Obama visits WI tomorrow

[Y2Kvert4me]

Somehow, after This decision, I don't think he'll feel very welcomed here.


Kinda hits close to home for me, as the company I work for indirectly supplies a lot of material that eventually ends up at Bucyrus, the Milwaukee manufacturer of the mega-giant draglines, shovels, trucks, and other huge mining equipment. This was a substantial contract for them, effectively tossed out the window, simply because it's not a "green" project.


The sole purpose of the Gov't-run ExIm Bank is to help US manufacturing productivity and sustain/create US jobs by funding these sorts of projects in other countries in exchange for them using US-supplied materials. This project met all the bank's required criteria, but was denied anyways....to quote WSJ "Because of Administration's anticarbon obsessions".

Guess what treehuggers, that India powerplant is still getting built whether we help them with it or not.

[thegreenman]

Unbelievable, seems like this administration is going out of its way to ruin this country.

[Y2Kvert4me]

Looks like this will appear in tomorrow's Wall St Journal. It sums it up a little better.

(I'm quoting it, because linking to it doesn't show you the whole article w/o subscribing).


The Bucyrus Travesty

The manager of a Milwaukee custard stand on Friday asked Joe Biden for lower taxes in return for dessert, and the Vice President told him not to be "a smartass." Perhaps on his own visit to Wisconsin today, President Obama will have a better answer for the latest blue-collar casualties of his Administration's anticarbon obsessions.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Export-Import Bank denied loan guarantees to Reliance Power Ltd., an Indian utility building a coal-fired power plant near Sasan, India. Bucyrus International Inc., a South Milwaukee-based manufacturer, was ready to export some $310 million in mining equipment—and about $600 million over three years—but Reliance's order was contingent on the favorable financing rates provided by the Ex-Im guarantee. Reliance cancelled the order Monday morning and will reboot with Bucyrus's competitors in China or Belarus if the bank doesn't reverse in the coming days.

The Reliance-Bucyrus deal met all of the Export-Import Bank's qualifying criteria, including the tougher environmental and CO2 standards that the White House has imposed over the last several months. But the bank nonetheless rejected the project in a 2-to-1 vote under pressure from the Treasury and State Departments. "We were absolutely flabbergasted and shocked," Bucyrus CEO Tim Sullivan told us in an interview.

According to Mr. Sullivan, the decision was reached because the "carbon footprint" of the project is too large, though the Ex-Im Bank has published no objective guidelines to quantify that judgment. "President Obama has made clear his Administration's commitment to transition away from high-carbon investments and toward a cleaner-energy future," Obama-appointed Ex-Im Chairman Fred Hochberg said in a statement. After "careful deliberation," he added, the project's "adverse environmental impact" made it untenable.

Those deliberations can't have been too careful, however, given that the Sasan plant is already under construction and is scheduled to open in 2012. The coal to feed it will still be mined, and demon carbon will still be emitted. The only difference is that an American business, and the 1,000 or so people who work there or for the companies in its 13-state Midwest supply chain and were depending on the project, will no longer benefit.

We've long opposed the Export-Import Bank, which was established to aid U.S. manufacturing exports with loan guarantees, when the market is a better arbiter of the allocation of capital. Then again, the bank is the prototype for Mr. Obama's agenda of politically directed credit, which makes the Bucyrus decision especially revealing about White House priorities.

In February, for instance, the Administration approved a $528 million low-cost loan to Fisker Automotive, which plans to build a luxury hybrid car that will sell for $48,000 before Uncle Sam's $7,500 tax credit. Fisker's plant is in Mr. Biden's hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

In other words, the White House is happy to subsidize "green jobs" at a company that hasn't proven it can compete commercially. But it refuses to subsidize the export-related jobs at a globally competitive U.S. company like Bucyrus because they involve coal, which despite Washington's distaste will remain the workhorse of U.S. and world energy supply for decades to come.

The Bucyrus travesty is a preview of the consequences of the cap-and-tax program that Democrats are still trying to ram through Congress, and the peculiar income redistribution that it entails: taking from the middle class that depends on coal for jobs and power and giving to politically connected investors and the affluent who can afford to pay $40,000 for a car. Maybe Mr. Obama will explain to Bucyrus workers today why they are less deserving than Fisker Auto's.

