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Promises, promises

If only I was a American voter – what wonderful things I would be get for voting for the correct person.

Former Governor Romney has been busy for weeks telling everyone that he will restore “every job” lost in the Michigan Auto industry if they vote him – and not by anything difficult like taking away the government granted power of the United Auto Workers union. No, all that is needed is more taxpayers money for scientific research and ‘Mitt’ Romney’s own management skills if he becomes President. After all there is no basic difference between a business enterprise and the government, so if one can run a business one can “run the country”, right?

Senator Hillary Clinton has added another 150 billion Dollars of government spending on top of the all the other hundreds of billions of Dollars the Senator has already promised – again if only people will vote for her.

And it is only January. What will the candidates be promising by November – eternal life?

27 comments to Promises, promises

  • Anaughn

    It’s not eternal life, but Clinton’s promising to cure cancer and diabetes- essentials for any miracle worker. There’s no reason to think her magical powers won’t spill over into the everlasting.

  • Ian B

    …and every day will be the first day of spring, and, and…

  • Bod

    … a unicorn in every pot …

  • nd not by anything difficult like taking away the government granted power of the United Auto Workers union.

    Certainly not, considering unions are much stronger in other car-producing nations.

    Just as a reminder that we’re libertarians, not corpotarians:

    “The Chrysler Corporation on September 7, 1979 petitioned the United States government for US$1.5 billion in loan guarantees to avoid bankruptcy. * * * Congress reluctantly passed the “Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979″ (Public Law 96-185) on December 20, 1979 (signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on January 7, 1980), prodded by Chrysler workers and dealers in every congressional district who feared the loss of their livelihoods. The military then bought thousands of Dodge pickup trucks which entered military service as the CUCV. With such help and a few innovative cars (such as the K-car platform), especially the invention of the minivan concept, Chrysler avoided bankruptcy and slowly recovered.

    In February 1982 Chrysler announced the sale of Chrysler Defense Inc., its profitable defense subsidiary to General Dynamics for $348.5 million. The sale was completed in March 1982 for the revised figure of $336.1 million.”

    Those damn unions!

  • Nick E

    . . . and a pony for every boy and girl . . .

  • I thought it was cancer and autism – now it is diabetes too? Hallelujah!

  • Ian Bennett

    I believe that eternal life is in the gift of Mike Huckabee.

  • Johnathan Pearce

    Romney sounds a total creep. He may even win.

  • Lee Kelly

    This is what you get in an unconstrained democracy. Sickening, whe you consider what fulfilling these “gifts” entails.

  • Ian B

    To be honest I can never tell these Republican candidates apart. Is Romney the religious nut, the religious nut or the religious nut? They all look the same to me.

  • Sunfish

    Yeah. Hillary will cure autism, diabetes, and breast cancer. She said so herself. But it’s really Obama who’s giving false hope, even though Obama hasn’t really said anything other than “I’m relatively young and cheerful and have good teeth.”

    On the plus side, Douglas Bruce finally has an elective office. On the minus side, he managed to step on his own genitals before even being sworn in.

  • Jacob

    The new trend is to set “goals” for reducing carbon emissions, for the year 2050. Some say a 60% reduction is the right goal, other insist on 80%. Any word on Hillary’s goals for 2050 ?

  • Ian B

    I’d imagine her main one is to still be president.

  • Nick M

    Eternal life under Clintonocracy.

    Truly the living will envy the dead.

  • Russ Mitchell

    You know, if anybody looks like they’re going to run as a repeat of Hoover… Romney certainly looks like it.

  • mike

    “You know, if anybody looks like they’re going to run as a repeat of Hoover… Romney certainly looks like it.”

    Eh? Would that mean you see W as a repeat of Calvin Coolidge? Wtf?!?! Even a canadian wouldn’t think anything like that!

  • Andrew Roocroft

    I believe it was Ronald Reagan who said “a government agency is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll see on this planet.”

    On a similar note, I found these interesting figures on LewRockwell.com, showing votes to date in the four Republican states that’ve voted so far. Seems to weaken the case – especially after his 5th place finish in Michigan, despite his aggressive promotion of Reagan-conservatism in the recent debate – for Fred Thompson over Ron Paul as the ‘popular’ small-government candidate.

    Romney – 443,139 Total Votes – 36.89%
    McCain – 361,546 Total Votes – 30.10%
    Huckabee – 207,308 Total Votes – 17.26%
    Paul – 84,554 Total Votes – 7.04%
    Giuliani – 50,925 Total Votes – 4.24%
    Thompson – 49,198 Total Votes – 4.10%
    Hunter – 4,567 Total Votes – 0.38%

  • Frederick Davies

    What will the candidates be promising by November – eternal life?

    Eternal life is what the American voters are going to need to pay for all this!

  • Paul Marks

    Mr Roocroft, I would say that Fred Thompson is more of a Goldwater Conservative than a Reagan Conservative.

    He would never say so of course – but back in the day, Fred Thompson was not wildly pleased with Reagan’s record on government spending as Governor of California and did not think he would do much about the entitlement programs if he became President.

