The Obama Administration was gung ho to brag about the GM IPO last year. But if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time the White House has bragged nationally about jobs created thanks to the auto bailout (Ron Bloom, who got promoted into an official Assistant to the President role at the beginning of [...]

I have long argued that the way to address the big problems our government is currently all-but-ignoring, not least jobs and climate change, is to talk about how our current policies put us at significant national security risk. If nothing else, by demonstrating how these are national security issues, it’ll provide a way to reverse [...]

Welcome to the start of the 2011 Formula One season. Today we look at the state of the F1 circus at the start of the campaign and take a look back at the memorable 1961 championship season for Phil Hill as well.

Let me say at the outset that the GM bailout was far, far better handled than the bankster bailouts. And as a Michigan resident whose family still has ties to the auto business, I am tremendously grateful for that bailout. That said, this is why I have not declared mission accomplished, in spite of the [...]

I’ve long said that, after the big military-industrial-complex states outside of DC (which have, after all, benefited from 10 years of big stimulus), MI is the state that has most benefited from Obama’s economic policies. Not only did Obama bail out GM and Chrysler (and therefore many of the contractors that supply them), but he [...]

In Trash Talk, bmaz wrote about a “lunchpail” Superbowl, pitting two teams named after people who make things against each other: the Steelworkers versus the Meatpackers. And the game ended appropriately, with a team owned by the people of a small city, having gone to a monstrous stadium as much a tribute to one arrogant [...]

Since Ron Bloom–IMO, the most effective member of the Auto bailout team–got named the special advisor for manufacturing in September 2009, those of us insisting the country has to reinvest in manufacturing have argued Bloom should get more power to make that happen. At least in theory, his imminent promotion to Assistant to the President [...]

As promised over the weekend before I realized I had forgotten my Toobz, I wanted to compare the behavior of two bailout recipients, the UAW and the banksters. A number of people have pointed to this intriguing interview about the Korea Trade deal with the UAW’s President Bob King. In addition to confirming my math [...]

I woke up this morning and tried to do a post comparing how the UAW acts after getting bailed out with how JPMorgan Chase does. But then I realized I forgot my Toobz chez Prince-town. That’s probably just as well since I’m supposed to be packing all weekend. So consider this an open thread until [...]

800 jobs in exchange for losing 159,000 jobs–that’s the math the UAW has done.