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113 Comments
Study Finds Link Between Red Wine, Letting Mother Know What You Really Think
CHICAGO—Health experts have long known that drinking red wine can have such positive benefits as reducing blood vessel damage, lowering the risk of heart attack, and preventing harmful LDL cholesterol from forming. But researchers at the Northwestern University Department of Preventive Medicine have recently found that the consumption of four to six glasses of red wine, most notably at dinner or a family function, may be linked to totally going off on one’s mom.
According to a study published Monday in The American Journal Of Medicine, a previously unknown ingredient in red wine has been shown to cause a marked improvement of vocal clarity and emotional acuity—while reducing overall inhibition—after only four glasses.
During routine trials, subjects who imbibed five glasses or more showed a remarkable increase in specific mental functions, such as the ability to recall every time their mothers had been unsupportive of their boyfriends or husbands.
More completely fake science at:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/study_finds_link_between_red_wine?utm_source=onion_rss_daily
I’ve always heard that red wine mixed with PMS is the “witches brew” and I’ve proved that theory on more than one occasion…just ask my husband.
“Obama Recession. my ass!”
US Diluted Loan Rules Before Crash AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents.
”Expect fallout, expect foreclosures, expect horror stories,” California mortgage lender Paris Welch wrote to U.S. regulators in January 2006, about one year before the housing implosion cost her a job.
Bowing to aggressive lobbying — along with assurances from banks that the troubled mortgages were OK — regulators delayed action for nearly one year. By the time new rules were released late in 2006, the toughest of the proposed provisions were gone and the meltdown was under way.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Meltdown-Ignored-Warnings.html
Good morning, all!. db
DavidB beat me to it!
Worst President Possible royally tried to ruin America through his undisputed command of sheer ignorance.
He ignored terrorist attack warnings, he ignored what country actually attacked us, and he ignored a building economic crisis for what?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
President Bush and his followers are traitors to America.
Here, here, order in this court!
Bailiff, …..
WHACK HIS PEE-PEE!!
See me at MiamiCountyOpinion.com
A MODERN PARABLE . .
A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (Ford) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.
On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.
The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.
Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.
They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.
Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team’s management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents, and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the ‘Rowing Team Quality First Program,’ with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.
The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year’s racing team was out-sourced to India.
Sadly, The End.
Here’s something else to think about:
Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can’t make money paying American wages.
TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside theUS. The last quarter’s results:
TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.
Ford folks are still scratching their heads.
IF THIS WEREN’T TRUE, IT MIGHT BE FUNNY.
StevenEDavis
Posted November 28, 2008 at 10:30 pm | Permalink
Anti is a troll. That is all he (maybe she) has ever been. Has he/she ever provided anything substantive to a thread? Of course not.
He/she has admitted to requiring attention like some/many trolls do? Absolutely!
He/she/it is a troll. QED…
My guess is that Anti’s penis is really, really small. Killers of defenseless animals, almost always have very small genitals…
Night, fukhead…
======================
Steven,
Let me know when your balls drop, then maybe we can have an adult conversation.
IGNORE ANTI.
NURSE RATCHED, GIVE ANTI A DOSE OF THORAZINE PLEASE.
I think someone’s “wife” isnt giving out enough belly rubs. It’s a known cause of extreme trollness.
KFG, didn’t we have an agreement?
RP_McMurphy
Posted December 1, 2008 at 8:51 am | Permalink
IGNORE ANTI.
NURSE RATCHED, GIVE ANTI A DOSE OF THORAZINE PLEASE.
————–
Just give me nurse Ratchet.
The times article (2 pages) is way too long for the bushies, have to boil it down to one word for them, ACORN!
Obama announcing his Natl. sec. team. Looks like Hillary is going to have her work cut out for her.
The all look like excellent choices, with maybe only gates ranking as good.
A new day is dawning for America.
KFG, this is getting boring.
Could you sing some John Prine to liven it up?
How about “Chocolate Jesus”?
Hillary…with her vast international experience, including ducking imaginary bullets at an airfield.
*sigh*…..
OOPS….that’s a Tom Waits tune.
Man, that lobotomy must have “kicked in”.
Randle Patrick,
Crazy as a Loon!
So I’m up here in the north woods
Just staring at a lake
Wondering just exactly how much
They think a man can take
I eat fish to pass the time away
‘Neath this blue Canadian moon
This old world has made me crazy
Crazy as a loon
Lord, this world will make you crazy
Crazy as a loon
John Prine
;-)
RP_McMurphy
Posted December 1, 2008 at 7:03 am | Permalink
Here, here, order in this court!
Bailiff, …..
WHACK HIS PEE-PEE!!
===========================================
Ummmm would that be judicial order from Thailand?? Perhaps?? Capital of Thailand??
Steven,
Let me know when your balls drop, then maybe we can have an adult conversation.
*****
Please cut and paste an example of you having an “adult conversation” with anyone.
Can’t be done, can it? Stand by my speculations and now return to my policy of ignoring trolls. Thank you for playing, and good luck.
Trolls (noun): Loosely defined in the WEblog sub-culture as one who does not toe the Democrat idealogy and gives back what is received.
