“He just isn’t bright” – Rudi Giuliani on Joe Biden

The current administration is “Intellectually exhausted,” as Mitt Romney points out, and is now in “rope-a-dope” mode, trying as best it can to avoid answering any substantive questions on its record.

As Rush Limbaugh has championed, this is “the Kardashian president.” He is long on charisma, short on substance and out of his depth on what to do with the economy other than tax and spend. Obama did sheepishly admit at another swing state campaign stop that the economy has slowed. Indeed, for the same reasons that Michael Jackson slowed down in 2009 – making poor decisions and relying on quacks for advice.
Both Ryan and Obama were campaigning at the Iowa fair, where Obama bought 10 beers for people (actually he taxed us for six beers and borrowed the cost of the four other beers from China), and ate fried pork with his hands. Ryan was offered greasy fair food and declined – probably because he knows Medicare is going bankrupt and it will be up to him to stay healthy if he wants to live.

Iowa hates having politicians there all the time, but when they leave farmers have to fertilize their crops themselves.

Obama has avoided answering questions from even his own lapdogs in the mainstream media. This past week he went on Entertainment Tonight, and even provided us some crucial policy insight when he told a New Mexico disc jockey his favorite chili. The other softball question he got asked was, “If you could have a superpower, what would it be?” Certainly not the USA!

As we learn Barack’s favorite colors, sports teams and foods, the country is going Ba-roke.
All the Left does is say that Romney, who made lots of money on his own, paid taxes along the way, then sold the company and paid taxes again. Then with the proceeds he invested in companies and paid the legal 15 percent capital gains and dividend tax rates. And when he dies, will pay another $125 million plus in estate taxes.

For some reason Democrats are more obsessed with how Romney spends his own money rather than how Obama is spending ours. I have never seen a campaign that tries more to misdirect the debate from the issues that our country faces – “the economy, stupid” – to personal issues of a man who is truly a Boy Scout and clean as a whistle. Romney and Ryan look like father and son pharmacist in a small town. Joe “Plugs” Biden, with his capped teeth, reminds me of a man who would be a lookout for a dice game.

The Obama administration is such a disaster that even Jimmy Carter is comparing him to Jimmy Carter. It is so bad that the Democrat National Convention will have ex-President Carter as a speaker. It will excite Democrats and serve as a stark reminder that keeping a young, disastrous president to just one term is not enough to keep him from being an ongoing annoyance for life – with full Secret Service protection. In fact, as penance for haggling with hookers, Secret Service agents should be sentenced to a year of traveling with Jimmy Carter.

In an all-time low, Obama’s Chicago-style political operatives have accused Romney of killing an ex-employee’s wife (never mind that she died seven years after he left Bain, of the cancer they imply he caused). Chicago has been mad ever since getting out-bribed for the Olympics last year. Obama is using such misdirection and sleight-of-hand politics that he might be required to join the Brotherhood of Magician Illusionists Local 2012 or else face a large fine from the union.

The next thing you know, Senator Harry Reid will get his constituent O.J. Simpson to call a press conference to announce that he has finally tracked down his wife’s killer and it turned out to be Mitt Romney.

Just to close on Joe Biden’s comment to blacks in Virginia that Romney wants to “put y’all back in chains,” let me say this: Democrats believe the government should provide housing, work and food, and tell people who they can “jump the broom with” in return for controls over virtually every aspect of life and their vote. I am not sure how that differs from much from slavery.

Freedom is the opposite of slavery, and always the best course.

Source: Orange County Register, Ron Hart

The reason GM might be heading toward its doom again is that its very savior – the Obama administration – might in fact have set it up for failure.

Here’s how:

The fact is that GM – like other American automakers – has had a hard time competing with its Asian and European rivals in the compact and the mid-size market. That’s because its market incentives have been very different from theirs. Thanks to shorter driving distances, narrower roads and relatively high gas prices, foreign makers’ home consumers are attracted to smaller cars — making this segment their core strength. Not so in the good ole U.S. of A where the core strength of American carmakers has been large, gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs.

Americans are naturally drawn to these cars for a whole host of reasons including relatively lower gas prices that haven’t made them prohibitively expensive to drive in the U.S. But the other big reason why SUVs are so important to American car makers is government policy, specifically CAFÉ (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards. These standards were meant to diminish gas consumption and reduce America’s dependence on Arab oil – the eternal boogeyman of American foreign policy. But they have – and this will come as a complete surprise to H&R readers! — done the exact opposite!

That’s because when CAFÉ was originally formulated in 1979, it imposed stricter gas mileage standards on cars than on light trucks. So American carmakers did the rational thing and started using the light truck designation for SUVs to escape the CAFÉ noose. The upshot was that in America, the market share of “light trucks” – aka SUVs — grew steadily from 9.7% in 1979 to 47% in 2001 and remained in the 50% territory till 2011. Given that SUV’s constitute a far bigger share of the American market than the D-segment, it is a bit odd that Woodhill’s analysis focuses mainly on the D-segment, completely ignoring SUVs. This omission is particularly curious given that American carmakers have far greater per vehicle profit margins on SUVs – GM on average makes $5,000 per SUV – than on smaller cars. Indeed, GM for the longest time has relied on sales of its full pickup trucks for a major portion of its US revenues and operating profits.

So the big question is how is the SUV market evolving and how will it affect GM’s survival going forward?

Not well. Just as the original CAFÉ standards created the SUV market, the Obama administration’s new rules might destroy it — and with it GM’s core strength.

The Bush administration started closing the SUV loophole to prove its commitment to reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil after its Iraq misadventure. In 2007, it mandated national fuel economy standards of 35 mpg — a 40% increase – by 2025, something that its own estimates suggested would cost the industry $85 billion. It started scrapping the car/light truck distinction, requiring carmakers to post overall gains regardless of vehicle category. In theory this gave American car makers more flexibility to meet the new mandate, but in reality the mandated fuel efficiency increases were so onerous that American automakers couldn’t squeeze them all out of their small cars and had to tinker with their SUV technology, diverting precious R&D dollars from what Americans consumers really want – greater horsepower.

But the Obama administration is now driving a Tahoe through the opening that the Bush administration created. It has upped the 35 mpg to 54.5 mpg by 2025. This is higher than the 50 mpg that the Prius currently delivers. There is no engine anywhere on the horizon that could deliver that kind of gas mileage. So American carmakers are making heroic efforts to redesign the rest of the vehicle to get to that target.

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Ford is gambling on an all-aluminum body for its iconic F-150 pickup trucks, something that will make the vehicle lighter –not to mention costlier and deadlier – to meet the Obama mandate. (F-150 is the world’s most profitable line today. But whether it will remain so after it switches to aluminum which will jack up per vehicle cost by at least $1,500 is completely uncertain.) Meanwhile, GM is opting to produce two different trucks – one full-sized and high-powered and then, about two years later, a smaller truck. Notes the WSJ, the latter:

“won’t be able to haul quite as much gravel or tow as much gear as the bigger model, but GM is counting on it to offer 20% better gas mileage, without the extra cost of heavy use of aluminum parts.”

In other words, GM is making one truck line for its customers and another one for the president. If the president could buy all the vehicles produced for him, GM would flourish. But, if he can’t, he might well deliver GM to bankruptcy’s door yet again.

He might have saved GM from its own incompetence just to kill it with his.

Source: Shihka Dalmia

Zoeller opens investigation into BP gasoline recall to protect consumers

Attorney General’s Office to review company’s claims and reimbursement processes

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced that his office has opened an investigation into the BP gasoline recall to make sure consumers’ rights are protected.

Motorists who purchased regular grade gasoline in Northwest Indiana at BP and other retail outlets including Luke Oil, Thornton’s and others have reported car problems as a result of tainted gasoline.

“Our office opened an investigation regarding the BP gasoline recall in order to protect the significant number of consumers impacted,” Zoeller said. “We are closely monitoring the response by BP and will be reviewing their claims and reimbursement processes. As the watchdog for Indiana consumers my office has a duty to ensure consumer’s rights are protected and that there is no undue delay in appropriate reimbursements.”

According to a statement released by BP on Tuesday, the company believes 2.1 million gallons of regular grade gasoline blended at BP’s Whiting, Indiana gasoline storage terminal between Aug. 13 and 17 contained a “higher than normal level of polymeric residue” which can cause drivability issues. This contaminant may cause hard starting, shaking of the engine, non-starting or the check engine light to illuminate.

Zoeller said consumers who purchased fuel in Northwest Indiana at BP and other retail outlets during the past week could be impacted.

BP asks customers to call their hotline at 1-800-333-3991 or email bpconsum@bp.com if their vehicles were affected by the tainted gasoline.

Consumers can also file a separate complaint with the Attorney General’s Office by visiting www.indianaconsumer.com or by calling 1-800-382-5516 to request a hard copy of the form. Zoeller said customers are not required to file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office to take part in the BP claims process, but complaints regarding BP’s responses are particularly appropriate.