All Entries in the "News Clips" Category

Bush Considering ‘Orderly’ Bankruptcy

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is seriously considering “orderly” bankruptcy as a way of dealing with the desperately ailing U.S. auto industry.

“The president is not going to allow a disorderly collapse of the companies,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said Thursday. “A disorderly collapse would be something very chaotic that is a shock to the system.”

But, she added, “There’s an orderly way to do bankruptcies that provides for more of a soft landing. I think that’s what we would be talking about.”

Salazar to confront pressures to offshore drill

From Reuters: …With energy prices at record highs during the summer, President George W. Bush began lobbying Congress to remove the ban on oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf and he lifted his own executive order barring offshore drilling.

The Interior Department started the process to consider selling leases to drill for oil and natural gas off the coast of Virginia in November.

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NY Governor Proposes 88 New Fees and Taxes

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson’s proposed $121 billion budget hits New Yorkers in their iPods - and nickels-and-dimes them in lots of other places, too.

Trying to close a $15.4 billion budget gap, Paterson called for 88 new fees and a host of other taxes, including an “iPod tax” that taxes the sale of downloaded music and other “digitally delivered entertainment services.”

“We’re going to have to take some extreme measures,” Paterson said Tuesday after unveiling the slash-and-burn budget.

The proposal, which needs legislative approval, did not include broad-based income tax increases, but relied on smaller ones to raise $4.1 billion from cash-strapped New Yorkers.

Read the whole article at the New York Daily News.

UAW gave over $1 million to pro-bailout congressmen

The proposed automaker bailout has a big stamp on it that says “union-built,” but the news media hasn’t noticed.

Over the past month, accusations have been flying against several Southern senators who oppose a $14 billion bailout for the beleaguered big three automakers and support the the alternative of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. These senators, critics say, are representing the interests of foreign automakers that donate heavily to their campaigns. But what has been largely ignored is the other side of the equation – the influence of the United Auto Workers (UAW) on the members of Congress that voted for the bailout.

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DeMint: GOP can still stop auto bailout

Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina said in a just completed call with bloggers that conservative Republican Senators have  a chance to stop the auto bailout on the Senate floor, but it will be difficult. His hope is that the legislation has the same percentage of support that it did in the House — 58 percent — which of course wouldn’t cut it in the Senate. He said it may hinge on angry constituents calling those GOP Senators who are on the fence about supporting the bill. (more…)