Hud,
Re your column by Debra Saunders,
‘Why don’t op-ed’s get fact checked?‘
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2008/11/why-dont-op-eds-get-fact-checked/
Officially, the current recession began in December 2007.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/US-recession-began-December-2007/story.aspx?guid={7DCF90E4-D61A-4014-83CE-45E938CD632C}
Excerpt from Salon.com:
Sympathy for Charles Graner
No one from the Bush administration has been held accountable for torture. But the guard from Abu Ghraib prison is still behind bars, and his family wants to know why.
By Mark Benjamin
Dec. 1, 2008 | PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The detainee held on charges related to the so-called war on terror is clad in an orange jumpsuit. His wrists are shackled to a leather belt cinched tight around his waist. A short chain connects his ankles, so he can only shuffle down the barren hallways of the prison, escorted by a guard at each arm.
He has spent more than 29 months in solitary confinement over the past four years, allowed out of his narrow cell during some of that period only to stretch his legs, alone, for one hour a day. In solitary, he has almost no contact with other human beings. He is allowed no radio, no TV and, in a disorienting twist, no watch or calendar to mark the brutal grind of passing time.
With so little stimulation, the brain begins to work against itself. Prisoners in solitary have described delusions, even hallucinations. It can drive a man mad.
“Karma really is a son of a gun!” says Charles Graner, infamous as the torturer of Abu Ghraib, in one of several letters he has written me from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he has been incarcerated since his conviction in January 2005 on charges related to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the U.S. prison in Abu Ghraib, Iraq. “Add a couple of years, change the color of my uniform and I find myself in the same position.”
You remember Graner, the alleged ringleader of abuse at Abu Ghraib who showed up in those harrowing photos back in 2004. He was the mustachioed man grinning eerily back at the camera, giving a thumbs up as he stood over the body of dead prisoner. The pictures remain some of the most notorious images from the war. He and other soldiers at Abu Ghraib forced prisoners into stress positions and frightened them with dogs, stripped prisoners naked, put hoods and women’s underwear over their heads. Graner, a 36-year-old reservist from Pennsylvania, faced 10 counts under five charges: assault, conspiracy, maltreatment of detainees, indecent acts and dereliction of duty. He was found guilty on all counts, except for one assault count that was downgraded to battery, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
After staring at the image of a naked, humiliated detainee with a bag over his head, it is easy to argue that Graner deserves whatever he gets. But Graner is now the only person involved in the Abu Ghraib scandal who is still behind bars. Of the eight other enlisted military personnel whom the Army tried and convicted in courts-martial in connection with the abuses, none is now in prison. (The sole officer who was tried was acquitted.) Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick, the other alleged ringleader, got eight years, but his sentence was commuted and he is out of jail. Pfc. Lynndie England is not in jail. Everyone but Graner is free.
Wow.
The CONs have been out in full force this morning.
Along the way of catching up on WE Blog, I copied this tidbit from “Mr_Kia.”
“Why is it that Democrats (liberals) in favor of Gay Marriage wish to turn exterminate conservatives who wish to allow them every right with the exception of marriage (and in many or most cases support civil unions for all citizens) but wish to find common ground with terrorists that would kill them for their homosexuality?”
Well. Ya can’t argue with that.
Because what the hell is that mish-mosh of word salad mean?!
Somebody who regularly participates in the discussions on this forum actually wrote the above and thought it contributed to the dialog.
Go figure.
You’re the second one who doesn’t see the irony in their views.
Go figure.
Heheheh. And kia is just one in a looooong line of cons too stupid to live. And too stupid to know he’s too stupid to live.
How’s the child custody thing going, kiahahahahah?
#
ksfarmgrrl
Posted December 1, 2008 at 11:39 am | Permalink
Heheheh. And kia is just one in a looooong line of cons too stupid to live. And too stupid to know he’s too stupid to live.
How’s the child custody thing going, kiahahahahah?
————————-
damn kfg, you have turned mean.
… and speaking of too stupid to live…
I see susan “you cant gamble but I can own bingo parlors” wagle lost today.
And kansas won!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!
http://www.kansas.com/news/updates/story/616075.html
That may not bode well for neufeld. Not that the bigoted o’neal would be any better. Just a better educated wingnut, but a wingnut still the same.
OMG, Joe the Dumber’s book is out! Rush to Amazon and get your order, he writes about American values!
“damn kfg, you have turned mean”
Yeah. Being on the sharp end of churchies and wingnut bigotry kinda does that to people…
Cant wait until I get to vote on them and their churches.
Child custody thing? Is that some kind of insult? Do you have me confused with someone else?
So you then deny you vilify conservatives and in some cases have suggested extermination of Christians because of their opposition to Homosexual Marriage?
Yet at the same time you support a foreign policy that would appease terrorist nations and those with religious beliefs that call for your execution?
Yea, I’m too stupid to understand that. You’re right.
#
ksfarmgrrl
Posted December 1, 2008 at 11:42 am | Permalink
“damn kfg, you have turned mean”
Yeah. Being on the sharp end of churchies and wingnut bigotry kinda does that to people…
Cant wait until I get to vote on them and their churches.
————————–
Yeah okay,
Well, just read kiahahahah’s posts and then decide why he has such a hard on for SRS and the courts.
