GM CEO Wants $1 per gallon Gas Tax Hike

The joke will be on you!

Detroit MI, Jun 10, 2011. Government Motors CEO Dan Akerson wants the federal gas tax boosted as much as $1 a gallon to move consumers toward more fuel-efficient cars.

Akerson was installed as GM's CEO by U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, in late 2010, after Obama fired the previous CEO  Edward Whitacre.

Obama hand picked Akerson from one of his Corporate Sponsors, The Carlyle Group, to run GM in an environmentally friendly way.

Akerson, a firm believer in Obama's plan for higher taxes, says he would like to see the government step up to the challenge by setting a much  higher gas tax, as part of a comprehensive energy policy. But he opposes forcing GM to build more fuel efficient cars.

A government-imposed tax hike, Akerson believes, will prompt more people to buy small cars and do more good for the environment than forcing automakers to comply with higher gas-mileage standards.

"There ought to be a discussion on the cost versus the benefits," he said. "What we are going to do is tax production here, and that will cost us jobs."

For the years 2017-25, federal officials are considering 3 percent to 6 percent annual fuel efficiency increases, or 47 mpg to 62 mpg. That could boost the cost of vehicles by up to $3,500.

"You know what I'd rather have them do — this will make my Republican friends puke — as gas is going to go down here now, we ought to just slap a 50-cent or a dollar tax on a gallon of gas," Akerson said. 

"That's my boy!"

"People will start buying more Cruzes and they will start buying less Suburbans."

Both Akerson and Obama are opposed to allowing any new oil drilling in US territory that could reduce the cost of gas by increasing supply.

Any increase in oil supplies could have a negative impact on prices and reduce profits for big oil companies and Islamic nations in the middle east.

Obama Stimulus Fails. Unemployment Claims Up Again

Washington DC, Jun 9, 2011. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly creeped higher last week, stoking fears of a promised but failed economic recovery.

To make matters worse, our trade gap with China jumped up 20% higher.

Initial claims for state jobless benefits increased 1,000 to 427,000, the Labor Department said. This was despite forecasts that it would drop to 415,000 from a previously reported count of 422,000.

The rise kept first-time claims above the 400,000 mark for the 9th week in a row. 

"It's the same dismal trend continuing. It's not getting worse, but it's not getting better either," said Keith Hembre, chief economist at Nuveen Asset Management in Minneapolis.

Fueling concerns about job creation, the U.S. government said on Friday the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 9.1 percent in May while nonfarm employers added a paltry 54,000 workers to their payrolls.

Hembre said the unemployment rate could rise to 9.2 percent in the June report. That would add to President Barack Hussein Obama's, D-Kenya, political woes heading into the 2012 race for the White House.

The closely watched U.S. trade deficit with China jumped nearly 20 percent in April to $21.6 billion. It continues at a pace to exceed last year's record of about $273 billion.

Despite rising unemployment, soaring deficits, and the growing trade gap with China, President Obama is planning to spend $160 billion in taxpayer money to bail out the economy of Greece!

USA Flat Broke; But Obama Will Bail Out Greece Again

President Obama and Chancellor Merkel

Washington DC, Jun 8, 2011. American President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, has urged Europe to prevent a default by Greece, and pledged U.S. support to solve Greece's debt crisis.

Obama, who met with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, stressed the importance of German leadership on the issue, which means he wants Germany to help out too.

The President sees Greek debt aid as vital to to the recovery of the US economy.

Obama's poll numbers at home have suffered from persistently high unemployment, growing inflation, extremely high gas prices, staggering U.S. debt, and the continued devaluation of the dollar, but he has now blames the euro zone crisis as one foreign "headwind" hitting the U.S. economy.

"I'm confident that Germany's leadership, along with other key actors in Europe, will help us arrive at a path for Greece to return to growth, for this debt to become more manageable," Obama said.

As the  largest contributor to the IMF the United States taxpayer is on the hook for the second Greek bailout. Of course, the most deplorable part of this whole plan isn't just the fact that the U.S. is helping to bail out Greece... but that this bailout is really just one more bank bailout!

Americans are getting tired of bank bailouts

This proposal for a second Greek bailout package worth an additionl $160 billion is taking shape. Naturally, this will be funded by American taxpayers.

