Monthly Archives: August 2010

Michigan Gubernatorial Candidate Rick Snyder (R) Advocates Government Picking Economic Winners And Losers

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I’m sure glad Michigan has Rick Snyder as our Republican candidate for Governor. If we are fortunate enough to have the ‘Tough Nerd’ at the helm of the State, we can make a clean break from the failed economic policies of the worst Governor in America, Jennifer Granholm…

Well….Actually Snyder is planning on continuing Granhom’s flawed policy of advocating ‘advance battery’ manufacturing over other industries. Via MLive:

Bayer’s 400-acre chemical park development is the future home of fortu PowerCell, a $623 million, 734-job advanced battery plant planned by a Swiss-German startup company. Groundbreaking for the initial 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is expected in April 2011.

“Batteries are important to our future,” said the Republican candidate, who faces the Democratic nominee, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, in the Nov. 2 general election. “Our automotive industry is critical to the state.”

The fortu PowerCell development was brought to Muskegon Township in part by a special $100 million state battery tax credit that was supported earlier this year by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the Republican-led Michigan Senate and Democratic-led House of Representatives.

Several of the candidates in the Republican primary for governor opposed special tax breaks for certain industries as “picking winners and losers.”

Snyder’s plan to “reinvent Michigan” includes reform of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which hands out special incentives such as the battery tax credits.

Snyder’s campaign platform says such assistance needs to be results-oriented, transparent and in conjunction with general business-climate improvements in tax policy and state regulation. (emphasis added)

For a supposed business expert, the “tough nerd” should understand that a government bureaucracy advocating one business over another is a recipe for economic disaster. You know, like the one we are in now. Furthermore, according to research the Mackinac Center has pulled together, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. has a poor track record creating jobs. Really poor.

One other crucial question about those batteries, who is Snyder planing on selling those new advanced batteries to? I hope its not Toyota, because they are having a tough time selling the Prius in Japan due to the ending of their government’s subsidies for hybrid vehicles.

The Prius hybrid has spearheaded sales growth for Toyota Motor Corp. in Japan for more than a year, helped by government subsidies. The model will likely bear the brunt of plunging demand as the support ends.

“A collapse in sales is unavoidable,” said Hiromi Inoue, the new-car sales chief for Tokyo Toyopet Motor Sales Co. “The daily pace of orders for the Prius is already dropping. We are bracing ourselves for the coming crisis.”

The number of customers signing up to buy a Prius at Tokyo Toyopet’s 66 showrooms has dropped to about eight a day from 20 in June, Inoue said. Industrywide, car sales in Japan are expected to plunge 23 percent in the six months beginning in October from a year earlier, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.

Demand for the Prius surged after the third-generation model went on sale in May 2009 and the government introduced the incentive plan a month later. Under the program, consumers can apply for a 250,000 yen ($2,963) subsidy if they scrap a car more than 13 years old to buy a more fuel- efficient one, or 100,000 yen for a new car bought without scrapping the older one. (emphasis added)

It seems the “Tough Nerd” should rethink the whole government advocating one business over another idea. It is a recipe for economic disaster.

And, by the way, the Prius is not the only eco-car that has rough looking sales forecast numbers.

EPA Thinks You Can’t Figure Out That A Nissan Leaf Is More Fuel Efficient Than Ferrari 612

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Yep, the EPA want’s to ‘help’ you select the most fuel efficient vehicle possible. To accomplish this, the EPA is proposing revised window labels for new cars. Via the controversial EPA:

“We are asking the American people to tell us what they need to make the best economic and environmental decisions when buying a new car,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “New fuel economy labels will keep pace with the new generation of fuel efficient cars and trucks rolling off the line, and provide simple, straightforward updates to inform consumers about their choices in a rapidly changing market. We want to help buyers find vehicles that meet their needs, keep the air clean and save them money at the pump.”

EPA’s press release gets more condescending:

EPA and DOT are proposing two new label designs for comment. One label design prominently features a letter grade to communicate the vehicle’s overall fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions performance. The new design will also provide consumers with an estimate of the expected fuel cost savings over five years compared to an average gasoline-powered vehicle of the same model year.