“Yet at the same time you support a foreign policy that would appease terrorist nations and those with religious beliefs that call for your execution?”
You are insane. Please repost where I ever said that. It’s only in your own mind, which must be a very dismal place.
Please repost also where I advocated exterminating anyone.
Paranoid much?
The other day a judge ordered the release of seven illegally held ‘terrorist’ from gitmo, then to top it off an Iraq judge ordered America to release the Iraqi reuters journalist being held illegally without charges.
Just how is ‘Freedom to Reign’?
You are a Democrat. You support Obama. That says it all on your foreign policy beliefs.
You may not have called for violence against Christians yourself but many with your beliefs have made idol threats against the church yes.
Heheheh.
Kia, do you have to have a rear view mirror to backpedal that hard?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA
nitwit
Also, please post where I said I was a democrat.
I am not. And I have posted that here multiple times.
I am a liberal. Democrat? Not so much…
Kia acts like he/she has never read this blog before. I do not and have not supported obama. I supported Cynthia McKinney.
I did, however, oppose mcsame and his little dog bible spice.
So anyone who didnt vote for the repukes is a democrat?
heheheh> HAHAHAHAHHAAHAH.
“TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside theUS. The last quarter’s results:
TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses. ”
Amazing what you can accomplish in Right To Work states without union intervention.
Wagle lost
Neufield tossed
Who says there isn’t any good news.
Dennis
No Bailout for Big Labor
Friday, November 21st, 2008
Mark Mix, the President of the National Right to Work Committee, makes the case against a federal bailout of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union:
For decades, United Auto Workers (UAW) officials have wielded their monopoly power under federal labor law to negotiate wages, benefits and work rules for virtually all front-line employees of the Big Three, including union members and non-members alike. UAW bosses’ irresponsible exercise of their extraordinary, government-granted bargaining power, and Big Three managers’ unwillingness to resist outrageous Big Labor demands with fortitude, have played leading roles in rendering the firms uncompetitive.
And the UAW bosses’ stranglehold over the Big Three hurts not just employees of those firms, but all auto-industry workers in regions of the country, especially Michigan, where significant numbers of Big Three plants remain. As economist John Tamny noted recently in an op-ed for Investor’s Business Daily, in Michigan, GM’s “continued existence under weak management has served as a capital repellent such that capital and jobs will continue to flee the state if GM is saved with the money of others.” On the other hand, if the Big Three automakers go bankrupt, the U.S. auto sector and its employees will ultimately benefit, because bankruptcy will allow either Big Three managers themselves, under Chapter 11 provisions, or a future purchaser of the firms’ assets to get front-line employees out from under the UAW union monopoly so that they can be deployed far more efficiently.
Firms that currently furnish supplies for the Big Three and their employees would benefit enormously from having more stable commercial relationships with better-managed companies. Overall employment in the American auto sector would almost certainly resume growing in the wake of Big Three bankruptcies.
Mr. Obama, Mr. Reid and Mrs. Pelosi would have Americans believe that autos and trucks can’t be manufactured profitably in the United States any more, so in order to save jobs the industry has to be converted into a taxpayer-subsidized utility – perhaps even led by a presidentially appointed “auto czar.” Their premise is pure bunk. Today, Toyota, Honda and other non-Big Three, nonunion manufacturers employ more than 110,000 Americans, mostly in right-to-work states, where forced union dues and fees are prohibited, and are proving you can still make money building cars in the United States.
Big Labor and Big Labor puppet politicians are desperate not to protect American employees, whose fortunes do not depend on the Big Three, but rather the UAW union monopoly over GM, Ford and Chrysler auto assemblers.
Even more than they fear the potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in union dues every year, union bosses fear the example Michigan would set when its long-dormant economy sprang to life in the wake of the collapse of the UAW’s forced-unionism empire.
Americans who instinctively oppose another massive industry bailout shouldn’t allow the self-interested claims of union officials, feckless Big Three CEOs and their propagandists to cause them to second-guess themselves. Instead, they should call their senators and congressmen today through the congressional switchboard (202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121) and urge them to oppose the Obama-Reid-Pelosi Big Three bailout on all votes.
Posted in Forced-Dues for Politics, UAW
I suspect that all states should be “Right to Work” states. However, I also think that Union Bashing should be ended… We still believe in freedom, right?? Well, maybe some more than others….
Newly released U.S. Census Bureau
data confirm that the 22 Right to
Work states are equally attractive to
college-educated and non-college
educated employees.
From 2000 to 2007, Right to Work
states as a group benefited from a
whopping 26.8% increase in the number
of people, aged 25 and up, holding at
least a bachelor’s degree.
Over this seven-year period alone,
Right to Work states’ increase in the
number of college-educated residents
was greater by a third than the
aggregate increase of the 28 forcedunionism
states.
Right to Work states protect
employees from being forced to join or
pay dues or fees to an unwanted union
as a condition of employment.
These states’ manifest success in
creating opportunities for collegeeducated
employees discredits the
p r emi s e o f s ome we l l – k n own
academic “specialists” in economic
development, such as Dr. Richard
Florida, that the needs of collegeeducated
and non-college educated
employees differ radically.
