Tag Archives: Detroit News

Misc

Manny is still an idiot….

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Well..just when I thought I wasn’t going to have a topic for today, ole Manny Lopez from the Detroit News comes up with another of his ideology driven, ridiculous columns that I just have to comment on. Manny actually went to California and goes off on the administration and it’s attempt to lower the countries oil usage by the subsidies for hybrids…basing all of his vitriol on his observations that everyone in California is not driving one. He then goes on to try to make the point that California’s regulations are so stringent that they will force only small cars to be purchased then in the next paragraph he contradicts himself by saying people are still buying what they want using the example of the Ford F-150 being the best selling vehicle in the country. It was hard for me to even get my head around this pretzel logic (thanks Steely Dan) to see what his point is. I think he was trying to make the point that the government is interfering in the markets by the hybrid subsidies and trying to force us into cars we don’t want.

But, who knows….you should go read that for yourself…if you don’t have a headache after it, I am jealous…and I can’t figure out why he still has a job…

Politics

Thoughts, thoughts, and more thoughts…

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Well….I haven’t been able to make a coherent long-form thought in a couple of days so I think I’ll just go with it and write what I like to call short stories…pretty original, huh? Starting with the headline in the USA Today that states that American taxpayers are paying less in taxes than they have in any year since 1958…yep, so when you hear the repubs say that taxes are still too high and want to cut them more for the well off, remember that if we went back to the tax rates of the booming 1990′s, the deficit would be cut by more than a third without cutting the aid to college students, seniors, and the rest of the middle class that the repubs are saying is absolutely necessary. Remember, too, that it has never been shown that tax cuts for the rich and business do anything but make them richer…no jobs created, no benefit to those who are struggling.

Another one that got a rise out of me was an editorial in the Detroit News that did nothing but denigrate the people in localities around Detroit for approving millages to continue to pay their firefighters, police, and to maintain the services that make their communities more livable. The News goes on to assert that the voters in those localities are stupid for raising their own taxes instead of buying into the draconian cuts that gov Snyder is jamming down the throats of the rest of Michigan. Where the hell does the News get off telling the voters how to vote? I see this as just a huge snit by the News since they blindly think Snyder is the savior of Michigan and that only his ideas are worthy of action….and they are so irritated that the elected officials of those communities have decided not to attack their neighbors and buy into the bogus attempts that the repubs are making at playing the middle class off against each other. What’s next Snyder? Are you going to take over those communities that voted to raise taxes and appoint emergency managers since they are obviously crazy to not drink your repub kool-aid? I guess the Snyder honeymoon is over…can’t wait for 2012 when we can say goodbye to these idiots…geez…okay, only two thoughts so the title is not accurate….maybe there are more than one thought in each one?

Okay, let’s make it three….another report that came out today saying that the compensation for CEO’s is higher than it has ever been as compared to normal workers and has completely recovered from the blip of a downturn it took last year…I don’t have to tell you what that means…okay, I will anyway….these guys were not touched at all by the recession that decimated the rest of the nation….great work if you can get it…geez…

Misc

Is everyone at the Detroit News an idiot?

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Well…..have to comment on an article by Michel Barone in the Detroit News this morning that finds it is a bad thing that unions give money to Democratic candidates and makes the assertion that since public employee unions give to the Dems it is the same as taxpayer money going to them with no say by the people paying the salaries. Yikes, what a leap of logic this guy is pushing…by that same reasoning any time a business gives money to the repubs, that I have helped make possible by purchasing a good or service from, they are making political contributions that I have no say in. Michael, of course the unions are going to give to the dems, they are the only party that gives a damn about the middle class and still fights for people to have a chance against the manipulations of corporations that are aided and abetted by the repubs. He continues with the spurious, circular argument that asserts that since private sector employees have been beaten down and have had their real compensation stall or recede over the past 20 years, the same should happen to those who have managed to stay even or even improve their lot; while corporate profit is at it’s highest level in history. I have a question for you Michael, when will you on the right be happy? When there is no middle class left to purchase anything from your sainted corporations? Geez….

Politics

Manny Lopez is an idiot…still….

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Well….have to go off on this idiot Manny Lopez from the Detroit News again….he’s back with more of the crap that he has been spouting that if we criticize the repubs for opposing the extension of unemployment benefits it’s just Democratic politics…there is no substance to it. He continues to make light of Keynesian economics and pushes the voodoo economics that growth can come only through tax cuts and cutting spending. I understand he wants to repeat the Repub talking points but to ridicule J.M. Keynes; one of the greatest minds in economics, to make silly political points would be the same as if I would go to Miguel Cabrera and tell him that he is hitting all wrong. Manny, reading and talking about economics is not the same as being an economist…and, while I support your right to spout off and be wrong, I am going to call you and your repub cronies on your hatred for the middle class. You rail on about paying for the 30 billion for unemployment benefits, where the hell were you when the top 1% of the country was getting a TRILLION dollars in tax cuts. Let me get this straight, you have a problem with 2.5 million middle class getting unemployment benefits so they can eat, but you just love the idea of 3 million of the wealthy getting 30 times more? Why didn’t you call for these tax cuts, or the war in Iraq, or the subsidies for big business be paid for? It’s just another instance of cloaking your hatred for the middle class; the working class, in pretend values….geez….

Politics

Is Frank Beckmann an idiot or just a cynical Repub shill?

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Well….yay…it’s outrage day again here in the world of the sane. Reading the Detroit News this morning, I ran across a piece of tripe from the columnist Frank Beckmann, whose premise is that the Obama administration is crazy since they have chosen to enforce the federal right to control immigration policy by challenging the Arizona law on immigration. His posit is that since the federal government is not living up to what the people of Arizona want on immigration enforcement, it is their right to make their own laws regarding it. What’s next Frank, if they don’t like some trade laws or the Chinese manipulation of their currency, are you proposing that Arizona send a delegation to talk to the Chinese or make laws that would better fit the thoughts of the residents? Or, if they decide we should get out of Afghanistan, then they can bring home any Arizona Reserve or National Guard unit that they see fit?

Frank also goes on to say that since the Obama administration has decided to not enforce federal marijuana laws in states that have approved medical marijuana, their stand on the Arizona immigration law is invalid…no, Frank, it’s not inconsistent or invalid, it’s the feds recognizing that this is a medical issue that affects individuals in those states, not a federal policy one and has the compassion to see the difference. They federal government has always had to the right to chose where to apply resources in the application of the law.

He concludes that Obama’s administration is bowing to political pressure and is not prosecuting people that should be under current laws…all I have to say is: Where were you , Frank, when the Bushies were illegally wiretapping the entire country and torturing in the name of America; breaking too many laws and treaties to count….cheerleading as usual. So now, I guess your column means you would support prosecution of Bush, Cheney, and all of their cronies? No. I didn’t think so…..Geez…..

Politics

I’m not surprised…

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Well…as promised, I have to comment on the op-ed by Nolan Finley in the Detroit News today, in which he asserts that Obama is directing a “War on Business” since he wants to revise how corporations are taxed and regulated, and how trade is conducted. And the only evidence this guy presents is a “report” that was cooked up by some group called the Business Roundtable as a response to the imagined slight they felt when they met with Obama and he didn’t roll over and give them everything they wanted a la the Bushies. He then goes on to cite 5 areas that the righties and their business cronies are so concerned about: taxes (go figure), financial regulation, trade, energy, and healthcare. I think I’ll respond in that same format; paraphrasing his words and then giving my response.

Taxes. His take..we should cut corporate taxes so they will invest more here since we have a higher corporate tax rate than other countries. Mine…you have got to be kidding me….we may have a tax rate that is higher but look at the actual taxes paid and you see a different story since the repubs built in so many loopholes that only a company with a really stupid accounting firm pays their full tax bill. Disingenious Nolan.

