THE GOVERNMENT MOTORS SHELL GAME

The Obama Administration and GM announced the full repayment of bailout funds, with GM crowing about how they paid off the bailout five years early.  There are also tv commercials with the CEO proudly talking about the repayment, emphasizing it was paid with their own profits. 

Interestly enough, there are reports that the 'profits' that were used were actually from the TARP escrow account.  They used TARP money to pay back TARP money (plus interest - does that even count?).  And then bragged about it:

The bottom line seems to be that the TARP loans were “repaid” with other TARP funds in a Treasury escrow account. The TARP loans were not repaid from money GM is earning selling cars, as GM and the Administration have claimed in their speeches, press releases and television commercials. When these criticisms were put to GM’s Vice Chairman Stephen Girsky in a television interview yesterday, he admitted that the criticisms were valid:


Question: Are you just paying the government back with government money?

Mr. Girsky: Well listen, that is in effect true, but a year ago nobody thought we’d be able to pay this back.

Yes, Mr. Girsky, nobody thought you'd be able to pay it back, and YOU STILL HAVEN'T.

This is sheer insanity.  More importantly, it is a stunning example of the smoke and mirror techniques this administration is relying on to dupe the American people. 

When do you think they will pull the ads?  I'd say pretty soon...

If this little scheme is successful, GM and the administration will look like they closed out the bailout issue, and thus can distance themselves from the stigma.  GM would have the added benefit of presenting a facade of success.  After the poll that came out this week showing that Americans prefer American cars, this would make it look like GM is a force in the industry again.  They are alluding that the payoff money came from booming sales - a complete fallacy.

The best metaphor I've heard is that this is like paying off your visa bill with your mastercard and bragging about your financial condition. 

But wait, there's more.  According to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), any remaining funds in the escrow account would be paid to GM upon 'repayment' of the bailout funds.  Using the same metaphor as before, that's like Mastercard now forgiving the balance and, additionally, loading up the card with a few billion in funds as a thank you gift because you are just so awesome. 

In a classic case of "Who left the irony on", the administration is going after Goldman Sachs for shady bookkeeping.  Whose case, by the way, might be similar to GM's.  Much like the smoke and mirrors of the GM 'repayment", the financial reform bill is smoke and mirrors for Government Sachs.   It is also cover for the adminnistration, to give the appearance of cracking down on the evil fat cats of the financial sector while in reality giving them practically unlimited bailout capabilities.  Goldman Sachs is willing to take the heat because in the end they will have a multi-billion dollar slush fund to draw from.

This administration is nothing but double dealing and deception. Call it what you will - shell game, bait and switch, or business as usual - GM is just another example of it.

Remember in November.

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THE GOVERNMENT MOTORS SHELL GAME

TIME TO FULLY ENGAGE

The passing of Obamacare has been a real disappointment, but, unfortunately, not unexpected.  Especially disappointing is Bart Stupak's deal with the devil for a non-binding, waste of paper executive order and nearly $800,000 in taxpayer dollars for local airports.  There's no need to go into detail about it, though.  Hopefully his conservative district will make sure he is no longer a policy maker come November.

I have been wanting to blog on the health care situation, but have had family illnesses to take care of, ironically enough.  It's a bit late in the week to give a rundown of the health care bill, though, as it's been played out in the press ad nauseum.  Besides, now that it's passed we're finally going to be allowed to read it, so there is sure to be plenty of new stuff to talk about.  But, with all of the talk about repealing the law, it's time to figure out what we the people can do to fight against the tyranny imposed upon us by "the most powerful woman in 100 years" and her corporate cronies. 

Which brings me to what else we can do to combat the european socialization of this country against our will.  One of the reasons the democrats are so powerful is that they have the unions and most major corporations in their pockets, no matter how much they protest that it is the republicans in bed with corporate America.  The unions are with them because of shared ideology, but the corporations are working with them out of greed and self-preservation. 

Big Pharma is in bed with the administration because, in exchange for $80 billion in 'consessions' (lower drug costs), they will rake in hundreds of billions in perks.  The twelve year moratorium on imported drugs alone is highly lucrative.  Let's not forget, too, that there will be millions of new customers in the system and  no price controls.  The insurance industry has bought into the plan as well - after all, that means millions more customers for them, too.

In short, their greed is their destruction.  They have cut a deal for short-term gains, with nary a thought to the control they have handed over.  This is soft nationalization.  On the face of it, it seems like the industries are in control, but in reality, the government calls the shots.  Eventually it will evolve into hard control, but progressives are all about baby steps.  It enables them to call something "ridiculous" because it is still 10 steps away.   But a decade or two later, there we are. 

Since their greed impels them, it is their greed that we must tap into.  We the People have no lobby, so we must use our wallets in other ways.  It's difficult to boycott health industries, because it's often impossible to forgo or substitute the care we need, but there is still a way.

Wall Street.  Sell all Big Pharma and insurance stocks and buy into other sectors.  After the passage and signing of the bill, health industry stocks had nice little rallies - their gamble is paying off already, and it
is tempting to want to take a piece of that.  It's important to remember that they will be rewarded for their manipulations if people buy their stocks and drive the price up.  Instead, we need to sell their stock and drive the price down.  There are some who have even taken the step to remove all holdings related to the Obama administration as a whole.  IRA's, 401(k)'s, any stocks that support groups supporting Obama, Pelosi and the agenda need to lose their shareholders and thus the price of their stock.

There are still ways to fight this agenda.  We still have power, and we don't have to wait until November to use it.

We're winning other battles by going around the left - this is just one more front.  We're winning the media battle by using the internet, and in Texas we're winning the propaganda battle being waged against our children through their textbooks.  As Rosie says,

If money is the only language they understand, then we will talk in money.  Not just the health care industry - let's not forget that they are taking up Cap and Trade soon, just as soon as they rebrand and repackage it.  We can get a twofer on that one - GE is heavily leveraged in green technology and the administration.  That includes GE, NBC Universal and RCA.  Any company that lobbies for an administration bill should be held accountable by the stockholders.  Dropping share prices speak far more clearly to them than protest signs held across the street behind police barriers.  As a health care activist so aptly put it at a $10,000 a seat fundraising dinner last year for Sen. Max Baucus, who was putting together his health care bill (via the Washington Post):

"Money gets you in the door. The only thing the other side can do is march around and protest outside."

Protesting was a potent weapon in the left's arsenal because they received positive coverage from the media.  Tea parties get paltry coverage, and what there is of it is generally negative and diminishing in nature.  Not that we shouldn't keep protesting - no matter how much they spin it, pictures don't lie.

We need to realize that we have more than one arrow in our quiver, and it's time to start letting them fly.

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TIME TO FULLY ENGAGE