General Motors earned its largest profit ever in 2011, two years after it nearly collapsed into financial ruin . . . GM also said Thursday that its 47,500 blue-collar workers in the U.S. will get $7,000 profit-sharing checks in March.
Hmm. That’s strange. The unionized workers of GM are getting $7,000 each, while taxpayers are still on the hook. If the federal government sold its stock in GM today, taxpayers would lose $14 billion. (The fantastic site at that link calculates the loss to taxpayers based upon the current stock price.)
The Atlantic is already snarking, “Just don’t tell the Republican candidates that the bailout worked.”
In an election year, what's right or wrong simply does not matter. Only the politics matters. And this is a great headline for Obama. And why not comment about the new polls that show Obama over 50% approval and destroying Romney or Santorum in swing states by 8-9% (Fox news poll)? His re-election already looks like a forgone conclusion. IMO, we're looking at the same scenario as 84 and 96, where the incumbent was a dead-solid lock and the public just tunes out politics by the summer. Just look at the very good employment numbers out today...all the economic news is positive. An incumbent does not lose when every bit of news is positive.
The unemployment numbers are smoke and mirrors. The real meaningful data is the participation rate as shown by this graph: External Link . Pay close attention to the trend at the end of the graph.
It is easy to have good press when the press is basically your propaganda arm. Everything is going to be bright and cheery right up to the day after the election and then the bottom is going to fall out.
I suppose the country would be better off if General Motors and Chrysler had gone belly up and taken the whole automotive supply chain with them? Even Mitt Romney isn't dumb enough to try and peddle that line.
I swear conservatives want to hand this election to Obama on a silver platter and regroup later.
In an election year, what's right or wrong simply does not matter. Only the politics matters. And this is a great headline for Obama. And why not comment about the new polls that show Obama over 50% approval and destroying Romney or Santorum in swing states by 8-9% (Fox news poll)? His re-election already looks like a forgone conclusion. IMO, we're looking at the same scenario as 84 and 96, where the incumbent was a dead-solid lock and the public just tunes out politics by the summer. Just look at the very good employment numbers out today...all the economic news is positive. An incumbent does not lose when every bit of news is positive.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe unemployment numbers are smoke and mirrors. The real meaningful data is the participation rate as shown by this graph: External Link
. Pay close attention to the trend at the end of the graph.
It is easy to have good press when the press is basically your propaganda arm. Everything is going to be bright and cheery right up to the day after the election and then the bottom is going to fall out.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI read the Atlantic piece and the sentence about not telling Republicans that the bailout worked does not sound like a snark. I think they're serious.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI suppose the country would be better off if General Motors and Chrysler had gone belly up and taken the whole automotive supply chain with them? Even Mitt Romney isn't dumb enough to try and peddle that line.
I swear conservatives want to hand this election to Obama on a silver platter and regroup later.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse