Year: 2009

G.M. Is Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory with Opel

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As a part of the deal that would have GM’s Opel/Vauxhall division sold to a consortium headed by Canadian auto parts manufacturer the workers agreed to wage and benefit concessions that would save the firm €265 million.

OK, so far, so god, but then GM decided to back out of the sales deal at the last minute.

This is apparently because they think that bring their European division back to profitability will be easier than everyone else thinks:

The company said it expected to spend 3 billion euros, or $4.4 billion, to downsize operations, which it said was “significantly lower” than what Magna and other bidders had projected.

There is also the matter that GM has next to nothing by way of fuel efficient cars in its labs in the US, because….because…They are f%$#ing morons, and they need Opel’s technology in order to make fuel efficient cars in the US.

Well, good luck with that, as the abrupt reversal has enraged Angela Merkel in Germany, and Putin in Russia, as well as the their workers, who now see the entire sales fiasco as a sort of Kabuki theater for the benefit of Angela Merkel’s reelection.

We are already seeing calls in the Bundestag for the immediate return of the €1.5 billion bridge loan that was floated by the Germans to facilitate this sale.

As a result of this decision, there have been strikes across Opel’s German factories, with protests by people carrying signs saying, “GM – Go Away!” and “Hands off Opel!”, and the German unions are demanding changes to the structure of the company, from LLC to AG (joint stock corporation), so as to increase German, and lessen US control, over the firm, because joint stock corporations in Germany mandate greater worker stock ownership and board participation.

So, GM, which will still need government support for the foreseeable future, has double-crossed and made enemies of the entire political establishment in Russia and Germany, while also creating a hostile and demoralized workforce.

Heck of a job, Brownie.

Unemployment Breaks 10 %

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Up 0.4% to 10.2%. Yeah, bailing out the banks worked so well.

BTW, U6, the most expansive measure of unemployment, hit 17.5%.

Note, however, that U6 is still more restrictive than the metric used in the Great Depression, which, for example counted WPA workers as unemployed.

It means that we are much closer to the 25% peak in the 1930’s than we would like to think.

[on edit]

Full disclosure, I am among that 10.2%

Obama Knifes Gays Again

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Not surprising, when he replaced the Gay friendly DNC chair (Howard Dean ) with yet another bible thumper (Tim Kaine)bible.

As I have said before, Barack Obama and His Stupid Minions™ are desperately afraid of offending homophobic bigots.

Well, the DNC was claiming that they sent those emails to folks in Maine, asking for support for Corzine in NJ, without any mention of the Hate Referendum in Maine by accident, but John Aravosis got a copy of an email sent to donors which proves that to be a lie.

Ironically enough, the email was from Andrew Tobias, who is the author of The Best Little Boy in the World, who later got involved in the comments section of the above thread, and blamed John for, “turning people against support of the Democrats,” ignoring Obama’s record on such things.

I think that it is absolutely clear now, between Donnie McClurkin, his reversals on DADT, inviting homophobes to offer prayers at the inauguration, and, of course, the disgraceful DOMA briefs that Barack Obama will do whatever is possible to avoid basic civil rights for gays.

I don’t know if it’s because he wants everyone to like him, and so does not want to offend anti-gay bigots (homophobia-phobia), or if he is homophobic himself.

It does not matter. There is a pattern here, and it’s not going to change.

Excerpt of email after the fold.

Email to donors:

1. An email went out asking activists to make calls to New Jersey. It was insensitive not to omit Mainers from that email. I apologize that no one thought to do that. I can’t imagine it could have cost No On One even a dozen votes, but I still wish someone would have thought of this in time to catch it. Mistake noted.

2. A different email went out to Mainers urging them to vote. As the only thing of substance anyone was voting on in Maine was Question One, and as Democratic activists vote our way, this was a small but positive effort to be helpful.

I would have liked to see that email discuss No One One directly, in case there may have been an email-enabled Organizing for America activist someplace in Maine who did NOT know where Maine Democrats stood on this issue. (Out of the country without Internet access until the night before the election?) But I’m told there was concern that advocating specifically for a ballot initiative, whether LGBT or otherwise, would set a precedent for every other ballot initiative. Bureaucracies are nervous about setting precedents.

