If America wants to save the auto industry, the single biggest change needed is to lower the cost on their single biggest cost component per car manufactured. Surprising enough, it's not steel or labor, it's the cost of healthcare.
As of 2007, it cost General Motors over $1,500.00 per car made for employee health care coverage which is double their labor or steel cost. That's over 4 billion per year and about double what it was in year 2000. By comparision it costs General Motors only $30.00 per car manufactured in Canada and about $150.00 per car Toyota manufactures in Japan.
With production volumes dropping and health care costs spiralling out of control, it doesn't take a genius to figure out if healthcare isn't reformed quickly and costs dramatically lowered, GM will not survive.
GM, Ford and Chrysler have refined their manufacturing processes to the point that it only takes a total of 25 hours in labor to manufacture a care, so management have done a good job of running their companies.
The auto industry has been very vocal to the Bush administration regarding the health care cost issue. What they haven't been vocal on, is the changing of regulation in trading of future oil contracts implemented by Bush which has been the real culprit in the rising cost of oil and gasoline.
Fact is, if those trading regulations hadn't been changed, oil wouldn't have sky rocketed, the cost of gas would have been relatively stable and those SUV's would still be selling. The slow down in SUV sales caused by the high cost of gasoline is a double whammy to GM, since their average auto sale value has dropped and that $1,500.00 per vehicle now repesents a huge percentage of the average sale cost. Of course as production volumes drop that $1,500 per vehicle increases the same percentage the production falls. It's like a death spiral.
So in everyone's exuburance in these coming days as congress debates a bail out program for the auto industry, just remember the auto industry wouldn't be in this difficulty if the Bush administration had done their job properly. The industry as a whole are well run, employee over 3 million Americans and need to be supported to survive.
However, here's the wake up call to congress. Reform health care now, or lose the US manufacturing base. That's as certain as the sun's going to rise tommorrow, not if only when.
As a Canadian citizen, I supported Barack Obama because I believed he would make the world a better place for my grand daughter. When Obama was declared President, I was over come with raw emotions of joy, hope and optimism. I watched as citizens around the world celebrated this historic win. Watching the MSM gush over the world reaction confirmed something I already knew which was the American people never did understand why Obama has such huge world popularity.When America declared independence from Britain in 1776 it marked the start of a great experiment called democracy where a government was formed of the people, for the people and by the people. It was the first time in world history that citizens were given basic rights and freedoms protected by law. Over time democracies eliminated monarchies, war lords and other anarchies and the promise of a middle class was born.As America's middle class gained position and wealth, America stood out as a beacon of hope for the world's mistreated and underpriveleged citizens. America's military might followed this strong middle class development and the US President became the world leader. The petal fell from the rose when the world realized Iraq was not a just war. Then the housing crisis hit and world citizens came to realize America's middle class had been decimated by the Bush administration with it's 800 billion transfer of wealth from the middle class to the top 1%. The American President's world popularity and promise plummeted and the flame on the beacon of hope flickered and was destined to die.Obama's promise to change this regressive system back to a progressive system and re-build the middle class is what has led to his massive popularity around the world. Of course his inspirational rhetoric and mixed racial background helped, but it is secondary. Obama brings promise and rekindles hope for the world's citizens. Obama is already the most popular leader the world has ever known and, in my view, 40-50 years from now, my grandaughter will recognize Barack Obama as one of the greatest world leaders in human history.So may God bless America for voting him in and may God bless and protect Brack Obama and his family as he brings change and makes the world a better place for my grand daughter and the other children around the world.Keep hope and promise alive.