Studies Link Right to
Work Laws to Higher Real
Household Incomes
“Young employees, both those who
have college degrees and those who
don’t, prefer to live in Right to Work
states when they can because living
costs are lower and real incomes are
higher,” commented Mark Mix,
president of the National Right to
Work Committee.
Mr. Mix noted that between 1996 and
2006, the total number of Right to Work
state residents in the 25-34 age bracket
increased by nearly 1.5 million, or 10.0%.
Meanwhile, the population aged
25-34 in non-Right to Work states fell
by 1.4 million, or 5.6%.
“Such data clearly show that there is
a huge net migration of young
employe e s of a l l educ at iona l
backgrounds out of forced-unionism
states and into Right to Work states,”
Mr. Mix concluded. “And the reason
why is no mystery.”
Unions oppose Math and Science improvements for our children:
“Mi s s o u r i GOP
gubernatorial nominee Kenny Hulshof
became the latest well-known office
seeker to propose rectifying his state’s
shortage of math and science teachers
by offering applicants higher pay. His
campaign literature states:
“As governor, Kenny will work to
attract 1500 new math and science
teachers to our state by offering an
incentive of $3000 to every new math
and science teacher who demonstrates
excellence” in his or her field.
“At a cost of $4.5 million, these
teachers will help prepare Missouri
students for the 21st Century economy.”
Committee Fights Teacher
Union Monopoly Bargaining
Practically as soon as Mr. Hulshof
announced his plan, Otto Fajen, a
lobbyist for the NEA union’s Missouri
arm, made it clear the union hierarchy
would oppose it, tooth and nail.
And because Missouri National
Education Association union bosses
wield monopoly-bargaining power in
some of the largest school districts in
the state, they will likely be able to
block Mr. Hulshof’s teacher-pay
proposal even if he is elected governor
despite their forced dues-funded efforts.
“The counterproductive single salary
schedule is a major example of why the
National Right to Work Committee is
fighting to block the spread of teacher
monopoly-bargaining laws, and ultimately
aims to repeal all such laws that are
already on the books,” said Committee
Vice President Doug Stafford.”
Right to work.
Riiiiigggghhttt.
Right to get s*crewed by the man, that’s what it is.
If it wasn’t for griping about the unions holding out for a living wage for their members, RWers wouldn’t have anything to do.
Dennis
My vocation has no Union… yet, we do have a couple of bargaining chips… Health/Medical Insurance; Pension contributions; Group Life; Vacation time; Sick leave….
However, Salary & Housing/Housing allowance are totally open to negotiation… It works pretty good for most of our folks… not so good for a few….
There is also room for some negotiation on Health/Medical, and Group Life…. And negotiations open on Con. Ed. leave time/funds.
I would think that other vocations should look into this type of system as well… It provides a wide ranging set of needs, but still makes each negotiation truly individual..
YellowdogLiberal
Posted December 1, 2008 at 12:25 pm | Permalink
Right to work.
Riiiiigggghhttt.
Right to get s*crewed by the man, that’s what it is.
If it wasn’t for griping about the unions holding out for a living wage for their members, RWers wouldn’t have anything to do.
Dennis
————————————————–
Living wage my ass. Most union members (especially in our community) are making far more money than I am.
UFW is the only union in my opinion working for true rights not running their industries into the ground.
So, Kia… what is your definition of “living wage”???
“Wagle lost
Neufield tossed”
heheh. HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!
Not that mikey o’neal will be any better than neufeld. He’s just not quite as big a hick, but o’neal is just as big of a wingnut.
Chas
Posted December 1, 2008 at 12:39 pm | Permalink
So, Kia… what is your definition of “living wage”???
—————————————————-
It’s certainly relative.
In a community like Wichita, with a median home price of just under $140,000. Mortgage in the neighborhood on that of $800. $30,000 a year would be a living wage in the median range to be comfortable.
That’s $15.62 a hour.
You know many union workers making less in our community?
Was that an average wage?
“. Most union members (especially in our community) are making far more money than I am.”
And you vote con?
I think you just admitted to being an idiot.
” I think you just admitted to being an idiot.”
heheheh.
I think he was the last to know…
No it’s my response to the question of what a living wage would be.
Just took a median home and estimated monthly mortgage on it in our area to come up with a comfortable living wage.
Uh oh.
Another “last one to know” moment.
“$30,000 a year would be a living wage in the median range to be comfortable.
That’s $15.62 a hour.
You know many union workers making less in our community?”
ksfarmgrrl
Posted December 1, 2008 at 1:03 pm | Permalink
Uh oh.
Another “last one to know” moment.
—————————————————
?
I make what I make based on personal choices. I’ve made more, I’ve made less.
Either way I don’t see that stealing from my boss or owner of my company is going to help me make more in the future.
Kia, is that $30,000 taking into account property taxes, utilities, housing insurance, car insurance (+ possibly car payment), transportation costs, costs for children’s needs (or perhaps you have none)…. Just wondering….
“If it wasn’t for griping about the unions holding out for a living wage for their members, RWers wouldn’t have anything to do. Dennis”
I’d say: With Congress about to use MY tax dollars to subsidize the unions “living wages” by golly I have every RIGHT to to complain.
