Obama fires CEO of GM: A reaction from one Michigan resident

A few thoughts, from a man who would know:

Friends,

Nothing like it has ever happened. The President of the United States, the elected representative of the people, has just told the head of General Motors -- a company that's spent more years at #1 on the Fortune 500 list than anyone else -- "You're fired!"

I simply can't believe it. This stunning, unprecedented action has left me speechless for the past two days. I keep saying, "Did Obama really fire the chairman of General Motors? The wealthiest and most powerful corporation of the 20th century? Can he do that? Really? Well, damn! What else can he do?!"

This bold move has sent the heads of corporate America spinning and spewing pea soup. Obama has issued this edict: The government of, by, and for the people is in charge here, not big business. John McCain got it. On the floor of the Senate he asked, "What does this signal send to other corporations and financial institutions about whether the federal government will fire them as well?" Senator Bob Corker said it "should send a chill through all Americans who believe in free enterprise." The stock market plunged as the masters of the universe asked themselves, "Am I next?" And they whispered to each other, "What are we going to do about this Obama?"

Not much, fellows. He has the massive will of the American people behind him -- and he has been granted permission by us to do what he sees fit. If you liked this week's all-net 3-pointer, stay tuned.

I write this letter to you in memory of the hundreds of thousands of workers over the past 25+ years who have been tossed into the trash heap by General Motors. Many saw their lives ruined for good. They turned to alcohol or drugs, their marriages fell apart, some took their own lives. Most moved on, moved out, moved over, moved away. They ended up working two jobs for half the pay they were getting at GM. And they cursed the CEO of GM for bringing ruin to their lives.

Not one of them ever thought that one day they would witness the CEO receive the same treatment. Of course Chairman Wagoner will not have to sign up for food stamps or be evicted from his home or tell his kids they'll be going to the community college, not the university. Instead, he will get a $23 million golden parachute. But the slip in his hands is still pink, just like the hundreds of thousands that others received -- except his was issued by us, via the Obama-man. Here's the door, buster. See ya. Don't wanna be ya.

I began my day today in Washington, D.C. I went to the U.S. Senate and got into their Finance Committee's hearing on the Wall Street bailout. The overseers wanted to know how the banks spent the money. And many of these banks won't tell them. They've taken trillions and nobody knows where the money went. It certainly didn't go to create jobs, relieve mortgage holders, or free up loans that people need. It was so shocking to listen to this, I had to leave before it was over. But it gave me an idea for the movie I was shooting.

Later, I stopped by the National Archives to stand in line to see the original copy of our Constitution. I thought about how twenty years ago this month I was just down the street finishing my first film, a personal plea to warn the nation about GM and the deadly economy it ruled. On that March day in 1989 I was broke, having collected the last of my unemployment checks, relying on help from my friends (Bob and Siri would take me out to dinner and always pick up the check, the assistant manager at the movie theater would sneak me in so I could watch an occasional movie, Laurie and Jack bought an old Steenbeck (editing) machine for me, John Richard would slip me an unused plane ticket so I could go home for Christmas, Rod would do anything for me and drive to Flint whenever I needed something for the film). My late mother (she would've turned 88 tomorrow if she were still with us) and my GM autoworker dad told me in the kitchen they wanted to help and handed me a check for an astounding thousand dollars. I didn't know they even had a thousand dollars. I refused it, they insisted I take it -- "No!" -- and then, in that parental voice, told me I was to cash it so I could finish my movie. I did. And I did.

So on that March day in 1989, as I was driving down Pennsylvania Avenue, my 9-year-old car just died. I coasted over to the curb, put my head down on the steering wheel and started to cry. I had no money to take it in to be repaired, and I certainly had nothing to pay the tow truck driver. So I got out, screwed the license plates off so I wouldn't be fined, turned my back and just left it there for good. I looked over at the building next to me. It said "National Archives." What better place to donate my dead car, I thought, as I walked the rest of the way home.

Though it wasn't easy for me, I still never had to suffer what so many of my friends and neighbors went through, thanks to General Motors and an economic system rigged against them. I wonder what they must have all thought when they woke up this Monday morning to read in the Detroit News or the Detroit Free Press the headlines that Obama had fired the CEO of GM. Oh -- wait a minute. They couldn't read that. There was no Free Press or News. Monday was the day that both papers ended home delivery. It was cancelled (as it will be for four days every week) because the daily newspapers, like General Motors, like Detroit, are broke.

