elected.

The Peter Principle in Chief isn't done fouling things up. Whoever takes over will have a gigantic mess to fix. Boehner needs to limit the damage as much as possible, and the rest of us need to keep pushing our reps that this deal wasn't acceptable, and we need to cut spending. ASAP. Now.