Ignore all the gas crap and just look at how the stupid car buyer got taken to the cleaners:

If you traded in a clunker worth $3500, you get $4500 off for an apparent “savings” of $1000.

However, you have to pay taxes on the $4500 come April 15th (something that no auto dealer will tell you). If you are in the 30% tax bracket, you will pay $1350 on that $4500.

So, rather than save $1000, you actually pay an extra $350 to the feds. In addition, you traded in a car that was most likely paid for. Now you have 4 or 5 years of payments on a car that you did not need, that was costing you less to run than the payments that you will now be making.

But wait; it gets even better: you also got ripped off by the dealer.
For example, every dealer here in LA was selling the Ford Focus with all the goodies, including A/C, auto transmission, power windows, etc for $12,500 the month before the “cash for clunkers” program started.

When “cash for clunkers” came along, they stopped discounting them and instead sold them at the list price of $15,500. So, you paid $3000 more than you would have the month before… (Honda, Toyota , and Kia played the same list price game that Ford and Chevy did).

So let’s do the final tally here:

You traded in a car worth: $3500
You got a discount of: $4500
————-
Net so far +$1000
But you have to pay: $1350 in taxes on the $4500
————
Net so far: -$350
And you paid: $3000 more than the car was selling for the month before
—————
Net -$3350

We could also add in the additional taxes (sales tax, state tax, etc.) on the extra $3000 that you paid for the car, along with the 5 years of interest on the car loan, but let’s just stop here.

So who actually made out on the deal? The feds collected taxes on the car along with taxes on the $4500 they “gave” you. The car dealers made an extra $3000 or more on every car they sold along with the kickbacks from the manufacturers and the loan companies. The manufacturers got to dump lots of cars they could not give away the month before. And the poor, stupid consumer got saddled with even more debt that they cannot afford.

Obama and his band of merry men convinced Joe consumer that he was getting $4500 in “free” money from the “government” when in fact, Joe was giving away his $3500 car and paying an additional $3350 for the privilege.

Think this was stupid for those who were crazy enough to swallow this wonderful scheme?

Just wait until we get health care with no additional costs over what most of us now pay for health insurance and the best medical care in the world. Think that scheme might be designed by the same people who came up with Cash for Clunkers?

‘Al Gore, who art in thy fully offset private jet; Nobel-prized be thy name;  thy carbon-free kingdom come; on planet Earth (otherwise known as Gaia) as it should be after Copenhagen; give us this day our daily meat-free diet;  and forgive us our emissions, though we don’t forgive any other big fat Americans who emit against us; lead us not into exotic holiday flights; and deliver us from climate denial; for the science is settled. Amen.”

That lacks a certain resonance, I must admit; but now that a British judge has ruled that believers in man-made global warming catastrophe should be protected under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, we should try to come forward with some suitable prayers for this newly identified faith.

Mr Justice Burton, of the High Court, is the man behind the ruling. He found for a “sustainability officer” called Tim Nicholson, who claimed he had been made redundant by the property company Grainger because of his beliefs in imminent man-made climate catastrophe. To be precise, the judge did not say that Nicholson had actually been sacked for that reason; only that he had the right to sue for unfair dismissal under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations.

Why should Tim Nicholson (who looked sweet with his fold-up bicycle outside the High Court) have wanted to establish this as the reason for his dismissal? Possibly it was a desire to become an ecological hero; but I am equally inclined to see the hand of some very clever employment lawyers. In a “normal” redundancy, the departing employee is entitled only to a statutory minimum payoff together with anything already defined in his contract; but when a court finds that the employee has been sacked as a result of some form of discrimination, then there is no legal limit to the amount that can be claimed.

Read the whole thing

They hated Reagan. Said he was stupid. An actor with no depth.

Thought Bush One was OK but emphasized his tax pledge was a bigger deal than many others did.

They loved Clinton, mostly, but he was more conservative than they wanted.

They hated George W Bush. Bush Derangement Syndrome. Made fun of how he talked. Made fun of him as a dummy.

Of course the latest lampoon is targeted at Sarah Palin. Unfortunately there are a lot of So Called Republicans who should find themselves a home in the Democrat minority. I want them to go away. We want conservatives only. It’s time to clean house. The old ways no longer work. If we don’t have true patriots running for congress and the Presidency in the next four years we will continue to lose. As Rush continues to hammer home, we are at the core a conservative nation.

