Ok. Let’s face it. Special interests are going to RULE in Congress with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Two weeks ago the automakers, facing public opposition to a $25 billion bail out went home on their private jets with their tails between their legs to come up with a plan to save America’s unionized auto production companies. Congress, not willing to take the heat, needed to look tough and sent them packing.

Today they came back and those Democrats that have been running Congress for the past few years are now being told they need $38 billion and Nancy Pelosi is clearly signaling that a bigger bailout of America’s crappy car companies is going to be in the works.

Whatever the DC lobbyists are being paid is well worth it for the company honchos who found a way to turn a get lost message into a $13 billion windfall on top of the original bailout. As a taxpayer, all I can hope for is that Pelosi and company don’t send them back to the drawing board because every time they do it costs us money.

If there is a bailout, every American should get a coupon for a free Chevy that they can redeem at some point during the life of the “loan”. The Democrats will get big campaign contributions for these bailouts but what do we get? At least if we got a Chevy we might be able to drive it for two years which is the estimated lifespan of a contemporary GM vehicle.

Hey, America has a right to have crappy cars. I don’t know why they don’t last as long as Toyotas or Hondas or even Hyundai’s, but they don’t. It’s not about union workers, it’s about quality. Bend over America, here it comes.

www.edmartinonline.com.

WASHINGTON, DC — President to be Obama’s short list for his cabinet reveals a new direction for America, true diversity, experienced leaders, and creative thinking. Although not yet public, the preliminary appointments according to key sources are shaping up as follows:

Economic Team:
Chairman, Council of Economic Advisors – Rep. Barney Frank
Secretary of the Treasury – Rep. William Jefferson
Secretary of Commerce – Rep. Charlie Rangel

Foreign Policy Team:
Secretary of State – Rev. Al Sharpton
United Nations Ambassador – Rev. Jesse Jackson
National Security Advisor – Mr. Harry Belafonte

Domestic Issues Team:
Secretary of Energy – Mayor Ray Nagin
Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency – Mr. Al Gore
Secretary of the Interior – Ms. Cyndi Sheehan
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services – Ms. Oprah Winfrey
Secretary of Transportation – Mr. Spike Lee
Secretary of Education – Mr. William Ayers, Phd.
Secretary of Labor – Hon. Cynthia McKinney
Attorney General – Hon. Elliot Spitzer
Surgeon General – Mr. Barry Bonds

Sources also report that Rev. Jeremiah Wright will be named White House Communications Director . It is also anticipated that Chris Matthews from MSNBC will be appointed Deputy White House Press Secretary once a cure has been found for the abnormality in his leg that occurs when he speaks of the President-elect. There are also reports that Keith Olbermann, also of MSNBC, is in line to become Chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Pending the recount in the Minnesota Senate election, Mr. Al Franken has been mentioned to become Secretary of Agriculture.

According to the source, “this marks a real departure from the failed policies of the Bush administration and the change America voted for. President Obama is ready to get to work on the American people and their problems. Once out team is in place the whole world will take notice. We anticipate an economic recovery within our first six months as well as lasting peace. Climate change may take a little longer, perhaps eighteen months, and true economic equality for all will be an ongoing project that may take two full terms.”

NOTE: Different people have different takes on what Obama will do because we really do not know this man. He’s tried to become everything to everybody. It is not unrealistic that campaign supporters will be rewarded with jobs, perhaps not the jobs listed above. We have used the anonymous source in making this report, a typical tactic of the mainstream media to decry conservatives and float trial balloons. So why not here. Give this the credibility it deserves. Life is too short.

It’s absolutely amazing how Barack Obama has snookered the American people, especially one fifth of conservatives if you believe the polls, into believing he will cut taxes for 95% of the American people. It’s a wonderful promise especially in light of the huge spending increases he needs to implement to pay for his plethora of new handouts.

Few in the media or politics have been able to figure out where the money is going to come from. Face it; it’s going to come from us and a variety of ways that will not be offset by the puny tax cut he has promised.

Brace yourself for significantly higher energy prices as Obama’s carbon assessments on domestic power production will that will result in huge utility bill increases and new gas taxes that will push the price of a gallon back above $4.00. These huge energy increases coupled with new business taxes will increase the cost of everything you buy to live on.

Inflation is cruelest tax, especially on the working middle class who do not qualify for the handout programs. This is how America’s middle class will be squeezed by President Obama. But, enough of us were snookered into thinking he’s a tax cutter.

As inflation escalates during an Obama Presidency, so will interest rates and as all this plays out more and more Americans will lose jobs as businesses move elsewhere or just close their doors and give up. Now Obama will blame Bush even though Bush will be gone and has had nothing to do with his wild scheme.

Just as the trickle down economics of the Reagan era resulted in great job creation and economic expansion that lifted America out of the morass of the Carter presidency, the same principle will mean the tax hikes focused on business and investors will trickle down into the cost of everything you need to live. We have seen this before and while it may sound good to those who do not understand economics, the ultimate victims will be all those who thought Obama’s change was going to be good as opposed to a change to policies tried and failed.

But they say America gets the government we deserve and if a majority has not taken the time to learn the lessons of history or understand how the economy really works, then strap yourself in for we are all going to go on ride.

Aside from the initial nervousness, the two who would be President delivered predictable performances last night and at the conclusion of the exchange the dynamics of the race had not changed one iota. McCain has substance, Obama has form. Put political philosophy aside and the two of them might have made a great father-son team.

