Jay Bookman

By Class of '98

December 22, 2008 6:34 PM | Link to this

C’mon Jay, you are slipping.

You forgot to point out that this is somehow Bush’s fault.

By Paul

December 22, 2008 6:40 PM | Link to this

Toyota has, what, $18 billion cash on hand? They’ll weather this.

I wasn’t able to respond to your earlier auto industry bailout column where you wrote about Reps couldn’t wait to “take a swipe” at labor. Sifting through all the rhetoric, It seemed to me Senate Reps wanted the UAW to advance their contract concessions from 2011 to this year. Didn’t seem like an unreasonable request. When American was on the ropes the pilot’s union didn’t wait for two years to take cuts.

Then when Pres Bush pushed through the rescue, what happened? The bill, I believe, advances the UAW cuts to 2009. Does away with the jobs bank (allowing laid-off workers to collect 95 percent of their pay for years). Then again, I believe the bill’s ‘requirements’ are really ‘targets.’ Which leaves a lot of wiggle room.

And, the UAW Pres has made it known he expects the Obama Administration to gut the requirements on the Union. What will Pres Obama do?

I had a hunch the UAW’s main reason for playing chicken was that their pensions are calculated on a variant of ‘high 3” - the last three year’s earnings. Would explain a lot. And the other hunch is they thought they’d get what they want (some would say ‘dictate to”) the Obama Administration.

Hey, when you give millions and millions to Democrats and what, less than $12,000 to Republicans, well, heck, you gotta expect some payback for exercising your free speech rights!

Tell me again why the Illinois governor is in trouble?

By Ray

December 22, 2008 6:46 PM | Link to this

You might note which auto companies are desperately seeking a bailout and which ones are solvent enough to weather the storm. Good management, effective use of your reserves and producing a good product will win every time. And we wonder why Toyota is a continually successful company.

By The Corporal

December 22, 2008 7:28 PM | Link to this

Towed

Ooften

Yet

Overly

Touted

Automobile

By AJC/DNC Management

December 22, 2008 7:28 PM | Link to this

Toyota pays their workers about 28 bucks an hour while GM is being strangled by the unions for close to 75 dollars an hour, do the math.

Let’s not even talk about pensions, geez.

By The Corporal

December 22, 2008 7:30 PM | Link to this

Excuse me …

Often

By getalife

December 22, 2008 7:32 PM | Link to this

I hope they are studying the collapse of Japan and USSR to get out of this mess.

2009 will be a very bad year.

By The Corporal

December 22, 2008 7:33 PM | Link to this

Jay

This thread is boring. How about this:

Headline: Russian selling missles to Iran?

By Yankee

December 22, 2008 7:37 PM | Link to this

I know the VENT MORON won’t post this so here we go. To the Venter Regarding Caroline Kennedy vent you are not SEXIST or RACIST, you are BOTH and FYI you stick to JAW-JAW poliitics and never-mind the Al Sharpton blessing it’s a NEW YORK thing you wouldn’t understand JAW-JAW!!

By Taxpayer

December 22, 2008 7:46 PM | Link to this

Found On Road Dead, Fixed Or Repaid Daily, Tonka Toy, Rice Rocket, Kawaklunker, and on and on. There’s boring and then there’s the boring.

By JAY BOOKMAN

December 22, 2008 7:52 PM | Link to this

But Management, if you quote the $75 figure, you ARE talking about pensions, because that cost is included in the figure you cite. That’s why it’s so high, because it includes all the costs of retirees’ pensions and health care.

Gee, the things you have to explain to someone who calls himself Management.

And Corporal, I’m still driving the 1980 Toyota Corolla I bought new back then.

By Taxpayer

December 22, 2008 8:00 PM | Link to this

1980! Jay, how do you expect to contribute to our consumer-driven economy at that pace. Upgrade at least once every 10 years whether you need to or not. It’s the capitalist thing to do. Don’t tell me that the AJC doesn’t pay you enough. Come on.

By AJC/DNC Management

December 22, 2008 8:01 PM | Link to this

So the unions are killing the domestic auto makers, even though I may not be technically correct in my presentation?

