mint.com’s take on unemployment stats

another atlas shrugged moment

excerpt:

“We thought cash for clunkers was the ultimate waste of taxpayer money, but as usual we were too optimistic. Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part of President Obama’s stimulus plan, Uncle Sam is now paying Americans to buy that great necessity of modern life, the golf cart.

The federal credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart. Even in states that don’t have their own tax rebate plans, the federal credit is generous enough to pay for half or even two-thirds of the average sticker price of a cart, which is typically in the range of $8,000 to $10,000. “The purchase of some models could be absolutely free,” Roger Gaddis of Ada Electric Cars in Oklahoma said earlier this year. “Is that about the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?”".

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574473724099542430.html

ally bank the new gmac (aka general motors) bank?

i’ve been seeing these ally bank ads carpet bombing the internet the last 3 months…i’ve wondered who has this kind of money to throw down on an ad campaign like this….sure enough ally bank is the rebranded face of GMAC bank, which is the financing wing of General Motors, which is now owned by the US Government…so Gov’ment subsidies are driving this ad buy..similar to every GM ad you see.

that said, the website seems pretty user-friendly…so they’ve got that going for them.

http://www.gmacbank.com/

the world needs more john stossels

great bit on the messy joke that is health care in this country.

who’s he talkin’ bout?

the bureaucrats in washington that created too-big-to-fail or the populist uprising against bailout-pa-looza?

peter schiff money bomb

just donated to peter schiff’s campaign fund..he’s trying to hit a million by end of day…already halfway there!

he’s another true outsider like ron paul…i love seeing these guys battle with the status-quo lawyers/beaurocrats from inside the beltway…

ever wonder why gas prices are still above $2.50 even in depths of recession?

I live in WA state where regular gas (as of 6/10/09) is $2.95 gallon…of which 56% is taxes, which = $1.62 gallon….

from http://moneyfeatures.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/gasoline_map_4_2009-for-6-9-2009.jpg

yet another example of ayn rand’s ‘atlas shrugged’ playing out in real world

these types of posts could become commonplace if the gov-ment continues to take over industry + putting no-experience beauracrats in charge…

excerpt:

WASHINGTON — It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism.

But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry.

Nor, for that matter, had he given much thought to what ailed an industry that had been in decline ever since he was born. A bit laconic and looking every bit the just-out-of-graduate-school student adjusting to life in the West Wing — “he’s got this beard that appears and disappears,” says Steven Rattner, one of the leaders of President Obama’s automotive task force — Mr. Deese was thrown into the auto industry’s maelstrom as soon the election-night parties ended.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/business/01deese.html?_r=4&emc=eta1

the onion sums up the reality of obama’s first 100 days…

Obama Revises Campaign Promise Of ‘Change’ To ‘Relatively Minor Readjustments In Certain Favorable Policy Areas’

WASHINGTON—In a slight shift from his campaign trail promise, President Obama announced Monday that his administration’s message of “Change” has been modified to the somewhat more restrained slogan “Relatively Minor Readjustments in Certain Favorable Policy Areas.” “Today, Americans face a great many challenges, and I hear your desperate calls for barely measurable and largely symbolic improvements in the status quo,” said Obama, who vowed never to waver in his fight for every last infinitesimal nudge forward on the controversial issues of torture and the military ban on homosexuals. “Remember: Yes we can, if by that you mean tiptoeing around potentially unpopular decisions that could alienate a large segment of the populace.” Washington insiders said that, while the new mottos are certainly in keeping with Obama’s pledge of government transparency, they are significantly less catchy.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/obama_revises_campaign?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

ralph nader on gov’t-industrial complex GM bailout

just a prelude of the central planning to come????

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124355327992064463.html

excerpt: 4) Why is the task force permitting GM to increase manufacturing overseas for export back into the U.S.? Under the GM reorganization plan, the company will rely increasingly on overseas plants to make cars for sale in the U.S., with cars made in low-wage countries like Mexico rising from 15% to 23% of GM sales here. For the first time, GM plans to export cars from China to the U.S. in what is a harbinger of the company’s future business model. What is the conceivable rationale for permitting GM to increase manufacturing overseas — especially in dictatorships, for export back into the U.S. — when preserving jobs and industry is the avowed goal of this immense taxpayer bailout?