“The latest — but by no means the last — supplicant at the public trough is the auto industry, which wants a bailout to save jobs because its cars are not selling. There is a reason for that, and it can be summed up in five words: the United Auto Workers union.
Half of the $50 billion the auto industry wants is for health care for its current and retired employees. This is the result of increasing UAW demands, strikes and threats of strikes unless health care and pension benefits were regularly increased. In the past UAW settled for some benefit decreases while bargaining with the Big Three U.S. automakers, but the Wall Street Journal reported in September 2006 that “on average, GM pays $81.18 an hour in wages and benefits to its U.S. hourly workers.” Those increased costs, including the cost of health care, were passed along to consumers, adding $1,600 to the price of every vehicle GM produced.
In February 2008, after General Motors offered buyouts to 74,000 employees, the Center for Automotive Research estimated the average wage, including benefits, for current GM workers had dropped to $78.21 an hour. New hires pulled down a paltry $26.65. GM, now facing a head-on collision with reality, has taken an important first step toward fiscal responsibility by announcing the elimination of lifetime health care benefits for about 100,000 of its white-collar retirees at the end of this year.
Contrast this with nonunion Toyota, whose total hourly U.S. labor costs, with benefits, are $48 per hour. Those lower labor costs mean Toyota enjoys a cost advantage over U.S. automakers of about $1,000 per vehicle. Is it any wonder that Toyota is outselling American automakers, and from plants that have been built on U.S. soil?”
CAL THOMAS
I would think it a big mistake to use Bailout $$$$ for salaries, instead of design, development, technology, to build better, smarter greener cars…. IMO
Chas
Posted December 1, 2008 at 1:14 pm | Permalink
Kia, is that $30,000 taking into account property taxes, utilities, housing insurance, car insurance (+ possibly car payment), transportation costs, costs for children’s needs (or perhaps you have none)…. Just wondering….
—————————————————-
Property tax is included in the mortgage I estimated Yes. (Based on a 10% down payment btw which I don’t think you can get into a home with less anymore unless it is VA or FHA).
The mortgage accounts for just less than 1/3 of the gross. So Yes, living within one’s means it is a livable wage.
“GM pays $81.18 an hour in wages and benefits…”
That’s $169,000.00 in annual salary and benefits.
Living wage my butt.
Well, Kia, looks pretty tight, but yes, I suppose livable… again, depending on family size, and other fringe costs…
American_Way
Posted December 1, 2008 at 1:21 pm | Permalink
“GM pays $81.18 an hour in wages and benefits…”
That’s $169,000.00 in annual salary and benefits.
—————————————————-
I’m sure alot of that is tied into health and retirement. But certainly a lot more than livable in the Detroit metro area.(median home there is $126,000).
You only get that $81.18 / hr. if you include the pension and health benefits of RETIRED workers… added to the CURRENT workeres, but divide just by the number of CURRENT workers… Otherwise it comes out to a WHOLE lot less…. I believe that factcheck.org solves the problem better…
Don’t give the big tired old automakers a dime.
American taxpayers would be better served to give the money to the profitable Japanese American Automobile Manufacturers.
“American workers for an estimated total of 62,594 U.S. plant employees by 2008. Our members (including distributors) and their dealers today employ 431,738 Americans in 25 plants, 36 research facilities, 7,050 dealership franchises and additional distributor offices.
American workers in our members’ American plants produced nearly 3.5 million American-made cars and trucks in 2005, an increase of 10% over 2004. Our purchases of U.S. auto parts have kept pace with this growth in production. Our American parts purchases were $48.44 billion in 2005, reflecting growth of 7% over 2004.”
This is growth. This is growth in American jobs. This is growth in American cities.
Fund JAMA not GM!!!!!
You want a positive return on our tax dollars, right? RIGHT?
Even Lars Larson retracted his $81/hour figure on his program over the weekend…
At least the auto makers, you know, MAKE something.
Who SHOULD have been left to twist in the wind is the damned finance companies and all their rich damned holders.
Some critics have taken aim at the automakers’ hourly labor costs, which average more than $70 for senior workers, including wages and the value of benefits like pensions and health care.
Those costs run closer to $46 an hour at nonunion plants like Toyota’s factory in Georgetown, Ky., and are even less at newer plants farther South, where foreign automakers have pegged wages closer to local rates.
NYTIMES
BlueJay
Posted December 1, 2008 at 1:35 pm | Permalink
At least the auto makers, you know, MAKE something.
===============
What do you make, BlueJay?
Harry Stoffer
Automotive News
December 1, 2008
“Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., a moderate hoping to help Detroit, told Automotive News the UAW will have to join auto executives in making sacrifices. Likely to be targeted by Bond and other Republicans: the Jobs Bank — the UAW equivalent, in the public’s mind, of corporate jets.
Management, workers and investors are going to have to make sacrifices if they truly want to turn around their companies enough to earn taxpayer help,” Bond told Automotive News last week in an e-mail message.
The Jobs Bank requires the Detroit 3 to pay nearly full wages to hourly workers who have been laid off.