Idiots.

[ChasC5]

Look at the bright side … in just a few months, the Republicans can gain back the majority.

Then they will have all the power to do everything they said they could do over the last 18 months and everything they didn’t do when they had control for the last decade.

Sorry ... that was way too easy.

[1TZSLO]

It's funny how tons of non-legislative people have great opinions and no options to fix things. I myself am not a great political person and dont keep up with up too much but I know things arent right and I still wonder why we have people in congress that do not listen to the PUBLIC! Lots of us one here have a voice that it seems prolly 3/4 of of the us agree with but yet why does congress not listen? I am sure some of you have opinions on how to fix it, I don't but I am just saying why do we Vote people into spots that we have no control over after they get there when as soon as they get there the politics take over and they forget the reason why we put them there.

I say we fire them all and put ChasC5 and Y2k in charge of congress and im sure **** will change.

[Y2Kvert4me]

Originally Posted by ChasC5

Look at the bright side … in just a few months, the Republicans can gain back the majority.

Then they will have all the power to do everything they said they could do over the last 18 months and everything they didn’t do when they had control for the last decade.

Sorry ... that was way too easy.

A little off-topic from the point of this thread, but the Dems have been the congressional majority since 2007.

[Munch]

Originally Posted by 1TZSLO

I still wonder why we have people in congress that do not listen to the PUBLIC!

Because the public aren't the ones making their wallets fatter, sending them on vacations, buying them prostitutes and god knows what else. The big companies are greasing these guys to vote for the companies interests. Personal gain are all these corrupt bastages are concerned with. And just to be fair, if some honest and truly concerned individual happens to obtain one of these coveted offices of power they will soon be overwhelmed by the almost insurmountable obstacles put in the way of true progress by the rest of the corrupt establishment and will succumb to the inevitable pressure, resign or go through their term making minor accomplishments if any.

[Y2Kvert4me]

Originally Posted by 1TZSLO

I say we fire them all and put ChasC5 and Y2k in charge of congress and im sure **** will change.

Trust me when I say I want nothing to do with that gig.

I really hate to argue politics, because I will fully admit I don't keep up with it on a daily basis, and those that do will always have the upper hand.


I posted one specific decision, one that may directly affect me, and one I do not agree with.
A decision very politically decided, even though it will negatively affect many in the US here/now/today, as opposed to saying who? it may benefit in the future.

In this specific example, the world outcome will still be the same, the only real ramifications of the decision was to exclude anyone in USA from benefiting from it. It gets no simpler than that.

[Z06PDQ]

Originally Posted by ChasC5

Look at the bright side … in just a few months, the Republicans can gain back the majority.

Then they will have all the power to do everything they said they could do over the last 18 months and everything they didn’t do when they had control for the last decade.

Sorry ... that was way too easy.

yeah. we can go back to discriminating against sick people & raise the retirement age to 70 & cancel all the unemployment benefits. put the banksters back in control of our economy & Beck's FEMA camps will be loaded with people who have lost everything. it'll be like a a new adventure.

[ChasC5]

I agree … it’s easier to sit on the sidelines and criticize … than to actually be part of the game. I had an old Boss once tell me early in my career, if you’re going to come in my office to ***** and complain, by all means feel free to provide a some solutions. At least that will show you’ve given the problem some thought first.

Here’s the point I’m trying to make, forget all about the perfect world, because we don’t live in that world and never have and never will. In reality, “LEADERS” don’t have all the answers, it’s the difference between “responsibility” and “accountability”; someone needs to physically do the work while someone provides direction, input and mitigate potential risks. All they really can do is provide direction and hope that the individuals responsible achieve the desired results. If anyone thinks career Politicians have all the answers to War Strategy or how to plug an Oil leak mile under water … then I have several bridges to sell you, built once and never crossed.

If we’re expecting them to have all the answers, why do we elect Lawyers?

