Archive for the ‘Automobiles’ Category
September 8th, 2011 | 
Author: At U.N., Obama faces problems on larger stage
By Laura MacInnis WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, grappling with a poor economy and slumping approval ratings, faces problems on a larger stage this week at the United Nations, with challenges to his …
Publish Date: 09/19/2011 8:35
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/19/at-un-obama-faces-prob_n_969141.html
RealClearPolitics – Obama: Failing the Lincoln Test
Obama: Failing the Lincoln Test. By Michael Gerson. WASHINGTON — During his recent speech to Congress, President Obama gave Republicans this ideological glove to the face: "We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the …
Publish Date: 09/13/2011 3:00
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/09/13/obama_failing_the_lincoln_test_111312.html
What President Obama Inherited
Obama inherited a deep recession and financial crisis resulting from problems that had been building for years and those responsible include:
Borrowers and lenders on Wall Street and Main Street.
The Federal Reserve.
Regulatory agencies.
Ratings agencies.
Different presidents and Congress.
What Obama Will Bequeath?
Huge deficits.
Massive interest payments which could ultimately destroy the Republic.
Higher inflation.
A weaker dollar.
Pressure for higher taxes.
What Exactly Did Obama Enact?
An $825 billion stimulus package.
The Public-Private Investment Partnership to buy toxic assets from the banks.
Cash for clunkers.
The home-buyers credit.
The auto bailouts.
Five versions of foreclosure relief.
Numerous lifelines to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Financial regulation and health-care reform.
Energy subsidies.
Which Succeeded?
The auto bailouts?!
Even though a rapid private bankruptcy was preferable and GM and Chrysler are not yet de-nationalized successes, we can I believe, mark this up as a success.
Which Failed?
The stimulus bill cost an astounding $280,000 per job which is over five times median pay, as reckoned by the administration’s inflated estimates of jobs "created or saved", and much more using more realistic estimates.
Cash for clunkers cost $3 billion, just to shift car sales forward a few months.
The Public-Private Investment Partnership, despite cheap federal loans, generated 3% of the $1 trillion claimed, and toxic assets are still hindering some financial institutions.
The Dodd-Frank financial reform law institutionalized "too big to fail" amid greater concentration of banking assets and mortgages in Fannie and Freddie.
The foreclosure relief program permanently modified only a small percentage of the four million mortgages the president promised.
The economic records set on Mr. Obama’s watch are historic and no corporate CEO could survive such a clear history of failure.
Under The Obama Administration Watch:
The US experienced the first downgrade of sovereign U.S. debt in American history.
Relative to GDP, it now has the highest federal spending in U.S. history with the exception of the peak years of World War II
The highest federal debt since just after World War II.
The fraction of the population working is the lowest since 1983 and long-term unemployment is by far the highest since the Great Depression.
Job growth during the first two years of recovery after a severe recession is the slowest in postwar history.
Home-ownership rate is the lowest since 1965 and foreclosures are at a post-Depression high.
The share of Americans paying income taxes is the lowest in the modern era, while dependency on government is the highest in U.S. history.
Can Or Will Obama Recover From The Catastrophes?
Based on his present ratings in the polls and the fact that the economy has little or no chance of improving before the elections, one would have to say, "No he will not recover!".
And to make a comeback even less likely is the likelihood that the Obama administration will try to deliver more of the same things that failed.
Just fourteen years ago Obama was an active member of the New Party (read Communist) and he didn’t quit; it got shut down by the courts. Meaning that there is no reasonable chance that he will switch to anything like a free market economy, soon or ever!
Posted in 'bad bank', 2012, administration, aid, bailout, bubble, clunker, crisis, deficits, economy, Fannie Mae, financial crisis, Freddie Mac, politics, polls, president, presidential elections, stimulus package, TAR, TARP, taxes, toxic assets, US banking, US banks, US economy, vouchers, White House | 
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ALERT: FMCSA bans cell-phone use
fleetowner.com11/23/11
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration formally banned all hand-held cell phone use by commercial truck and bus drivers during the operation of their vehicles.
US DOT Bans Cell Phone Use By Truckers and Bus Drivers …
kansascity.injuryboard.com11/29/11
From the US Department of Transportation: U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced a final rule specifically prohibiting interstate truck and bus drivers from using handheld cell…
A comprehensive study, that was commissioned by the non-profit Governors Highway Safety Association, and funded by State Farm Insurance concluded that there is no conclusive evidence that hands-free cell phone use while driving is any less risky than hand-held cell phone use.
And it also suggests that there is no evidence that cell phone or texting bans have in any way, reduced crashes.
The findings come after nine states have imposed bans on hand-held cell phone use while driving, and thirty four states have imposed texting bans for drivers behind the wheel.
Despite the findings, The Governors Highway Safety Association does not recommend that restrictions on cell phone use or texting be lifted in any of the states where they presently exist.
But it does recommend that those forty one states which don’t ban talking on a cell phone hold off on enacting new legislation.
The study found, and suggests that:
Drivers are frequently distracted by any number of factors ranging from eating, to talking to texting, perhaps as much as 50% of the time they spend behind the wheel.
Drivers adapt by paying more attention to driving and and less to distractions, when the road risk level increases.
States should enforce existing distracted driving laws, but should consider that such enforcement takes away from other traffic enforcement efforts.
Two-thirds of all motorists reported using a cell phone while driving and about one-third of them routinely.
One-eighth of all drivers reported texting while driving, although observational studies during the daylight hours in 2009, suggested that only 1% of all drivers were observed to be texting.
In conclusion
The authors make a number of recommendations including;
Enacting a total ban of cell phone use for novice drivers.
A total ban on texting bans for all drivers.
Greater use of highway engineering solutions, such as rumble strips and automotive technological innovations which are said help reduce distracted driving accidents.