Financial Regulation. His take…we re-regulate the financial industry since it will cost companies 5-6 billion dollars and maybe 120K jobs. Mine…ha, ha, ha, ha….again, and you have got to be kidding me! Not regulate the guys that cost the economy 8 million jobs and trillions of dollars? Just because it may cost them some money and we may lose some financial industry parasites? Take a look at Canada and what has happened there since they were NOT taken in by the calls for deregulation of their financial industry….much less losses in both jobs and money. Read a little about your neighbors across the river, Nolan.

Trade. His…we need more agreements like Nafta or we will lose jobs to our competitors. Mine….I can’t even laugh about this anymore. Nafta started the wholesale loss of jobs in this country and now he wants more of the same? Just so his business buddies can ship more jobs to low wage countries like China who then use currency and tariff manipulation to ensure we can’t sell to them?

Energy and environment. His take…limits on carbon emissions that are proposed will send business elsewhere. Mine…these are proposed regulations that are in the talking stages but the same thing was said when the first smog regulations were put into place for cars and when the first CAFE standards for fuel mileage were imposed. That worked out pretty well…for both business and regular people.

Health care. His take (or I should say business’s take) is that the new regs will cause uncertainty and change. Mine…I sure hope so..try being a 56 year old who needs to buy health insurance…you can’t unless you want to pay 1,200 to 2,000 dollars a month.

He then finishes with the Republican talking point that we need to do something about the deficit; well, where the hell were you, Nolan, when your repub buddies were taking the surplus Bush was given and then starting two wars you didn’t pay for using accounting tricks and then rewarding the rich for being rich with those massive tax cuts that did nothing for the economy? If you are so concerned about deficits, then you will support letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Do you even realize that what your are proposing (cutting spending during a recession/depression) was tried in the 30′s? Didn’t work then.

You seem to think that we all need to do what rep Joe Barton did last week: apologize to business and ask “pretty please” will you let us help you make obscene profits while telling the American middle class to go to hell. Geez….

Politics

I was right about Obama’s speech…

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Well….it only took two days for the righties to start attacking Obama for his speech in K’zoo Monday. I don’t want to gloat (well…yes I do) but I called that Monday while the speech was going on. Okay, I’ll be back after lunch to finish this…yep, just a teaser…you go to lunch, too, and there will something waiting for you if you’re not too motivated on hump day. More later…

Okay…I’m back….and I’m going call this idiot out from the Detroit News…Manny Lopez, in his column in the News Tuesday, made a huge point of the fact that the Kalamazoo Promise scholarships are funded by private donors and that Obama didn’t kiss their butts enough in his speech. His premise was that there is no need for any government involvement in higher education since “see, private funding works in K’zoo” but what he fails to admit or realize is the fact that it has been the gutting of government programs that help the middle and lower class afford college by the Repubs that made private funding necessary. Yeah, I agree it would be great if some of his repub buddies, for example the trader at Goldman that made a BILLION dollars in compensation, would give some back.

But, there is an underlying flaw in that logic that we all should be aware of, and that is that if it is private money, there can be strings attached to it that could advance the repubs agenda. What if a student that accepted the scholarship would be required to attend a specified and well-recognized conservative school that would do the same thing the righties are so scared of on the left; that is “indoctinate” them in the ideas that would perpetuate another class of leaders that won’t give a damn about the middle class.

Doesn’t anyone see that private funding would be just another instance where the lower and middle class will then have to go to the rich with their hands out and beg for a college education?

I’m sure they will say that that kind of stuff doesn’t happen in the private sector, that the market will decide and support the “right” ideas…well…all I have to say about their blind allegiance to the market and to the goodwill of the rich is to look back at Enron, BP, Goldman, AIG…and the list goes on and on.

We should not bet the future of the education of our children on the fleeting goodwill of people who are so insulated from the struggles of normal folk…

Manny…this is not about Obama’s agenda or your feared socialist takeover of the US..this night was about celebrating the fact that these kids had done something special, so special that the President of the United States saw the need to recognize that fact, and for you to politicize what is a wonderful part of America is the kind of cynicism and division we do not need right now…geez…