The Holger Spotlight: The Incompetence of the U.S. Federal Government Is Showcased In March's Auto Sales Figures

Okay, I'm embarking on some articles here at Holger Awakens that are intended to shine the light on some of the incompetence, corruption and plain old sinister actions of our American federal government - the series will be known as "The Holger Spotlight" and this article represents the first of that series.

The nation's automakers along with the import companies revealed March 2010 auto sales figures today and I wanted to put the Holger spotlight on that news - in order to point out the continuing and seemingly neverending incompetence of the Federal Government of the United States of America.

First, I am going straight to the horse's mouth on this (or perhaps you would view it as the horse's ass) by using the article from MSNBC. Here are the automaker sales figures represented by the MSNBC article:

Toyota + 41%
Ford + 40%
Honda + 23%
General Motors + 21%
Chrysler - 08%


Okay, look at that for a moment and understand that the U.S. government is intimately involved with two of those companies...GM and Chrysler and it's easy to see that those two automakers FAILED in comparison to the others. Last place and second to last place are our Federal government's entry into the auto business. Great job, huh?

Now, the number one performer was Toyota - at a time when Toyota is suffering through its most devastating recall mess in its history, and yet, they outperformed the U.S. Government who is in charge of degrading Toyota's situation at every opportunity. Let me restate that: The Federal government is actively handicapping the Toyota brand, yet Toyota kicked the Federal government's ass in auto sales this past month.

Now, our spin masters at MSNBC are quick to point out that the reason Toyota accomplished this is because of the huge incentives that Toyota offered customers. Here's how MSNBC describes it:

Toyota's unprecedented incentives, including low-interest financing, cheap leases and free maintenance for return customers, pushed up its U.S. sales 41 percent in March and helped it recover from a dismal February.

But wait a minute. I read a bit deeper into the article and wanted to compare the incentives that Toyota offered versus what say, General Motors offered. Let's look:

Industry analysis firms TrueCar and Edmunds.com predicted that GM's March incentive spending would lead major automakers at more than $3,500 per vehicle, well above the industry average of roughly $2,800.

Hmmm. Let me get this straight. General Motors offered the most aggressive buyer incentives in March yet they garnered only a 21% increase in auto sales. Toyota and Ford offered smaller incentives but grew their sales by 41% and 40%, respectively? But hey, didn't MSNBC want to spin that Toyota must be out-incentivising GM?

Ladies and gentlemen, what MSNBC isn't willing to tell you is this: the Federal government of the United States of America screws up everything it touches (save the U.S. military). That's the bottom line. This is why America has thrived under free market capitalism - the less government is involved, the better the results. General Motors and Chrysler enjoy every advantage right now in the auto arena in America - the government's ownership of them ensures that they benefit on the regulations side, the funding side and the labor pool side. Yet they have blown it...March is the proof that our bureaucrats are simply incompetent.

I don't want to give away the whole upcoming series but consider this, America...your representatives in Washington, D.C. just decided to ensure the success of your healthcare insurance, you know, the basic health of your family, to the Federal government. Those Congressmen and Senators decided that the Federal government could run healthcare insurance better than Blue Cross-Blue Shield, UHC, and Aetna. Think about it. Chrysler's sales for March 2010 (government run) FELL 8 percent, Ford's sales for March 2010 (private sector run) ROSE 40 percent.

America has put the very lives of its citizens in the hands of incompetents.

U.S. Government Looks To Set Salaries In The Private Sector

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America. Socialism is in full bloom, both at the White House and in the Congress, so all of you folks that voted for Barack Hussein Obama and the promised "Change" well....one of the changes you will be getting is that the U.S. government, Big Brother, will be deciding how much you make for a living no matter who you work for. The limiting of executive pay at private sector companies is just the first step in the government deciding what each of you makes each year in wages, so let me ask you this...is this the change you REALLY wanted? You're a truck driver making $82,000 a year....the government just may decide that for the greater good, you really outta make $58,000 a year - how's that vote for your "Change" looking now?

Don't be fooled by the statements about "executives" here in this article at Breitbart - have you EVER known the U.S. government's bureaucrats stop in enacting a new policy? Here's a bit from the article...first let's look at what the Obama administration is planning:

Instead, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced Wednesday that the administration plans to seek legislation that would try to rein in compensation at publicly traded companies through nonbinding shareholder votes and less management influence on pay decisions.

The administration named Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who oversaw payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as a "special master" with power to reject pay plans he deems excessive at the seven companies with the biggest injections of public money. Feinberg also would have authority to review compensation for the top 100 salaried employees at those firms.

Geithner said the administration will ask Congress to give shareholders a nonbinding voice on executive pay and to require corporate compensation committees to be independent from company management. That second provision would give the SEC authority to strengthen the independence of panels that set executive pay.

