Our Excellent Adventures

If the federal government is going to be doling out money, we’ll be asking for our fair share,” Reed said. “As the 10th largest city in the country, we should at least get 2 percent. That would be fair.” San Jose (California) Mayor, Chuck Reed.

Fair? What is fair would be that you do not get federal taxpayers money! Keep in mind that while San Jose has suffered like most in this economy, they are not in the “red.” The major just wants his piece of the pie. And that is why democracy can fail - everyone wants a piece of the pie and no one is in the kitchen baking ‘em.

It used to be to get help from America, you’d bomb them or declare war on them and then after they win the war that you started, America would totally rebuild your country and expect nothing in return - not even respect or a thank you. Now start a business, get really big, give employees and bosses anything they want, don’t worry about the details, America will totally rebuild your company. Just ask! No problemo!

Nothing new about that I guess.

The latest, designed to help those whose house is worth less than they owe on it is pure crap. Especially since many of these people borrowed 100% + when they “bought” the house.

Some people are lucky enough to have their home paid for or aren’t behind on their payments. We watch our equity drop everyday and we are talking real money - it is paid for and now worse less than we paid - that is real money gone. OK, that’s just the way it goes but WHY should WE have to PAY for the people losing their homes. WE PAID for ours. It is not just, fair, good karma or anything except crap that we should also PAY for them.

We have one guy in Washington, Paulson, calling the shots. He talked Congress into giving him 750 billion dollars and now he is changing the way he told Congress he would use it. One guy, an X-Wall Street big shot. One guy, with a track record that is a big fat 0! One guy on a 750 billion dollar spending spree with our money.

Get a grip people. Tell your congress person you are NOT going to pay for this!

Chrysler (a sensitive subject for Sprinter owners), in deep trouble but with $11 million in the bank is very likely to merge, join, partner, dance with GM who is basically broke. They have asked the government for a part of our money - a bailout to help them accomplish this get-to-gather. Why? The stockholders will loose as well as the employees and dealers of both companies. Don’t add the taxpayers to the list!

According to the Wall Street Journal, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler LLC are lobbying the Bush administration to siphon off a portion of the bailout money to help fund their proposed merger. Chrysler, which is majority-owned by hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management, would end up being gobbled up by GM in a complex deal that would require about $10 billion to cover integration expenses.

Who benefits here? The #1 benefactor is Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus is a private equity firm that owns 80.1% of Chrysler and 51% of GMAC Financial Services. In fact, it was Cerberus who first made the proposal of trading Chrysler’s automotive operations to GM. The Journal said Cerberus would receive GM’s remaining 49 percent stake in GMAC.

Cerberus is managed by John William Snow, who was Secretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush, from February 03 through June 06. He resigned and was appointed CEO of Cerberus in October, 2006. He benefits big time from this bailout.

Also to profit will be JPMorgan Chase since they hold a big portion of Chrysler debt. You may note that Morgan was bailed out in June by the Fed allowing them to take over BearStearns for pennies and later in September by the Fed allowing them to take over WaMu. In both these take overs WaMu and BearStearns shareholders and certain bondholders were wiped out. It pays to have friends in high places.

While no money for Main Street has been sighted, money is flowing but the pipeline is well guarded and being siphoned off here and there. We Sprinter owners don’t need to worry about where we will find service. The way things are going we won’t be able to afford it anyway.

Momentum increased Monday for a new economic stimulus package to help cash-strapped Americans as President Bush and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke threw their weight behind an idea they earlier opposed. AP thru Yahoo

President Bush will be remembered not for the Iraq War or the War on Terror but for ending capitalism in America. The government created this problem and their meddling will only make it worse in the long run. So, some banks go out of business - depositors loose nothing. So, stocks go down - they will come back up. So, some people lost their homes - pardon me, but perhaps they shouldn’t have had a home in the first  place.

All the economy’s problems are feeding off each other, creating a vicious cycle that Washington policymakers are finding difficult to break.

It is not up to Washington to break the cycle. Many, many economists and lots of Americans disagree with the governent view that if something is broken throw it money. Let the economy alone.

We’ve got enough to worry about . . . you know, no matter who is elected president taxes are going to go up. And they will keep going up if politicians keep giving the money away. If you don’t believe that call me, I’ve got some land on the dark side of the moon for sale.

In the future . . .
Last Person Working in America Dies
Washington - Leaving an unpaid tax bill of $450 gazillion dollars, the last working American died today after a long illness. Early reports say exhaustion may have contributed to the death but the real reason may never be known. With everyone else in America not working and waiting for more economic stimulus from Washington, this passing will put more pressure on the economy.

The Secretary of the Treasury announced the government would print more money to overcome this latest difficulty with the economy and blamed the death on the unwillingness of the deceased to share wealth with fellow Americans. He also commented that while past efforts represented investments that would have eventually made money for the taxpayer this would no longer be a consideration in future bail outs.

After his comments, the DOW rose 10 points to reach a week’s high of 298.