Obama: “I’m not starting from scratch on the Health Care Bill”

O-man made a guest appearance in the White House press room Tuesday afternoon to brief reporters about his meeting with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders.

Obama said he told House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) that his core goals — lowering health-care costs for businesses and individuals and expanding coverage to the uninsured — remained non-negotiable. But Obama said he would consider GOP alternatives that accomplish the same results. He also said he would sign what he considered to be a less-than-perfect bill.

“I am going to be starting from scratch in the sense that I will be open to any ideas that help promote these goals,” Obama told reporters. “What I will not do, what I don’t think makes sense and I don’t think the American people want to see, would be another year of partisan wrangling around these issues, another six months or eight months or nine months worth of hearings in every single committee in the House and the Senate in which there’s a lot of posturing.”

The president added, “Let’s get the relevant parties together. Let’s put the best ideas on the table. My hope is that we can find enough overlap that we can say, “This is the right way to move forward, even if I don’t get every single thing that I want.”

Yes, Yes…thats what we need, a less than perfect bill to go along side all the other less than perfect bills.

3 White House advisors give 3 different answers on the same subject on the same morning

OH No!!! Looks like some people are not getting the same memo in the white house:

3 different white house advisors gave different answers on the same Sunday morning on 3 different shows in regards to how much the stimulus had saved jobs.

Valerie Jarrett had the most conservative count, saying “the Recovery Act saved thousands and thousands of jobs,” while David Axelrod gave the bill the most credit, saying it has “created more than – or saved more than 2 million jobs.” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs came in between them, saying the plan had “saved or created 1.5 million jobs.”
Their remarks in context:

Axelrod, on CNN’s State of the Union: “But understand that, in this recession that began at the beginning of 2007, we’ve lost 7 million jobs. Now, the Recovery Act the president passed has created more than — or saved more than 2 million jobs. But against 7 million, you know, that — that is — it is cold comfort to those who still are looking.”

Jarrett, on NBC’s Meet the Press: “The Recovery Act saved thousands and thousands of jobs. There are schoolteachers and firemen and— and— teachers all across our country, policemen, who have jobs today because of that recovery act. We’re investing in infrastructure. We’re investing in public education so that our kids can compete going forth into the next— generation.”

Gibbs, on “Fox News Sunday”: “Well, Chris, let’s take for instance the example you just used of the stimulus package. We had four quarters of economic regression in terms of growth, right? Just last quarter, we finally saw the first positive economic job growth in more than a year. Largely as a result of the recovery plan that’s put money back into our economy, that saved or created 1.5 million jobs.”

“Excuse me sir? May I have another 1.9Trillon Dollars?”

Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion to pay its bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.

Say waaaatttt?

Is this something you really want to do after what happened in Massachusetts on Tuesday night?

let me put this into perspective for you, less than a decade ago, $1.9 trillion would have been enough to finance the operations and programs of the federal government for an entire year. Now, it’s only enough to make sure Democrats can avoid another vote before Election Day.

Arguing over the debt limit provides a forum for Republicans to blame Democrats for rising deficits and spiraling debt, even though responsibility for the government’s financial straits can be shared by both political parties.

DID YOU HEAR THAT CONGRESS – BOTH PARTIES ARE TO BLAME.

The record increase in the so-called debt limit is required because the budget deficit has spiraled out of control in the wake of a recession that cut tax revenues, the Wall Street bailout, and increased spending by the Democratic-controlled Congress. Last year’s deficit hit a phenomenal $1.4 trillion, and the current year’s deficit promises to be as high or higher.

Congress has never failed to increase the borrowing limit. So I guess we get to wait and see if they do.

Lucky Us!

Senator Roland W. Burris, Democrat Ill…Says “Not so fast”

Senator Roland W. Burris, Democrat of Illinois, has vowed that he will not vote for a health care bill that does not include a government-run insurance plan, or public option.

And on Monday, after Democrats indicated that they were prepared to meet the demands of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, and strip the last vestige of a public option from their bill, Mr. Burris went to the Senate floor to warn that he had not committed to vote for the legislation.
Good for him…although….

