They’re warning policymakers that thousands of office complexes, hotels, shopping centers and other commercial buildings are headed into defaults, foreclosures and bankruptcies. The reason: according to research firm Foresight Analytics LCC, $530 billion of commercial mortgages will be coming due for refinancing in the next three years — with about $160 billion maturing in the next year. Credit, meanwhile, is practically nonexistent and cash flows from commercial property are siphoning off.
Porkulus: No one wants to be the 60th vote
A group of Senate moderates working on an amendment to cut up to $100 billion in spending from the economic stimulus package have completed a tentative proposal that will be presented to Senate Democrats at a 5:30 p.m. caucus meeting, Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad told reporters. “There is a proposal that is sufficiently fleshed out and we will have a caucus and discuss it,” Conrad said after emerging from talks in Senate Majority Leader Reid’s office. Democrats hope the proposal, developed by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ben Nelson, R-Neb. [SIC], will attract several GOP supporters and be acceptable to all Democrats, which would allow for passage of the plan as early as tonight.
Harry Reid says he has enough votes for the Porkulus! Republican Susan Collins took the bait
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Thursday that he has enough votes to pass a more than $900 billion stimulus bill out of the Senate. Reid said he believes at least two Republicans of “good will” would support the Democratic-crafted package. “Do we have the votes? I believe we do,” said Reid, who expects a final vote on the package will be held on Thursday.
One of the two “Republicans” with the good will is apparently Susan Collins (is Olympia Snow the other?):
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine said Obama, in a meeting with her on Wednesday, had persuaded her that the ultimate bill should be “in the neighborhood of $800 billion.”
“The president did convince me,” she said, adding that she believed the two sides would reach a compromise on the Senate stimulus package on Thursday.
Mortgage entitlement in porkulus bill to cost at least $200 billion
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham supports an economic stimulus bill but said Monday the current version spends in the wrong places.“The underlying problem of the economy nationally and worldwide is housing,” the Republican said. “We have a lot of people in foreclosure and a lot more people heading toward foreclosure.” Graham is working on legislation to give all homeowners the chance to refinance their mortgages at 4 percent interest. That would cost the government nearly $200 billion, he said, but would stabilize the housing market when combined with a larger tax credit for first-time homebuyers.
500 million Americans will lose their jobs if Porkulus doesn’t pass, according to dumb as soap Nancy Pelosi.
Fear mongering at its finest, or just the stupidest thing ever said by a politican? Nancy Pelosi: Dumber than soap. Nancy claims that we lose 500 million American jobs each month we don’t pass her $1 trillion porkulus spending boondoggle. Imagine if you will had Dubya said anything this stupid. The MSM would’ve run it nonstop for years. I wonder what the follow-up question was. Someone better check into Nancy Pelosi’s taxes. At this rate, 167% of the country’s population will lose their jobs by the end of February if this porkulus doesn’t pass, and about 6 billion by the end of the year! THE HORRRRRRRROR!
$246 million bailout for hollywood goes byebye, just another 1 billion needed!
Shocking. The vote just wrapped up on GOP Sen. Tom Coburn’s amendment striking $246 million in special tax breaks for the film industry.
Only $1 trillion in ill-considered, pork-laden generational theft left to kill.
Kill the bill. Stab it. Stick a fork in it. And start from scratch.
Pork: The other stimulus meat: Sen. Mikulski pitches dumb car-loan stimulus again
It seems Democrat Sen. Barbara Mikulski is trying to attach her moronic car-loan stimulus plan again to the Senate version of the Generationl Theft Act of 2009. Doesn’t the auto industry have enough of our money already?
Michelle Malkin nominated it for a Dumb Idea of the Day in last November:
Maryland Democrat Sen. Barbara Mikulski just wrapped up her pitch for another temporary stimulus gimmick — short-term tax incentives to car buyers. Unfortunately, she got Missouri GOP Sen. Kit Bond to co-sponsor this $2-3 billion feel-good amendment.
Under the bill she plans to introduce in a coming lame-duck session, interest payments on car loans, and sales and excise taxes would be tax-deductible, Mikulski said. The program, which would apply to new vehicles purchased through the end of 2009, would be part of legislation designed to stimulate the economy.
…Mikulski estimated that under her proposal, buyers of a $25,000 Dodge minivan would save $1,553. The incentives would apply to loans of up to $49,500. Households with incomes above $250,000 would not be eligible.
The estimated the cost of the proposal would be between $2 billion and $3 billion, she said.
Three quick points:
1) Now, these same Democrats who scream about global warming want Americans to buy more cars?
2) If they think these tax incentives are such good ideas, go ahead and make them permanent. Go. Ahead.
3) Spending beyond our means is what got this country into trouble in this first place. This kind of temporary political gimmickry is going to exacerbate the problem. Encouraging people to take out $50,000 car loans before the end of the year when they should be saving their money instead?
Brilliant.
Palin going Liberal? Supports the porkulus?
The same stimulus that head RINO John McCain opposes for its porkiness?
Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama’s economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.
Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama’s spending priorities.
The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, planned to meet in Washington this weekend with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senators to press for her state’s share of the package.
Well Miss-Alaska, you just lost my vote for 2012.
Porkulus good – defense bad!
While the Obama administration tries pushing through its trillion-dollar porkfest of Mall resodding and Medicare expansion, the Pentagon has gotten a much different mission from the White House. President Obama has demanded a 10% reduction in the defense budget for FY2010, even while we fight a war in Afghanistan and conduct counterterrorist operations around the world:
The Obama administration has asked the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon’s budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent — about $55 billion — a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News.