Did you check with goony HQ before you made this admission?

You were instructed to say “bonuses,” weren’t you?

By Paul

December 22, 2008 8:02 PM | Link to this

getalife

Don’t know if you were around yesterday when I said thanks to a few of you well-wishers. The six-week old little guy could go home Wednesday. Son out in five days instead of ten. The positive energy works. Thanks again.

Corporal

Not new quality. Not three-month quality. Three and five years out. People are hanging onto their cars longer and the long-term reliability ratings are a big influence on many people. Detroit can catch up but the perception will lag, to their unfortunate detriment.

Jay

That’s an excellent financial management illustration - keep a depreciating asset until it doesn’t cost-effectively perform its function. You’re tens of thousands of dollars ahead of the game.

By AJC/DNC Management

December 22, 2008 8:06 PM | Link to this

Man boobies!

ew

By The Corporal

December 22, 2008 8:12 PM | Link to this

Taxpayer

GTO (gas, tires and oil). I had a ‘66 !

To JAY

And I am sure that’s because you have taken good care of it. I got ride of my ‘92 Olds last year with over 200,000 on it.

By The Corporal

December 22, 2008 8:14 PM | Link to this

P.S. to Jay

Do you qualify for a Classic tag yet ?

By Midori

December 22, 2008 8:14 PM | Link to this

Jay,

isn’t Toyota a great car?

I had a Celica.

I bought it while I was stationed in Germany.

I used to tear the autobahn up with that car :)

And, unfortunately, no matter how many times the “We’re Better Americans Than You Are” crowd is corrected on that $75 an hour lie, they are equally determined to keep repeating it.

By JAY BOOKMAN

December 22, 2008 8:22 PM | Link to this

Yes, corporal, i have the classic tag. every mile on that baby is mine.

By Taxpayer

December 22, 2008 8:36 PM | Link to this

Corporal

I road tested a ‘66 Ford with a 428 Police Interceptor one time. Now, those were the days.

By GayGrayGeek

December 22, 2008 8:44 PM | Link to this

And, unfortunately, no matter how many times the “We’re Better Americans Than You Are” crowd is corrected on that $75 an hour lie, they are equally determined to keep repeating it.

Midori - that’s because it’s easier for wingnuts to cut-n-paste whatever is over on Faux News’s website than to, you know, reasearch something THEMSELVES. Because that might mean “thinking” and we all know (to misquote Barbie) “Thinking is hard - let’s go shopping!”.

By Midori

December 22, 2008 8:47 PM | Link to this

LOLOL!!

“Thinking is hard - let’s go shopping!”

My Barbie never said that!!! :)

By AJC/DNC Management

December 22, 2008 8:49 PM | Link to this

GayGrayFreek: Write a letter if you don’t like it.

By Dogs Against Management

December 22, 2008 8:54 PM | Link to this

Maybe management is so dense on the $75/hour thing because he gets all his news from titilating British tabloids.

Or, he could just be a disengenuous blogger with no friends to straighten him out.

Or, he could just have a crappy memory.

Or, all three.

Happy holidays and season’s greetings AC/DC!

By Midori

December 22, 2008 9:01 PM | Link to this

Mrs. G —

you’re a little testy here lately.

I can definitely relate.

The 24 percenters have absolutely no shame.

Or common sense.

Or minds of their own.

All they have is hate.

And a failed moron for a leader/role model.

By The BlogFather of Scroll

December 22, 2008 9:02 PM | Link to this

Fumble, Fumble, Foiled by Fumbles, Timeouts burned, and Vikings humbled.

Are there deep mystical forces working for the Falcons? Surely it would take a spell to make the football take flight from the scrimmage line and scramble backwards purposefully toward the Falcon’s end zone twice in just a few minutes.

Or do the Falcons have an angel? A mischievous angel with a sense of humor that harkens back to the keystone cop silent movie era. An angel who turned the vikings into bumbling fumblers. The multiple images of the vikings chasing the pigskin dozens of yards behind their line of scrimmage provides some of the lighter moments of the past 300 years of stooge history.

