More GM government takeover stuff

WARRANTY ENTITLEMENT?

By

Neal Boortz

Starting today the United States government will stand behind your warranty. That means that the United States taxpayers are guaranteeing your warranty. Excuse me, but doesn't this take some type of legislation? How does the president suddenly decide that all GM, Ford and Chrysler warranties are to be guaranteed by taxpayers?

Excuse me .. and I know that this is old fashioned thinking ... but I don't seem to remember the congress passing a law saying that the taxpayers could guarantee automobile warranties for a select number of owners. Maybe Herman Cain was doing my show that day. But .. Barack is King right now .. and all he really has to do is say it, and it's law.

Wait! There's more! Aren't we going to have to establish a grand new government bureaucracy to handle all of these warranties? And once that government bureaucracy is established, how many of you think it will ever be dissolved? How many of you think that we will ever reach the point where warranties on cars manufactured in America aren't guaranteed by the taxpayers? Who is going to set the warranty terms? The government or the automakers? Will we have politicians campaigning on the promise to extend and expand car warranties? How about "If you vote for so-and-so, you're going to have to pay to repair your own car."

We are seeing the beginning of a grand new entitlement program here.

AUTO INDUSTRY VS. WALL STREET

We are seeing a real divide starting to unfold. Again. After yesterday's "tough love" from the Obama administration ... auto workers are now complaining that the Obama administration treated auto workers worse than Wall Street. Maybe that's because the United Auto Workers presents more of a threat to the automobile makers than Wall Street Does. I'm really a little tired of whining from auto workers. If they had been a bit more concerned about the continuing health of their employers.

INTERVENING IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Yesterday we got Obama's official plan for the auto industry. Step #1: Fire the CEO of General Motors. Step #2: Push Chrysler toward a merger with an Italian car company. Step #3: Threaten bankruptcy for both companies. Wall Street didn't seem to like the administration's response. The Dow responded remarkably ... sinking nearly 4%. I guess I would have lost confidence too, if I realized that the government could oust any CEO at will if the president thinks it is the right thing to do. In fact, some experts are saying that this is the most significant presidential intervention in the private sector since 1952 and Harry Truman with the steel industry.

So it is clearly Obama's goal to re-make the auto industry the way he wants it to be, not based on profitability or the demand of the market place. He says, "I am absolutely committed to working with Congress and the auto companies to meet one goal: The United States of America will lead the world in building the next generation of clean cars ... our auto industry is not moving in the right direction fast enough to succeed." In other words .. Obama gets to decide the right direction. Instead of making cars that the consumers want, Obama will decree that the automakers will make cars that HE wants. If they don't move in that direction fast enough he'll just fire one team and hire another.

Well it turns out that this is a direction that Barack Obama has envisioned for a while .. and like his chief of staff says, "never let a good crisis go to waste." In Obama's 2006 autobiography, The Audacity Of Hope, here's what he had to say about his vision for the auto industry: The bottom line is that fuel-efficient cars and alternative fuels like E85, a fuel formulated with 85 percent ethanol, represent the future of the auto industry. It is a future American car companies can attain if we start making some tough choices now. For years U.S. automakers and the UAW have resisted higher fuel-efficiency standards because retooling costs money, and Detroit is already struggling under huge retiree health-care costs and stiff competition. So during my first year in the Senate I proposed legislation I called "Health Care for Hybrids." The bill makes a deal with U.S. automakers: In exchange for federal financial assistance in meeting the health-care costs of retired autoworkers, the Big Three would reinvest these savings into developing more fuel-efficient vehicles.

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/what-obama-wants-for-the-auto-industry

Aggressively investing in alternative fuel sources can also lead to the creation of thousands of new jobs. Ten or twenty years down the road, that old Maytag plant in Galesburg could reopen its doors as a cellulosic ethanol refinery. Down the street, scientists might be busy in a research lab working on a new hydrogen cell. And across the way, a new auto company could be busy churning out hybrid cars. The new jobs created could be filled by American workers trained with new skills and a world-class education, from elementary school to college. It seems as though Obama is doing a real good job of selling a crisis as a means to institute his vision of the automotive industry. Are you comfortable with this? In fact .. are you comfortable with this level of government enterprise in the marketplace?

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Beyond-AIG-A-Bill-to-let-Big-Government-Set-Your-Salary-42158597.html

I'm think that there's a nagging thought with many of you that this has gone entirely too far .. and that our markets might have self-corrected if the government had let this crisis run its course. And .. if you've been paying attention you should know that this crisis wouldn't have happened .. and it certainly would have been less severe if Barney Frank hadn't stood in the way of efforts of people like George Bush and John McCain to intervene in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac years ago.

BAILOUT DELUXE: FRANK WANTS CONTROLS ON PAY OF ALL EMPLOYEES...

This is something, isn't it? Obama replaces the GM boss, but Barney Frank - the one individual who carries more of the responsibility for this mess than any other single living human being -- seems to be untouchable.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Thomas Sowell's column: "A Rookie President." Sowell says: "We now have a rookie President of the United States and, in the dangerous world we live in, with terrorist nations going nuclear, just one rookie mistake can bring disaster down on this generation and generations yet to come."

Apparently the New York Times "killed" a story that would have shown a close link between ACORN, Project Vote and the Obama campaign because it would have been a "a game changer" during the election. I'm shocked.

How are the Democrats planning to pay for healthcare reform? By imposing new energy taxes! New taxes? Now there's a novel idea!

Experts say that Barack Obama needs to be more mindful of his gaffes, as they will quickly erode his popularity.

Left-wing redistributionists seize the moment.

Congress is upset that they weren't consulted by Barack Obama about what to do with GM CEO Rick Wagoner.

Let the fighting in Washington begin over who is going to be in charge of setting up a carbon market. This is going to be one of the biggest government boondoggles of all time ... it will make Social Security look like hopscotch.

Our Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has delayed a series of proposed immigration raids lately. Is this a sign of things to come?

The Senate Minority Leader says that Obama's policies will lead to an "explosion of government" that the country didn't expect when they voted him into office .. was Mitch McConnell watching the same election? Because this is exactly what I thought Obama would do.

Florida is offering discount cards to try and promote local business and boost the state's economy.

California wants to ban plasma televisions that use too much energy.

In case you didn't know ... Barack Obama believes that North Dakota is experiencing flooding right now because of global warming. Hey .. he has a massive new government revenue program called "Carbon tax-and-trade" to sell.