I await the President's next superhero move.

Yours,
Michael Moore

(Go State!)

P.S. Please know that it has not been lost on any of us from the Rust Belt how our corporate bigwigs were treated (remember, the auto companies wanted a loan, not a handout) compared to how the titans of Wall Street got trillions of free cash, lunch at the White House and a photo op with the Prez. Trust me, we get it. And, if there is a God in heaven, the thieves of Wall Street will soon pay. Also... the sight of our president having to promise that he would back every GM warranty and give consumers a bonus if they trade in their old Grand Am for a hybrid, was alternately sad, hilarious, and just plain weird. This is what it's come to: the Commander in Chief of the Free World is now Mr. Goodwrench. Jeesh.

Be the change you want to create

We voted for him. We voted to fix our country.

Obama is going after the fat cats who bled us dry and into the poor house, and he's talking about more than simply recovery; he's talking about investing in our future by making real reforms.

I think its a good budget. It may not be perfect, but he's stressing the right things - clean fuel, infrastructure, education, health care, and oversight. AIG has just proven once again why we MUST have oversight. Oversight protects us - the people - from super-wealthy predator corporations. Like that peanut company... the one that didn't want us to know we were eating contaminated ingredients in foods we consume every day.

I have always believed our job of pushing for change was going to extend well beyond the election. We need to loudly demand and continue insisting on the change we demanded when we elected President Obama last fall. We shocked the world (and ourselves;) and we can go much further. England, France, Canada and even our 'enemy' Cuba have free health care for all who live there. We're not even trying to go that far (and we should;) but there is already stiff resistance from those who can afford the best and who profit from the current system. We could have free health care - we we have free grade school education - if our corporations weren't so greedy... and so powerful.

There are more of us 'common people' than wealthy predators, and we flexed our muscles in the last election. We can outvote them, and we can out-shout them if we work together. We can't stop pushing now. America has been degraded and shamed by the greed of a few, at the expense of the many. Why are we putting up with this? We should be leaning on Congress - every day if necessary - demanding that the change we said we wanted when we voted for Obama, actually becomes law.

We have a chance now, by supporting Obama's budget.

There will be a lot of resistance from the powerful AIGs of our land. They've been running lose and reckless for decades, and have gone totally 'rogue' the last eight years. Our national media is also in the pocket of the super-wealthy elite. They are still spreading propaganda packaged as news.

We have to use our eyes and our heads and separate the wheat from the chaff. The state of our economy is proof that greed is not good (as if most of us didn't already know that to begin with.) Time to end this greedy free-for-all and pull ourselves back up out of this mud, reclaim our national pride, our jobs, homes and our moral standards.

10 Things you should know about Obama's plan

Last week, President Obama unveiled his budget—his blueprint for America. It's ambitious and quite progressive. Here is a list of 10 items (a 180 turnaround from what we had under Bush) that you may not hear about via the corporate media, insider pundits or D.C. spindoctors.

10 things you should know about Obama's plan

The plan:

1. Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American.¹ (Watch 'SiCKO and wonder why we can't be like France. Maybe we can... eventually... catch up with Europe and Canada.)
   
2. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won't go up one dime.²
   
3. Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.³
   
4. Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities.⁴
   
5. Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class.⁵
   
6. Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies. ⁶
   
7. Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever.⁷
   
8. Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover.⁸
   
9. Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street.⁹
   
10. Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama's budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America's priorities are, what they cost, and how we're going to pay for them.¹⁰

Here are a few more items that don't fit neatly into a '10 items' list:

1. Stops unnecessary government subsidies to big banks, health insurance companies and big agribusinesses.^11,12,13
   
2. Expands access to early childhood education and improves schools by investing in programs that make sure every child has a qualified, strong teacher.¹⁴
   
3. Negotiates for better prescription drug prices using Medicaid's tremendous bargaining power.¹⁵
   
4. Expands access to family planning for low-income women.¹⁶
   
5. Caps the pollution that causes global warming, and makes polluters pay to support clean energy innovation.¹⁷
   

Sources:

1. "Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-health.html

2. "Obama Expects Fight Over $3.55 Trillion Budget Plan," Bloomberg News, February 28, 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aiLyabbGqJBo&refer=home

3. "Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness," Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/energy_sunshine.html

4. "The Economic Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan," The New York Times, March 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/weekinreview/01glanz.html

5. "Tax Cuts," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-tax.html

6. "Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness," Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/energy_sunshine.html