There can be only one reason that supernatural beings would favor our Falcons: The ghosts of Vicks Dogs will be avenged even if it takes an unholy aliance of witches, angels, and willful pigskins. OMG I just invented the cheerleader eligible play!

By Mike

December 22, 2008 9:07 PM | Link to this

Who is Bookman targeting with his lazy copying and pasting of others work? People who don’t follow the news at all and need a partisan hack to feed them dribs and drabs of whatever news he feels is relevant?

BTW: What happened to Jay’s no name-calling rule? I guess if he censored vulgarians like Mrs. Godzilla, he would eliminate 90% of his audience.

By Midori

December 22, 2008 9:13 PM | Link to this

and Mike shows up one again to dazzle us with his intellect, disguised as more b*tching and whining about Jay’s blog.

Like a moth to a flame……………..

Jay must be doing SOMETHING right.

By Taxpayer

December 22, 2008 9:16 PM | Link to this

“Vulgarian”. Is that a distant relative of the Vulcans — or vice versa. They live long and prosper, you know. Probably because they were paid a decent wage and were promised good health-care benefits and a pension. You know, when you make a promise to someone, the honorable thing to do is to try your very best to keep that promise. It’s even more important from a legal perspective if you committed to it via a contract even though Republicans don’t see that as a hurdle given the ease of abuse of the bankruptcy process. I know. The UAW should purchase CDSs to cover themselves in case of a company default. I hear its the latest fad on Wall Street.

By RB from Gwinnett

December 22, 2008 9:18 PM | Link to this

OK, Jay. So we know if we’re talking apples and oranges, what is the loaded cost of a Toyota employee and a UAW employee? I realize you children are enjoying Jay’s correction of Andy’s post, but I notice none of you are addressing the truth of the issue. Since Jay, with his stellar cut-and-paste investigative reporter skills, will surely have the data at his fingertips.

My first car was a Mercury Capri (same car as the Mustang at that time). At 120K miles, it was a complete pile of crap and had left me walking countless times. My next car was an Accord. I put 240K miles on that one with basic maintenance. I gave it to a single BLACK mother of 4 who needed reliable transportation 6 years ago and as of 2 years ago, it was still going strong.

Those who are saying American cars have closed the gap are kidding themselves.

By AJC/DNC Management

December 22, 2008 9:23 PM | Link to this

You morons may want to huddle up with your leader, but I was right about the 75, wrong to separate the pension costs from that.

Whine on, zombies.

By Midori

December 22, 2008 9:25 PM | Link to this

Taxpayer,

live long and prosper

ROFL!!

By Dogs Against Management

December 22, 2008 9:29 PM | Link to this

AC/DC, Correcting your intentional mis-truths is not exactly whining. But you DID show uncommon reason when you admitted you were wrong…but then got back in your usual form by an attempted—but disappointingly weak—insult.

What is it you say? Bwa.

By Taxpayer

December 22, 2008 9:34 PM | Link to this

“…but I was right about the 75, wrong to separate the pension costs from that…”

What? Does anyone know how to translate that Klingon to English?

By RW-(the original)

December 22, 2008 9:39 PM | Link to this

There is no better example of why the NY Times is crumbling than the article $73 an Hour: Adding It Up. The article focuses on the oft-quoted fact that United Auto Worker members cost Detroit auto makers $73 per hour, which exceed the cost for workers at non-union auto plants, mostly in the South. The Times takes on this statistic with dramatic urgency, as if the fate of the union hung in the balance, concluding that “Detroit’s defenders are right that the number is basically wrong.”

But read the full article, and you will see that the opposite is true. The article itself proves that the $73 per hour statistic is correct as to what auto workers cost the Detroit auto manufacturers. What is not true is that each auto worker gets a cash payment of $73 per hour. That number is an aggregate of wages, fringe benefits, and retiree benefits. The Times claims that retiree benefits (equal to about $15 per hour for each current worker) shouldn’t be counted in the cost per worker statistic, because Detroit automakers have so many more retirees

The Times is being intellectually dishonest. First, retiree benefits are part of the UAW-negotiated contract. Second, the stated cost per worker of $73 per hour includes only anticipated retiree benefits for current workers, it does not include what is paid for retired workers.

