The Truth Behind The Auto Bailout

Rehab for CNN

Are you wondering why the economic crisis hasn't really been a focus for the media. It's because it's not a visual story and they can't explain it in under 4 minutes. Here's and article on Boing Boing that I found really interesting because I used to work in local television. Link

Political Humor for the day

Link

Obama Vs. McCain - policies in short

My dad asked me to spread the word on the each presidential candidates campaign promises. He said he couldn't stand to see the Republicans in office again- well, neither can I. From Omaha.com, here's a simplified view:
The candidates and their promises
By The Associated Press
The Associated Press

(AP) - Promises and proposals from Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama:

IRAQ-AFGHANISTAN

McCain: Opposes scheduling a troop withdrawal from Iraq, saying latest strategy is succeeding. Promises to employ same strategy in Afghanistan, with unspecified boost in U.S. forces there. Willing to have permanent U.S. peacekeeping forces in Iraq.

Obama: Promises to complete the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops within 16 months of taking office. But hedges by saying this would require consultations with military commanders and, possibly, flexibility. Says he will use the drawdown to bolster U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan.

FINANCIAL CRISIS

McCain: Proposes $300 billion plan for the government to buy bad mortgages and renegotiate them at a reduced price. Proposes a one-year suspension of requirements that people age 70 1/2 begin cashing in retirement accounts. Would eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits; guarantee 100 percent of all savings for six months; lower the tax rate on retirement funds to the lowest rate, 10 percent, on the first $50,000 withdrawn; cut the tax rate on capital gains in half, down to 7.5 percent for two years.

Obama: Calls for immediate, post-election passage of new stimulus measures including a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures at some banks, $3,000 tax break to businesses for each new job created, unpenalized withdrawals of up to $10,000 from retirement accounts, cutting capital gains taxes for investment in small businesses, an extension of unemployment benefits, short-term federal loans to keep state and local governments functioning, money for infrastructure construction, and doubled loan guarantees for automakers.

ENERGY

McCain: Advocates increased offshore drilling, and building 45 nuclear power reactors by 2030. Seeks mandatory reductions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 60 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, using a market-based cap-and-trade system the would increase energy costs. Supports $2 billion program to develop carbon capture and other clean coal research and development. $5,000 tax credit for the purchase of zero carbon emission cars; $300 million prize for improved batteries for hybrid vehicles.

Obama: Proposes emergency cost-fighting measures such as a windfall-profits tax on largest oil companies to pay for energy rebates of up to $1,000 per couple and the release of up to 70 million barrels of oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve to boost supplies. Ten-year, $150 billion fund to encourage biofuels, wind, solar, plug-in hybrids, clean-coal technology and other "climate-friendly" alternative supplies, with financing to come from selling pollution allowances in a market-based, cap-and-trade system. Aims for mandatory reductions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. Supports increasing federal fuel economy requirements from 35 mpg to 40 mpg. Now would consider limited expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling, but opposes drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

HEALTH CARE

McCain: Promises $2,500 refundable tax credit for individuals, $5,000 for families, to make health insurance more affordable. No mandate for universal coverage. Would no longer shield from income taxes those payments that businesses and their workers make toward employer-sponsored health insurance. Would let people buy health plans offered by insurers located in other states.

Obama: Proposes mandatory coverage for children, no mandate for adults. Aims for universal coverage by requiring larger employers to share costs of insuring workers and by offering coverage similar to that in plan for federal employees. Proposes spending $50 billion on information technology over five years to reduce health care costs over time.

EDUCATION

McCain: Proposes more money for community college education. Advocates expansion of District of Columbia's voucher program, but not a federal voucher program as he did in 2000. Sees No Child Left Behind law as vehicle for increasing opportunities for parents to choose school.

Obama: Proposes encouraging, but not mandating, universal pre-kindergarten; teacher pay raises tied to, although not based solely on, test scores; an overhaul of No Child Left Behind law to better measure student progress, make room for subjects like music and art, and be less punitive toward failing schools; and a tax credit to pay up to $4,000 of college costs for students who perform 100 hours of community service a year.

