Monthly Archives: June 2009

we’ve really stepped in it this time

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“There is nothing, no matter how stupid it sounds, that I am rejecting,” Charles Rangel (D-NY) said. Rep. Rangel chairs the House Ways and Means Committee.

President Obama called home from gay Paris to remind the Congress critters he wants a health care bill on his desk before the August recess.

Barney Rubble said the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions would begin forging the legislation on Tuesday, June 16. Senate Democrats have an ambitious schedule to get this turkey passed before the voters notice.

The House is ready. Their bill outlined on Tuesday will “allow” people to enroll in a government-run health insurance plan similar to Medicare.

  • The law will require every American to have health insurance.
  • The law will create a government-run insurance company that would, in President Obama’s words, “keep insurance companies honest.”
  • The law will provide government subsidies to help people buy insurance.
  • The law will require employers to provide health benefits to employees.
  • The law will not address how Congress would actually pay for these health-care initiatives.

The administration wants a plan that requires every American to have health insurance. And if you cannot afford health insurance, you can buy it from Government Motors^H^H^H Government Shield. And if you do not buy health insurance, you will need an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. At taxpayer expense.

Health care is free in jail.

Yesterday was Donald Duck Day.

George Poleczech likes to remind us, “You Democrats have really stepped in it this time.”

Every government rations health care by making you wait. Every one of them. Wait long enough and every illness cures itself, ya know. Every one of them. As we rush headlong into the arms of government health care, even Canada is finally moving away from it.

Sorry, George. It looks more like we Americans have really stepped in it this time.

Wrong Target

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Three Indiana pension funds got it wrong. The state pension and construction funds sued Chrysler to keep the automaker from completing its acquisition by Fiat.

Regular readers have figured out by now that I am one of the smartest men I know. I am, however, neither the smartest man in the world nor even the only smart man in the world. That means I can’t possibly be the only person to have realized that the automakers are the wrong target for litigation.

The Administration favors the Chrysler-Fiat deal and wants to remove this road block. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court granted a stay that temporarily blocks the Chrysler sale. The court will decide soon whether to schedule a full hearing. Fiat says they will “never” walk away from the deal.

There is still time for bondholders and shareholders to come together. We need a lawyer. Maybe a platoon of them.

Think about it. Every lawyer arguing for tort reform is a Democrat. What better group to file a shareholders suit?

But there’s no money left at Chrysler or GM, you say. The CEO and many execs have changed. Who is there to sue?

How about we sue the people who caused the problem?

I’ll give you a minute.

Yeppers, I mean the President and the U.S. Congress.

A government has only one tool to take private property from its owners: eminent domain. The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment states … nor shall private property be taken … without just compensation.

If all goes according to plan, the U.S. and Canadian governments, a United Auto Workers health care fund, and Fiat will end up owning Cerebus Capital Management’s 80.1% of Chrysler Holding LLC and Daimler AG’s 19.9%. The Fiat presence dilutes the taking, but a governmental taking it is.

The picture is clearer in the General Motors tower where the administration stole 100% of the company from the shareholders. What did they do with it? They parceled it out to cronies. Canada got 12%. The Union bosses got 17%. And Obama got most of the rest, didn’t he?

I will join any class action lawsuit against the United States government for taking our private property without compensation.

Gone Fishin’ (Part I)

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Missy and Biff brought their friend Marlin along when they visited South Puffin in April. Marlin is still here. Missy wears a lot of makeup and loves her bling. I think Marlin is responsible for her belief that the gold and sparkles she wears attract fish. And, Missy does love to fish.

Marlin, despite his name, does not. He may have spoofed Missy a little with the bling story. See, Marlin is a little … otherworldly. Missy’s shadowy friend won’t tell us exactly what he does besides “fixing things.” He seems to make a living either ferreting out information about people or living with friends. I’m not sure which. He is scarily good at both.

“You saw we just charged Walter and Gwen Myers with spying for Cuba, right?” Marlin asked.

