Posts Made By: david elosser

"Chrysler Group's Olivier Francois, the president-CEO of the Chrysler vehicle brand, has tapped Armando Testa, his ad agency for Italian Lancia, to refashion a Lancia commercial for the U.S. market."

Don't worry, I'm sure Presidente Obamamia approved that.

"Hiring an Italian agency for the work may not sit well with American taxpayers, who bailed out the ailing Chrysler earlier this year with billions of dollars in loans."

No kidding Sherlock!

"And all of the several hundreds of staffers of Chrysler Group's longtime ad agency, BBDO Detroit, will be out of work at the end of January when the contract expires."

Yep! That's Hope and Change for ya, Detroit! (Hey, but look on the bright side, the national unemployment rate just plummeted two-tenths percent! Io sono sicuro Lei troverà un altro lavoro rapidamente!)

http://adage.com/article?article_id=140855

David E

http://www.lvrj.com/news/fewer-back-health-reform-78628342.html

"The telephone poll of 625 registered voters found that 53 percent of Nevadans oppose the president's attempt to provide a remedy for problems in the nation's health care system. Support for the plan is at 39 percent."

"Fueling discontent with the bill, the poll shows, is the growing belief by Nevadans that Obama's reform package will raise taxes, result in rationing of health care, and cause major cuts to Medicare programs."

""When you look at the entire poll, it's clear the voters of Nevada do not want this bill to pass," said Brad Coker, managing partner of Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., which conducted the poll Monday through Wednesday. "When you break it all down, it appears that Nevadans would just as soon throw this bill out and start over." "

Nevada gets it. Do you?

David E

...what today is really all about?

David E

In the latest of the stimulus boondoggle:

*$6 million in stimulus money was awarded to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008. (They said it "saved" six jobs)...

*$1.5 million goes to Penn State University to search for fossils in Argentina (hope and change in South America???)...

*Two million dollars went to build a replica railroad in Carson City, Nev (Harry Reid's favorite toy!)...

*A Chicago based dinner cruise company received nearly $1 million in funds (I didn't know the Queen Elizabeth II ever docked in Chicago)...

*Nearly $1 million went to Arizona universities to study ants (at least there's hope and change in my back yard)...

*The State University of New York at Buffalo won $390,000 to study young adults who drink malt liquor and smoke marijuana (my state never gets the good ones )...

*The National Institutes of Health got $219,000 in funds to study whether female college students are more likely to “hook up” after drinking alcohol (they need $200 grand to figure that out?)...

*The University of Hawii got over $200 grand to study honey bees (yep, next to members of Congress, they are the least understood critters in nature)...

*$700,000 went to help crab fishermen in Oregon recover lost crab pots(why recover them, when you can go home with $700 grand in your pockets?)...

David E

Burger King won't buy it. KFC, Costco and Campbells Soup company won't buy it. Neither will McDonalds or Jack In The Box. But the US Department of Agriculture will, and feed it to our kids in our public schools. What is it? Substandard meats. So substandard that if our government wasn't buying it and feeding it to our kids in schools across America, it would end up as compost or animal feed. And the private sector is 10 time more stringent than the US Government in checking meats for bacteria and pathogens. "Today, USDA rules for meat sent to schools remain more stringent than the department's minimum safety requirements for meat sold at supermarkets. But those government rules have fallen behind the increasingly tough standards that have evolved among fast-food chains and more selective retailers." (And you liberals still want our benevolent government to get more control over our health care! )

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-12-08-school-lunch-standards_N.htm

(The following replies are sponsored by Weemers Educational Meat Company. Chock full of peckers and lips since 1994.)

David E

Health care overhaul is looking more and more likely to pass, probably with a very thin margin- depends on how many votes Dirty Harry can buy. Here are some aspects that are currently in the House Senate versions and are likely to survive:

Over 100 new government agencies under the jurisdiction of the HHS Secretary. No one knows how much this well really cost, or why we even need them if we've never had them before. The HHS will have unprecidented powers over what is basically one dollar for every six you spend, determining what you can and cannot have in coverage, and there will be no legal recourse for you if you think you are getting screwed.

Are you feeling better now?

When Health Reform passes, business will be faced with what Knight Kiplinger calls the "mother of all migranes," the paperwork alone will put a massive new burden on your employer.

Are you feeling better now?

Businesses will have to totally redesign their employee health care coverage, eliminating all benefit caps and extending coverage to 100% of preventive health care costs. Sounds great but all of this will increase premiums for many as we will no longer have the choice of lower cost plans that pay less in benefits.

Are you feeling better now?

If your employer is not providing health care coverage, they will be required to enroll you into a long-term-care plan and collect the premiums from you for this new federal insurance.

Are you feeling better now?

Now you can, however, opt out of above new federal insurance, but you will have to pay a fine or even go to jail.

Are you feeling better now?

