Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

General Motors Is Alive – a reminder


| By ThinkProgress War Room

The article below was posted in October 2012

The Rescue of the Auto Industry — By the Numbers

At the height of the financial crisis, some people, including Mitt Romney, said we should “let Detroit go bankrupt.” And Bain Capital was one of the many private investors that refused to invest in the auto industry when it stood on the brink of collapse.

Fortunately, President Obama saved the U.S. auto industry and now it’s roaring back. For example, just today we learned that General Motors is adding another 2,000 jobs in Michigan. These jobs are coming to Michigan as part of larger effort to insource thousands of jobs at the world’s largest automaker.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s a look at the auto rescue — by the numbers.

  • More than 1 million: Jobs saved by the auto rescue.
  • $85 billion: Totalspent by the U.S. government on the auto rescue.
  • $60 billion: Amount the government will likely recover.
  • $7.2 billion: Savings to taxpayers from reducedunemployment, Social Security, and other benefits in 2009 and 2010.
  • $97 billion: Estimated losses in personal incomes prevented by the auto rescue.
  • 26 percent:Remaining stake (of the initial 61 percent stake) held in GM by the government.
  • 0: Number of Chrysler shares currently held by the government.
  • 167,000: Number of jobs the automakers and their suppliers are forecasted to add by 2015.
  • 2.5 million: Number of people employed by the U.S. auto industry today, up from 2.3 million in August 2009.
  • 3.3 million: Cars and light trucks sold by GM and Chrysler in the past 12 months, up from 2.9 million in the previous period.

Figure 1

BOTTOM LINE: Mitt Romney said to “let Detroit go bankrupt,” but we didn’t do that and now the auto industry is helping to fuel the recovery in states across the country, particularly Michigan and Ohio.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed

Leading GOP voter suppression expert says voter IDs laws are “a favor” for poor people.

Big Bird stars in a campaign ad and he greeted Mitt Romney today in Iowa.

Leading Democratic Senator says we “ought to scrap” tax reform that lowers tax rates.

After one Arkansas Republican lawmaker called slavery “a blessing in disguise,” another suggests that Jesus condoned it.

Mitt Romney’s tax plan: defeated by arithmetic. (Again.)

Another fail on foreign policy from Mitt Romney.

Billionaire CEO threatens to fire employees if Obama wins.

Buckle up: Super PAC spending is about to explode.

Australia’s female prime minister delivered a blistering speech on sexism and misogyny.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

1962- JFK’s address on Cuban Missile Crisis shocks the Nation


In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F. Kennedy announces on October 22, 1962 that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites—under construction but nearing completion—housed medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C.

Kennedy announced that he was ordering a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island and explained that the United States would not tolerate the existence of the missile sites currently in place. The president made it clear that America would not stop short of military action to end what he called a “clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace.”

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

10/20 On this day


1774, the First Continental Congress creates the Continental Association, which calls for a complete ban on all trade between America and Great Britain of all goods, wares or merchandise. The creation of the association was in response to the Coercive Acts—or …read more

1803, the U.S. Senate approves a treaty with France providing for the purchase of the territory of Louisiana, which would double the size of the United States.

At the end of 18th century, the Spanish technically owned Louisiana, the huge region west of the Mississippi that had once been claimed by France and named for its monarch, King Louis XIV. Despite Spanish ownership (to say nothing of Native Americans who had inhabited the area for generations), American settlers in search of new land were already threatening to overrun the territory by the early 19th century. Recognizing it could not effectively maintain control of the region, Spain ceded Louisiana back to France in 1801, sparking intense anxieties in Washington, D.C. Under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, France had become the most powerful nation in Europe, and unlike Spain, it had the military power and the ambition to establish a strong colony in Louisiana and keep out the Americans.

1947 Congress investigates Reds in Hollywood On October 20, 1947, the notorious Red Scare kicks into high gear in Washington, as a Congressional committee begins investigating Communist influence in one of the world’s richest and most glamorous communities: Hollywood. After World War II, the Cold War began to heat up between the world’s two… read more »

1962, the White House press corps is told that President John F. Kennedy has a cold; in reality, he is holding secret meetings with advisors on the eve of ordering a blockade of Cuba. Kennedy was in Seattle and scheduled to attend the Seattle Century 21 World’s …read more