And the prime beneficiary will be the national banks of Germany and France who hold most of the Greek bonds that are at risk.

Merkel, under political pressure at home to avoid being the financial savior for other struggling European countries, said Germany understood its role.

"We've seen that the stability of the euro as a whole will also be influenced if one country is in trouble," she said.

This isn’t about the people of Greece.  They are going to be forced into years of austerity and painful economic times regardless of the situtation.  What this is really about is the $189 billion in Greek debt that the European banks have on their books.

President Obama wants to take this risk off the backs of the European banks and place it squarely on the shoulders of American taxpayers. He will either print more dollars or borrow more money from China to fund this European bank bail out.

We all know how well the last bank bailout worked for all of us.  With the banks reaping record profits and doling out record bonuses U.S. unemployment remains near its 25 year highs.   The only true recovery in this “recovery” has been the one in bank profits.

The bailouts sure worked great for Wall Street, but didn’t work that well for Main Street.

And make no mistake here – the people of Greece will be forced into years of painful austerity measures regardless of the outcome here.  The real winner here will not be the Greek people, it will be the huge national banks in Germany and France.

With U.S. unemployment at 9.1 percent, Obama has blamed outside forces for impeding the economy, including high fuel prices, the earthquake in Japan and the euro zone crisis.

"America's economic growth depends on a sensible resolution of this issue," he said.

"It would be disastrous for us to see an uncontrolled spiral and default in Europe because that could trigger a whole range of other events."

Obama welcomed Merkel at a formal ceremony on the White House lawn with firing cannons and military musicians adding to the pomp of an official visit.

Later in the evening Obama and his wife Michelle hosted Merkel and her husband, Joachim Sauer, for a state dinner, where the president awarded her the "Medal of Freedom" - the highest U.S. civilian honor.

"Tonight we honor Angela Merkel, not for being denied her freedom, or even for obtaining her freedom, but for what she achieved when she gained her freedom," Obama said.

What President Obama neglected to say was that Merkle only got her freedom because of the policies of President Ronald Reagan, which directly led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany. And these were policies that his party vigorously opposed.

Weiner Admits He Lied; But Still Refuses to Resign

NYC, Jun 7, 2011. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-NY,  held a press conference yesterday to admit he gave false statements in regards to a lewd underwear photo he sent via twitter to a woman in Washington State last Friday.

“I have made a terrible mistake and am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused to my friends, family and especially my wife, Huma,” and “I have not told the truth and done things I sincerely regret.”

Weiner now joins the ranks of fellow Liberal Democrat Sleazeballs... Bill Clinton, Jim McGreevy, John Edwards, Gary Hart and Elliot Spitzer. What sets Liberal Democrat Sleazeballs apart from the Republican Sleazeball variety, is that the Democrats always make a big show about denying their indiscretions when caught, and then later fess up and seem to blame everyone but themselves.

Republican Sleazeballs, on the other hand, seem to sense they did something wrong, and then quickly resign and take their fate with some small amount of dignity. Weiner has adamantly refused to resign, using the Clintonesque logic that this was a personal matter, and doesn't effect his job performance.

In any case, there still is no benefit for the public in having Sleazeballs in high office.

Clinton outraged by Weiner

Former President Bill Clinton told us how shocked and saddened he was by Representative Weiner's behavior. He said that Liberal Democrats must repress their natural instincts to lie and cheat, and behave more appropriately.

"I just don't understand how a man can do this sort of thing. It is like he has absolutely no respect for his wife. Only a very insensitive and selfish man would do this to his wife and family," he told us.

To his credit, President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, has been relatively free of this type of personal behavior. His problems lie mostly in his burning drive to socialize and thereby destroy the American economy, destroy our relations with our allies, and drive up the percent of the population that depends on government for sustenance.

Before the press conference began, Andrew Breitbart, who first broke the story on his website BigGovernment.com, took the podium to answer questions from the assembled press for about 15 minutes.

“Everything we’ve reported about this … has been true,” Breitbart remarked. “I would like a personally apology from Congressman Weiner.” However, there will not be any apology from Weiner.

Breitbart confirmed he has one more photo of Weiner that he has not yet released, saying, “Suffice it to say it’s of an X-rated nature.”

wants apology

Minutes after Breitbart stopped taking questions, Rep. Weiner took the podium and began his statements.