It's Barack Obama's birthday today, so happy birthday Barack Obama. Let's make this a special birthday by raising as much money as possible.It's abundantly clear Barack needs huge funds to fight the republican smear machine. I expect the attacks to increase and become more difficult to deflect.Of course, this is to be expected, change does not come easy and "the establishment" doesn't want a populist leader, of and for the people, in the Whitehouse. After all, they are happy with the way things are. They don't feel the crunch we do and in some cases don't even know the price of gasoline. Their sons and daughters are not in harms way in Iraq or Afganistan. If we really want change, we need to stand up, be counted and put our shoulder to the grindstone. There will never be another leader like Barack Obama. He is a once in a lifetime candidate and we have one chance and one chance only, to elect him. Truly, the time is now, so let's raise $100 million in August and give this campaign the flexibility of forward planning and advertising committment.Make the sacrifice, forgo that treat, event or outing you had planned and donate that amount to The Barack Obama campaign. Dig as deep as you can, and make the commitment now. Barack Obama, our children, our grandchildren and children around the world are depending on you to make this change happen and it won't happen without your support.To celebrate this day, please donate $4.70, $47.00, $470.00 and let's give Barack the money to run a saturation campaign with the new pocket ad and destroy McCain on energy.
The comments made by Charlie Black yesterday serve as a wakeup call to all world citizens of just exactly how morally and intellectually bankrupt this republican administration and party really is.
Regardless of the apologies, it's quite clear what we heard from Black, is exactly what the McCain campaign is thinking. Combined with the Iran sabre rattling by G.W. Bush and one is left with a very clear understanding of the Republican election strategy. It's the politics of fear.
They intend to attack Iran, or create some large terrorist attack somewhere in the world to get elected again. I expect this activity to take place in early to mid October, or 3-4 weeks before the polls open. Why would they do this? Well, it's clear the American population aready believe the economic, health care, tax and energy policies presented by Barack Obama are far superior to those offered by McCain; so the republicans know they will not win an election based on issues or past performance. They also know McCain is seriously stumbling as a candidate and when compared side by side to Obama the contrast of high energy, intellect and judgement from Obama will destroy their chances. I also believe Bush is concerned that an Obama administration will put the past actions of GW Bush under a microscope and tell the world what is found.
This desperation leaves them with only one policy option and that is the policy of fear. They will run ads depicting fear of a black man being the President, fear of a Moslim being the President, fear of an angry woman being the first lady and so on, as they already have. They will flood the blogs with divisive nonsense posts to try to divide the American population. Unfortunately for them, these attacks will not work and only serve to crystalize support for Barack Obama. The Obama movement and electorate are already "trained" on these tactics-thanks to Hillary Clinton.
So the only option left for them is war or a terrorist attack as part of the old standard proven republican election platform-the politics of fear. This platform is furthered by the American MSM as well; a quick review of CNN's political web site confirms this. There's no mention of the Charlie Black story at all, but multiple entries on Obama, none of which are positive. It really is troubling to confirm the American MSM are more worried about ratings, viewing audience and revenue than they are about the welfare of the American public. War and terrorist attacks bring higher ratings and more revenue, whereas peace brings nothing at all. Pathetic really, when you think about it.
Before either Bush or McCain go to war this time, they should be forced to answer some serious questions. How many people have died in Iraq? How many people are seriously maimed or mentally impared for the rest of theiir life as a result of this misguided Bush action? Of course, we know how many Americans have died, but the maimed and mentally damaged number seems to be missing in action. How many of these soldiers will be able to return to a normal life when this is all over? How will children in Iraq who have been under the seige of war grow up? Why are Bush and McCain not prepared to provide the troops proper benefits when they return?
The Iraqi casualty report is missing in action as well. How many Iraqi's have died? Is it 250,000, 500,00, 1 million or more? Why do we not know, why is this information being held back from citizens, is it that embarrasing?
So how does Obama counter this? Well my view is Obama should treat the politics of fear as a disease and immunize the American electorate. Keep the Charlie Black story alive as long as possible; create an ad on Charle Black's statement with McCain agreeing it helps him and run it, run it and run it. Continually have surrogates such as Wesley Clark, Jim Webb,retired Generals and others be interviewed by the press and consistently expose the republican tactics. Tell the fear story so many times, the American voter becomes sick of hearing it. In other words, use the same fear tactics to inform the American electorate before the republicans do.