BUT when some guy with no published resume, with no experience in anything meaningful, with no background anyone can find and a guy with no spine shows up the left loves him. Now we are stuck with this empty suit. I wonder more about Obama’s legal qualifications and the University of Chicago’s decision to hire him as a lecturer at the law school, particularly since he lacked any significant legal writing. I can only hope that his tenure will be short. Very short.

I don’t get the left. They love the empty headed. Hate the concrete. I guess like equals like.

It’s time to stop being nice to PBHO. I’ve been far too charitable. Gloves coming off.

Not that we weren’t warned. These are the people who think there are 57 states, after all. These are the people. . . oh, well, what difference does it make now. Obama is president and he’s going to define the office for the next four years. He will leave it in shambles.

I was thankful that Bush was the kind of guy that defined etiquette in the oval office with respect, his a family that can sit behind an ex-president who witheringly insults them and still smile and shake hands. But restoring the dignity of the office after Clinton is nothing to redefining it after Obama.

What thought will need to be put into gifts for the English to indicate that we don’t, really, want to insult our ancient friend? How can we defend ourselves after the drawbridge has been laid down and the fortress disarmed? How can we find justice in a justice system so compromised?

As we have come to expect from this administration, the basic values of America (innocence before proven guilty, rule of laws and not of men) is not something they understand. As in certain political systems Solzhenitsyn described, there is no truth, just appearance.

What can you expect of an administration with people like Van Jones and with strong ties with organizations like Acorn? It is pretty sad. The bad news is that he is dividing the nation, the good news is that this is probably going to be his first and last term. I don’t believe any independents or republicans will ever vote for him again.

Inhabitants of the self-obsessed Beltway political world already have a beef with Sarah Palin’s new memoir, “Going Rogue.”

Political types in Washington make a show of turning up their noses at actually buying and reading such books, but familiar faces can regularly be spotted in store aisles anyway scanning for their names in the index. Sarah Palin’s book won’t have an index, denying Beltway habitués the instant gratification of knowing whether they are included. Instead, political and media types who want to know if they figure in accounts of her conflicts with the McCain campaign or with major news media personalities such as Katie Couric will actually have to buy the book and at least skim it.

Then Congress said, “How does the watchman do his job without instruction?” So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?” So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?” So They created the following positions, a time keeper, and a payroll officer, Then hired two people.

Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?” So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one Year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost.”

So they laid off the night watchman.

NOW slowly, let it sink in.

Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter.

Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY…. during the Carter Administration?

Anybody?

Anything?

No?

Didn’t think so!

Bottom line. We’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency…the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember!

Ready for the answer??

It was very simple…and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate. The Department of Energy was instituted on 8-04-1977 TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Hey, pretty efficient, huh???

AND NOW IT’S 2009—32 YEARS LATER—AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS “NECESSARY” DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. THEY HAVE 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES; AND LOOK AT THE JOB THEY HAVE DONE! THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, “WHAT WERE WE THINKING?”

Ah, yes—good ole bureaucracy.

HELLOOO! Anybody Home?

He that has ears to hear…let him hear!

In addition to writing her new book that comes out as a best seller in a few days, she has been doing more than baking cookies.

I guarantee she has been studying the issues.  She will not be blindsided again.  She has been coached and coached again on how to act, how to talk, what not to say and most important what to do when you get a Gotcha Question from Charlie Gibson.

I used to help train business people and politicians on how to handle themselves in front of the camera, on the platform, in front of a hostile audience and while in public.  It took days but they learned.  And, they are working on her Sarahisms.  “You betcha” for instance will be carefully if ever crafted into a speech.

Look at actors who’s normal accent is British or Australian (house and mentalist) yet when they speak it sounds like they are from Nebraska.

Sarah is NOT wasting time.  She is on the case and will make it happen.

So, relax.  Sarah will be fine and if you read this WSJ op ed you will see someone who believes as I do, Sarah will be fully ready to be POTUS in 2012.  Margaret Thatcher is her model.  Watch for Sarah to take a page from her playbook.

I am going to enjoy this. And campaign I will.

It seems to be all about timing. “Nine eleven” is the local time at which John Allen Muhammad died, Director of Communications at the Virginia Department of Corrections Larry Traylor said.
John Allen Muhammad joked his body would be kept “to make sure I’m dead”

Five minutes is the time it took for the cocktail of chemicals to work. He was given 15 to 20 seconds to make a final statement, but chose to remain silent.

Ashes to Ashes.  He’s gone… Good riddance.