7. "Student Loans," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html

8. "Obama unveils budget blueprint," CNN, February 26, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/26/budget/

9. "Obama budget would boost SEC, CFTC, FBI," Reuters, February 26, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE51P5RD20090226

10. "Obama's budget," Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-budget27-2009feb27,0,2535327.story

11. "Student Loans," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html

12. "Health Insurance Stocks Dive on Medicare Advantage Cuts," The Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2009
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/02/26/health-insurance-stocks-dive-on-medicare-advantage-cuts/

13. "Agriculture," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-agri.html

14. "Investing Wisely in Our Children," Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/education_budget.html

15. "Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-health.html

16. "Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-health.html

17. "Setting 'Green' Goals," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-energy.html

Obama's 'Robin Hood' Budget

I like the sound of Obama's budget agenda. He outlined the main points in his 'not-a-State-of-the-Union' speech before Congress several nights ago, but the actual document is now before them.

As expected, the Republicans are already screaming.

You see, the people who got all of those tax breaks during the Bush years, leading to the now astonishing gap between the rich and the rest... just lost them. Not only have they lost their hefty tax breaks, but they will finally have to pony up and pay their share in the rebuilding of America -- the America that has encouraged the prosperity they currently enjoy (but want to keep all to themselves.)

"This will ruin our economy!" scream the (wealthy) Republican representatives. I wonder what their poor constituents think about that?

Read on...

In $3.6 Trillion Budget, Obama Signals Broad Shift in Priorities
Bold Agenda for Social Spending, Energy and Taxes Faces Fierce Fight

The president's budget would raise taxes on the highest-earning Americans, create a $1.2 trillion deficit in 2010 and curtail Medicare payments to insurance companies to pay for a $634 billion health care fund for the uninsured and a $150 billion energy package.

President Obama delivered to Congress yesterday a $3.6 trillion spending plan that would finance vast new investments in health care, energy independence and education by raising taxes on the oil and gas industry, hedge fund managers, multinational corporations and nearly 3 million of the nation's top earners.

The blueprint, meanwhile, would overhaul programs across the federal bureaucracy to strengthen assistance for millions of people who have borne the consequences of what Obama called "an era of profound irresponsibility," helping them pay for college, train for better jobs and save for retirement while taking less of their earnings in taxes.

The ambitious agenda for the fiscal year that begins in October would not come cheap. This year's budget deficit, swollen by spending to combat a severe recession, would hit a record $1.75 trillion, or 12.3 percent of the overall economy, under the president's plan, the highest since 1945. While Obama inherited the bulk of that gap, his budget would make room for a fresh round of spending that could hit $750 billion to prop up troubled financial institutions.

Next year's deficit would approach $1.2 trillion. But Obama proposes to cut that figure roughly in half by the end of his first term, in large part by levying nearly $1 trillion in new taxes over the next decade on the nation's highest earners, defined as families with gross income of more than $250,000 a year.

In unveiling the 134-page volume that outlines his spending priorities, Obama acknowledged that his proposal would "add to our deficits in the short term to provide immediate relief to families and get our economy moving." But he argued that the economic crisis should not be used as an excuse to delay costly investments intended to modernize the nation's economy, enhance its workforce and, ultimately, reduce government spending.

"What I won't do is sacrifice investments that will make America stronger, more competitive and more prosperous in the 21st century -- investments that have been neglected for too long," Obama said. Citing the need to "break free" from foreign oil, reduce "crushing health-care costs," and improve public education, Obama said: "These investments must be America's priorities, and that's what they will be when I sign this budget into law."

With its immense scope and bold prescriptions, Obama's agenda seeks to foster a redistribution of wealth, with the government working to narrow the growing gap between rich and poor. It is likely to spark fierce political battles on an array of fronts, from social spending to energy policy to taxes.

Alice M. Rivlin, a Brookings Institution economist who served as former president Bill Clinton's budget director, called the plan "gutsy and quite good."

"It has a strong flavor of the Obama philosophy, which is tilting the playing field away from upper income and toward the rest of America," she said.

Republicans quickly attacked the document as a recipe for economic disaster, saying it would raise taxes on businesses and consumers in the middle of a recession in order to bankroll a massive government expansion.

"The era of big government is back, and Democrats are asking you to pay for it," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). "The administration's plan, I think, is a job killer, plain and simple."

Job killer? Bah. Please -- stop insulting our intelligence. You make no sense, man. How will taxing the rich and creating jobs for the rest of Americans be a 'job killer?' GOP backwards-talk doesn't work on us anymore.