Weiner said the initial photo in question was accidentally posted on Twitter at the end of May “as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle.”

When Weiner realized he had posted an inappropriate photo on Twitter, he “immediately deleted it.”

“I came here to accept full responsibility for what I have done. I am not resigning and people who judge me have a right to do so,” said Weiner. “My primary sense of regret – my apology – goes to my wife. I should not have done this, especially since I was married. I love my wife very much. We have no intention of splitting up over this,” Weiner went on to say.

When repeatedly asked about a reason for his actions, Weiner said, “If you’re looking for some type of deep explanation, I have none. I am just deeply sorry. Almost as soon as I told one lie I knew I would have to cover it by telling others.”

Rep. Weiner said the Blackberry device he used to send the messages was not government issued and most of the messages and correspondence was done on his home computer. Weiner also said the women he contacted for the most part were women he met on Facebook.

Weiner said before his press conference he spoke with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, indicating she was not happy and “told me as much. She’s very disappointed and told me she loves me and wants us to pull through this.”

Pelosi has now asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Weiner, in a dramatic turnabout from her previous desire to give Weiner a pass and let the whole thing slide.

Weiner and his new bride Huma, a former aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have been married slightly less than a year.

It's save to assume that Huma and Hillary now have a lot more in common than they did a few weeks ago. Both married sleazy Liberal Democrats, and both ended up humiliated by them.

The only open question right now is whether Huma Weiner will
"stand by her man" like Hillary Clinton did. I suppose we will soon find out.

Actor Peter Fonda Denounces President Barack Obama

Cannes, France Jun 6, 2011. Peter Fonda launched a four-letter attack on US President Barack Obama, D-Kenya, at last month's Cannes film festival.

Fonda called him a traitor over the handling of the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill last summer.

Fonda, a Hollywood leftwinger, who starred in the 1969 cult classic road movie "Easy Rider" was in Cannes for the premiere of "The Big Fix" by Rebecca and Josh Tickell.

The actor is an outspoken environmentalist and co-producer of the film which centers on the explosion of the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon, the ensuing spill and its consequences, accused Washington of trying to gag reporting on the issue.

Fonda said: "I sent an email to President Obama saying, 'You are a f(expletive) traitor,' using those words... 'You're a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military -- in this case the coastguard -- what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do'."

Fonda, who said he sent the email last month, appears in "The Big Fix" trying to get on to Louisiana beaches to assess the impact of the biggest oil spill in US history, only to be turned away by BP clean-up personnel.

Speaking at a press event at the American Pavilion to promote the film, Fonda denounced BP as "a bunch of Brits. I thought we kicked them out a long time ago. They tried to get back in in 1812, but they didn't make it."

Peter Fonda is the brother of actress Jane Fonda, who became famous for supporting the Viet Cong in their war against South Vietnam and the USA in 1972.

After making radio propaganda broadcasts for the North Vietnamese, Miss Fonda stated that the American POWs were:

"liars" and "military careerists and professional killers" who are "criminals according to the law."

Congress Rigs Stock Trading Rules... For Itself.

Washington DC, Jun 5, 2011. Most people think that insider trading rules that sent Martha Stewart to federal prison apply to everyone. Unfortunately, they don't.

Members of Congress and their staffs are exempt from these laws. They can use insider information to buy and sell stocks at their advantage. It is all perfectly legal.

This is because the SEC has no authority to regulate Congress, and the Congress has chosen not to regulate itself.

For example, Congressional aide Chris Miller nearly doubled his $3,500 stock investment in a renewable-energy firm in 2008. It was a perfectly legal bet, but it's one that no ordinary investor could make.

Mr. Miller was the top energy-policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, who helped pass legislation that wound up benefiting the firm.

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Mr. Reid's office, initially defended Mr. Miller's purchase of shares in the company, Energy Conversion Devices Inc. He said the aide had no influence over tax incentive

But eventually, Mr. Manley added: "Mr. Miller showed poor judgment and Senator Reid has made it very clear to Chris and all his staff that their actions must not only follow the law, but must meet the higher standards the public has a right to expect from elected officials and their staffs."

Mr. Miller isn't the only Congressional staffer making such stock bets. At least 72 aides on both sides of the aisle traded shares of companies that their bosses help oversee, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of more than 3,000 disclosure forms covering trading activity by Capitol Hill staffers for 2008 and 2009.

