Did I Call It, Or WHAT!?

Back in December 2008, I said, “The fact is, that there are ONLY TWO possible solutions to America’s domestic auto crisis; (1) either the UAW shops have to be coerced into working for the same $50/hour wage, health and pension package as the non-Union Toyota, Nissan, and BMW shops, OR, (2) all those non-Union shops have to be either coerced OR tariffed/taxed into paying the same amount for THEIR labor. OTHERWISE the UAW shops will NEVER be able to compete.”

SEE: http://workingclassconservative.blogspot.com/2008/12/uaws-bailout-deal-sacrifice-or.html

The Obama administration apparently agrees as the AP reported earlier today; “President Barack Obama refused further long-term federal bailouts for General Motors and Chrysler, saying more concessions were needed from unions, creditors and others before they could be approved. He raised the possibility Monday of controlled bankruptcy for one or both of the beleaguered auto giants...

“...Obama said he is committed to the survival of an auto industry — on terms that will allow it to compete internationally.”

That doesn’t sound exactly pro-Union, does it?

I mean, in the first part of that statement they’re acknowledging that America’s UAW shops can’t compete due to “poor decision making” (apparently capitulating to unsustainable Union demands) by their Executive Boards and is now demanding concessions (in pay and benefits) to get those shops in-line with their non-UAW competitors.

It’s the RIGHT path, though NOT necessarily the “pro-Union” one.

The “Fixed Economic Pie” Mythology STILL Holds Some Weight...

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As if things haven’t been depressing enough lately, a recent Rasmussen Poll shows that a full "30% of Americans believe the government should make it illegal to pay movie stars and athletes more than $1 million per year."

There is a more support - but not much more - for capping the pay of corporate executives. Thirty-six percent (36%) say the federal government should make it illegal to pay any executive more than $1 million a year. The majority (54%), however, disagree.

SEE: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/30_say_government_should_limit_pay_for_athletes_and_movie_stars

Yes, a whopping 59% of Americans still oppose capping compensation for movie stars and sports figures, and 54% oppose capping CEO pay, but, the fact that younger Americans tend to favor government limits on celebrity salaries more than their elders and that, as expected, lower income Americans like them more than those whose annual salaries are higher, along with the fact that forty-two percent (42%) of women think a government limit on executive salaries is a good idea, compared to only 29% of men does not bode well at all.

Yes, indeed the vast majority of those young people will “grow up,” and out of those foolish, child-like ideas, but the numbers are still way too high!

The fact is there is hardly a myth more pernicious than the Malthusian one that goes, “There is only a certain amount of wealth available at any given time, so those who earn “too much” TAKE wealth away from those who wind up with too little.”

NOTHING could be further from the truth.

Wealth expands and contracts and the primary cause of wealth creation/expansion is investment and Capitalization.

Those who have Capital demand a good return, with a limited cut going to the government, for putting that Capital at risk...and rightly so.

So far as compensation goes, some skills are obviously more valuable than others.

Only a fool would argue that a surgeon isn’t some forty or fifty times more valuable than a math teacher, for instance.

Athletes and movie stars aren’t “salaried employees,” they’re independent contractors whose earnings are based on the returns (profits) their films, sports teams bring in.

Why shouldn’t someone who draws in millions of dollars in revenues get a percentage of the gate?!

Same with sales people, who largely work “on commission.” Why should they be limited in what they can earn, as that also, in turn, winds up limiting what they can/will sell?

After all, if a salesman is capped at $1 MILLION/year in compensation and has routinely brought in sales that have resulted in $5 MILLION/year in commissions/compensation, then why should he sell any more than his cap makes it worth his while to sell?

Such limits always come back to limit ALL of us!

So, yes, while it’s comforting that 60% of Americans recognize that we do not exist within a “fixed economic pie,” it’s sad that apparently 30% do!

Group Rallies For Lovelle Mixon, Lauding Him as a "Hero"

In a sick, twisted display of heinous racist bigotry, the folks at Oakland's Uhuru House demonstrated FOR deceased cop killer Lovelle Mixon, lauding him as a hero. One of the sickest and most demented things you're going to see....

BUT this NEEDS to be seen.

What’s Wrong With THIS Picture???

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Last weekend, long-time WABC newsman George Weber (above top) was murdered in his Brooklyn apartment.

