WARNING:  THIS IS A DEPRESSING POST!!!  And yes, I will be rambling.

I couldn’t believe that General Motors admits to use US bailout money to invest $1B in a plant in Brazil.

This is the second time GM took taxpayer funding; apparently, it did not encourage smart business practices or at least smart business practices in the US (what can they do, the Union is the monkey on their back here!).   Apparently, GM feels is is more productive to invest in non-union areas…hmm…so what do we do?  The government votes to strengthen the union stranglehold on American companies.

Tell me why should we prolong the failure of a crappy business?  Regarding failing companies I like SC Governor Sanford’s advice regarding the economy: “let’s get this thing over with, let’s not drag it on.”

Speaking of crappy businesses, here’s a rather sad opinion article in the Washington Post from a small business owner who laments not having customers because they can’t afford his product.  He wishes for the government to supply his would-be customers so that his business can survive.  OK, so we are going to create false demand for products that wouldn’t exist on their own merits? Um…not with my money!   My grandfather, God rest his soul, told me stories of how the government would call him at home and ask him to take farm subsidies.  He would always decline and reiterate his belief that if you can’t make a living doing what you are doing, then you should find another way to make a living…because you suck at what you are doing now!

I admit that I haven’t read the Stimulus Bill in its entirety.  I keep hearing/reading bits and pieces and those bits and pieces scare me!  For example, our government (at least most House Democrats and our President Obama) believe the Stimulus Package, HR-1, will make health insurance easier for employees after layoff via a massive expansion of COBRA .

The Department of Labor describes the “benefits” of COBRA as such:
“COBRA provides certain former employees, retirees, spouses, former spouses, and dependent children the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at group rates.  This coverage, however, is only available when coverage is lost due to certain specific events.  Group health coverage for COBRA participants is usually more expensive than health coverage for active employees, since usually the employer pays a part of the premium for active employees while COBRA participants generally pay the entire premium themselves.  It is ordinarily less expensive, though, than individual health coverage.”

**DOL’s last statement is laughable, as it applies to those who are very unhealthy.**

The typical yearly COBRA payment is $12,000/yr.  Instead of $12k/yr, the proposed stimulus provides allows an ex-employee to pay only $4,200/yr. So, you have two guesses as to who is paying for the balance and how.  Ultimately, the government foots the bill; this means YOU, unless the US Government is gathering funds from secret bake sales across the Sudan.  However, it also means increased costs to all businesses; this sucks for the ones.

Workforce Management reports that this

“means employers could have as little as two weeks to make the necessary administrative changes to be able to comply with the law by the time health care coverage decisions take effect, as they normally do, at the beginning of each month.

The mechanics of complying with the law appear to be straightforward: An involuntarily terminated employee who chooses to extend coverage would pay 35 percent of the total cost of his or her health insurance; the employer would cover the rest. Employers would then deduct that amount from the payroll taxes the company wires to the Internal Revenue Service the following pay period.”

I do not own a small business, but I can only imagine what kind of administrative nightmare that this imposes on them. Woopty frigging do that the companies get this back almost immediately; it’s an unnecessary burden to put on any business when they are already hurting.

Because the ex-employee will be paying $4,200/yr, they have little incentive to find more affordable plans…which are out there!  More folks are going to feel like they cannot make it without the government and become slaves to the dole.  I’m guessing that the more than $30B for this program is going to look like chump change if it rolls out in its entirety.

In case you guys haven’t seen it, here is the entire exchange between Joe the Plumber and Barack Obama. Watch the whole thing and listen carefully as Obama explains to Joe why he had to work too hard to get where he is, but because of where he is Obama has to make sure that the businesses coming behind him (his competition, for instance) shouldn’t have to work so hard:

Then Obama adeptly (God he’s good) leaves the audience with the impression that “Hey, he might even pay LESS in taxes because he’ll get that Capital Gains tax break.” What a bunch of poppycock. It’s a plumbing company. The odds of his having any real capital gains (other than possibly real estate) is almost NILL until he sells the company. Obama knew better than to think he’d convince Joe with this shell game (”Think back ten years ago”–HA), but he did manage to convince the sycophants in the audience.

And again, I’ll say, neither Obama nor McCain has any real economic acumen, but it’s obvious from this little exchange that Obama feels that the Government should be the arbiter of how much money is too much money, and how successful is too successful, and how much hard work is just too much hard work. Punish ability and reward need. It’s Marxism at its best, and as Mr. Marx himself said, it all starts with a heavily progressive income tax.

To further illustrate the point, listen to Joe Biden tell us that he doesn’t have any Joe the Plumbers in his neighborhood:

The only people that are important to Joe the Biden is Joe the cop, Joe the teacher, Joe the whatever. Joe the Plumber is not important, because Joe the Plumber can create his own job. Joe the Plumber should be taken for all that he is worth (I can hear it now, “it’s only a few thousand dollars–he can afford it!”), so Joe the whatever else can feel that much more grateful to Uncle Sam for his well being.