Tuesday, March 6, 2012 by Dick.

Obama Motors has halted production of their campaign centerpiece vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt. 1,500 more workers at the newly refurbished Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant will be unemployed. Turns out buyers don’t want one

Taking a page from China’s marketing strategy (drop the price until people buy things they don’t want), the Administration will raise the tax rebate from $7,500 to $10,000. We expect about 4,300 Volt dealers to be repurposed as Dollar Stores by November.

Posted in Government Motors, Throw Da Bums Out, Quickies, Business | 5 Comments »

Monday, January 16, 2012 by Dick.

The news of the week is filled with such exceptionally crucial questions that it may be hard to get down to the merely important but mundane issues. Did a Massachusetts man really turn over 94 hamsters to the animal shelter because he ran out of room in his apartment? Should you really bring a chainsaw to the hospital so the white noise will help you sleep? And did Sweden really recognize the Church of Kopimism so it could avoid persecution? (Copy-Me-Ism’s name is derived from the words “let me steal from the Internet”; persecution is the new spelling for “bring to trial.”)

Long time computer pundit and curmudgeon John C. Dvorak opined that “most countries, including the United States, will eventually shut down the ‘World Wide’ Web” in favor of a limited, ‘Nation-wide’ web. “It solves endless political problems with the Web that plague almost every country,” he wrote.

Countries are a wee bit nervous. After all, we might be able to watch reruns of Family Guy on Hulu. Or look up how to pronounce Mr. Dvorak’s name.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak out because I was Protestant.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller

North Korea has a national Internet so they can order nationwide mourning for their fearless leader.

China wants a national Internet so they can cut off access to Google. That regime is freaked that the China Spring has nothing to do with mattresses, unless the Chinese people suddenly go to them.

Iran wants a national Internet so they can cut off access to Faux News. The Ayatollahs are panic-stricken that the Arab Spring they fomented could spread to their house.

First McCarthy came for the communists,
and you approved because you hate communists and that would protect you.

Then Bush came for the air travelers,
and you approved because you hate terrorists and that would protect you.

Then Obama came for General Motors,
and you approved because you hate big business and that would protect you.

Then Scott Walker came for the trade unionists,
and you approved because you hate trade unionists and that would protect you.

Then Congress came for the Internet,
and you approved because you could still shop on Amazon.

Then they came for you.
and there was no way left to speak out …

Did you worry when the City of Lakewood, Ohio, seized private homes so a private developer could build yupscale condos or the City of Mesa, AZ, would “redeveloped” a multigenerational bike shop out so an Ace Hardware Store could pay higher taxes? You didn’t worry when the Administration nationalized Government Motors. Are you worried about the 94 hamsters yet?

Posted in Government Motors, Society, Politics & News, PC, Random Access | 7 Comments »

Monday, September 19, 2011 by Dick.

The Chrysler/Fiat marketing masterminds have followed native-son rapper Eminem’s Chrysler 200 commercial “imported from Detroit” (I called it the best ad on the Super Bowl) with a new one.

Walter Chrysler founded his Chrysler Corporation out of the ashes of Maxwell-Chalmers to build cars in Detroit City in 1925. Since then, Chrysler has bought and shut down a number of car lines including AMC, American, Barreiros, Graham Brothers, Commer, DeSoto, Eagle, Canadian Fargo, Hillman, Hudson, Humber, Imperial, Karrier, Maxwell, Nash, Plymouth, Rambler, Renault, Simca, Singer, Sunbeam, and the Valiant in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

After the DaimlerChrysler fiasco, the company sold 80.1% of Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm. In the 2009 Obamanatationalization, Daimler agreed to give its remaining 19.9% stake to Cerberus Capital Management and to pay another $600 million into the automaker’s pension fund. The Obamanation then financed the sale of old Chrysler’s assets to New Chrysler with $6.6 billion paid to Cerebus. Chrysler repaid its $7.6 billion loans to the United States and Canadian governments in May, 2011.

I have to wonder how it is that Chrysler’s stockholder (Cerebus) got the gold while General Motor’s stockholders (Rufus and me) got the shaft, all in the same year. I guess screwing over the German Daimler AG (and us) was enough for the Obamanation.