Mr. Burris, however, did calibrate his language: “I am committed to voting for a bill that achieves the goals of a public option: competition, cost savings and accountability,” he said. “I will not be able to vote for lesser legislation that ignores those fundamentals.”

But most importantly the Dems may have no choice but to pass this through to avoid a failure to achieve President Obama’s top domestic priority….it could also be a smoke screen to help keep the loud voices outside down

How much did the Auto bail out make for the taxpayers???

Um, how about how much did it lose?

The Obama administration will tell Congress Wednesday that it expects to lose about $30 billion of the $82 billion government bailout of the auto industry.

DAYAM!!!

Thats certainly some coins change.

Gene Sperling, senior counsel to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, confirmed in an interview late today that the administration’s forecast is that it will lose $30 billion on its auto investments — but that’s down from an earlier estimate of $44 billion.

“The real news is the projected loss came down to $30 billion from $44 billion,” Sperling said, noting that auto sales have improved ahead of what many analysts had forecast. The administration still holds out hope that if things improve, the administration could still recover more.

The estimate — the first public accounting of losses connected to the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler — is in line with what the Government Accountability Office, the Troubled Asset Relief Congressional Oversight Panel and former auto czar Steve Rattner have suggested.

The Treasury Department has loaned $50 billion to General Motors, and swapped all but $6.7 billion of it for a 61 percent majority stake in the automaker. In order for taxpayers to be repaid fully, GM’s stock would have to be worth far more than current estimates when the company goes public as early as next year.

GM chairman and CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. said that GM will make a $1 billion payment of its outstanding loans on Dec. 31 and plans similar quarterly payments. In a Web chat with reporters today, he said the company could opt to make a lump-sum payment

The administration forgave much of Chrysler’s $12 billion in government loans….well thats nice, will someone forgive me for my mortgage?

Well, thats good news, only $30 Billion instead of $44billion. Idiots!

Saving General Motors and Chrysler saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, President Barack Obama said today.

“It was right decision then and the right decision now,” Sperling said, calling it a “courageous decision by the president” to give the two automakers a “rebirth even though he knew it was not going to be politically popular.”

Not politicially poopular…yeah $30Billion is gonna do that, plus the private airplanes to get there are goign to hinder popular.

Jobless rate over 10%…highest in over 16 years

I understand the events that happened at Ft Hood, are devestating and will be disected by the media over the next week, I think its important not too lose focus on other events inside the U.S, and to bring to light that the unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983 — and is likely to go higher.

Nearly 16 million people can’t find jobs even though the worst recession since the Great Depression has apparently ended according to congress.

Many economists worry that persistently high unemployment could undermine the recovery by restraining consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

The good news, we are going to into the holiday season which still usually means big bucks for retailers, unfortunelty with the economy it will most likely lead to a higher crime rate as well ie:Theft.

While the unemployment rate hasn’t yet topped the post-World War II high of 10.8 percent set in December 1982, many experts say this recession is worse.

The unemployment rate was much lower when the recession began — 4.9 percent in December 2007, compared with 7.2 percent in July 1981, when a brutal downturn started. That means the current job cuts have been much steeper to get to the 10 percent mark.

CIT received $2.3 billion in government aid last year, files for Bankruptcy

Dum, Dum, Dum

CIT group filed for bankruptcy on Sunday afternoon – but under a so-called prepackaged bankruptcy plan that will enable it to emerge from court protection by the end of the year, under the control of its debtholders.

CIT received $2.3 billion in government aid last year, a bailout that came in the form of preferred stock. That will almost certainly be wiped out in the bankruptcy process, the first realized loss in the government’s rescue of the financial system.

CIT was the nation’s largest provider of what is known as factoring, a type of lending used heavily by retailers. The company has spent months trying to reassure its clients that it will remain open for business as stores ramp up for the holiday season. Relatively few other companies serve as factors, and among them are other embattled lenders like GMAC.