The second proposed label retains the current label’s focus on miles per gallon (MPG) and annual fuel costs, while updating the overall design and adding the required new comparison information on fuel economy and emissions.

Both proposed label designs expand on the content of the current label by including new information on fuel consumption, tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and smog-related emissions. The new labels would provide information on a new web-based interactive tool that can also be accessed by smart phone. This tool would allow consumers to personalize the information about a vehicle’s performance.

For EVs and PHEVs, the agencies are proposing to show energy use by translating electricity consumption into miles per gallon equivalent. The proposed label designs for EVs also include energy use expressed in terms of kilowatt-hours per 100 miles.

According to the Detroit News, the median grade for vehicles would be a B-

Who knew that a Ferrari 612 is less fuel efficient than a coal powered …I mean a plug in electric Nissan Leaf?

V12 Ferrari

Go figure this is more fuel efficient than the V-12 Ferrari

According To World’s Leading Agricultural Economist: We Need A Cartel To Bring Down World Grain Prices

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You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.

Rahm Emanuel

Commodity speculators are driving grain prices higher and globalists are not about to let a crises go to waste. Via Spiegel Online:

SPIEGEL: Are you saying that someone who buys a life insurance policy is ultimately supporting speculation in wheat or cocoa?

Braun: That needs to be qualified. In a crisis like the current one, speculative behavior pervades the entire population. The millions of mothers who are now keeping 20 kilograms instead of 5 kilograms of rice in their pantries are also speculators, in a sense, because they are essentially stockpiling. Speculators involved in real grain trading fulfill an important function, because their activities signal to the market whether a given commodity is scarce and expensive or cheap and therefore available in abundance. The speculation driven by financial markets is different, because it has decoupled itself from the real market and is distorting prices.

There are several macroeconomic issues at play that investors (speculators) are factoring in. It appears that institutional investors are looking at the sideways movement in the stock market and the war on capitalism taking place in western economies and shifting their money to commodities, driving prices up. Also, the declines in value (inflation) of reserve currencies are driving prices up as well.

Continue reading →

Sunday Morning Quick Hits: Car Lashes?

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Sunday Morning Quick Hits: Car Lashes?

This is a new one:

For these people, there are products like Turbo Style Products’ CarLashes. That’s right, someone has invented fake eyelashes for your car!

The CarLashes can be cut to fit nearly any vehicle and are simply attached to the vehicle using 3M automotive grade adhesive. The manufacturer recommends that you affix the lashes to the glass of the headlight or the underside of the hood, but claims the adhesive tape will not react with or damage the vehicle’s paint. People who want to add even more bling can grab the optional Crystal Eyeliner, a sparkly, faux-jeweled strip that adheres to the base to the lashes.

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28 August 1963: “I have a dream”

Political Cartoon of the Week: Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard Vacation

HONDA CB550 CAFE RACER

Great pictures from the 8-28 rally @ Right Scoop-

click on pic for larger version

Glenn Beck’s restoring honor rally

Devote your life to replicating a Star Wars lightsaber


“And here is your government issued statin with your double Whopper combo”

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Since we now have government run health care and they are making it their business what we eat, you know this idea will be discussed in Washington:

Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of charge so that customers can neutralise the heart disease dangers of fatty food, researchers at Imperial College London suggest in a new study published this week.

Statins reduce the amount of unhealthy “LDL” cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person’s heart attack risk.

In a paper published in the Sunday 15 August issue of the American Journal of Cardiology, Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate that the reduction in cardiovascular risk offered by a statin is enough to offset the increase in heart attack risk from eating a cheeseburger and a milkshake.

Dr Francis, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who is the senior author of the study, said: “Statins don’t cut out all of the unhealthy effects of burgers and fries. It’s better to avoid fatty food altogether. But we’ve worked out that in terms of your likelihood of having a heart attack, taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same degree as a fast food meal increases it.”

One statin, simvastatin, is already available in low doses (10mg) over the counter at pharmacies without a prescription. Other statins are so far only prescribed by doctors, and limited by cost to patients at particular risk of heart attack or stroke. However, the cost of the tablets has fallen sharply in recent years (from ~£40/month to ~£1.50/month), such that the cost to the NHS of seeing a doctor is much greater than the cost of the tablet. (emphasis added)

It is only a small risk, and you know, it is for your own good.