Walter Kendall Myers worked for the State Department where he had access to highly sensitive material. The State Department put him on a “watch list” in 1995, but the watchers “either forgot about them or couldn’t pick up the trail,” Marlin said. “That’s when they brought me in.”

Marlin is about the size of a pro football offensive linesman. He is buff, nearly hairless, has a permanent tan, and takes up a lot of space in my little house. He says he has neither played ball nor danced ballet. I have not figured out how he vanishes for days at a time, then reappears in the guest room without ever disturbing the door locks. Sometimes I know he is here only because the refrigerator is suddenly empty.

“They were true believers which just makes it so hard for ordinary investigators to pick up their trail,” he said. “Walt told me they fed intelligence to Cuba for more than 30 years.

“I’m glad I caught them but, despite all my powers, I can’t do anything about the real rats.”

Walter and Gwendolyn Myers will undoubtedly become the subjects of Congressional hearings. “They’ll be another great diversion while your Barney Rubble robs us blind, the Administration emasculates the American automobile manufacturers, and pulls all the revenues for your medical care into the U.S. treasury,” Marlin said.

Anne reminded him that she took a 40% pay cut last fall when her job shrank to part time.

“Did you know that U..S. Congressional staff received $9.1 million in bonuses?” Marlin said. “That Congressmen awarded themselves $2.5 million in ‘automatic’ pay raises?”

Speaking of the great congressional giveaway, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will pay in retention bonuses over the next 18-months. That’s $45 million or so more than the storied AIG bonuses. I guess we need to keep the people who caused the banking crisis to fix it.

Our political leaders just nationalized the auto industry and gave nearly a trillion dollars to campaign contributors in the big banks and insurance companies but, by golly, Marlin caught ’em a couple of low level true believers and the politicians are as proud as mutts with a prairie dog.

“What do you call those who steal, then give away the entire country?” Marlin asked. I don’t think he was talking about Walt and Gwen.

Answer next week.

Fire Sale

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NEW YORK — CNNMoney reports that General Motors Corp. will sell its Saturn unit to Penske Automotive Group, owned by racing and business legend Roger Penske. The deal gives Penske the rights to the brand, but GM will continue production of the Saturn Aura, Vue and Outlook.

If anyone can make it work, Mr. Penske can.

I hope he still has his unfair advantage.

Too bad Pontiac isn’t part of the deal. The excitement of the Pontiac line comes from Australia’s Holden right now: the G8, the GTO, and the El Camino-style Holden Ute which the motoring press called the G8TR (“Gator”) but Pontiac expected to sell as the G8 ST. Since Mr. Penske will “import” his Saturns from the GM plants, he could do the same with the best of the Pontiac line and sell them all under the “no haggle” Saturn roof.

Wow.

Shares of Penske (PAG) rose 3% in morning trading.

Meanwhile, GM announced on Tuesday it would sell its Hummer line to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd. thus moving the U.S. Army’s primary ground vehicle production into the hands of a foreign nation.

When Pigs Fly. Or Something.

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SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court overturned gay marriage in the Land of Fruits and Nuts last week. Meanwhile the, um, corn-fed Iowans upheld gay marriage last month.

That seems more than odd.

Five states (Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont) have legalized gay marriage. More than 40 states explicitly ban it.

California has an unusually strong direct democracy. Voters can decide almost any question via propositions and state constitutional amendments. Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban, passed in November.

The California Supremes upheld that Prop 8 was a permissible amendment to the constitution. “The measure carves out a narrow and limited exception to these state constitutional rights, reserving the official designation of the term marriage for the union of opposite-sex couples as a matter of state constitutional law…”

California is not alone in changing its constitution on a whim. Florida had six constitutional amendments on the November ballot.

I generally favor direct action by an electorate. Every citizen votes directly in the classic New England Town Meeting. That works well but it is worth remembering that when the majority tries to teach a pig to sing, that majority ought not also be able to legislate the pig’s pleasure.

It is time states like California and Florida learn that a state Constitution may be a living document but it ought not be one that sways in every breeze. Oh yeah, and that pigs don’t like to sing.

[apologies to Robert A. Heinlein]