So $73 per hour really does equal $73 per hour.

Andy,

It’s not like you to let the libs bluff you so easily.

By Midori

December 22, 2008 9:41 PM | Link to this

MORE truths to ponder:

God didn’t make little green apples; it don’t rain in Indianapolis in the summertime. What about winter?

If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with — do rubber women count?

Just WHY didn’t the other reindeer allow Rudolph to play in the reindeer games?

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus. And to get back at her, Daddy kissed Blitzen. Do 2 wrongs make a right?

By The BlogFather of Scroll

December 22, 2008 9:43 PM | Link to this

mgt is a troll. He only writes the contraire of whatever it is you write, that’s what a troll is.

Bookman coddles trolls. That’s what a bookman is.

Both stink this blog up.

Toyota can absorb losses like that every year and eventually they’ll run out of money…..in sixty years.

Oh, dont reach for THAT one, Jay, it’s WAY over your head.

Detroit needs over a hundred billion to survive. This insufficient xmas bailout is stealing. Theft. W is a pirate no better than the pirates operating off the coast of Surinam. and W has no idea what’s best for our economy: detroit or no detroit. W is a puppet of the industrial complex and such an embarrassment for primates that I think I’d rather crawl than walk simply to seperate myself from him as much as possible. Same w/Cheney. Cheney has made being a fat greying american a shameful act.

It’s hard to believe these guys are our leaders. These public statements they’ve made lately just gall me to no end. Cheney has an indictment in Texas to face, and we can only hope they nail that sob.

THe only good think about a Cheney is lesbianism.

Detroit simply is no longer a viable business Good riddance. Adieux.

By RW-(the original)

December 22, 2008 9:45 PM | Link to this

Midori,

Are you trying to write Netflix commercials?

By The Corporal

December 22, 2008 9:47 PM | Link to this

To Taxpayer

O.K. - you got me started.

Oh yes, those 428’s!

When I got out of the service I ordered (you did that back then) a 1969 Plymouth GTX, 440 c.i. (375 h.p.), 4-speed (no console), 3.73 rear axle, dual point distributor, no power brakes, no power steering and no air (took away from the horsepower); red with a black vinyl top, black interior and a set of K&E mags. As they said, it would jump a beercan!

P.S. It is highly rumored that what is left of it (sold it to my sister’s boyfriend when I got married) is sitting in a chickenhouse in Jackson, County. I won’t even go look because I know what would happen.

By Midori

December 22, 2008 9:48 PM | Link to this

RW,

No just trying to combat your hot air with levity.

By The Corporal

December 22, 2008 9:52 PM | Link to this

Headline:

If she were applying to be, say, an undersecretary of education in Barack Obama’s new administration, Caroline Kennedy would have to fill out a 63-item confidential questionnaire.

If she were running for election to the Senate, Ms. Kennedy would have to file a 10-part, publicly available report disclosing her financial assets, credit card debts, mortgages, book deals and the sources of any payments greater than $5,000 in the last three years.

But Ms. Kennedy, who has asked Gov. David A. Paterson to appoint her to succeed Senator Hillary Clinton, is declining to provide a variety of basic data, including companies she has a stake in and whether she has ever been charged with a crime.