[Peter Pan]

Originally Posted by Y2Kvert4me

A little off-topic from the point of this thread, but the Dems have been the congressional majority since 2007.

That was the big start of this current spending spree, put in Nancy and Harry, the libs have not seen anything they do not like to spend my $$ on and I hope the people in WI will not lose there jobs, have them apply for some of that trillion dollar stimilus that has kept unemployment to only 9.7% from before the handouts started under 8%

[ChasC5]

I knew a guy who once complained about his heating and cooling cost of his 4800 Square Foot Home.

Guys … it ain’t the Trillion Dollars that maybe spent in the years ahead that’s bankrupting the US, it’s the Billions a day for the last decade that’s doing the trick. Focus Grasshopper …. Focus … on what’s been going on under your nose year after year while you’ve been sleeping.

[Peter Pan]

Originally Posted by ChasC5

I knew a guy who once complained about his heating and cooling cost of his 4800 Square Foot Home.

Guys … it ain’t the Trillion Dollars that maybe spent in the years ahead that’s bankrupting the US, it’s the Billions a day for the last decade that’s doing the trick. Focus Grasshopper …. Focus … on what’s been going on under your nose year after year while you’ve been sleeping.

The new out of control spending is really helping, time to cut Govt, I know this will not happen, but as Americans we need to vote out all the long term residents in congress, put in term limits and get back to a surplus, will not happen over night, but we got to rein in the reckless spending that is now going on for my kids future, and I did not even go to my grand children or great grand children

[Z06PDQ]

time to shift the tax burden to where it belongs. the wealthy elite have been getting a free ride for too long. it's THEIR country too & it needs help. for decades they have been systematically taking our jobs overseas & replacing us with illegals while stuffing their wealth in overseas accounts to avoid taxes. most of this at a time of RECORD PROFITS. the Bush recession is what we should be calling this predicament we are in.

[Peter Pan]

Originally Posted by Z06PDQ

time to shift the tax burden to where it belongs. the wealthy elite have been getting a free ride for too long. it's THEIR country too & it needs help. for decades they have been systematically taking our jobs overseas & replacing us with illegals while stuffing their wealth in overseas accounts to avoid taxes. most of this at a time of RECORD PROFITS. the Bush recession is what we should be calling this predicament we are in.

I see all our current problems are still Bush's, 18 months into the Messiah's lack of leadership and it is still W's fault. The rich already pay well over 30% and depending on the state they live in 60% NY. How much do they need to pay so those making 30K do not have to pay any taxes, this is the situation my son is in, getting a free ride, he knows I do not agree with this at all, everyone who is working needs to pay something not just the middle income and the rich. We are running out of my money I am one of the 53% who pays taxes and the wealthly do not have enough $$ to prompt up the Messiah's, Nancy and Harry's spending. Profits are a good thing in America, because the Govt does not make a profit at anything, the Govt only spends $$ that the private sector produces. American Companies are evil, time to have the Govt do everything in America. Yes it is still Obama's fault that the ecomoy has not prospered under his trillion $$ stimilus and son of stimilus

[Z06PDQ]

link?

[ChasC5]

I’ll start comparing Obama to Bush once Obama has served two terms ... 18 months don’t equal a Presidency.

[Y2Kvert4me]

Back on topic...Well, well, well, what a coincidental update today.

This news hit about the same time Obama landed in Milwaukee...just minutes before facing a crowd of very angry people.

Export-Import Bank reaches deal in Bucyrus case - JSOnline

Gee, I wonder how that happened in such a timely fashion?

[Z06PDQ]

poor Obama...damned if he do & damned if he don't.

[Peter Pan]

Originally Posted by Y2Kvert4me

Back on topic...Well, well, well, what a coincidental update today.

This news hit about the same time Obama landed in Milwaukee...just minutes before facing a crowd of very angry people.

Export-Import Bank reaches deal in Bucyrus case - JSOnline

Gee, I wonder how that happened in such a timely fashion?

This is great news on the job front, now to make a real dent in all of the Americans unemployed at an affordable cost vs the 1.4 million per job saved or created under the stimilus plan, that would take 28 years to equal one job at 50k (avg wage) per year