Bailouts, Handouts, and Screwing America.

When a majority of people are receiving a handout from their government, they will vote for the candidate that continues the gravy train. This constituency will continue to exist as parasites on their host country and will never rise above sustenance level. Of course sustenance level in the West means that you have a car, cable, a house, and enough food to become obese...

Americans who get the goodies don't want to notice the flaw because they're the comfortable with the American dream version of poverty. Those in the Democrat party rely on the humanity's innate laziness and recognize that exploiting that human trait makes people dependent on he who offers the most goodies. A dependent constituency will continue to vote in favor of the gravy train and that, in turn, gives job security to the powers-that-be!

Just for some perspective:

During the presidential election campaign many were dumbfounded upon hearing for the first time that at least a third of Americans pay no income taxes whatsoever. The Tax Foundation notes that in 2006, 45.6 million filers (33%) paid no income tax whatsoever. Under current law, in 2009 47 million filers--representing approximately 96 million individuals-- will pay no income tax.

The Foundation maintains that under Obama's tax plan 63 million filers-- representing 44% of all returns-- will pay no income tax. In contrast, in 1985, just 16.5% of filers paid no income tax.

It appears Obama wasn't kidding about redistributing the wealth, although he appears to be somewhat late to the game.

At the other end of the spectrum, IRS data show that in 2006 the top 10% of all filers ($109,000 and above in taxable income) paid 71% of all income taxes. The top 25% ($65,000 and above) paid 86% of all income taxes.

So, 44% of the population will not pay a dime and will actually get money back with Obama's plan...The top earners and virtually every small business will be taxed at 39% (from 36%) until 2010. In 2010, everybody's taxes will go up another 3% minimum, totaling 42% on every business or individual making more than $109k. With a tax rate like that, I think we can kiss a lot more jobs goodbye! Obama's tax break of $1000 for every job a company keeps in the US doesn't even come close to covering the minimum of $7500 increase on a company's existing tax obligation. Every smart business will relocate to a more tax friendly country.

That's bad, but worse comes when you start to realize the rest of the agenda being pushed by congress and Obama. The card-check legislation will be pushed through giving the unions the power to intimidate employees into voting them into existence in previously non-union shops. That will increase corporate costs exponentially and scare any new foreign investors and companies from coming to the US to do business. It will also be added incentive for existing companies operating the the US to move out ASAP.

Unions are a poison to business and kill a company's viability. For example, look at what the unions have done to Ford.

According to the latest calculations, the gap between Japanese and American carmakers' profits average out to about $2900 per vehicle, and the home team does not have the advantage.

A big reason is the cost of labor. As analyzed by Harbour-Felax, labor costs the Detroit Three substantially more per vehicle than it does the Japanese.

Health care is the biggest chunk. GM (Charts), for instance spends $1,635 per vehicle on health care for active and retired workers in the U.S. Toyota (Charts) pays nothing for retired workers - it has very few - and only $215 for active ones.

Other labor costs add to the bill. Contract issues like work rules, line relief and holiday pay amount to $630 per vehicle - costs that the Japanese don't have. And paying UAW members for not working when plants are shut costs another $350 per vehicle.

Here's one example of how knotty Detroit's labor problem can be:

If an assembly plant with 3,000 workers has no dealer orders, it has two options. One is to close the plant for a week and not build any cars. Then the company still has to give the idled workers 95 percent of their take-home pay plus all benefits for not working. So a one-week shutdown costs $7.7 million or $1,545 for each vehicle it didn't make.

Talk about a good gig! In addition to the paid vacation the company gives you when they have to shut down the plant, if you're ever laid off or have your position eliminated, you get to join the 'Job Bank.'

The Jobs Bank was set up by mutual agreement between U.S. automakers and the United Auto Workers union to protect workers from layoffs. Begun in the mid-1980s, the program is being tapped by thousands of workers. Many of those receiving checks do community service work or take courses. Others sit around, watching movies or doing crossword puzzles -- all while making $26 an hour or

The Big Three automakers agreed to the system to protect union workers from outsourcing and technology. But with Ford and General Motors losing money in North America -- and contract negotiations due in 2007 -- the future of the unique program is uncertain. [THANK GOD!]

Now, don't forget, congress is currently trying to use the $700 billion tax dollars (finance sector's bail-out cash) to bail these horrendously run companies out...Government sponsored corporate welfare.

Pelosi said any aid to the automakers would come with conditions. She didn't specify the level of assistance she supports, but said it should come from the $700 billion Congress authorized the Treasury to use to help stabilize the financial services industry. Pelosi said she is tapping House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank to write the legislation that may be considered as early as next week.

I can guarantee you that the 'conditions' will be to make cars that suck and nobody wants to buy. Further, I can guarantee you that if congress invests that much money into the automotive manufacturing industry, then you can bet they'll start taxing and regulating the foreign cars -cars manufactured in the US and making a profit like Toyota- and force them out of business. New legislation will artificially inflate the prices of cars Toyota makes and ultimately create thousands more jobless Americans as Toyota et al are forced to close down (more people added to the dole constituency).

The lack of availability and competition will force us to buy some piece of crap car; manufactured with sub-par labor, to government specification. Forget about buying a car that's built to the specifications in demand (SUV's: bye, bye). I'm sure CAFE standards will come into play and manufacturers will be forced to build light weight cars with more plastic and aluminum than steel and highway deaths will sky-rocket (gotta love unintended consequences of Democrat policies).

Then, we have Barney Freakin' Frank in charge of the legislation...the guy most responsible for preventing oversight into Freddie and Fannie is in charge of writing the legislation distributing billions of dollars to the automotive manufacturing industry. This is the same guy that was
screwing a male lobbyist working for Fannie Mae. So the ever-ethical Frank was on the House Banking Committee and screwing their lobbyist. I think that qualifies as a conflict of interest!!! Meanwhile, Fannie was giving him boatloads of cash for his campaigns and together, they were screwing America.