*Hummmm ……….. *

By AJC/DNC Management

December 22, 2008 9:52 PM | Link to this

RW: The Packers are on the plate, or vice versa, I’m distracted.

~~~~~

Taxpayer: My wisdom’s are not for the weak minded sycophantic toadies that lurk in this blog, which means you are free to stop trying to interpret them.

Go parse what i r o diM is saying.

By The BlogFather of Scroll

December 22, 2008 9:54 PM | Link to this

I said that the 700 billion bailout was stealing, and it’s looking like I was right again.

The rich are just bums who manage to get our congress to legislate thievery.

THIEVES!!!!CEO = BUM

CFO = Pirate

Cheney=BUM Pirate

By Taxpayer

December 22, 2008 10:05 PM | Link to this

American workers used to drop like flies when they hit 65. The big corporations had their beady-eyed accountants crunch numbers every which way imaginable. They’d be on the phone day after day with good old Hank over at AIG doing the what ifs. The CEOs and their bosses finally figured out that they could keep the minions pacified for their entire 30 plus years of low-cost manual redundancy with a nearly cost-free offer of a defined-benefit pension plan at the ripe old retirement age of 65 years. So, the corporations set up the trusts with the blessing of the government and started packing away a little up front although it was advertised as a lot to the worker thanks to the so-called time value of money. Hah. If those workers had only known then what they’re starting to get a whiff of now. Anyway, after many years went by and those trusts really did start to bulge at the seams, well, they just opened up all sorts of new possibilities to those wanting to make the most of a good thing. After all, the management types in all the major corporations now had existence proof that the stock market investments just go up and up with time. That time value of money postulate actually has legs with which to stand on. One of the things all that easy money offered up was a cheap way to offer yet more appeasement to the minions for their years of service. All management needed was a means to tap into those trusts and extract some of that cream and before you know it we had the birth of low-cost health care benefits but that’s a story for another time with a not so low cost ending. Workers are now living into their upper seventies, on average, and on top of that, the laws of finance have been devastated ever since the discovery that the old accepted rules of Wall Street can indeed be shattered. Now, we can only long for the good old days.

By Paul

December 22, 2008 10:11 PM | Link to this

Hi Midori

If you’re still out and about, did Olberman do a retraction on any of his earlier dismissals of the Muslim immigrants who were convicted today of planning to massacre soldiers, civilians, women and kids at Ft Dix? The ones Olberman said

” * May 9 2007: The FBI claims it has broken up a plot to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey. The flaw, though, in the breathless reporting of the purported terror cell, the bureau infiltrated the six-person group after its members took video of themselves practicing with assault weapons, brought the tape to a photo store, and had it transferred to a DVD. The details of the supposed plot don’t seem to hold together that well either, though that did not stop extensive and entirely credulous coverage on TV, the Internet, in print today… In other words, the FBI has arrested six morons. * June 4 2007: Officials of this country have revealed so-called terror plots at times that were just coincidentally to their political benefit, no matter how preposterous the actual schemes might have been, including a plot against Fort Dix, where pizza deliverymen were supposed to kill at will at an Army base full of soldiers…the authorities announce arrests in a far-fetched plan to attack soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey. The so-called terrorists planned to gain access to the base by posing as pizza delivery men. * June 6 2007: The candidates repeatedly referring to both the JFK story and the similarly dubious Fort Dix pizza delivery fantasy as ominous signs of the worldwide terrorist threat… ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: I think if the public says enough is enough, enough of the fear mongering. We’ve been down this road before. Remember, before the JFK plot we had the Fort Dix Six. And before the Fort Dix six, we had the Liberty City in Florida. And what has happened to all these plots that were endangering our lives?”

I can think of one cable bloviator who’s admitted on camera he has been wrong on various occasions. Hint: it isn’t Olberman!

By RW-(the original)

December 22, 2008 10:14 PM | Link to this

Andy,

Let’s hope your Bears are a second half team.

Midori,

Your Netflix setup questions are just as good/bad as the ones in the commercials. I vote they give you the gig and let me out of the alimony payments.

By sunshine and thunder