TAXES -for more specifics on taxes here is a link to another more detailed article

McCain: Proposes extending all of President Bush's tax cuts and cutting corporate tax rate to 25 percent. After initially pledging not to raise taxes, now says nothing can be ruled out in negotiating compromises to keep Social Security solvent.

Obama: Promises immediate tax cuts for households making under $250,000, and increased taxes on families making over $250,000, as well as on corporations and capital gains. Promises to create new tax breaks for lower-income families, including tripling Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers, giving larger families a higher credit, and eliminating the tax-filing requirement for older workers making under $50,000. Also calls for tax incentives for savings, child care and mortgage expenses.

Similarities: Sarah Palin = Peggy Hill

Hypocrisy

see Sarah Palin pictures

Fuck the Mortgage Companies

Here's the situation: The mortgage companies gave loans to people who couldn't necessarily pay them back, then sold the loans to other companies packaged with some other loans that would be paid back. This happens a couple of different times and then the last company tries to collect and there isn't any money. The government has decided to bail these companies out with our money. Fuck that. That isn't capitalism. Anyone who makes poor business choices should not get bailed out. Small businesses don't get bailed out if they don't succeed. Many Americans have failed at their dreams and don't expect someone to just hand them cash and make it all better. Well, one sheriff in Illinois is letting the mortgage companies that don't have correct information on their paperwork do their own dirty work. Here is the story: Link

Palin Debate Flowchart

Government Bailout

I think I'll stop paying taxes if they choose to bail out those companies. Capitalism is about the government keeping their hands out of companies that make bad decisions. I will not give them my hard earned money just so they don't have to pay for their fuck up!

Sub-prime Mortgage Crisis Explained by Stick Figures

click the picture for the link

Artist: Banksy

I really like the graffiti artist Banksy. He uses his art to make statements with limited imagery and uses the environment to communicate his ideas. If anything he's the best kind of graphic designer, only with an unusual media and nothing but social commentary to express. Link

John Kricfalusi's Take on Presidential Candidates

I love John K! Ren and Stimpy is one of my favorite cartoons. He's a great animator in the true sense of the art form. He's offering these rubber statuettes for sale of the presidential hopefuls. I think he captured McCain's persona just right. Here is his blog. Click on the picture to go to his store and purchase the figurines.

Do you want a President that doesn't use email?

McCain doesn't use email, he just learned to use the internet last year, wtf? With so many technology issues at the forefront of our American lives, why would anyone elect such a luddite? America is educating itself and it's making it harder then ever before to be a politician. We can call them on their bullshit and cross-reference it in 45 seconds. Here is where I found out this juicy tidbit, and yes, I'm biased against him.
"High technology has not been one of McCain's subjects, either. His curiosity did not extend to the Internet until this year, a source of criticism during this campaign. His staff has recently helped McCain learn how to read news online and political blogs. McCain dismissed the matter in the interview: "I'm on the computer all the time now." He lived without it for many years and still does not send e-mails.

McCain wrote in "Worth the Fighting For": "We can all stand a little self-improvement from time to time, but it's hard to accomplish when you have reached my age." Link

Repost from my Barak Obama blog

I'm an Obama supporter, I thought I'd share this on here.

An interesting thing happened to me on July 4th, 2007.

In the twilight hours I found myself in the Emergency Room - without health insurance. I was in-between jobs, literally. I left my job June 27th and I was to start at a new company on July 9th. I had only been unemployed a total of a week and a half.

I fell and dislocated my elbow. My boyfriend and friends rushed me to the emergency room. Luckily, I didn't need an ambulance, the hospital was only minutes away.

My arm must have looked bad. The E.R. attendants swiftly whisked me away to a room and injected me with pain killer within minutes of arriving. "Great!" I thought in a haze of drugs, "this is the fastest emergency room care I have ever had.Little did I know the horror was about to begin.

After only three hours, my boyfriend and I were in the billing office dreading the amount of money we were about to fork over. We had some money in savings and used it to pay half, I put the rest on a credit card.

That total came to $1542.