    Of course, one must draw a sharp distinction between Ronald Reagan as flesh and blood person and Ronald Reagan as a symbol.

    However, you are correct – although Thompson did not campaign in Michigan he did do badly.

    As for Ron Paul.

    A lot of his appeal rests on his “I can stop the war” line.

    It will be so easy – just pull out of the Middle East and the radical Muslims (Sunni and Shia) will not strike out the most powerful infidel power any more.

  • Paul Marks

    Alas my computer never sent the reply to Joshua Holmes – I would not like anyone to think I had neglected him.

    I was under the impression that the United Auto Workers union supported the Chrysler bail out Joshua – free market people opposed it.

    As for auto corporations generally.

    I rather doubt your theory that the decline of the auto industry is a cunning corporate plot.

    The “bottom line” is as follows.

    If you want to save Michigan – then smash the U.A.W.

    If you do not want to smash the U.A.W. – then forget about Michigan.

  • Paul Marks

    How does one “smash” the United Auto Workers union?

    One repeals the pro union statutes – and then hopes that the auto company managers grow backbones.

    The job can not be done for them. The managers at such firms as Ford and G.M. have to say “we are going nonunion – if you want to be in a union go work someone else” no more “democratic votes” or whether a factory is union or nonunion.

    I doubt that modern managers have the backbone – but repealing the pro union laws would give them the chance (the chance to save the auto industry).

    “Unions have less influence in other countries”.

    Sure – unions in Japan have “more” power in the auto industry than the U.A.W. does.

    Anyone who believes that is wildly mistaken.

  • Sunfish

    Paul,
    I think you overestmate the UAW’s role in ruining Michigan.

    The Big Three sell crap. It doesn’t matter whether the crap is assembled by a UAW member or a nonmember, the simple fact is, they don’t have anything to offer that’s worth buying. Their products age and fall apart far too quickly.

    Mysteriously, Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, Kias, etc. don’t have the same short service lives, even when they’re made in the US by US workers. While the Japanese makers are typically nonunion, I suspect that’s correlation without a causal relationship.

  • Paul Marks

    Sure high taxes (local, State and Federal) have played their part.

    As have the crazy regulations – for example the “anti trust” ones that forces out Du Pont for General Motors.

    But the auto industry was lost right back when Henry Ford lost to the U.A.W.

    The “Wild Wheel” (of G.G.) was over.

    As for Detriot (only part of Michigan I know).

    The wild spending and other “reforms” did not save it from the riots of 1967.

    The people owned their own houses and had good jobs (I have neither).

    But they choose to riot anyway.

    So guess how much sympathy I have for their suffering now.

  • kentuckyliz

    Automaker leadership won’t take on making MI an open shop state, they’ll move operations to open shop states.

    MI will be an empty shell (moreso than it is now).

    Who wants to live in Detroit anyway? If you are being raped or murdered, and call the police, they might respond within 48 hours. Yikes.

  • Paul Marks

    My language seems odder than ever. For example, I should have written that the anti trust regulatiuons forced Mr Du Pont out of General Motors.

    Kentuckyliz is correct – if Michigan stays how it is, companies will continue to move to other States. If they stay in the United States at all.

    And whilst Detroit is only part of Michigan it is the most dangerious major city in the United States.

    Almost needless to say Mitt Romney’s plans for more taxpayers money for “scientific research” will achieve nothing.

    Again almost needless to say the nameless ones who write for the “Economist” in Britain left out Romney’s offer of more subsidies in their report on his win in Michigan.

    The “Economist” and “Mitt” Romney – they are very similar, both pretend to be pro free market and are not.

  • james of england

    Sorry, was offline for a while, in Nevada.

    The big ways that Romney wants to promote jobs in Michigan are by cutting taxes, promoting free trade that reduces other countries’ tariffs, and not having ghastly CAFE and other environmentalist laws destroy the auto industry.

    There’s a subsidy, too, which is basically the cheapest way of dealing with global warming. Doing nothing is not, politically, an option. Subsidising research at least avoids doing much harm.

    Still, for the most part his message in Michigan was free market and libertarian. Seriously, you guys need to read up on his positions and not take your lead from the MSM.

    His tax cuts should be particularly appealing here, including a removal of payroll taxes from people working over the age of 65. The rhetoric may be hokey, but the substance is good.

  • Paul Marks

    James of England.

    I envy you visiting Nevada – actually I have been invited to a wedding there, but is very expensive and I am getting too long in the tooth to travel now.

    Being stuck in an airport (or even on an aircraft) for endless hours and dealing with crazy security measures are not something I can really face.

    As for Mitt Romney.

    The only American television station I watch every day is Fox News – and they are hardly anti Romney.

    I listed his spending plans because I believe him on that.

    I did not list his promises on tax cuts and dergulations because of his record as Governor of Massachusetts.

    No reduction of taxation or deregulation there.

    Lots of “fees” and new programs (such as his universal health care “going away present” to the Commonwealth).

    In short I believe Mr Romney when he says he will do something bad, I do not believe him when he says he will do something good.

    This extends outside the fiscal realm – for example I have no problem deciding which set of his statements on “gun control” I believe.