So what can we do to help. Well this movement is now over 1.5 million people. If we aggressively expose this rhetoric for what it is to friends, neighbours, blogs, phone-in radio programs and anyone that will listen and ask them to do the same that will help counter this horrific nonsense. If we want change we have to shoulder the responsibility for it and inform others who are not informed. We have to expect all kinds of divisive attacks here and on other blogs and respond always with an Obama message of calmness, sensibility, unity and hope for change. We have to aggresivley build the war chest for Barack Obama by donating until it hurts, and then give a little more.The grass roots movement is being called to action. The time is now.
The world is watching your actions. If you want to fight the politics of fear go here and place your bets often and as much as you can.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/gerrycanada
Most know about 400 detainees were broken free from an Afganistan jail by suicide truck bombs this weekend.What most do not know, is the reason these attacks were successful is as a result of lack of military resources. This area is patrolled by the Canadian armed services and we have sent our very best. Unfortunatly, as a country, we have limited military forces, so our troops are desperate for help. Our troops arrived at the prison 40 minutes after the jail break, but by that time all had disappeared. Now we need to track them down and either kill or capture them before they kill us.It is now a well known fact, although certainly not publicised by the US MSM that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are stronger than ever before. It's estimated the Taliban are now actually stronger than before they went to war against the Russians.They are winning the war in Afganistan, because of a lack of troops committed to the region by Nato and US forces. Canada would send more troops if we had them, but we don't.This last month there were more allied deaths in Afganistan that Iraq-and I'd expect that to escalate rapidly.GW Bush could have done something about this in his recent trip to Europe and put pressure on European nations, including France to committ troops to the region. Instead, he wrangled a committment from France and others to support his aggressive stance and ultimate attack of Iran, which I expect to happen within the next 14-18 weeks.This is an extremely dangerous path undertaken by Bush which will leave America and the world in extreme danger. The enemy is in Afganistan. They need to be dealt with and 30,000-40,000 more troops are immediately needed, or we will seriously face the consequences.It's time for Bush and McCain to end the rhetoric and attack and kill the true enemy before it's too late. And maybe, just maybe, John McCain should think of this, instead of visiting Canada for a photo opp, on a visit he wasn't invited for.
Support Barack Obama for President and end this madness.
This article which was posted on The Huffington Post gives all some insight as to the insanity and stupidity of the policies of GW Bush and his sidekick John McCain. I wondered why Bush was pushing for some kind of agreement with Iraq at this time. Well, it looks to me like the answer is clear. Bush wants to use Iraq as a push off base for the invasion of Iran.
Here's the article:
McClatchy reports the U.S. is demanding 58 military bases in Iraq as part of a "status of forces" agreement that would allow American troops to remain n Iraq indefinitely:
Iraqi lawmakers say the United States is demanding 58 bases as part of a proposed "status of forces" agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in the country indefinitely.
Leading members of the two ruling Shiite parties said in a series of interviews the Iraqi government rejected this proposal along with another U.S. demand that would have effectively handed over to the United States the power to determine if a hostile act from another country is aggression against Iraq. Lawmakers said they fear this power would drag Iraq into a war between the United States and Iran.
"The points that were put forth by the Americans were more abominable than the occupation," said Jalal al Din al Saghir, a leading lawmaker from the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. "We were occupied by order of the Security Council," he said, referring to the 2004 Resolution mandating a U.S. military occupation in Iraq at the head of an international coalition. "But now we are being asked to sign for our own occupation. That is why we have absolutely refused all that we have seen so far."
The proposed "status of forces" agreement could lead to an uprising in Iraq, according to a leading Iraqi cleric: A leading Iraqi Shiite cleric said Monday the status of forces agreement between Washington and Baghdad could lead to an uprising in Iraq.
"It is not to the benefit of the U.S. as a major power to lessen the sovereignty of Iraq. This treaty is humiliating to the Iraqi people, and might cause an uprising against it and those who support it," Grand Ayatollah Mohammad al-Modarresi told the Iranian state-run English-language service, Press TV.
Modarresi said the strategic framework between Iraq and the United States needs a full understanding of the situation in Iraq before negotiations on the arrangement proceed. "It will surely fail if kept as it is," he said.