The Journal analysis showed that an aide to a Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee bought Bank of America Corp. stock before results of last year's government stress tests eased investor concerns about the health of the banking industry.

A top aide to the then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, profited by trading shares of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in a brokerage account with her husband two days before the government authorized emergency funding for the companies.

The aides identified by the Journal said they didn't profit by making trades based on any information gathered in the halls of Congress. Even if they had done so, it would be legal, because insider-trading laws don't apply to Congress.

A few lawmakers proposed a bill that would prevent members and employees of Congress from trading securities based on nonpublic information they obtain. The legislation has languished since 2006.

"Congressional staff are often privy to inside information, and an unscrupulous person could profit off that knowledge," says Vincent Morris, a spokesman for Rep. Louise Slaughter (D., N.Y.), a leading backer of the "Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act," or STOCK Act. "The public should be outraged there is no law specifically banning this."

When the bill was introduced nearly six years ago, just 14 other lawmakers endorsed it. The current version of the bill has fared worse: Only nine lawmakers support it. There is no companion legislation in the Senate.

Congressional aides have ringside seats on the making of laws that affect American business. Receiving salaries up to roughly $170,000 a year, they can glean information about policies and government action before the public does. They have access to information about hearings or legislation that can move stocks and markets.

Unlike many Executive Branch employees, lawmakers and aides don't have restrictions on their stock holdings and ownership interests in companies they oversee. Congressional rules say that requiring employees to do so could "insulate a legislator from the personal and economic interests that his or her constituency, or society in general, has in governmental decisions and policy." This means that they - like Wall Street titans - are incentivized to lie, cheat and steal.

It is perfectly legal for Members of the House and the Senate, and their staffs, to trade on insider information. But... do these generous rules extend to the executive branch as well?

It isn't supposed to, but you have to wonder what's going on when President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, could earn $374,460 in wages in 2009, and somehow end up with "business profits" of $5,173,777 more.

Obviously, President Obama is not only "bright, articulate, and clean" but he is also a very gifted investor.

We will never know precisely how President Obama was able to make so many good investments, because the media refuses to investigate his finances.

They apply an entirely different standard to him than they did to former President Bush.

Housing Prices Down 33% to Record Low

Foreclosures are at record highs

NYC, Jun 4, 2011. The latest S&P/Case-Shiller house price index reports that US housing price declines are now greater than those during the Great Depression.

There was a very brief recovery in prices in 2009 that was caused by the government's $8,000 first time buyer government incentive.

But sadly, this has now been entirely erased, and the average American home now costs 33 per cent less than it did in 2007, when the Democrats first took control of both houses of Congress.

The fall in house prices in the 1930s Depression was 31 per cent, and those prices took 19 more years to fully recover after the Depression.

According to recent economic indicators, the US economy is falling deeper and deeper into recession, with no apparent relief caused by President Barack Hussein Obama's, D-Kenya, lavish stimulus spending. Apparently, there really were no "shovel ready jobs" created.

The President cannot explain his failure to solve problems

President Obama made no specific mention of the disappointing jobs report this week, or the fact that the unemployment rate ticked upward.

The Chicago PMI manufacturing index showed a sharp slowdown in the pace of expansion in May, missing Wall Street forecasts and sending the index to its lowest since November 2009.

And in the latest Conference Board consumer confidence survey more people expressed uncertainty over their future economic prospects.


The confidence index fell unexpectedly to 60.8 from a revised 66.0, when economists had expected it to rise to 67.0.

Falling house prices and negative equity combined with high petrol and food prices and a still-weak jobs market to raise consumers' fears for the future.

Based on the weakness in housing prices, Chicago PMI and consumer confidence, it appears as though the economy could be headed for a double dip, especially as federal and state spending slows rapidly over the next six months

Economists warned not to expect any immediate relief to the gloom from the housing market. Banks continue to demand high deposits from potential buyers and are pressing on with foreclosures against those who have fallen behind on mortgages, adding to the glut of unsold homes on the market.

Unemployment rates continue to climb

Prices are back to their 2002 levels, according to the Case-Shiller National House Price Index out yesterday.

"The national index fell 4.2 per cent over the first quarter alone, and is down 5.1 per cent compared to its year-ago level," David Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, said.

"Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight."