Economy is OK if the news is NOT AS BAD AS EXPECTED

Recent news which is said to be good since it is not as bad as predicted.

Fed’s Bank Results ‘Reassuring,’ Show No Insolvency

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Federal Reserve stress tests on the 19 biggest lenders show Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. together require about $54 billion, said people familiar with the conclusions.
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White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday suggested that the Obama
administration may seek management changes at some banks. Officials will want to “ensure that going forward they felt that the management was in place to remedy the situation and ensure long-term viability without continued government assistance,” he said.

Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis, 62, was ousted as chairman on April 29 ……….

Jobs Report Giving Investors Mixed Picture On US Economy

The pace of layoffs slowed in April when employers cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent,………………..

Job losses in February and March turned out to be deeper, according to revised figures. Employers cut 681,000 positions in February, 30,000 more than previously reported.
They cut 699,000 jobs in March, more than the 663,000 first reported. The deepest job cuts of the recession —741,000 came in January.

Jobs: A little less bleak

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Wachovia senior economist Mark Vitner and Gilliam both say they’re worried about the impact on jobs in coming reports from the bankruptcy at Chrysler, which will result in a 30-to-60 day shutdown at all of its plants, and the possible bankruptcy at General Motors (GM, Fortune 500). The loss of jobs — not just at those companies but at their dealers and suppliers — will be substantial.

And Vitner said that while Wachovia is projecting that there will be economic growth by the fourth quarter of this year, it’s projecting that unemployment will continue to rise into 2010, topping out at 10.8% in April of that year.

“We are moving in the right direction, but the recession is not over, and even when it’s over that’s not an end of the tough times,” said Vitner.

Wow a bank stress test with an 8.4% unemployment shows the banks will be OK, current unemployment is 8.9% and expected to exceed 10% in the next year.

I wonder if a new stress test will be needed so that the federal government can take over the banks.

GM will move jobs out of US using Taxpayer Money

This is our wonderfully brilliant central government planning that was started by Bush and is being completed by Obama.

Under Restructuring, GM To Build More Cars Overseas

The U.S. government is pouring billions into General Motors in hopes of reviving the domestic economy, but when the automaker completes its restructuring plan, many of the company’s new jobs will be filled by workers overseas.

According to an outline the company has been sharing privately with Washington legislators, the number of cars that GM sells in the United States and builds in Mexico, China and South Korea will roughly double.

The proportion of GM cars sold domestically and manufactured in those low-wage countries will rise from 15 percent to 23 percent over the next five years, according to the figures contained in a 12-page presentation offered to lawmakers in response to their questions about overseas production.
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Everyone needs to call their congressman (woman) and tell them thanks for letting the executive branch of the federal government spend out tax dollars to send jobs out of this country.

Just the normal expected result of the government helping out.

1st 100 Days & the future failure of America

I thought after the 1st 50 days that things could only get better, lots of new people making new people mistakes, these people really have pride in America just not reacting to well to the new power and environment.

It has just gotten worse except for the distraction game, the Obama administration has gotten very, very good at distraction while the real agenda of the government take over of a majority of American business marches forward.

Some of the highlights/lowlights
1) The American Apology tour through Europe. I thought only look at how important I am, self-indulgent Hollywood types (Penn, Glover, Bellafonte) and ex-presidents (Carter) went around the world saying America is evil. Now the sitting president is apologizing to the world because American Capitalism over the last century and a half has brought an improved standard of living to a large segment of the world population.

2) Cut 100 million dollars from federal budget, same as a family making $45000 a year taking a $1.22 annual pay cut. I wonder what will be cut in the family budget to make up for the income loss, need to drink water instead of the bottle of soda at today’s lunch. savings achieved, no more cutting needed.

3) Media lapdog to the president – ignores hundreds of thousands of protesters who think that government is overstepping its bounds and government intervention into private society needs to be curtailed.

4) Continue to ignore friends and prop up enemies. (Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea) And listen to them speak while they rant about how evil America is.

5) Politicize the security of America by releasing CIA memos

All of these are a distraction as they push through a universal health insurance and energy cap and trade plan.

Universal health care will result in limiting access, it is the only way to decrease costs is to limit access. See Charles Krauthammer collumn. The government has convinced a majority of the people that the America Health Care industry is broken and can only be “fixed” by the federal government.

The federal government is going to do the same thing with the energy industry under Cap & Trade. Cap & Trade will result in significant 300 to 400% increases in energy prices which will raise the prices for each American household about $3900 dollars more a year. This will result in American’s becoming enraged against energy companies and utilities giving the government the support to price cap and nationalize the energy industry. This will result in less energy for everyone to use.

It is called hidden taxes on business which gives those in power the ability to create a crisis and then solve the crisis by taking more power.

America is on a road to rapid failure and lower standards of living for the good of everyone.

POWER CORRUPTS, ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPT ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!

Why Bank’s should Not have taken Gov’t Money

US to put conditions on Tarp repayment

Strong banks will be allowed to repay bail-out funds they received from the US government but only if such a move passes a test to determine whether it is in the national economic interest, a senior administration official has told the Financial Times.
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The official said former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was right to treat all the banks the same way in late 2008 at the peak of the crisis but it was now necessary to differentiate more between institutions.
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I hope the banks will learn from this, never trust government, they took the government’s money when some did not want it, now that they want to give it back since they never really did much with it to begin with, the government will not take it back until certain tests are passed.

All Businesses, if you want to be independent, do not take government “loans”. The strings will never be gone and if they want the government will take over your business from you. ( New GM CEO ring a bell.)

Now since the public has gotten more vocal about stopping the insane spending, Congress wants to back out. The government solution is not to let the banks figure it out for themselves. The government will just buy the banks by taking over the bank’s stocks and destroy an individuals common stock value.

U.S. may convert banks’ bailouts to equity share

President Obama’s top economic advisers have determined that they can shore up the nation’s banking system without having to ask Congress for more money any time soon, according to administration officials.

In a significant shift, White House and Treasury Department officials now say they can stretch what is left of the $700 billion financial bailout fund further than they had expected a few months ago, simply by converting the government’s existing loans to the nation’s 19 biggest banks into common stock.

Remember, the government will change the rules whenever it wants to keep control.

Stopping this type of government behavior is the real root of the tea parties last weak. The government needs to get out of the way and stop trying to prevent some failures and preventing all from succeeding.

Obama Runs General Motors

This is such a terrible precedent but what does a private business expect when it looks to government to help.

GM Chief to Resign at White House’s Behest

The Obama administration has forced the longtime head of General Motors to resign and said yesterday that it would withhold additional federal aid to the auto industry unless the ailing companies undertake changes they so far have been unwilling or unable to make.

As badly as GM has been run over the last 30 years this is a horrendous event for those of us who want a limited government. As I have stated before GM should have gone into bankruptcy protection to change its long term prospect for success.

This is a sad day in America and is the culmination of decades of effort by communist/socialists to destroy the free markers. Welcome to the inefficient government run unionized auto company that will cost tax payers untold trillions of dollars.

Welcome to the Socialist States of America dominated by a strong federal government, week state and local governments, the end of personnel liberty which is exactly the opposite of the principals on which America was founded.

Good-Bye Capitalism, welcome socialism comrade.

Saturday’s cartoons – politics

from townhall.com

Obama & Democrat Congress 50 day Speeding Spree

Congress at work: ‘$1 billion an hour’

McConnell includes the tweaks in his opening remarks on the Senate floor on the 51st day that President Obama has been in office.
“In just 50 days, Congress has voted to spend about $1.2 trillion between the Stimulus and the Omnibus,” McConnell says. “To put that in perspective, that’s about $24 billion a day, or about $1 billion an hour—most of it borrowed. There’s simply no question: government spending has spun out of control.”
The math: 50 days times 24 hours equals 1,200 hours. 1,200 times 1 billion equals 1.2 trillion (a thousand billions is a trillion).

Bush and the republicans started the free spending ways and the change for America is that we are so far in debt that we will spend our way out of debt.

Change, hope everyone has some pocket change because that is all that will be left.

Political Cartoons

From Townhall.com

AIG – Flush! More money down toilet

Glad to see that Obama is proving the conservatives right in that Bush was not a conservative by continuing the failed policies of bailing out the big guys who have made bad decisions. The We have to destroy the free market to save it. concept.

US takes another crack at AIG rescue

As bad as this sounds from HSBC HSBC cuts 6,100 jobs it sounds like it is the right decision for that company to insulate itself from the poor decisions of other multinational banks and governments.

US Government spending will bankrupt the world

The US federal government is in the process of bankrupting the world as accounting practices that the federal government does not allow private companies to use are used to hide the real government debt. This cuts across party lines and the end of liberty and personnel freedom in the world.

The total economic of the world based on the ponzi scheme known as government spending is close (if not already beyond) the tipping point. Paper currency will be virtually worthless since the governments that print them have no possible way to back their value.

Government spending is the problem and drastic government spending cuts (real cuts not decreasing the rate of increase) of 50 to 90+% in some cases are required.

Federal obligations exceed world GDP, Does $65.5 trillion terrify anyone yet?

As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.

The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account.

The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the “2008 Financial Report of the United States Government” as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury
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“The federal government is bankrupt,” Williams told WND. “In a post-Enron world, if the federal government were a corporation such as General Motors, the president and senior Treasury officers would be in federal penitentiary.”

Assuming 330 million Americans, 65.6 trillion debt is equal to $198,484 per American. This is on top of any state, local or personnel debt.

If you want to really understand the what the future holds and the consequences read the A Citizen’s Guide published by the treasury department.
It would be nice if government would live by this motto in the report.

Using the government accounting methods that if any private business used, the CEO, CFO and board of directors would be in jail, here are some tables from the report on future predictions.

These projects do not take into account the money spent since Oct 1, 2008. TARP and the new stimulus plan are on top of this staggering debt.

Americans need to hold our employees the elected government officials responsible. New blood is needed.