Anyway, Eminem grew up in Detroit as did the car company. Ad agency Wieden+Kennedy celebrated that. (Portland, Oregon-based Wieden+Kennedy, known for its Nike ads, replaced the BBDO as Chrysler’s agency of record in 2009.)

This week, the beautiful Jennifer Lopez sings and drives her way to endorse the new

.
.
.
wait for it
.
.
.

Fiat 500C.
JLo sold herself for a flee flop.

Rufus said, “The Chrysler/Fiat thing — especially the 500 — is one of the most hateful things about the Obamanation’s Detroit.

“If the Progressives like Italy so much, they should go Berlusconi. They can stay forever if they love it that much.

“But dayumn that JLo is a comely thing!”

Sure.

So where’s the story? The Fiat is maybe the worst car sold in America since the Yugo but the bean counters and the Obamanation think the response in the ad is real.

Of course, the mob left the car behind when they carried off JLo. The bean counters and the Obamanation didn’t notice that.

Maybe JLo should have held out for an iPhone.

Posted in Marketing, Government Motors, Cars, Business, Politics & News, Random Access | 6 Comments »

Thursday, June 9, 2011 by Dick.

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson has drunk the Kool-Aid. Mr. Akerson called for a $1 a gallon higher gas tax to get us to buy more fuel efficient cars. Mr. Obama’s man using tax to force social change. Imagine that.

It’s what you get when business becomes an arm of (and mouthpiece for) government instead of government becoming an arm of (and mouthpiece for) We the Overtaxed People.

Posted in Taxed Again, Government Motors, Dick's Dumps | 3 Comments »

Thursday, December 9, 2010 by Dick.

I stayed so peeved after reading this roundup, I almost forgot to write it down.

“Corrupt, crony car capitalism,” from American Thinker is worth a read. It was “all paid for by coerced taxation, from an administration that promised a new era of transparency and honesty in government.” An Obamanation that stole a great American company from its honest American owners.

We hung horse thieves, didn’t we?

Posted in Government Motors, Dick's Dumps | 1 Comment »

Thursday, November 18, 2010 by Dick.

Today, in addition to being Premte Peeve day, is National Quitter’s Day but I ain’t about to.

Quit.

Motors Liquidation Company (the old GM, formerly known as General Motors Corporation) filed for bankruptcy on June 1, 2009. On July 5, 2009, the bankruptcy approved the sale of substantially all its assets. They had no choice. The ObamaNation determined that government could run a business better and that centralized planning made up for good engineering. On July 10, 2009, Government Motors Inc. purchased the ongoing operations and trademarks from General Motors Corporation. The purchasing company, in turn, changed its name from Obama Motors Inc. to “General Motors Company.” The name of the original stock changed to MTLQQ.PK so we losers would be lost in the national celebration.

Clever, innit.

At one time, GM was the second largest employer in the world; only Soviet state industries employed more people. Imagine that.

Today is also the day the government of the United States of America reaps the benefit of stealing what was once America’s largest business from its owners (that would be pension funds across the country and me) and giving it to Obama’s cronies.

This is not an ordinary peeve. I wrote to my Congressional when Government Motors first announced it would place today’s IPO. “It is your job to assure the company ownership stolen from us by the government is returned to its rightful owners,” I wrote.

Not one single congress critter replied, not even with the canned “I am determined to find the best course for America” reply.

Not one.

They came first for GM,
and you didn’t speak up because you didn’t work there.

Then they came for the insurance companies,
and you didn’t speak up because you hated insurance companies.

Then they came for the houses,
and you didn’t speak up because your mortgage was paid.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and you didn’t speak up because you weren’t a trade unionist.

When they come for your newspaper …
by that time no one will be left to speak up.
(Thanks but no apologies to Pastor Martin Niemöller)

I spoke up. The people we elected didn’t. You didn’t. And that hurt all of us. Yeppers, I AM™ more than peeved.

Posted in Government Motors, Dick's Dumps | 4 Comments »