The Jobs Bank costs the Detroit 3 automakers $478 million a year, estimates Mark Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan-Flint. Even if that program is eliminated, the union may be asked to accept additional concessions to fulfill Congress’ notion of shared sacrifice.
Himanshu Patel, an auto industry analyst with JPMorgan, calculated the concessions necessary for GM to break even at an annual industry sales rate of 13 million vehicles.
Patel assumed that financial concessions would be split evenly between GM’s unions and creditors. With that in mind, he concluded that average wage-and-benefit costs would have to drop from $60 an hour to $44.”
I won’t argue that the figure of $81 an hour does/doesn’t include retirees costs. But that is just part of it. The figure DOES include benefits paid to current employees with rosy healthcare packages.
Regardless: If you want my tax dollars to pay them, they have to take a cut too. It’s not just the CEO who is overpaid here. And it will take more salary adjustments than just management to become profitable.
I’d say let them fail. Let something new arise out of the pile. Let the many other American auto manufacturing plants pick up the slack.
“I’d say let them fail.”
Your opinion is noted.
Reality is likely to be at odds with it. Get used to that. Lotta more coming.
What do you make BJ, bird houses?
Litter Critters?
Let the automakers go the way of the airlines.
More good news! Layton accepted city offer and contract negotiations have begun. The good news is we don’t have to worry about Buchanan coming back the way a bad penny has a habit of doing. Now we can move forward and see if Layton has the stuff to get the job done.
“American_Way
Posted December 1, 2008 at 1:48 pm | Permalink
…I’d say let them fail. Let something new arise out of the pile. Let the many other American auto manufacturing plants pick up the slack.”
The other American auto manufacturing plants like Hyundai, Mercedes, Toyota…
“American_Way
Posted December 1, 2008 at 1:48 pm | Permalink
I’d say let them fail. ….”
Do you have any money in a 401(k)? Anyone that has money in a 401(k) or mutual fund has a direct stake in the Big 2 (not counting privately held Chrysler).
BTW – 80% of Chrysler is owned by Cerberus Capital Management.
Cerberus takes its name from the “mythological three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hades.”
Three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades / Big Three Automakers…. hmmmmm
lindalinks55: Under that blue moon is the largest assembler and producer of autmotive goods and services in North America. Ontario produces more than Michgan with 3 of the top 5 rated plants for quality situated there, all either GM or Ford making the about same wage and benefits as here, Japanese or American design. The Big 3 makes good cars with good mileage, but Americans won’t buy them for some reason, we still hustle after the gas guzzlers which makes up an inordinate amount in their revenues. If the Big 3 were to abandon that market, they’d get criticized for so doing. A more than decent % of top quality rated units in 2007-08 are Big 3 vehicles, for after gas went started to go out of sight a few years ago the Big 3 turned around and produced more efficient cars almost immediatley, a miracle in that trade. If they had abandonded their biggest selling units before that, they would exhibit the type of stupidity they have been accused but certainly not guilty of. The problem is money brought on by Wall St., who have made it almost impossible for credit to be extended for dealers (thence the consumer) to re-supply their lots. The only engineering problem Detroit has is engineeded by criminal fund managers and banks. The Japanese producers have the same problems but are partially subsdized by their home markets and that is not reported in the US press. I recall Ford being first with all the current safety feature such as bigger brake lights, back-up lights, visible turn inidcators, seat belts, padded dashes and shock absorbing stearing columns….and got creamed and criticized for putting driver saftety first. Funny how we forget the improvisation America produces once the vultures start flying.
Toyota and every major manufacturer is reeling from the downturn brought on first by gas then by financing. I’d venture those foreign owned companies are feeling it less because of their various subsidations from their home countries. If we do abandon the American companies, the foreign makers will fill the void with help from their govts.
Once the crisis is then over, they can manufacture anywhere their hearts desire, and will have a captive market here in the U.S.
Auto worker wages; The $70 – $80 number “earned by the average auto worker” is a contrived and misused figure.
Auto companies take their total ‘labor’ expenditure, which includes the pensions for current and former workers, insurance, actual wages paid, and whatever else they can throw in there, then divide that figure by total hours worked by all union labor.
No one gets that as their pay.
The number is designed to make the union workers seem greedy and over-paid, rather than family men and women earning a good living and able to send their children to college and live a good life.
When you see the words “the average union auto worker makes”, watch out – it is a lie.
From the UAW website:
In 2006 a typical UAW-represented assembler at GM earned $27.81 per hour of straight-time labor. A typical UAW-represented skilled-trades worker at GM earned $32.32 per hour of straight-time labor.
From the UAW website:
In 2006 a typical UAW-represented assembler at GM earned $27.81 per hour of straight-time labor. A typical UAW-represented skilled-trades worker at GM earned $32.32 per hour of straight-time labor.
—————————————————-
That’s a pretty solid living, especially in the Detroit metro area. Definitely in the upper middle range.
All this being said, the failure of the Big 3 doesn’t have as much to do with what they are paying employees as much as the building of an inferior product and the decision to continue to pump out gas guzzling SUV’s when gas was well above $3.00 per gallon.
I doubt any of the union employees were in on those decisions.