Economics Update

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The Defendants in the Galleon Case….So Far
Click for PDF from SEC


H/t The Bondad Blog

It’s jobless Thursday, and initial jobless were better than forecast, 512,000, down from a revised 532,000 the prior week, comparing the initial numbers from last week, it’s 512K from 530K, a still quite impressive 18,000 drop.

The 4 week moving average fell 3000, to 523,750, and the continuing claims fell to 5,749,000, down 68,000 from last week’s number 5,817,000, though the initial figure there was 5,797,000m which is a 48K drop.

We are still seeing repercussions of the the Fed’s extended zero rate interest in energy and currency, with people worrying that the run up in commodities may be coming to an end, which pushed the dollar and Yen up, and oil down.

Not Enough Bullets

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With the H1N1 vaccine in short supplies , it now appears that there will be priority will be given pregnant women, infants and children and those up to 24 years, those who care for infants, health and emergency services personnel, adults with compromised immune systems or other chronic health problems, and the employees of large Wall Street banks:

CREW ASKS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO WHY WALL STREET IS GETTING H1N1 VACCINE AHEAD OF THOSE WHO MOST NEED IT

November 5, 2009

Contact: Naomi Seligman // 202.408.5565

5 Nov 2009 // Washington, D.C. – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked Health and Human Service (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to investigate why the Center for Disease Control (CDC) approved the distribution of the H1NI vaccine to Wall Street firms at a time when the vaccine is unavailable to most Americans.

Recent news reports indicate 13 companies, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Time Warner, have been cleared to receive the vaccine.

The CDC is distributing the much sought-after vaccine to Wall Street firms despite reports of vast shortages. In fact, just yesterday CDC Director Thomas Frieden informed Congress that only 32.3 million doses are available, far less than the 159 million needed to cover those at the highest risk. Given the scarce supply, the CDC has recommended the vaccine be directed only to those at highest risk: pregnant women, infants and children and those up to 24 years, those who care for infants, health and emergency services personnel, and adults with compromised immune systems or other chronic health problems.

(emphasis mine)
Kathleen Sebelus should be fired for this, but Geithner needs to go first.

And you that little Timmy Geithner had a say in doing this. It smells of Geithner.

The rest of the press release after the flip.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today, “Although CREW has been unable to uncover the demographic makeup of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase, it seems safe to assume the vast majority of their employees are not pregnant women, infants and children, young adults up to 24 years old, and healthcare workers.”

State officials are concerned about the shortages. The head of Alabama’s Department of Public Health testified that 62% of the vaccines ordered by the state will not be available until after December 1, 2009 and the director of Minnesota’s St. Paul Ramsey County Department of Public Health said he is expecting only 7,800 doses for more than 20,000 children. Los Angeles County’s three public hospitals ordered 110,000 vaccines, but have received only about 18,000 doses, and UCLA’s two hospitals received 1,000 doses for 10,000 staff and 35,000 patients.

This situation is echoed around the country, leaving most of those seeking the vaccine unable to receive it with no remedy in sight. Frieden admitted, “It is quite likely the current wave of influenza will peak, crest and begin to decline before there are ample supplies of the vaccine.”

Sloan said, “In what world do Wall Street employees deserve to be vaccinated ahead of high-risk children, pregnant women and health care workers? Unfortunately, for the thousands being turned away in clinics across America, the CDC has decided to prioritize the millionaires over the masses. The public has a right to know how and why this has happened and when it will stop.” Sloan continued, “First, the bailout, then the bonuses, now the vaccine. When will Washington start putting the needs of Main Street above those of Wall Street?”

Another Ad Served by Google™ Adsense™

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Yeah, I just saw this ad on my blog. (No link, not even if by clicking on it you cost them money, and send their money to me.)

I don’t know about you, but I’d really like to wipe the f%$#ing smirks off their f%$#ing faces.

Of course, then I look at the ineffectual wimpiness “eleventy dimensional chess” coming from the White House, and I lose all interest in doing anything.

In any case, please consider this to be a formal disavowal of the ad. I do not police my ads. They are separate from editorial.

This statement also applies to the Newt Gingrich newsletter advertisement, and all suchlike.