Statins have among the best safety profiles of any medication. A very small proportion of regular statin users experience significant side effects, with problems in the liver and kidneys reported in between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 10,000 people.

“Everybody knows that fast food is bad for you, but people continue to eat it because it tastes good. We’re genetically programmed to prefer high-calorie foods, and sadly fast food chains will continue to sell unhealthy foods because it earns them a living.

“It makes sense to make risk-reducing supplements available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge. It would cost less than 5p per customer – not much different to a sachet of ketchup.

“When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, they’re encouraged to take measures that minimise their risk, like wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal.” (emphasis added)

Saturday Afternoon Links: The Extreme Green Edition

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The green movement gets more shrill by the day. Via Treehugger, “Pee and wash in the same fixture”:

To save water, Eco Urinal is designed to use the water that was used for washing hands to flush the urine. By this process, we don’t have to use water twice after using the urinal.

Moreover, it reduces the establishment expenses by optimizing the materials. Upper space of this urinal is made with glass, and it helps to secure a clear view for users. It also promotes people to keep their sanitation because people need to wash their hands to flush the urine after use.

Your Tax Dollars at Work.

*Whew*

Another Act of Treason.

Today’s World News has a great round up of Glenn Beck’s 8/28 rally

Via BoingBoing:

Like I'm going to ride my bike 35 miles to work. One way. In mid January...

Eight-Twenty-Eight: Too Big To Ignore

Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran

Swing states swinging away from Obama

The Consent of the Governed

Even with a fast track ‘Green Technology’ patents (how about fat tracking, you know, regular patents), there isn’t much patentable innovation flowing in. Via treehugger:

Back in December we learned that green tech companies were receiving a fast track through the US patent process in order to boost innovation among start-ups and innovators. The first 3,000 applicants would sail through the process in just 12 months, as opposed to 40 months. We asked if zipping through the patent process would really move green tech forward. Turns out, it doesn’t. The fast track program is already off course for filling up the 3,000 slots.

According to Martin LaMonica at CNET, the trial program has only had 1,477 patent petitions since December. When over 25,000 patents would have qualified for the fast track process, what gives?

No one really knows for sure — it’s just simply not as booming as it was thought it would be. One possibility is that it’s relatively expensive to go through the patent process, and green tech companies are struggling as it is. Also, not a high number of the applicants actually meet the qualifications, let alone even need patents for what they’re doing — much of what’s happening in clean tech is based on innovations that have already been patented. (emphasis added)

Like I’ve said before, the green movement is trying to save the planet with turn of the century technology.

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John Boehner and The Conservative Economic Growth Agenda

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John Boehner gave a speech to the City Club in Cleveland and and started to outline a conservative economic agenda. Via Kudlow:

Near the top he said, “Right now, America’s employers are afraid to invest in an economy stalled by ‘stimulus’ spending and hamstrung by uncertainty. The prospect of higher taxes, stricter rules, and more regulations has employers sitting on their hands.”

His first proposal to break that uncertainty? Boehner said, “President Obama should announce he will not carry out his plan to impose job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses.” In other words, extend all the Bush tax cuts. To this end, Boehner quoted former President John F. Kennedy: “An economy constrained by high tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance the budget, just as it will never create enough jobs.”

And Boehner was just getting started.

He called for an Obama pledge to veto any lame-duck congressional actions that would damage the economy, including the union card-check bill and a national cap-and-trade energy tax.

He called for the repeal of Obamacare’s job-killing 1099 mandate that would require small-business paperwork to show any purchases of more than $600.

He slammed Obamacare in general, noting the creation of more than 160 boards, bureaucracies, programs, and commissions, and the 3,833 pages of new regulations already in place.

He called for an aggressive spending-reduction package that would rollback non-defense discretionary expenditures to 2008 levels, before the stimulus plan was put in place.

He said he wants to end TARP and all TARP bailouts.

He bemoaned the fact that no one in the White House has any business experience, chiding Obama by saying, “We’ve tried 19 months of government-as-community-organizer. It hasn’t worked. Our fresh start needs to begin now.”

This is a good starting point… However I would like to see a new ‘contract with America.’