December 22, 2008 10:23 PM | Link to this

Is it a requirement that you have to be a complete moron to be a democrat? I haven’t seen this many people who know not, and know not that they know not, since the 1st grade.

Do liberals always get it wrong? Don’t they ever get it right just once in a while?

I want to put a bumper sticker on my car. BILL CLINTON: THE REASON IDIOTS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO VOTE.

When history is written it will not be kind to the uneducated, mindless sheep that put people such as the Clintons and the Obamas in power.

Boy, talk about the thundering stampede of a bewildered herd.

Enjoy your white wine and navel gazing while you can. Sooner or later you’re going to run out of productive people to collect taxes from. You’ve already managed to make half of the voters pay all the taxes. The other half will be voting themselves money from now on. And, guess what? There won’t be anything you or BO can do about it.

And you wonder why companies are leaving these shores.

By Taxpayer

December 22, 2008 10:24 PM | Link to this

Andy,

Any wisdom your body possesses during the course of a day is lost during your frequent runs to the John, you cannibal. Try cooking your meat first and you can correct that problem. You do nothing but continually demonstrate just how inadequate you actually are by even attempting to associate with intelligent lifeforms. You are no match for me so give it a rest, Klingon.

By Taxpayer

December 22, 2008 10:33 PM | Link to this

Corporal,

That Police Interceptor was the end of an era. The next contract went to Chrysler and it was 383s and 440 Magnums for many years to come. They had a good top end but they just did not compare to the Fords. They handled like a boat with wheels. I don’t know what Chrysler saw in that torsion rod suspension and those mushy shocks.

By sunshine and thunder

December 22, 2008 10:37 PM | Link to this

ROTFLMAO!

Let’s talk about how those mean old corporations have underfunded their pension plans but let’s never talk about how states, counties and municipalities have SEVERLY underfunded theirs.

Who cares? They just simply turn the liability over to the taxpayers. No problem.

And of COURSE don’t EVER, EVER, EVER try to privatize just a tiny part of Social Security.

Here’s a scenario:

UNCLE SAM: Gimme some money to save for your retirement.

MAN: What happened to the money I gave you last week?

UNCLE SAM: I spent it.

MAN: Maybe I should put some of this money in the stock market.

UNCLE SAM: Nah, that’s too risky.

By The Corporal

December 22, 2008 10:51 PM | Link to this

Taxpayer

Oh, you are right there. First thing I did was change those rear shocks (put adjustable air shocks on). And you’re also right about the top end. Fords and GTO’s had a much better top end. My 440 would float the valves at about 110 but in the quarter mile it was hard to beat.

By sunshine and thunder

December 22, 2008 10:52 PM | Link to this

JAY

RON PAUL FANS

Here is something I think we can all agree on.

How about it?

By Taxpayer

December 22, 2008 10:54 PM | Link to this

…when you hear someone beat up on Detroit for its bloated unionized cost structure and its dysfunctional business model and excessive CEO compensation, check to see who’s talking - it may very well be a somewhat hypocritical or still-clueless banker. Woe is us if bankers at federally insured depository institutions remain so patently unchastened, and if the structure of their compensation is not reformed.

By getalife

December 22, 2008 11:09 PM | Link to this

When voters look at your Administration two years from now, in the off-year election, how will they know whether you’re succeeding?:

Obama: “I think there are a couple of benchmarks we’ve set for ourselves during the course of this campaign. On [domestic] policy, have we helped this economy recover from what is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression? Have we instituted financial regulations and rules of the road that assure this kind of crisis doesn’t occur again? Have we created jobs that pay well and allow families to support themselves? Have we made significant progress on reducing the cost of health care and expanding coverage? Have we begun what will probably be a decade-long project to shift America to a new energy economy? Have we begun what may be an even longer project of revitalizing our public-school systems so we can compete in the 21st century? That’s on the domestic front. On foreign policy, have we closed down Guantánamo in a responsible way, put a clear end to torture and restored a balance between the demands of our security and our Constitution? Have we rebuilt alliances around the world effectively? Have I drawn down U.S. troops out of Iraq, and have we strengthened our approach in Afghanistan — not just militarily but also diplomatically and in terms of development? And have we been able to reinvigorate international institutions to deal with transnational threats, like climate change, that we can’t solve on our own?”