The full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/09/us-wants-58-bases-in-iraq_n_106172.html
***If McBush thinks the balance of the world will sit back and watch this plan unfold without getting involved they're dillusional. Of course,only dillusional leaders would ever contemplate such a move. I wonder if that's why GW Bush is off to Europe? To drum up support for this ill conceaved moment of insanity.
Stop the madness!!!! Support Barack Obama for President!!
Health Care: Walk a lot, get into good physical condition and don't get sick!!!
High Gas prices: Gas rebate and if that isn't enough don't drive. High gas prices is part of the Republican health care program. The more you walk the healthier you get!!!!
Mortgage Crisis: If you couldn't afford it, you shouldn't have bought it. In future don't overspend on a house!!!!
Lost your Job: You should have stayed in school; why should I help you out!!!!
Iran Problem: I need to have a bigger war than GW Bush. If the Iranian's don't do exactly what I want, I'll nuke them.
Iraq War: Let's keep paying those 100,000 insurgents and let them apply for US citizenship. They're proven fighters who can join our armed services.
Afganistan: What's Afganistan; do I need to campaign there or is it a holiday destination?
Tax Breaks: Did I give Exxon enough or do you want me to increase their taxcut to $2 billion?
Veterans: If they won't go back and fight why should I give anything to them.
Foreign Policy: "See Iran policy for default foreign policy."
China Trade Problem: I'll talk to them after they contribute to my campaign.
Lobbyists: Can't run my campaign without them!
If you really want change, you need to do something about it. Support Barack Obama by donating NOW.
As this week comes to a close, I think it's important to reflect on the events of the week and to recognize that in the first week of June, 2008, the world changed and became a better place filled with hope & promise.
This week saw the US economy plunge further into recession and threaten to drag the balance of the world right along with it. Oil hit a new high with the possibility of $5-7.00 per gallon gas prices now looking likely by mid summer, U.S. unemployment stats were disturbing, more people lost their homes, nasty storms caused by global warming in numerous locations, with the most recent being the floods in Indiana.
G.W. Bush's response to these troubling times is a two week photo op tour of Europe, reminding us of Nero who fiddled while Rome burned. His best bud John McCain suggests these are problems that need to be dealt with, but doesn't answer why he voted yes on every Bush bill presented in the last 7 years, or what he intends to do to solve the problems.
And yet the week also delivered tremendous promise and hope delivered by two signifcant events. The first event was Barack Obama winning the nomination for leader of the Democratic Party and the second was Hillary Clinton's speech today.
Hillary pointed out a very important fact today which is glass ceilings have been broken in this year's democractic primary race. Young children around the world, regardless of race, religion, creed, gender or sexual persuasions all witnessed an amazing event.
A black man with a funny name won the nomination who was born to a single mother who struggled and needed food stamps to survive. Young females saw a courageous talented female leader who has struggled with numerous husband related scandals and risen above them, graciously endorse his candidancy promising to help get him elected.
Imagine what this "picture" means to children around the world and what impact it will have in future generations. The time is now. Change is coming to the world to make it a better place. All children can grow up to become anthing they want and work hard to achieve; the ceilings are broken.
I think it's time to sit back, and reflect on how important Hillary Clinton has been to the campaign and to Barack Obama personally. Now before everyone over reacts, let me explain what I mean.
Hillary Clinton completely vetted Barack Obama and did him a favor for doing so. The Reverend Wright issue was over exposed, thanks to Hillary's attacks and has now ended up being a positive for Obama. Imagine if this issue became an issue in October, it would have likely cost him the election. Because it became an issue when it did, Obama gave a speech of a generation on religion, which was viewed by millions. It will be difficult for the republicans to raise this issue in the campaign, and if they do, it will have no impact.
Hillary Clinton helped energize the Democratic base, along with Barack. No question Barack energized it more, but the competition between the two of them, got more democrats out to vote than ever experienced in a primary before. This is going to be a huge help in the November election.
Hillary forced the Obama campaign to learn how to react quickly, directly and completely to any attacks-they're now battle harded for the November election.