I figure that they waste their money here, and I’ll spent the wasted money on taking Sharon* out to dinner.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

“Anti-counterfeit” Treaty Becomes Hollywood Wet Dream

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Well, this was likely to happen when Barack Obama and His Stupid Minions™ said that “national security” required that the negotiations be conducted in the deepest secrecy.

Here are the bullet points:

  • ISPs would be required to aggressively and intrusively troll their user’s data for evidence of copyright violations.
  • ISPs would have to cut users off without any sort of judicial proceeding.
  • Breaking anti-circumvention technology for a legal purpose becomes illegal.

Unfortunately, since Hollywood gives to Republican, you can be sure that the Dems in Congress will be cool with letting the folks who gave us Gigli determining whether or not one has a right to be on the Internet.

Details here, here, here, here, here, and here.

An Idea So Good It Will Never Pass

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George Miller (D CA-7) has introduced a law requiring employers to pay workers for up to 5 days if they send them home because they are sick:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employers who tell workers to stay home when they are sick will have to give them paid time off for up to five days under new federal legislation proposed on Tuesday.

The emergency law would cover pandemic H1N1 flu or any other infectious disease, said California Representative George Miller, a Democrat who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee and who introduced the bill.

“Sick workers advised to stay home by their employers shouldn’t have to choose between their livelihood, and their co-workers’ or customers’ health,” Miller said.

<George Herbert Walker Bush>Not Gonna Happen.</George Herbert Walker Bush>

It makes sense from a business perspective, a public health perspective, and a moral perspective, but there is no way that the Congress is going to pass this because….Because they are a bunch of wankers.

Carly Fiorina Announces Her Campaign for Senate

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And I am pretty sure that anyone who has ever worked at Hewlett Packard will vote against her.

She is a real horror show. She was incompetent enough to be fired as a spokesperson for John McCain’s campaign, they were literally singing “Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead,” in the cubicles when she got fired by HP, and she she came to prominence because her underlings falsified sales at Lucent.

Surely, she is not going to run on her record.

The Rundown on Rahmbo

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Jane Hamshire has a rundown of Rahm Emanuel’s history, and it shows that now only is he on the wrong side of every issue on the merits, he also creates political disasters for the party.

It is very good reading, where she shows that he was on the wrong side of NAFTA, the Iraq war, healthcare, etc.

The money quote is:

Rahm doesn’t think about Democratic turnout. His reputation for “winning a Democratic majority” rests on his ability as a self-promoter to take credit for victories that happened in spite of him. The truth is that his “act more like Republicans” strategy just hasn’t worked out, and we’re getting whiffs of the disaster it spells for Democrats who follow it. [She is referring to Criegh Deeds frantic run away from national Democrats, as well as the poor showing of pro-War Dems in 2006]

Go read. This guy has a history of failing upward that rivals Dick Cheney’s.

Italian Conviction of CIA Kidnappers Means Nothing

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The fact that Judge Oscar Magi convicted 23 Americans in absentia for kidnapping Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr really has very little meaning, even with sentences of up to 8 year in prison.

It sounds significant, until you realize that the senior Italian officials who were in on this were acquitted by reason of state security:

Charges were also dropped against five Italians, including the former head of the Sismi military intelligence service, Nicolo Pollari, because evidence against them violated state secrecy rules.

So the senior people in the Italian state security apparatus, the ones who could say no, get off Scott free.

Some lower level operatives, however, got hung out to dry for following orders:

However, the judge sentenced two more junior Sismi agents to three years in prison as accomplices, indicating Italian authorities were aware of the abduction.

How is “Lynndie England” spelled in Italian?

The Galleon Insider Trading Scandal Spreads

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So now, we are seeing more prominent people tied into this.

This time it’s, “Richard Grodin, formerly of SAC, one of the country’s most well-respected and largest hedge funds.”

What is going on here is that authorities used wire taps, a change in the area of securities fraud, and it looks like a double digit percentage of Wall Street was in it at some level.

My guess is that this sort of behavior is in fact endemic to the street, and that this is the tip of the iceberg.

My concern is that the wire taps might not be the part of a securities investigation, but instead were a result of a investigation of Raja Rajaratnam’s ties to the LTTE terrorists.

