One thing I’ve learned in the year I have spent tracking General Motors cum Government Motors (GM) - and all its Crony Socialist, green non-energy “energy”, flammable absurdities - is the fact that the car media are every bit the Leftist open-channel steno pool as are the political media.
And with President Barack Obama running for reelection in large part on the utterly failed “success” of the $85 billion auto bailout, the car and political media have by now achieved fully melded fusion.
The examples are myriad.
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The press in parrot-unison hail Obama for having “saved” the auto industry.
But always somehow fail to report that we have lost (at least) $23.6 billion on the (mis-ad)venture.
Or that Obama handed an additional $68 billion of our coin - to two companies with a combined market value of around $8 billion. How’s that for new math?
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The press in parrot-unison back Obama’s excoriation of Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney for suggesting GM and Chrysler file for bankruptcy.
But always somehow fail to report that Obama...had GM and Chrysler file for bankruptcy. Just as Romney recommended. But Obama did so only after handing them an additional $68 billion of our money. Which is not at all like what Romney suggested.
Correct me if I (and Romney) are wrong, but GM and Chrysler could have gone bankrupt - for free. Companies and people do it all the time - with especial frequency here in the Age of Obama.
Why did Obama hand them more than eight times their combined worth - before doing just what he’s criticizing Romney for suggesting? And why hasn’t the media asked - him, anyone - that question?
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The press in parrot-unison blithely called the Chevy Volt fire investigation closed - immediately after the Obama Administration did. An investigation which only looked at one Volt fire - involving a vehicle that had in government testing been involved in an accident.
But the press somehow failed to subsequently remember the (at least) five additional Volt fires - even though they initially reported on them.
It’s as if they have forgotten that the Obama Administration and GM covered up the Volt fire(s) for nearly six months.
It’s as if they have forgotten the two other Volt fires that took place during government testing.
It’s as if they have forgotten the two Volt fires that led to the government’s Volt investigation in the first place - involving a vehicle that wasn’t in an accident.
And it’s as if they have forgotten about a third non-accident Volt fire.
GM’s Volt fire “solution” - and the Obama Administration’s “successfully” “concluded” Volt investigation - did nothing to address these non-accident fires.
But once the Obama Administration declared the woefully incomplete Volt case closed - so too did the media.
Oh - and another Volt number you won’t hear is 0.001%. That’s the Volt representative percentage of the total number of cars sold in the U.S. last year (7,671 out of 6,089,422).
More Obama-GM “success” - that the media steadfastly refuses to report.
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Which is why this latest pro-GM reportorial deluge is so unsurprising in its repetitive pathetic-ness.
The press in parrot-unison are hailing GM’s just announced “record” 2011 profits of $7.6 billion.
But they are all somehow failing to report that Obama eviscerated bankruptcy law to rip-off bond holders and payoff union cronies - and allow GM to illegally carry forward $46.4 billion in losses, which they can now illegally use as a tax write-off.
It’s really easy to turn “record” profits - when you’re skating tax-free. And in the Age of Obama’s Class Warfare, we have to ask - is absolutely nothing GM’s “fair share?”
Let’s do some (old) math, shall we? Since, after all, the media won’t.
The U.S. corporate tax rate is a ridiculously high 39.2%. (The second highest on the Planet - for another six months, at which point Japan will lower theirs and leave us with the dubious distinction.)
For the sake of this discussion, let us play it straight and apply said absurd rate bereft of deductions to GM’s 2011 “record” profits.
39.2% of $7.6 billion is $2.98 billion - in taxes NOT paid by GM. Which means GM’s “record profit” - ain’t a record. It ain’t even close.
All of which the press has somehow failed to report.
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So we have experienced an Obama Administration-long press whitewash of the uber-failure that is the $85 billion auto bailout.
And with Obama hitching his reelect wagon to this auto bailout “success” - we can expect more of the pathetic media same.
So fasten your seat belts, Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s going to be a bumpy ride to November.
And for you 0.001%-ers out there - you’ve got ‘em, so smoke ‘em.