Hillary forced Barack to improve his performance in debates, an area he was weak in. Now I look forward to him debating McCain and expect Barack will bury him.
Hillary and Obama's platforms are very similar. Hillary presented her platfrom to millions of democrats which has to make Obama's job of explaining his platform much easier this fall.
The long contest forced Barack to build a strong grass roots organization in all states, something never done before. Now, when the Clinton volunteers and operatives are brought over, the Obama campaign has a real strong battle hardened organization in all states. John McCain cannot compete with that.
The long contest allowed the Obama campaign to experiment with various advertising campaigns and techniques to determine which ones work. This is invaluable for the Novmeber election.
So I think it's time to reflect on this and thank Hillary for her part in making Barack Obama a significantly better candidate than he was 15 months ago.
Soon this primary race will be over and shortly thereafter, Hillary's feminist supporters will reflect on events and their candidate. I think they will be extremely upset with Hillary's performance as a candidate for President upon this reflection.
Hillary has openly cheated, lied, deceived, manipulated, used trickery and virtually anthing she could in order to win. Gone is credibility and a sense of fair play and honor.
She has used race and religion consistently in her efforts to destroy support for Obama resulting in the exhibition of the dark side of US racial and religion relations.
She has exhibited extreme mood changes that run the gambit from crying to fully hysteria at various times. These mood changes stretch one's imagination of reality, but if they are, show an extremely dangerous and unstable individual. Imagine having her as President with her finger on the trigger; her comments of nuking Iran come to mind.
She has demonstrated time and time again, it's all about Hillary and not about the people. Frankly, she could care less.
The other very important point is, this whole Hillary exhibition has been exhibited before the world. Her actions have certainly done nothing to enhance the world's view of America.
In my view, as someone who supports feminist causes, Hillary has caused almost irrepatable damage to the feminist movement and eliminated the opportunity of another female running for President for a long, long, long time.
It's clear, Obama iwll have his work cut out for him to heal this party, and on this last day of May, the best way to support him is to donate as much money as you can. It's clear he will need as much money as he can generate.
If you agree with me, please visit my new fundraiser, which has just been set up and needs donations. Please donate today, until it hurts.
The case for Sen. Barack Obama choosing Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia as his running mate has just gotten stronger, says Reihan Salam of The Atlantic. “By now the idea that Webb could help Obama connect with the Scots-Irish voters of Greater Appalachia is familiar to most of those who follow the presidential horse race,” Salam writes. “And Webb’s military experience, together with his years in Ronald Reagan’s Pentagon, give him national security expertise that few leading Democrats can match.
Yet there is another reason the Virginia Senator would make an excellent vice presidential nominee…Webb can be a masterful legislative tactician.”
Salam notes that Webb has just “mobilized an extraordinary coalition of Democrats and Republicans behind a dramatic expansion of veterans’ educational benefits” as part of a new Iraq war funding bill. “After passing by an overwhelming margin in the House, Webb’s Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act won 75 votes in the Senate.” The bill is likely to be vetoed by President Bush because of other spending Democrats have packed into it, but there’s “good reason” to think it eventually will become law because of its wide popularity. It’s also put Sen. John McCain in a tough spot, because he and other Republicans oppose the benefits, arguing they will make it harder for the military to re-enlist soldiers.
The balance of the article can be viewed here:
http://blogs.wsj.com/politicalperceptions/2008/05/26/political-wisdom-the-case-for-jim-webb-as-obamas-vp/
The news coming out tonight that Barack Obama won the endorsement of 3 super delegates from Hawaii is great news and means only 49 more are needed to win the nomination. In the upcoming races of Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota 86 delegates are available.With 49 more needed, Barack wins the nomination by winning 57% of the delegates in these 3 elections WITHOUT any more super delegate endorsements.My suggestion to all is forget about Hillary, forget about the press and focus on phone calls, knock on doors and bring this home for Barack by June 3rd. Come on Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana, it's your time, make the difference.
The world needs Barack Obama. Now is your time!!!!!