Now, if that isn't bad enough, let's hear what the insane Congressman, Barney Frank, seeks to do concerning salary caps in American private enterprise:

To Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Geithner's plan doesn't go far enough.
"It is not the government's business to discourage risk taking," said Frank, D-Mass. "But neither should we allow systems which have existed up until now whereby decision-makers are handsomely rewarded if they take big risks that pay off, but suffer no penalty whatsoever if those risks result in losses to the company."

Frank said he didn't think strengthening the independence of compensation committees would do enough. Noting the "inherently close relationship" between top executives and boards of directors, "it is very unlikely that you will ever get the degree of independence that will allow the boards of directors to be left completely on their own to set compensation," Frank said.

Remember how during the 2008 Presidential campaign how many of us on the Right kept asking the question: "What exactly is this 'Change' that Barack Obama is talking about?" Well, now we are finding out and hopefully, 100% of the business executives that voted for the "historic" President will now be paid back, pardon the pun. But like I said, this will not end here because this is what that Obama "Change" means to all of us:

1. National healthcare will mean the government telling you which doctor you can see, when you can see that doctor and who will receive treatment.
2. Pay compensative review committees will decide how much your salary or hourly wage will be - your performance and effort are no longer a factor.
3. The government, since it owns General Motors, will now decide the size of the vehicle that you can buy - if you drive a pickup truck or an SUV, get ready to be forced to move into a Smart car.
4. With the government managing healthcare, you will be informed of what foods you can and cannot eat...so if you have a penchant for a DQ Blizzard, you better get your fill in quickly.

I will end with this - there is probably no one person more at fault for the setting off of the current economic crisis than Congressman Barney Frank and yet, this brazen asshole (don't get too turned on by that last word, Rep. Frank) continues to push his Socialist and Marxist agenda - it's time....it's time to see every avenue possible under the Constitution to seek Frank's removal from office.

White House, Congress seek to rein in exec pay

WASHINGTON (AP) - As the Obama administration takes a half-step toward taming executive pay, Congress might consider a fuller stride.
The administration, which has maintained that excessive compensation in the private sector contributed to the nation's financial crisis, has rejected direct intervention in corporate pay decisions.
Instead, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced Wednesday that the administration plans to seek legislation that would try to rein in compensation at publicly traded companies through nonbinding shareholder votes and less management influence on pay decisions.
To Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Geithner's plan doesn't go far enough.
"It is not the government's business to discourage risk taking," said Frank, D-Mass. "But neither should we allow systems which have existed up until now whereby decision-makers are handsomely rewarded if they take big risks that pay off, but suffer no penalty whatsoever if those risks result in losses to the company."
On Thursday, officials from the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission planned to testify on the issue before Frank's committee.
That Frank would so quickly call for proposals beyond those laid out by Geithner illustrates the caution with which the Obama administration is approaching the fundamental issue of compensation packages. But it also underscores the shifting ground beneath the private sector in the midst of a financial crisis.
The administration drew a sharp line between the overall corporate world and those institutions that have tapped the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
It issued new regulations Wednesday that set pay limits on companies that receive TARP assistance, with the toughest restrictions aimed at seven recipients of "exceptional assistance." Those firms are Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC, American International Group Inc., GMAC LLC and Chrysler Financial.
The regulations limit top executives of companies that receive TARP funds to bonuses of no more than one-third of their annual salaries.
In a significant expansion of authority, the regulations call for a special compensation overseer who will burrow into the pay practices of some of the country's biggest enterprises.
The administration named Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who oversaw payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as a "special master" with power to reject pay plans he deems excessive at the seven companies with the biggest injections of public money. Feinberg also would have authority to review compensation for the top 100 salaried employees at those firms.
"We do not believe it's appropriate for the government to set caps in compensation," Geithner said. "We're not going to prescribe detailed prescriptive rules for compensation. All those things would be ineffective, could be counterproductive in some ways."
Geithner said the administration will ask Congress to give shareholders a nonbinding voice on executive pay and to require corporate compensation committees to be independent from company management. That second provision would give the SEC authority to strengthen the independence of panels that set executive pay.
Geithner also laid out a series of guidelines that encourage corporate boards to adopt pay packages that reward long-term performance rather than short-term gains and to better manage the relationship between risk and incentive. Those guidelines, or principles, are not enforceable but are meant as a message to corporate boards and to shareholders.
Frank said he didn't think strengthening the independence of compensation committees would do enough. Noting the "inherently close relationship" between top executives and boards of directors, "it is very unlikely that you will ever get the degree of independence that will allow the boards of directors to be left completely on their own to set compensation," Frank said.