Starting with saving capitalism from socialism.

Wow, what a freaking mess w left.

By Paul

December 22, 2008 11:29 PM | Link to this

getalife

Ain’t accountability great?

Hope he can take the public school system on -

Heck, I’ll give the guy credit for just plain trying on a bunch of this -

g’night -

By getalife

December 22, 2008 11:32 PM | Link to this

Me too Paul.

Glad your family is better.

By AJC/DNC Management

December 23, 2008 5:54 AM | Link to this

aahhh, yes, the Urinal/Jihad whines and moans about Oblahmasan’s war already-

Kabul, Afghanistan —- President Hamid Karzai pressed America’s top military leader Monday on the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and preparations to pour up to 30,000 more forces into the country, reflecting Karzai’s concern over civilian casualties and military operations in villages.

Great, the libs are listening to the puppet.

We’re doing exactly what Obama Bin Biden blubbered about during the kkkampaign, what’s up?

By AJC/DNC Management

December 23, 2008 5:56 AM | Link to this

Look at this, of course Wooten is the only one that makes any sense in today’s Urinal-

Add road capacity for traffic relief

Word up.

By Greg

December 23, 2008 6:32 AM | Link to this

Yeah - it’s exactly the same thing. First time in 50 years versus years of sucking wind. Yet another example of why not to pay for the AJC.

By Caveman

December 23, 2008 6:44 AM | Link to this

Maybe the cons would feel better about unions if the auto workers got multi-million dollar bonuses like the ones bank executives are skimming off the top of the financial sector bailout. $75/hr = bad lazy workers ,$5000/hr = good capitalism.

By GaLiberal

December 23, 2008 7:22 AM | Link to this

By Class of ‘98@6:34 PM said: You forgot to point out that this is somehow Bush’s fault.

It’s not “somehow Bush’s fault” you moron it IS Bush’s fault. Or more exactly the Rethuglicons fault. As has been explained multiple times, Rethuglicon politicians when on a rampage and removed the laws that created a firewall between banking and investment. Once that firewall was removed, banks got in on speculative investment practices like bundling mortgages which they sold to investors. Those investors were institutional investors that run things like 401ks and pension funds. To spread out the risk, the investors repackaged these mortgages and sold them to other investors. And on and on. Of course, Bush and the Rethuglicons didn’t stop there. No, they gave out tax cuts that mainly benefited the uberrich. They started the reckless and unnecessary Iraq war that costs this country over $300 BILLION per year. Bush caused the debt to increase to over $10 TRILLION and leaves behind a deficit of over $300 BILLION. We have committed or spent over $5 TRILLION to keep the economy from tanking any further. And some how this is NOT Bush’s fault? You much have your head shoved someplace very dark.

When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And Class(less) of ‘98 is living proof.

By Jim Jr

December 23, 2008 8:15 AM | Link to this

Presenting, 8 years in the making, a true masterpiece of design and craftsmanship. From the innovative, creative, and unparalleled thinker who brought you The Iraq War, Katrina response, (drum roll), record budget deficits, unheard of trade balance deficits, (DRUM ROLL) Ladies and gentlemen Welcome to the Bush Recession / Depression.

By Bud Wiser

December 23, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this

The 1.7 billion for Toyota might cover all of the crap owned by the UAW, such as the private golf club and other executuive (for the union) retreats, plus the payouts to the 1 million plus retirees from the Big 3 still receiving their generous pension checks, as well as health care paid for.

Let us not forget also the company executive payouts that are currently being paid by your and my tax dollars through the ‘bailout’.

Merry F’ing Christmas UAW, from your idiot friends and paid off politicians in Washington. Christmas or no Christmas, if one of you clowns smirks at me about your bailout and how it is owed to you, I swear I’ll crown you with a 2 x 4.

By Dreg

December 23, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this

Foolish and will always be this Jay Bookman character. Toyota cars are better engineered, built than any GM,Crysler or Ford. The Honda salesman told me when I bought mine, I will see you around 2-3 hundred thousand if you don’t want to trade it by then.

You will not say that for the domestic 3. Honda are made in Ohio by the way so what does that tell you.

Unions stink. US corporate executives had no clue how to be competitive w/o government begging.

US car engineers stink.

By yankee

December 23, 2008 8:47 AM | Link to this

How did Yankee at 7:37 PM get to steal my name? Are there multiple posters allowed under one name?

By spankmonkey