$1Billion 3rd quarter profit at Ford

Ford, the only Detroit automaker to dodge direct government aid and bankruptcy court, surprised investors with net income of nearly $1 billion in the third quarter and forecast a “solidly profitable” 2011.

Really, only proving that if the govt stayed out of things, companies would either survive or fall on their own. Although there is the cash for clunkers program which helped.

But anywhos….

The latest results signal that Ford’s turnaround is on more solid ground. The company lost more than $14.6 billion last year and hasn’t posted a full-year profit since 2005. While it made a profit in the second quarter, that was mainly due to debt reductions that cut its interest payments.

Hmmm, wonder when I get my interest payments cut, becuase it sure is not falling down to the common man even though they are using my tax money to bail them out.

Happy Halloween – Civil Rights Act, 8 pages. Health Care reform, 1990 pages. Trees. Priceless.

With Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats unveiling their 1,990 page health care reform bill – it made you wonder about other landmark pieces of legislation in U.S. history and how long they were.

The original draft of the 1935 Economic Security Act, which established the Social Security Administration was 64 pages
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 – forbidding discrimination based on race and sex: 8 pages The 19th amendment to the Constitution, giving Women the right to vote in 1920: 1 page
The Emancipation Proclamation, with which Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863: 5 pages
Or, if you really want to get back to basics: The Declaration of independence came in at 1 page in 1776

The Democrats say they’ll post the final version online for lawmakers and the public to read 72 hours before a vote. Good luck reading 2,000 pages in 72 hours.

Meanwhile although the Democrats keep talking about openness and transparency in this process, there are reports that they blocked the public from attending the unveiling ceremony for their health care bill outside of the Capitol yesterday. Videos online show people – not on a pre-approved guest list – being turned away.

Note to Nancy Pelosi: You people don’t own the Capitol – we do.

So much for saving the environment

Pelosi unveils new Health Care Bill from the steps of the Capitol.

Well folks, its just around the corner……

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress was “on the cusp of delivering on the promise of making affordable, quality health insurance available to every American.”

Officials said the measure, once fully phased-in over several years, would extend coverage to 96 percent of Americans. Its principal mechanism is creation of a new government-regulated insurance “exchange” where private companies would sell policies in competition with the government. Federal subsidies would be available to millions of lower-income individuals and families to help them afford the policies, and to small businesses as an incentive to offer coverage to their workers.

Large firms would be required to cover workers, and most individuals would be required to carry insurance.

Obama praised the bill, which was developed without Republican input.

The House legislation includes critical reforms to the insurance industry, so that Americans will no longer have to worry that they will be denied coverage, or that their coverage will be dropped or watered down when they need it most. I’m also pleased that the bill includes a public option offered in an exchange,” he said in a statement released shortly after the unveiling.

No Republicans are expected to vote for the sweeping legislation, which would raise taxes on upper-income earners and cut Medicare payments to insurers, hospitals and other providers to cover a price tag that costs $894 billion over 10 years. But Democrats control 256 seats in the House, and can afford about 38 defections on the vote and still prevail.

Pelosi has also said the bill would strip the health insurance industry of a long-standing exemption from antitrust laws covering market allocation, price fixing and bid rigging. Democratic officials said the bill also would give the Federal Trade Commission authority to look into the health insurance industry at its own initiative. The officials spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to pre-empt a formal announcement.

While precise figures were not immediately available, it appeared the legislation would target the drug industry for more than the $80 billion pharmaceutical firms agreed to contribute toward health care in a deal earlier this year with the White House and key senators. But the industry managed to come away with a provision worth billions: 12 years of market protection for high-tech drugs to combat cancer, Parkinson’s and other deadly diseases.

Medical device makers also took a hit, with a 2.5 percent excise tax on sales of their products that is reported to cost the industry $20 billion over the next decade. A $40 billion fee on those businesses was included in a Senate Finance Committee-approved version of the legislation, but Reid is considering cutting it by as much as half.

And that’s all folks!!!