Considering the level of damage to our country done by the bankers, we should be going full PATRIOT act on them, because they make Osama bin Laden look like “My Little Pony”.

Healthcare Update

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AARP Executive VP Nancy LeaMond and House Leaders

Well, today both the AMA and the AARP endorsed healthcare reform, which, I think makes the possibility of passage significantly greater.

Note that some of the constituencies in the AMA, most notably, the “American Assn. of Neurological Surgeons, the American Society of General Surgeons and the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery,” came out against this, but note that these are people who make their money when preventative care fails.

Notwithstanding Harry “No Balls” Reid’s statement that there may not be a bill this year, the House of Representatives is moving forward full throttle, with a vote scheduled for this Saturday.

Steve Benin also notices that the Republican opposition to the bill might not be as unified as it was for the stimulus package:

Republicans will overwhelmingly reject the Democrats’ healthcare reform measure when it is reaches the House floor, according to a key lawmaker.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), who serves as deputy GOP whip, told The Hill that the number of Republicans supporting the sweeping legislation will be “very, very close to zero.

Mr. Benin, much like I did, “assumed it was a foregone conclusion that every House Republican would vote against reform, just as every House Republican voted against the economic recovery package and against this year’s budget plan,” while this quote implies that there might be 1 or 2, or perhaps even a few more votes for the bill.

I think that this situation can be explained in 4 words, Anh “Joseph” Quang Cao, the Republican who defeated incumbent William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson in an overwhelmingly Republican district, because Jefferson was under indictment for corruption.

He knows that no matter how much support Republicans throw his way, and they won’t throw much, he’s a goner unless he actually considers his district’s needs.

Even in Louisiana, he cannot count on his opposition facing corruption charges for every election.

This is Never Good News

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The much delayed audit of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has been delayed again:

A much-anticipated audit of the Federal Housing Administration was abruptly postponed just before it was supposed to be made public, after questions arose about its accuracy.

The auditor, Integrated Financial Engineering, said it notified the F.H.A. late Tuesday that its computer models were creating unexplained inconsistencies. A news conference scheduled for Wednesday morning was canceled.

The audit calculates whether or not there are solvency issues under various economic scenarios.

The fact that concerns over these models led to another delay on the release of the audit is concerning, to say the least, particularly since, “The delinquency rate on F.H.A. loans was 14 percent in the second quarter.”

Breaking: Bernard Kerik Pleads Guilty

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So, the man who Rudy Giuliani mentored to the position of New York City Police Commissioner has copped a plea deal, and pled guilty to on 8 counts, “two counts of tax fraud, one count of making a false statement on a loan application — the most serious — and five separate counts of making false statements to the federal government,” and is likely to be sentenced to 27 to 33 months.

The false statements are in connection to his statements to federal agents when he was being vetted to be head of DHS by Bush and His Evil Minions™.

Basically, he got a $¼ million in renovations for his apartment from a mob tied contractor that he later recommended for city business.

Basically, Giuliani’s right hand man was mobbed up.

This guy was pretty low level until Giuliani decided to smile on him, and it says something about Rudy’s judgment, and could, and should be an issue if he chooses to run for governor.

How Utterly Appropriate

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Remember Carrie Prejean?

She is a former Miss California, who whined that she was “discriminated against for her religious beliefs, because she didn’t become Miss America after declaring her opposition to same sex marriage.

Well, after that, she became a right wing cause célèbre, and started hitting the right wing talk show circuit, and ignoring her duties, and appointments, as Miss California….I think it involves waving and smiling….So, despite an intervention by Donald Trump,* she was fired for…you know….Not showing up to work.

So, she sued, and then a few bikini modeling pics of her showed up, and then she dropped the suit, because, “the lawyer for the Pageant showed Carrie an XXX home video of her handiwork.”

I have been unable to find any details, but the wags at TMZ, who have apparrently seen this bit of cinéma vérité, but decided that it was inappropriate for them to release, have seen the film:

The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. We know that, because TMZ obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was so racy. Let’s just say, Carrie has a promising solo career.

Seriously, what is it with conservatives?

They make Gene Simmons look like Mother Theresa.

*When Donald Trump has to do an intervention, you are in a really strange place.