Weber was stabbed over fifty times by a “knife-obsessed” Satanist.

All of that is horrible and George Weber, with his dynamic on-air personality, was certainly a victim of a violent crime, but the back-story is revealing and it makes the entire story a lot more complex.

Turns out that the 47 y/o Weber met his alleged killer (John Katehis - also pictured above bottom) through an online ad on Craigslist. An ad that offered $60 for rough sex.

OK, here’s what’s wrong with this picture, in grieving for George Weber, we lose site of the fact that he TOO committed a series of crimes here, the LEAST of which is offering to pay for sex (promoting prostitution) and the MOST SERIOUS being, put in the most charitable light, statutory rape – sex with a minor!

While neither of those crimes is worthy of death, they are serious issues and they speak to the moral crisis we face as a country today. Put it this way, IF George Weber had survived the attack, we'd still want John Katehis punished for his crimes, and once Mr. Weber got out of the hospital, we'd have wanted him to answer for his, as well.

But we seem to see it so often now-a-days that we’ve become numb to it – MSNBC’s “To Catch a Predator” has shown dozens of men of all backgrounds and income strata seeking out and driving hundreds of miles to engage in sex with 12 and 14 year-olds!

This kind of debased morality is inconsistent with freedom as Liberty and we cannot long survive as a nation so long as this plague is so widespread and remains so unaddressed.

Daniel Hannan MEP: The devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government

British Parlimentarian Daniel Hannan rips Gordon Brown over his Keynesian policies! Excoriating Prime Minister Brown over trying to "spend his way out of recession," declaring "You have run out of OUR money." GREAT video with almost 1.5 MILLION hits.

Obama Administration: We Love the Troops so MUCH We’re Gonna Make’m Pay for Their Own Healthcare Costs...

The Obama administration is looking into ways of saving money.

Good, you say?

Maybe they’ll cut some of those pork-ladden social programs and slash government funds going to radical groups like ACORN?

No such luck.

How’s about America’s servicemen paying for their own healthcare to cover the costs of injuries incurred in fighting on behalf of their country?

Yup, that seems to be about the size of it.


"Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.

"But the proposal would be "dead on arrival" if it's sent to Congress, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said.

"Murray used that blunt terminology when she told Shinseki that the idea would not be acceptable and would be rejected if formally proposed. Her remarks came during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs about the 2010 budget.

"Asked about the proposal, Shinseki said it was under "consideration."

"A final decision hasn't been made yet," he said.

"Currently, veterans' private insurance is charged only when they receive health care from the VA for medical issues that are not related to service injuries, like getting the flu.

"Charging for service-related injuries would violate "a sacred trust," Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis said. Davis said the move would risk private health care for veterans and their families by potentially maxing out benefits paying for costly war injury treatments."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/10/veterans.health.insurance/index.html

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So, WHY the pretense of "supporting our troops", especially NOW, when such a pretense is hardly needed? So, the Left wants to punish America's Vets for fighting for a nation THEY view as imperialist and evil...OK, then why not just have the guts to say that?!

Key Dems KNEW About AIG’s Bonuses!...

Amidst all the faux outrage over the AIG bonuses, there’s now a lot of ducking and covering.

Turns out that the Senate version of TARP, which came out of the Senate Finance Committee run by Chris Dodd, had in place ironclad protections for any bonuses contracted BEFORE February 9, 2009.

Now, Dodd is throwing Tim Geithner and by extension, Barack Obama under the bus to save himself (he’s trailing badly in re-election polls for his Senate seat), by claiming “We didn’t write that line, the treasury Department did.”

Really?Notice, Dodd didn’t say he didn’t KNOW about it, just that he “didn’t write it.”

The “writing” apparently done by Tim Geithner.

Oddly enough, it’s CONGRESS, NOT the Treasury Department that is charged with writing legislation, so it’s doubtful that Tim Geithner wrote that line.

But accuracy is never all that important when you’re trying to save your own skin.

After all, aside from those VIP Mortgages he glommed from Countrywide, Dodd also happily took $103,000 from AIG!

Hmmmm, BIG DONATION and a line that provides an ironclad protection for contracted bonuses written on or before 2/9/09 gets passed over in the Bill.

Coincidence?

PLEASE Connecticut, do the right thing (you did it in re-electing Lieberman) and flush this guy, once and for all!