We marveled at how much money we had to spend, but we were happy that my injury was not any worse. All we had to worry about paying for was the follow up visit, right? Wrong.

It's now July 17th and the bills start to roll in. The hospital sends me a bill that says I owe $864. I call, and say this can't possibly be right. Enquiring minds want to know. Why am I getting a bill? I thought it was paid. I asked the person on the other end of the phone "Why am I getting a bill?"

Well, the amount you paid was an estimate, there could be more charges that weren't in the system at the time you left the hospital. Do you have any health insurance?" the account representative asks.

"No, I was in between jobs." I said.

"I can send you an itemized bill." the account representative states.

"Yes, I would really like to see that."

I'm going to receive that in 7- 10 days.

Next day. The mail comes. I receive yet another bill. This time from the Doctor of the Emergency Room.

$1542 with a disclaimer, "THESE CHARGES ARE FOR THE EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN'S SERVICES AND ARE NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR HOSPITAL BILL."

What? I start to laugh and cry at the same time. This has got to be a joke or a scam. I call.

This time the account representative is sympathetic to my non-health insured plea. She tells me the hospital can offer me discounted services and she can then apply them to my account to reduce her charges. She said she'd suspend my account and give me time to talk to the hospital.

I still haven't gotten my bill for the follow up visit.

My current total is: $3811 with no discounts as of yet.

All this leads me to ask, who is policing health care? Why is it so outrageous? Who can help? I have been donating to Obama's campaign for the last couple months. I have never given politics any money before. I never had a strong reason to believe in someone as a political leader. I had always had a job and health insurance. For a short week and a half, I had neither and the system failed me. This leads me to wonder, what about the poor? Thousands of people go through bankruptcy with this nightmare we call "Modern Medicine". I long for the days of the town doctor, who made house calls and just wanted you healed. Now all we have is faceless corporations trying to turn a profit for their shareholders. Does the modern hippocratic oath involve a payment clause?

Recession or Recalibration of Funds?

What is the definition of recession? I checked it out on wikipedia:

"A recession may involve simultaneous declines in coincident measures of overall economic activity such as employment, investment, and corporate profits. Recessions may be associated with falling prices (deflation), or, alternatively, sharply rising prices (inflation) in a process known as stagflation. A severe or long recession is referred to as an economic depression. Although the distinction between a recession and a depression is not clearly defined, it is often said that a decline in GDP of more than 10% constitutes a depression.^[2] A devastating breakdown of an economy (essentially, a severe depression, or hyperinflation, depending on the circumstances) is called economic collapse."

Why is everyone so surprised that our economy is taking a downturn? We are vary reliant on oil. Our culture has promoted the use of it without consequences for decades. Now, larger percentages of our income are being devoted to fuel costs and everyone is surprised Americans aren't spending with abandon. Bush's "Stimulus Package" is a joke. He funded part of it with a LOAN from China. I saved most of mine because I'm concerned with what is to come.

I am three generations down from depression-era ideas. I have always heard stories about my great grandparents and their fastidious scrimping, saving, and hoarding of everything that came into their possession. Reuse, recycle, and repurpose wasn't just a "green earth" fad. It was a necessity. They did it for the war, their country, and their soldiers. The government created propaganda around these ideas. People proudly participated because they believed in their country and it's place in the world.
What is the difference between then and now? We are in a war with an open-ended budget that no one wanted except Halliburton and its benefactors. A war that has alienated us from many countries and led America to look like a war-mongering, greedy, and spiteful overlord. Bush wanted retaliation for 9/11 and used it to mask his greed for oil. He thinly veiled his war with ideas of "freedom, liberating and democratizing" Iraq and searching for weapons of mass destruction.
Recently, the senate reapproved the bill that rebuked America's rights to make it easier to spy on Americans for fear of terrorism. Our telecommunications can be tapped by our government with no warrant. Way to go!
What would my great grandmother have said about this? How would she tell me to save money? Would she have supported this war? Why didn't Bush ask for the country's support? All these questions will never be answered. I'm so sad, our country has been defiled. Luckily, they haven't taken away my freedom of speech yet.