“Obama -Volt '12” LOL

“The fire really helps me get to my destination faster for fear of my life.”

In The Line Of Fire...

From reports by The Daily and The Daily Mail:

Clint Eastwood's Super Bowl ad for Chrysler is under fresh fire from the GOP, after it emerged employees from firm behind the controversial spot worked on President Obama's 2008 campaign. The ad, which declares 'it's halftime in America,' has received mounting criticism from conservatives claiming it was a thinly-veiled nod to the president, who bailed out the auto industry during the recession.

(It's even spawned a host of parodies, including the one below...)

“I am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr Obama,” Eastwood told Fox News on Monday. “It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it.”

In a short statement to the network, the 81-year-old actor and director said he believed the ad was being “spun” by political partisans, though that was never the intention of the clip.

Now, ad agency Wieden+Kennedy is bracing for a backlash, amid reports two of its top creatives donated their time to make pro-Obama artwork. The Daily reports WK's global public relations director, Joani Wardell, also worked in the White House Press Office during the Clinton era and continues to work as a political consultant. Despite what may be perceived as political undertones in the ad, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne insisted it has “zero political content.”

“We are as apolitical as you can make us... and I sincerely hope that it doesn't get utilized as political fodder in a debate,” Marchionne added.

Chrysler's commercial stood out as the automaker sent the veteran actor to strike a serious chord with viewers, among otherwise goofy Super Bowl ads. “People are out of work and they’re hurting And they’re all wondering what they’re going to do to make a comeback. And we’re all scared, because this isn’t a game,” “The Dirty Harry” star says in his roughened growl.

Last year, the Treasury Department reported that taxpayers likely lost up to $1.3billion in the Chrysler bailout. However, the agency touted the finding as a “major accomplishment,”as the government originally predicted that the government would lose $40 billion on the deal, CNN reported.

The parody...

And now the original (below)...

Going Postal...or Postal Gone?

One of America's enduring institutions -- however great or flawed you feel it may be -- is the U.S. Postal Service.

For more than two centuries, our system of moving mail around has served the country well. From the Great Postmaster, Ben Franklin, to the Pony Express, mail delivery has been an important part of our lives and history.

But, as the song says, "The times they are a changin'."

Past tense: they've changed.

Unfortunately, the postal system hasn't been able to keep up. Private delivery services (like UPS and FedEx), new technologies (the web/email), and skyrocketing employment costs have made the USPS a major money hole. Each year, the postal folks post their losses...which are in the billions.

The service's unsustainable course was the subject of Congressional testimony this week and the outlook is bleak. Current plans for trying to save the system include ending Saturday deliveries, closing post offices and laying off -- perhaps -- more than 100,000 workers.

Even the White House is mulling over ways to try and save the USPS.

Megan McArdle, editor at The Atlantic, points out that the USPS, the White House and others with good intentions might very well be hamstrung in their efforts by Congress: “Congress has given the Post Office two incompatible mandates. It is to make money like a business . . . but it is not to have any of the freedom that businesses have to, say, close branch offices, cut its delivery area, or change delivery schedules. This is, to put it mildly, lunatic.”

It's not "mildly lunatic." It's straight up crazy.

The prediction here: the USPS will be trimmed (service, employees and more) but the federal government will provide a bailout. Let's face it, as much as we love the efficiency and speed of companies like UPS and FedEx, we do love our relatively cheaper and fairly reliable snail mail. And as many from one particular political party in Washington, D.C., know, adding any additional numbers to the current unemployment situation mean fewer votes.

Paid in...bull.

Remember when President Barack Obama visited a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, on June 3 to discuss the recent announcement that the Chrysler Group LLC repaid $5.1 billion in outstanding loans? That brought the total repayment, as of May 24, to $10.6 billion — about $1.9 billion less than the $12.5 billion the company borrowed under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

In his speech, the president said:

Obama, June 3: "And today, I’m proud to announce the government has been completely repaid for the investments we made under my watch by Chrysler because of the outstanding work that you guys did. Because of you. Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes the American taxpayer from the investment we made during my watch. And by the way, you guys repaid it six years ahead of schedule."

Well, here's the bottom line: the Chrysler Group bailout officially ended today (July 21, 2011) when the Treasury Department sold off its remaining stake in the automaker. The final tally shows the taxpayers lost $1.3 billion.

Yep, we lost. $1.3 billion. With a "B."

Treasury is unlikely to recover the remaining $1.3 billion. But Tim Massad, the Treasury assistant secretary who oversees the TARP program, declared the bailout a success just the same.

Of course, just the same.

Looks like he picked the wrong week...

Treasury Sec. Tim Geithner (left) and "Steve McCroskey" -- both suffering from delusions...

David Freddoso (over at the Washington Examiner) points out that the Administration's decision to tout its meddling in/with the auto industry is a bit ill-timed: "President Obama and his union allies have decided that the 2012 reelection will prominently feature a defense/justification of the General Motors and Chrysler bailouts. This nascent effort included Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's op ed in the Washington Post this week, which was both inaccurate and ill-timed."

Freddoso adds: "Geithner's op-ed was also noteworthy because it came the day before GM's stock price plummeted on disappointing May sales numbers. Year-to-date, GM is selling more cars than last year, but its sales were down year-over-year for May. [see chart] And it is selling all those cars only by offering incentives more than 50 percent more generous than the industry average. The company has now lost more than 10 percent of its value since its IPO just seven months ago, and its stock is off about 25 percent from its peak in February. So way to go, taxpayer. And keep your wallet handy, because you're probably going to have to bail them out again eventually."

Maybe the timing will be better...next time?

Do as she says...

...not as she does.

'Debbie Does Bailouts" - Democratic National Committee Chairperson Debbie Wasserman-Schultz...

Remember when the Administration and the Democrats in Congress were pushing for the Federal bailout of the U.S. auto industry?

One of those championing a bailout was then-Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), the new chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, who practically led the charge against Republicans opposing President Barack Obama's pro-union efforts.

"If it were up to the candidates for president on the Republican side," she declared, "we would be driving foreign cars. They would have let the auto industry in America go down the tubes!"

Want to guess what country Little Debbie's car comes from?

It starts with a "J" and ends with "apan." That's right, the Debster drives a 2010 Infiniti FX35 that is built by Nissan in Tochigi, Japan.

Way to put your money where your mouth is, Debbie!

Richard Epstein on Barack Obama - his former Chicago Law colleague - and more...

Great mind, great perspectives...

I am proud that I used to be a colleague of this man -often referred to as"one of the most influential legal thinkers of modern times," and arguably without equal when it comes to the field of Law & Economics...

From Reason's website (source of this video): "Epstein splits faculty appointments at the University of Chicago and New York University; he's also a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and a contributor to Reason. In books such as Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws (1992) to Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995), and Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism (2003), Epstein pushes his ideas and preconceptions to their limits and takes his readers along for the ride. A die-hard libertarian who believes the state should be limited and individual freedom expanded, he is nonetheless the consummate intellectual who first and foremost demands he offer up ironclad proofs for his characteristically counterintuitive insights into law and social theory. Indeed, Epstein's enduring value may not be any particular legal or policy prescription he's offered over the years but rather his methodology. He believes in robust and unfettered argument and debate as a way of gaining knowledge. If you don't put your ideas out in the arena, you can't be doing your best work, he argues. 'The problem when you keep to yourself is you don't get to hear strong ideas articulated by people who disagree with you,' he says."

In this video, [Epstein discusses] legal challenges to ObamaCare, the effects of stimulus spending and TARP bailouts, and a former University of Chicago adjunct faculty member by the name of Barack Obama, with whom Epstein regularly interacted in the 1990s and early 2000s. 'He passed through Chicago without absorbing much of the internal culture,' says Epstein of the president. 'He's amazingly good at playing intellectual poker. But that's a disadvantage, because if you don't put your ideas out there to be shot down, you're never gonna figure out what kind of revision you want.'"

Watch/listen and learn. (Approximately 12.30 minutes.)

Former University of Chicago Law School colleagues...

You're doing it wrong...

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) explains that federal government bailouts of GM and Chrysler saved Ford.

Yes, that's just how it worked...

This Isn't Going To Be Good For Anyone...

The FBI: Coming to a bank near you?

"The FBI is investigating four major U.S. financial institutions whose collapse helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan by the Bush administration, The Associated Press has learned."

Your tax dollars at work.

"A former Iraqi official estimated yesterday that more than $13 billion meant for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen through elaborate fraud schemes."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (By Ben Heine.)

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is visiting the United Nations and using the opportunity to spew more ___________ (fill in the blank). The weasel says the world can take a flying leap. Iran is going to build all the nukes it wants. Note to Iran: You know that "doomsday clock" on the wall? You don't really set the time on it, Israel does.

Extra: Since we're on the topic of things that are bad for you, how about the 2,300-calorie Baskin-Robbins "Death Shake?"

Death with a straw.

Of Bailouts And Such

Let me be among the first to congratulate you (well, the second after the guy with the orange tie) on your purchase of some of America's most notable financial institutions.

Now that you're a mover and shaker, I'd like to welcome you to annual stockholders meetings, chi-chi airport waiting lounges and to the best tables at the finest restaurants.

Now that you're a rich, stockholder-type, you can afford
to eat at some of the more hoity-toity restaurants.

By the way, not only are you now a proud stockholder, but you'll also be happy to hear that your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren (and probably several generations beyond that) will also be paying for the $1 trillion bailout of this nation's stalwarts of capitalism.

The Dow Jones may be climbing -- albeit temporarily -- out of its spiral, but don't look for things to turn around soon.

I'm just glad to know some Smart Guys are on the case...yikes!

Extra: In what can only be described as Mugshot o' the Week, I (with the help of The Smoking Gun) present, the AIG shirt guy hoping for a bailout.

What's $1 trillion between friends?