Sorry Mr. Minority Leader, but this is called tipping the scale back into balance.

Our 'Robin Hood' President is simply taking back everything that was stolen from us over the last 8 years of greed and plunder. He's taxing the rich to give back to the poor. And these days 'poor' includes a vast majority of us who used to be middle class.

I sure won't be taxed in this new arrangement (would that I was that comfortably set financially!) Who knows... I may even be able to finally afford that masters degree.

Up until 2000, I had my own American dream. Sure did. It died a terrible death (with the towers on 9/11; our small business never survived the loss of 95% of our business overnight.) But maybe a new dream can arise from the dust. Finally. Eight years later.

You just never know.

Hopefully the Blue Dogs will stay on leash. In truth, they are closet Republicans. They believe in the social progress, education and health care, but are generally terrified of spending money (although they didn't seem to blink when Bush blew through billions on the war in Iraq.) I don't trust them... however I think the Democrats will have the votes without them.

As for the GOP? They are nothing but a nonsensical noise machine these days. They continue trying to convince us that we don't want what we wanted so badly, that we flocked to the polls in record numbers to guarantee that they wouldn't steal another election and deprive us all again.

Their same ol' cries of indignation are not only boring... but astoundingly hypocritical. Nothing new here.

Recovery.gov... use it

We've been given a tool of oversight. We'll never know if it works unless we use it.

We'll also never know if our representatives, mayors and governors are making use of the money being allotted to us by this economic stimulus package if we don't pay attention and demand it.

We may have to demand our slice of this pie; especially those of us who live in GOP strongholds (or former GOP strongholds.) Will Indiana governor Mitch Daniels (R) make use of our share of this stimulus? Will he even accept it? I don't trust that man any farther than I can throw him. I'll be watching closely.

The GOP seems determined to make this economic stimulus plan fail. In the process, the American people will suffer terribly, our economy may collapse, and our nation may be plunged into a depression from which there is no escape.

Yes, it appears they would let this happen to their country before allowing a Democratic president achieve success. Their partisanship knows no bounds. Well, except for a few Republicans who seem to grasp the severity of our situation.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:

"When people need to have roads built, when we talk about infrastructure in America, we need $1.7 trillion to $2 trillion of infrastructure in America. Who cares if you're a Republican or Democrat? Everyone is using the roads. Everyone would use high-speed rail. Everyone uses the infrastructure and all of those things, the schools, the kids. It doesn't matter," he said.

"The horrible thing about politics is that, the more they attack each other, the more that they try to derail each other, the worse it is for the people. That's why ... you know, you've got to go beyond just the principles. You've got to go and say, 'What is right for the country right now?'" Schwarzenegger said.

A New York Times Editorial lays it out even more directly:

Imagine yourself jobless and struggling to feed your family while the governor of your state threatens to reject tens of millions of dollars in federal aid earmarked for the unemployed. That is precisely what is happening in poverty-ridden states like Louisiana and Mississippi where Republican governors are threatening to turn away federal aid rather than expand access to unemployment insurance programs in ways that many other states did a long time ago.

What makes these bad decisions worse is that they are little more than political posturing by rising Republican stars, like Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina. This behavior reinforces the disturbing conclusion that the Republican Party seems more interested in ideological warfare than in working on policies that get the country back on track.

It is useless explaining to these pouting - or posturing - Republicans that their obstructionist behavior amounts to, at the very least, a serious breach of patriotism. More realistically, many in the GOP are demonstrating an outright betrayal of their pledge to serve the people.

Republicans aren't serving the people's interest if they stand in the way of legislation that will help us keep our homes, jobs and get affordable health care. There is simply no way to spin this that doesn't make them look like heartless, selfish, partisan politicians.

What we need right now are leaders. The rest can shut up and sit down -- the election is over, and we don't want to hear anything they have to say unless it is about helping our nation and suffering people recover. They certainly had their chance - they blew it on an epic scale.

This stimulus is only going to be successful if we all get behind it and push for it. Demand it. Insist on it. Lean on our congressmen and senators - weekly, if necessary. Remind them that their only hope for re-election depends on cooperation, and that we're watching them right now, and we WILL remember how they voted when our interests were on the line.

Recovery.gov... check it out.

Communication, technology... AND transparency?

Our communication cup runneth over.