Your employer will add up all your benefits, including medical, dental, and vision care plus contributions to savings plans, and report it on your W-2 form. Why your W-2, you ask? Well, as they say, if you have to ask, you can't afford it!

Are you feeling better now?

There are new taxes on "high value" insurance plans. It doesn't matter what your income is, you pay the taxes. No one really expects that to remain static, more and more of us will be paying taxes on our insurance plans as the "high value" is redefined downward over the years.

Are you feeling better now?

Currently, medical savings plans offered by employers and state governments are capped as high as 5000 or even 6000 dollars. This will now be capped at 2500 and will add new restrictions, for example barring reimbursements for over the counter medicine.

Are you feeling better now?

Employers may have to drop retiree drug coverage benefits. The new Health Care Reform will tax that and it might made it too expensive. (Sorry 'bout that, granddad!)

Are you feeling better now?

The 2000 pages of new regulations will NOT end there. Both state and federal regulators will have to write and rewrite new laws and guidelines for the implementation of this 2000 page law. Talk about a legal mess!

Are you feeling better now?

States will be required to expand Medicaid coverage and will almost certainly have to raise new taxes to pay for them.

Are you feeling better now?

You must have health care insurance. The IRS will be saddled with enforcement (see "W-2" above) and will be given powers to collect the fees and penalties from you accordingly. Undoubtedly the IRS will have to be expanded considerably to accomodate this new responsibility.

Are you feeling better now?

David E

From the latest AP Poll:
"Americans like seeing President Barack Obama finally tackle Afghanistan — even if most don't support his plans."

That doesn't make sense to me. People like that Obama is taking action, but don't like what the action is?

"[COLOR="Fuchsia"]The latest Associated Press-GfK poll shows the president's marks for handling the 8-year-old war have jumped by double digits — more than half now approve — since he capped a three-month strategy review by announcing a big troop increase[/COLOR]...[COLOR="Purple"]But despite his prime-time TV speech explaining how he reached his decision, there was no change in the public's resistance to escalation. Just 42 percent favor sending more troops while 56 percent oppose it, essentially unchanged from November."[/COLOR]

Those two sentences seem contradictory to me. If you believe one is correct, it's hard for me to believe the other must also be correct. I don't know, any thoughts on this one?

David E

"President Barack Obama’s extension last month of a tax credit for first-time homebuyers failed to stir optimism among homebuilders or stock investors about the industry’s prospects...“The extension has not materially helped traffic or sales despite the program’s expansion,” Carl Reichardt, a Wells Fargo analyst, wrote yesterday in a report..."

I know Obama doesn't get it, but it's really not hard to understand. You have to have money and a job to buy a house. Or at least, it's that way now!

"The shifts in sentiment and share prices were at odds with the growth in November housing starts and building permits that the Commerce Department reported today."

Again, this is not hard to understand. In fact, there is no contradiction here because the two are unrelated. Most of the houses purchased with the Stimulus money were existing houses, not new houses. Why? Because it generally takes a year or more to build a house from scratch. That means if you want to build a house now, by the time it's built and you close on the house, the refund program would have ended. So you buy an existing one to get the handout from your fellow taxpayers. Also, there are few new houses out there anyway, because contractors have been building few spec houses for the past few years. Why would you build a two or three hundred thousand dollar house if you knew you would have to sit on it for three or more years?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=acPj_UrWVI6U&pos=15
(click on Graphic tab at the top of the page to see the graphs.)

David E

...unemployment. There are currently 10 million people getting unemployment payments across the nation.

From AP: "The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week as the recovery of the nation's battered labor market proceeds in fits and starts." I'd hate to work for AP. Those people are so clueless that everything is "unexpected" for them. I expect them anytime to write "The sun unexpectedly rose in the eastern sky this morning..." Hell, they can't even spell "government."

"The govenrment [sic] said that the number of people receiving regular benefits rose by 5,000 to 5.19 million for the week ending Dec. 5...The people receiving extended benefits jumped to 4.73 million for the week ending Nov. 28, an increase of 143,759 from the previous week."

I know, who cares? Just a minor problem. Ten million adults on unemployment no big deal. The democrats will get around to fixing that some day. Some year. Maybe by 2012. After the Health Care Tyrrany Act of 2009 and the Crap and Tax bill of 2010.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091217/D9CL3AOG1.html

Besides, they got money to burn right now:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091216/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_spending_bill

David E

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126102247889095011.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

"Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations."

We now know this has been going on for more than a year, and President Obama-Nobel apparently has done little about it:
"U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered the problem late last year when they apprehended a Shiite militant whose laptop contained files of intercepted drone video feeds...the military was trying to solve the problems by better encrypting the drones' feeds." I recommend they talk with DirecTV. They've been encrypting video feeds for decades. I'm sure they can give Obama some help with this little problem. In the mean time: Health care for all!

David E