McCain missed an opportunity to hit the ball out of the park on the tax question and this underscores, perhaps, a troubling misunderstanding of why cutting taxes is a good thing as opposed to a good political thing. The answer he should have given his underling was that the reason cutting taxes is essential is to encourage capital formation.

In a credit challenged environment, capital formation is essential to growth. Without economic growth jobs cannot be created and a slowing economy reversed. Say what you want about Reagan’s trickle down approach, but the results prove effectiveness. McCain did discuss the need to make America desirable for business investment, but Obama negated his point by addressing loopholes which McCain could have used to press his point on Washington’s culture of pay and play.

Obama’s tax cut for the 95% of Americans entails having the government take your money first and then handing you back your own money in the form of a handout – or rebate – or tax cut as he calls it. Buy yourself a new TV, made in China! But when you consider that most of the tax revenues come from that excluded 5%, the stimulus to the economy is limited and therefore less than what McCain is talking about. Perhaps it might help for a week or two like the last rebate did, but how this will encourage American investment is elusive.

Given the sensational reporting of the events of this past week and the general misunderstanding of the American voter more interested in football and the Friday special at Red Lobster, it might have been good for McCain to walk people through how Freddie and Fanny started the dominoes falling by making it possible for home mortgages to be given to people with questionable ability to pay them back with no or limited down payments. Forget a chicken in every pot, how about a house!

Obama is hypnotic in presentation and therein lies the threat. Any student of our current crises knows it cannot be blamed on just one elected official and in doing so Obama reveals to us his ability to lie and mislead. But his victory depends of getting the votes of those not paying attention to detail. What a sad commentary on our country.
www.edmartinonline.com

Congratulations fellow taxpayers. Tomorrow the Federal Reserve will use our money and take 80% of the failing and about to be bankrupt AIG. What a great opportunity this is for us to show the world how benevolent we Americans are. In the interest of financial markets stability (is there really such a thing?) we will embark upon one of the biggest corporate welfare moves in history.

These are scary times, due in large part to the greed and irresponsibility of some, many of whom have cushioned away large fortunes and despite a loss of immediate income, will be just fine.

C’mon back down to my level where the working folks are.

Just as I have always had a problem handing money to the irresponsible amongst us who have played the system and lived off of the working taxpayers of our nation, I have equal disdain for those who seek a bailout to escape responsibility for their own irresponsibility and failure.

But alas — we will be told this is not a bailout, but a loan backed by securities. The government is not taking control of AIG because the same people will still be running the company.

HELLO!!!! Throw the rascals out, bring in a new management and operational team and get rid of those who forgot about risk management. To bail these people out and screw the stockholders and the American taxpayer to boot is a financial and governmental travesty in the first order.

www.edmartinonline.com

Forgive me for not blogging. The NFL season started and I have been occupied rooting for my teams and against our opponents. Not unlike politics, but absent the high stakes and ramifications if the game doesn’t turn out as one would like.

Perhaps the most difficult thing this year is that I am not excited about either Presidential candidate. My preferred candidates erupted in the primaries and the selection we now have is less than stellar. While I was included to support McCain in 2000, his behavior having lost to Bush was questionable and most notably siding with the Democrats on pivotal questions regarding procedures that stood in the way of judicial confirmations.

McCain is no Reagan, but he definitely is to the right of Obama and the more we learn about the silver tongued Senator from Illinois who won his race by default the more troubled I become. They say professional politicians can talk their way out of anything and perhaps Obama can talk his way out of his leftist leanings and give America the chickens we need to put in our pots, assuming we can be bought off that cheaply in these difficult and trying times.

Sarah Palin has energized me, not because she is pure or perfect, but because she is real. This upstart of a motivated mom who took on political corruption and cronyism and threw the rascals out remains under attack by those who cannot believe someone of this lineage could be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. In spirit and spunk, she’s a Republican Harry Truman, grounded in small town common sense and an understanding of right and wrong.

Most television pundits on both sides of the aisle, including O’Reilly, just don’t get it. Dick Morris does. This woman is here to stay, win or lose, and the threat she poses to the entrenched patronization of women by the effete left is extremely serious. Sarah Palin didn’t marry someone who carried her as his partner into her position like Senator Clinton has. Sara Palin took the Moose by the antlers and got there herself.

Sara is the hero of American women and her selection by John McCain will permanently transform American politics in a way most women in America have longed for. ABC’s Charlie Gibson, sitting aloof and asking questions looking down his snout at this lady Governor, may believe he scored a triumph when the Gov didn’t know what the Bush doctrine was. But the term “Bush doctrine” is not a term used by common Americans, it is a term used by Washington insiders and that is certainly not what Sarah Palin represents.

So the race continues and our Sarah keeps on trucking’ and everyday women from all walks of life are rooting for her, saying “You go girl!

What is amazing is the real fear you see in the eyes of feminists reacting to the selection of Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate. Chants of “she’s not a real woman” or “she against women’s issues” or “she’s too extreme” are running through the minds of those nasty liberals looking to discredit her even before the country gets to know her.

I can just hear the political operatives yelling in the war room: “shoot her down now”! Apparently the Obama campaign is in high gear trying to do just that. As I have said in earlier columns/blogs, how far he has fallen now that he is truly challenged and this election will be a contest as opposed to a coronation.

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