Last year’s defense budget was $512 billion. Service chiefs and planners will be spending the weekend “burning the midnight oil” looking at ways to cut the budget — looking especially at weapons programs, the defense official said.
This didn’t take long. Chrysler wants 3 billion more!
Some of us though that those in the “big 3″ would actually wait until maybe March or April before coming back to beg for more money. With Mr. Spread the Wealth Obama due to take office next week, Chrysler figures, why wait? On top of that, Chrysler Financial is negotiating a separate request for its own massive cash infusion a la the GMAC deal. And on top of that, the automakers are still grubbing for $25 billion from the Energy Department. America’s automakers are coming home to roost!
Obama Bailout Mania continues!
Why stop with the porn industry? Why not toss some tax payer money towards already Government-supported NPR and PBS since they want even more of a bailout than they’ve lived off the last 40 years. According to Current.org, the two entities along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have petitioned Obama for $550 million in stimulus funding to help create more workers suckling on the public teat ( Steve Bartin). Surely Gwen Awful, err Ifull would be for the bailout. I wonder if thats a chapter in her upcoming Hussein Obama pimping book due out on innaug day?
Mitch McConnell – a prime example (other than Dubya or McCain) why the Republican party needs a complete overhaul
Republicans becoming liberals, dubya turning to socialism. When does it end? Welcome to life in the 21st century.
Mitch McConnell was on Fox already indicating that all but 2 states are going to get bailed out by the feds. But don’t worry, the money will be spent “judiciously” according to McConnell, as it has with the other stimulus plans the feds have implemented so far. He actually said that. This crap has gone so far now that it really doesn’t matter anymore. I’m going to take care of my family, business, friends, and community as best I can from now on and I really don’t even care about anything these politicians say anymore. They’re now completely irrelevant from my point of view. You know what would almost overnight put this country back on the right track? If even a small but healthy percentage of small business owners such as myself banded together and told the local, state, and federal governments that we are no longer going to play tax collector for them, pay their fees, permits, etc., we could bring them to their knees and force “real” change in this society. It might get to that sooner than later here in California anyway. There’s already talk around business organizations and associations to send IOU’s to Sacramento since they seem to think those are ok. I’m seriously considering paying my employees directly and refusing to collect payroll taxes to see what happens. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up in the news and it will start some momentum. They can’t put us all in the pokey, especially since those are also broke and have no room left!!!
UAW Graft at Golf Resort – Illegal “pension-dumping”?
There’s an interesting report at Outside Lansing and research at Labor Pains scrutinizing the UAW’s numbers on its Black Lake black hole golf course. (You’ll recall that I pointed to the union’s LM-2 forms in my column from last week.)
Taking a closer look at the ledgers, Chetly at Outside Lansing writes:
Connecticut newspaper bailouts next?
From banks, to the auto industry, to….. NEWSPAPERS?
Michelle Malkin launched the Newspaper Bailout Countdown Clock on Nov. 11, reported on Connecticut’s move to prop up ailing dead-tree dailies on Dec. 1, and followed up with a column on the coming government rescues for the MSM on Dec. 3. And now, here comes Reuters, heralding the new year with this: Government aid could save U.S. newspapers, spark debate.
Connecticut lawmaker Frank Nicastro sees saving the local newspaper as his duty. But others think he and his colleagues are setting a worrisome precedent for government involvement in the U.S. press.
Nicastro represents Connecticut’s 79th assembly district, which includes Bristol, a city of about 61,000 people outside Hartford, the state capital. Its paper, The Bristol Press, may fold within days, along with The Herald in nearby New Britain.
That is because publisher Journal Register, in danger of being crushed under hundreds of millions of dollars of debt, says it cannot afford to keep them open anymore.
Nicastro and fellow legislators want the papers to survive, and petitioned the state government to do something about it. “The media is a vitally important part of America,” he said, particularly local papers that cover news ignored by big papers and television and radio stations.
To some experts, that sounds like a bailout, a word that resurfaced this year after the U.S. government agreed to give hundreds of billions of dollars to the automobile and financial sectors.
California, Michigan, New York and now Ohio – What do they all have in common?
Does anyone notice a trend here? Michigan, California, New York, and now Ohio? As Hussein Obama “administration” rapidly apporaches, blue states are continuing to get in line for welfare, errr bailouts. As the economy sputters and tax revenue plummets, governors and mayors across the blue states of United States are lining up to ask President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress for hundreds of billions of dollars to plug holes in their budgets, arguing that services will suffer and joblessness will rise if Washington does not come to the rescue. What do the four aforementioned states have in common? Thats right! Obama Hussein won those states! Maybe Helen Jones-Kelley can help.
Next in line for the bailout gravy train: Telephone / cable monopolies and commercial real estate developers
The socialism path started by dubya, in preparation for the incoming Hussein Obama administration is starting to kick it into high gear as the big day of Jan 20th 2009 rapidly approaches. “Progressive” communications group FreePress is lobbying President-Elect Hussein Obama for a $44 billion bailout aimed primarily at the telephone and cable monopolies (PDF). The money would ostensibly be used for various incentives to build out broadband connections to underserved areas such as rural locations. FreePress calls the $50 billion in taxpayer money a “down payment on a digital future.” But what it really appears to be is a duplicate set of payments to the telephone and cable companies for infrastructure they promised to build years ago.
And if that wasn’t enough the commercial real estate developers have joined the mooching bailout line as well:
According to the Wall Street Journal: With a record amount of commercial real-estate debt coming due, some of the country’s biggest property developers have become the latest to go hat-in-hand to the government for assistance.
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