After Bush's secrecy, this is a bit overwhelming... but impressive. Recovery.gov is now live. Government transparency lives (probably like never before... but then we've never been this jaded and suspicious before. Bush and Cheney tried to hide their every move, no doubt because most of them were illegal.)

This will be a hard act for any future president to follow. Communication and accountability. Clinton did a pretty good job at this, but Obama is putting all of those community organizer skills into play and using all of the new internet technology (well, all except releasing state secrets via twitter...)

Our nation (sans the grumpy holdouts) is now one big community. And we're organizing.

I recall watching sadly as the White House website took a major nosedive after Clinton left office. In fact, it was pretty well non-existent. W had nothing to say to us. I believe it was several months - at the very least - before someone must have mentioned to Bush that he might want to at least put a few 'feel good' stories about the presidential dog on the vacant site.

Its nice to have a new president that talks to us like fellow adults and citizens.

I hear our grandparents had a president like this. In fact I've listened to his famous fireside chats. I turned to them on a number of occasions during the Bush Administration, reaching back in time for some historical comfort.

I haven't done that since January 20th. I don't have to. This president uses YouTube!

Presidential Address

We're going to get these every week!

I read the news today - oh boy (ongoing)

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 -- 8:45 AM ET
-----

Bush Calls Plan to Invest $250 Billion in Banks 'Essential'

President Bush, speaking from the Rose Garden Tuesday before the markets opened in New York, called the government plan to invest up to $250 billion in banks essential to help assure stability in the financial system. The president described the government's new proposal, which includes a guarantee on new debt issued by banks and other measures, as "unprecedented and aggressive."

Excuse me... I'd like to ask a question, if I may. Is this $250 billion of which you speak part of the $750+ billion we already gave (had taken from us;) or is this to be an additional $250 bailout added on to the first?

And while you're bailing out Wall Street CEOs and bankers, I can't help but notice that your party doesn't want any part in developing a modest ($300 billion) bailout plan for us. Yes - a teeny-tiny $300 billion slice (of that trillion pie that we're paying for already) that would actually help the citizens who are footing this 'unprecedented and aggressive' Wall Street/Banker bailout.

What - not even a crumb for us?

A House Republican aide quickly dismissed a $300 billion stimulus package as "even more irresponsible and ridiculous" than the smaller packages Democrats have previously discussed. Republicans are particularly resistant to spending federal money on "a huge public works plan" or "bailing out states who spent a lot more money than they should have," House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Sunday on ABC News's "This Week."

In a letter yesterday to Pelosi, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) laid out an alternative plan for stimulating the economy that includes cutting taxes on corporations and capital gains, as well as some new provisions that Democrats said could form the basis of a compromise. Boehner's tone, however, was far from conciliatory.

"Nothing currently being discussed by the Majority as 'stimulus' will stabilize the economy long-term," Boehner wrote. "Our constituents are not looking at the mess in Washington or Wall Street and asking the federal government to take care of other governments. They are not asking for . . . pork-barrel spending masquerading as 'stimulus.'"

The White House had threatened to veto previous Democratic stimulus packages, though the rhetoric has softened as the economy has worsened. In recent days, White House officials have declined to comment directly on the proposals, noting that a package could not be approved until lawmakers return to Washington Nov. 17.

Oh yes - cut corporate taxes again. That will certainly help the people who are losing their jobs and homes. I'm surprised American corporations are still paying taxes; I thought the GOP let them off the hook years ago.

Besides, most corporations have moved offshore. We don't work for them. They wanted cheap labor, freedom from providing employee health care, freedom from unions and zero government oversight - freedom from responsibility to anyone but their shareholders. And in the wake of their mass defection, many American citizens are now unemployed.

How are we expected to buy these Walmart 'goods' now flooding in from China - the lead-filled toys and poisoned food - if we don't have wages or homes in which to keep them?

At least bow to simple logic, if not to patriotism and compassion.

Oh and please remind us once again, because we've forgotten: why would we vote Republican in this election? Are you going solely for the masochist vote this time?

FDR Fireside Chat: Economic Recovery Plan

This is what a president looks like.

"We are on our way, and we are headed in the right direction." - FDR



Note that FDR is halting family farm foreclosures. Bush hasn't lifted a finger to help the people being tossed out of their homes (and neither has congress.) It took an angry sheriff in Chicago to do that.

My God we need real leadership - compassionate leadership - in this country. In spite of everything that they went through... our grandparents were so lucky to have had a president like Roosevelt. I'm envious.