Archive for June 23rd, 2010

And you thought you had a bad day …

June 23, 2010

This week hasn’t been going well for President Obama.

First, he catches a Tony Hayward ricochet: As the media tries to pillory Hayward for yachting (a dumb act, for sure), Obama gets outted for taking another stroll around the golf links.  His presser says “ Everyone is ok with the President taking some time off to clear his head on Father’s Day.”  Ken asks: why wasn’t he spending Father’s Day with his kids ?

Then, it gets leaked that Rahm Emmanuel is packing his bag.  Why?  Because a “pragmatic” Rahm is getting burned out butting heads with the White House ideologues.  Ouch.

Then, budget master Peter “Bend the Cost Curve” Orzag announces that he’s outta there in July.  Let somebody else tally the healthcare savings and cut the deficit.  Ouch, again.

Then, a Federal judge in LA rules that the arbitrary and capricious moratorium on off-shore oil drilling is, well, arbitrary and capricious.  Seems he didn’t think the 40 year record of non-spills from thousands of wells should be simply dismissed as an inconvenient fact – and he did have sympathy with the 90,000 workers who were losing their livelihoods.  Hmmm.

Then Gen McChrystal goes off in Rolling Stone – yakking about incompetency, disorganization, and lack of commitment in the administration – at a time that our military heroes are in harm’s way.  Most interesting point: nobody’s disputing the facts, just lamenting that loose-lipped Stanley went rogue.

Now, Obama has a tough decision,  Give McChrystal a pass and he confirms that he isn’t in command.  Fire him and the he takes sole ownership of the Afghan war – which, by the way, isn’t going that well these days.

Cue the teleprompter …

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Bailing out government pension plans …

June 23, 2010

There has been mucho chatter recently about gov’t pay levels which exceed comparable private industry rates and gov’t pension plans that make the UAW envious.

Bottom line: Many states have crafted gov’t pension plans that are going to implode in the not too distant future.

So, tax payers in fiscally responsible states will be forced to ante more into the pot to bail out the free-promising, overspending states.

Think about it next time you’re standing in line at the DMV.

* * * * *

Bloomberg: Pension Plans Go Broke as Public Payrolls Expand, June 11, 2010

Seven states will run out of money to pay public pensions by 2020.

That hasn’t stopped them from hiring new employees.

The seven are Illinois, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, Hawaii, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Combined, these states added 9,700 workers to both state and local government payrolls between December 2007 and April of this year.

Companies started firing more employees than they hired in January 2008.

Employment peaked in December 2007 at 115.6 million. During the subsequent two years, companies shed 8.5 million workers, or 7.3 percent.

By contrast,  from a peak of 19.8 million, state and local governments have reduced headcount by 231,000, or 1.2 percent.

What our politicians are telling us is that state and local governments are optimally sized — just right.

If tax revenue declines, well, then we’ll just have to find more taxes and fees to replace it.

We couldn’t possibly look at the cost-of-labor side of the equation.

If you really want to provoke outrage, you have to take into consideration public pensions.

Generous and bloated are the terms that have been used to describe them … What’s clear is that such pensions and benefits now seem unaffordable, because those responsible — state and, sometimes, local governments — didn’t put away enough, or haven’t invested wisely enough, to pay for them.

Full article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=awW.rqJzAad4

Posted in Gov't Waste & Inefficiency, Gov't Spending | Leave a Comment »

That American brand may be, well, Mexican.

June 23, 2010

Punch line: From Thomas’ English Muffins to Borden milk, Saks Fifth Avenue department stores to The New York Times newspaper, Mexican investors have taken advantage of low interest rates and depressed prices during the economic downturn to expand their holdings in el norte.

* * * * *

USA TODAY, Mexico invests, puts its mark on more U.S. brands, June 18, 2010 

Huge Mexican corporations are snapping up U.S. brand names, opening U.S. factories and investing millions of pesos north of the border.

  • Grupo Lala, Mexico’s largest dairy company, purchased Dallas-based National Dairy Holdings, which controls the Borden brand and 18 regional dairies selling milk under the names Flav-O-Rich, Dairy Fresh, Velda Farms, Sinton’s, Cream O’ Weber, Goldenrod and others.
  • Grupo Bimbo, Latin America’s largest baked-goods company, bought the U.S. baked-goods operations of Weston Foods for $2.4 billion, taking over 22 industrial bakeries and 4,000 distribution routes, and national brands such as Entenmann’s pastries.
  • Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has expanded his empire into the USA. In 2008, Slim bought a 6.9% share in The New York Times and  increased his stake in the Saks Fifth Avenue department stores from 10.9% to 18%.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2010-06-17-mexowned_N.htm

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Obama shells out a mega-buck of taxpayer money to extol his “Big … Deal”

June 23, 2010

On Friday, President Obama’s economic victory lap stopped for an hour in Columbus, Ohio where he declared:

This is a “big….deal,” pausing for effect between the two words between which Biden had inserted an expletive in an overheard whisper three months ago.

CBS estimates that the trip cost taxpayers – you know, about half of the country —  between $500,000 and $1 million since:

  • Air Force One alone bills out at $100,000 per hour
  • There’s a fleet of accompanying military aircraft to carry limos and secret service vehicles
  • The Marine One helicopter is  on standby
  • The security entourage includes Secret Service, local police and other first responders.

And, oh yeah, construction sites in the immediate area were shut down for the day (on Secret Service orders) – so, about 100 workers got unpaid (and unwanted) days off. 

Source article: CBS News, Obama Jokes About Biden’s “Big F-ing Deal” Comment, June 18, 2010
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20008201-503544.html

Posted in Employment - Jobs, Obama Administration | Leave a Comment »