Nassau County, NY police will attempt to identify and prosecute the Long Island Wal-Mart shoppers who on Black Friday, in a blatant public display of greed and callous disregard for the value and dignity of human life, trampled to death a temporary Wal-Mart maintenance employee, Jdimytai Damour, 34, of Queens, NY, who was attempting to keep the front doors closed before scheduled 5 am opening, as hundreds lined up for holiday bargains. The savage shoppers also trampled those attempting to aid the trampled worker, hospitalizing at least 4 with injuries, including a woman 8 months pregnant. The out-of-control mob, after stepping on or over the dead man, also initially refused to stop shopping and leave the store after the fatal trampling, complaining they had stood in line for hours.
Do you think Christmas has become too secularized?
Perhaps what America, or at least Long Island, really needs is to be cursed with a failing economy.
- – -
In another breakthrough in ethical adult stem cell research, again being ignored by the pro-abortion media, a living bandage of adult stem cells used to treat sports injuries might make knee and hip replacements obsolete.
Meanwhile, useless, unethical embryonic stem cell research, touted as the “gold standard” of medical research by the fraudulent Obamanation readying to divert your precious tax money from highly successful adult stem cell research, still cures nothing, and likely never will.
- – -
“I’m not going to close the hospital, you’re going to arrest me, go right ahead. You’ll have to drag me out, go right ahead. I’m not closing this hospital, we will not perform abortions, and you can go take a flying leap.”
. . . Bishop Paul Loverde of the Roman Catholic diocese of Arlington, VA, spouting defiance in advance of Obamanation’s Freedom of Choice Act forced abortion bill, which if enacted would be a frontal assault on the First Amendment
Ran across this. Another day, another boondoggle.
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http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/e85-boondoggle-of-the-day-government-flex-fuel-mandates-increased-fuel-consumption/
The Washington Post notes a lesson in unintended consequences: a US government initiative to reduce gasoline consumption has been a miserable failure . . . Problem was, replacement flex-fuel vehicles had larger engines in their predecessors and often ran on gasoline, usually due to difficulty obtaining E85. For the 2008-2009 period, fully 61% of vehicles had exemptions to run on gasoline. The mandate resulted in flex-fuel vehicles purchased for Puerto Rico and Hawaii, where E85 pumps don’t exist as it’s quite expensive to ship large quantities of ethanol. In some locations, said pumps are nearby but don’t accept government credit cards. So, despite all good intentions, the result is an increase in government gasoline consumption.
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Is anyone remotely surprised by this?
“useless, unethical embryonic stem cell research” ?????? who glued that ridiculous combination of words together????
“current employees with rosy healthcare packages” ???? ROSY??? you mean, like they have good healthcare coverage? Shame Shame on them! WHAHAHAHAH
“forced abortion”?????? whahahahahahh!!! Who made that up???
“GMC70″ on how the Bush Administration administrated –
“Is anyone remotely surprised by this?”
Since Republic Party candidates think “…government is the problem,” perhaps they should find another line of work.
If I think Fords are terrific and Chevys suck, perhaps I shouldn’t go to work selling Chevys. Unless I’m a sociopath.
If I believe pharmaceuticals are poisoning everyone, perhaps I shouldn’t become a pharmacist.
Hey! I think acupuncture is worthless! So pick me to stick pins in your spine!
Or hey! I’m a vegan and object to eating any animal-derived foodstuff. I’m opening up a steak house!
It makes just as much sense to vote for a Republic Party candidate. They want power in the worst way and that’s how they wield it.
C’mon, CONs.
Hurricane Floyd in 1999 was every bit as devastating as Hurricane Katrina. But FEMA, under the administration of President Clinton, responded to the challenge.
Under Shrub, in the response to Katrinia, Brownie did “a heckuva job.”
There are plenty of libertarian types who think this very big nation needs a tiny impotent government.
We liberals know better.
It isn’t government that’s the problem, it’s the people who’ve been running it for the past 8 years.
Government is a given.
And government should work for a living.
Heh. Monkeyhawk. I can relate to that post. My undergrad degree is in Finance with an emphasis in Banking.
And I left banking after three years and never looked back. A little thing called cognitive dissonance got in the way.
That and, well, having a soul…
As usual, MonkeyHock pulls some figures out of his backside in a totally unqualified statement: “Hurricane Floyd in 1999 was every bit as devastating as Hurricane Katrina. But FEMA, under the administration of President Clinton, responded to the challenge.”
Katrina caused twenty times the amount of damage that Floyd did and over a larger area.
There are more facts, but you get the picture. Katrina dwarfed Floyd in size, intensity and impact.
What a dope….
I think I have a solution that the cons cannot rationally argue against.
Though it would have mattered little, I AM sorry I did not offer it before the election.
The single, greatest way, that you are part of government is when you vote.
SO, logically, people who hate government should not participate in it. They should demonstrate their opposition to government by NOT voting.
Attention readers, attention.
Get outside just as soon as you can and see a beautiful celestial display in the southwestern sky.
Ya got your crescent Moon (don’t freak cons, it’s not a Muslim thing) and the planets Venus and Jupiter all within a few degrees of each other. Very pretty.
Yeah J. It’s really beautiful, isnt it? Striking.