December 23, 2008 9:00 AM | Link to this

“Hey, when you give millions and millions to Democrats and what, less than $12,000 to Republicans, well, heck, you gotta expect some payback for exercising your free speech rights!”

Gosh, that’s the same argument I’ve heard for years from Democrats arguing for Campaign Finance Regulations and lobbying reforms, my how the tables have turned.

No, there is no political t** 4 tat is there? Or is it that huge piles of money donated to “conservative” campaigns are always for the greater good, while obviously any donations made to democratic causes are payoffs.

Be very careful wingnuts, a lot of the tables you’ve set are being turned on you as we speak. Biden is walking into a VP spot with more power than ever before thanks to you wingnuts, while I’m not thrilled at that prospect, I hope it makes you wingnuts mess your diapers. You reap what you sow.

I love Andy’s wingnut math. He quotes a number that UAW workers purportedly make ($75.00/hr) and then compares it to Toyota’s workers (also union, at $28.00/hr).

Lets break it down and expose Andy’s half truth.

The $75.00/hr number IS correct when you add the worker’s actual hourly pay with administration and benefits. Hell in my shop a $20.00/hr employee actually costs me around $36.00/hr, and I offer minimal benefits (but a decent hourly rate).

The $28.00/hr rate is the average hourly rate that Toyota employees make, with no bennies or admin costs factored in.

Wingnut math at it’s finest. No wonder most rocket scientists are liberuls.

Back to your Jaw Jaw and CNP (cut N Paste) analysis there Andy. You were better at refuting Global warming since that didn’t require any sort of actual math or thinking.

By Manny D.

December 23, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this

Republicans + Evangelicals = LOSERS

By Wyld Byll

December 23, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this

Another gem from the BDS addled mind of Midori, “And, unfortunately, no matter how many times the “We’re Better Americans Than You Are” crowd is corrected on that $75 an hour lie, they are equally determined to keep repeating it.”

Midori seems to focus on the “$75 an hour”, then in the classice liberal obsfucation of facts that eviscerate the liberal argument, pronounces it a “lie.” (Which see, “Bush lied”; “Cheney lied” “Rummy lied”; “Condi lied”; “cCain Lied”; “Palin lied”; “Hannity lied”; “Rush lied”; “Wyld Byll lied”; “captain Kangaroo lied” and on and on”)

Midori, here are the facts, domestic labor costs are far higher, quality is far lower, and higher cost for lower quality is not a recipe for success. So whether its $75, $73, $69, or whatever, the number may be inaccurate, but it is not a “lie” and the concept is correct.

By yankee

December 23, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this

Support Georgia, buy a Kia.

By WithClarity

December 23, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this

No… “support Korea, buy a Kia”. Because that’s where the real money’s goin’.

By sunshine and thunder

December 23, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this

GAL LIBERAL

You wrote:

Rethuglicon politicians when on a rampage and removed the laws that created a firewall between banking and investment. Once that firewall was removed, banks got in on speculative investment practices like bundling mortgages which they sold to investors.

Wrong.

Banks could alway underwrite mortgages. Even under Glass Steagal.

Now please tell us how deregulation caused the bubble.

If I’m a “rethuglicon” does that mean you have gradutated from the third grade?

Do you have any idea how juvenile that sounds?

By Bullseye

December 23, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this

Sunshine. Here’s where the big guy “got it right”.

Mission accomplished Bring ‘em on Dead or Alive Heck of a job Brownie

By Hillbilly Deluxe

December 23, 2008 2:55 PM | Link to this

One thing that nobody mentions is that the Big 3, along with every other major corporation in America, never fully funded their pension plans. They spent the money on other things. In my view the government should never have allowed this to happen but everybody was in on the scam. (Social Security is in a similar state with the fund raided for other things.) The amount of unfunded pension liabilities in both the public and private sector is mind boggling. Just wait until that crisis hits. When you have a bunch of 70-80 year olds lose their pensions are you going to tell them to go out and get jobs? They worked in good faith all those years and held up their end of the deal. Whatever happened to a deal’s a deal? In most cases they made contributions to their pension fund from payroll deductions. (UAW workers were included in this by the way.)

Businesses abroad don’t pay health care and retirement benefits because the governments do it. Comparing U.S. here to foreign businesses abroad is really comparing apples to oranges.