It’s nice out here without any light pollution.
If it wasnt so damn cold, I’d set up the telescope. Not that it’s needed.
Gotta take a walk. Too many trees here to get a good look.
Yeah I bet it IS impressive without the city light pollution.
Um, MH, you might want to, like, READ before opening mouth and inserting foot.
The failed mandate was a CLINTON era mandate.
Ooops.
Gov’t may indeed be a given. It is, after all, as Madison put it, a reflection on the nature of man. But Madison & Co. also understood the nature of governments. And gov’ts of unlimited authority (such as we now in effect have) will inevitably screw up what they seek to accomplish – even assuming the best of intentions – and eat up our liberties in the process. It is the nature of the beast.
And they will paternally pat us on heads as they do so and tell us it is for our own good.
I do not hate government, indeed, given what I do, I cannot, of course. It is a quite necessary institution. But neither do I worship at the feet of the state, as does much of the left.
“worship at the feet of the state”???? whahahahah!!!!!
So many cliches, so little time….
“GMC70″ spews –
“… gov’ts of unlimited authority (such as we now in effect have) will inevitably screw up…”
A “government of unlimited authority?”
President Obama will bring back a government which bases its authority on, y’know, the Constitution.
No warrant-less wire taps, no more denial of habeas corpus, no more imprisoning perceived enemies and giving them no legal recourse.
Just which of your liberties, “GMC70,” do you expect to be eaten up.
Be specific.
Give details.
#
BlueJay
Posted December 1, 2008 at 6:47 pm | Permalink
Attention readers, attention.
Get outside just as soon as you can and see a beautiful celestial display in the southwestern sky.
————
Agreed BlueJay,
I spent the nights this weekend gazing at the beautiful night sky far from artificial light.
I just saw that triangle formed by the crescent moon and two planets, presumably Jupiter and Venus, in the southwestern sky. Saw them from the Quik Trip gas pumps near Seneca and Douglas in Delano. I agree. That was a tremendous astronomical sight, perhaps the best I have ever seen.
“Get outside just as soon as you can and see a beautiful celestial display in the southwestern sky.”
Much like the The Star of Bethlehem and the Magi.
Jupiter underwent two occultations (”eclipses”) by the Moon in Aries in 6 BC. Jupiter was the regal “star” that conferred kingships – a power that was amplified when Jupiter was in close conjunctions with the Moon. The second occultation on April 17 coincided precisely when Jupiter was “in the east,” a condition mentioned twice in the biblical account about the Star of Bethlehem. In August of that year Jupiter became stationary and then “went before” through Aries where it became stationary again on December 19, 6 BC. This is when the regal planet “stood over.” – a secondary royal portent also described in the Bible. In particular, there is confirmation from a Roman astrologer that the conditions of April 17, 6 BC were believed to herald the birth of a divine, immortal, and omnipotent person born under the sign of the Jews, which we now know was Aries the Ram. Furthermore, the coins of Antioch and ancient astrological documents show that there was indeed a Star of Bethlehem as reported in the biblical account of Matthew.
Just as surely this current event is a sign from God that our nation has been blessed by the Messiah’s return as the One Obama.
What a bunch of sacreligious crap!!
The significance of the birth of Christ is the beginning of His fulfillment of the law. The bloodline of Mary is traced back to King David and Joseph eventually to the original Eden and Adam and Eve. Pure blood united brought together with God’s own original seed.
The significance of the half-white half-black President, the crossing of the bloodlines fulfills the completeness of Man. Obama’s father, coming from the original Eden, from the lost tribe, and real Jesus Christ lineage – crosses with the pure blood from the white mother of Obama.
The prophecy is foretold in the stars, and in the blood of the new Messiah.
Praise the Lord! Obama in His image brings God above to earth and His man again.
sky. Saw them from the Quik Trip gas pumps near Seneca and Douglas in Delano
Great significance can be made of the alignment of the stars with the gas pumps.
It is another sign.
The original Star, was followed through the deserts of the middle east as the magi came to find the Christ child.
The oil in the middle east is shared by the gas pumps here in Kansass, and stand mightly as an appepeture to view the latest Christ Star.
Praise Obama!
good night; good luck; god bless —-
whatever you conceive god to be!!
blessings ALL!!
blessings on this Advent Season!!
so mote it be!!
Here is hoping Saxby ( who the hell names a kid that outside of the south?) loses tomorrow.
It’s midnight REAL Americans, and another day closer to victory. Remember. Progressives and liberals move America forward. Republicans hold us back and hoard the wealth to themselves.
“Change” you can believe in:
“Michelle Obama is to receive this £20,000 thank you from her husband for her support during the election.
The Harmony ring is made of rhodium – the world’s most expensive metal –and encrusted with diamonds. It is being hastily made by Italian designer Giovanni Bosco in time for January’s inauguration ceremony.
Only about 25 tons of rhodium are mined each year, mostly in South Africa, and as a result its price is typically around £5,000 an ounce”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1090653/Barack-Obama-buy-rare-20-000-gold-ring-wife-say-thanks-support.html
Ten Minutes that’ll upset a lot of WE Bloggers –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RV46fsmx6E
heh-heh
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