Tag Archives: Obama

News

Stimulus-funded plant produces $33,000 batteries that go 100 miles

1 Comment

From the left-wing Associated Press. (H/T Gateway Pundit)

Excerpt:

President Barack Obama celebrated the opening of an advanced battery plant in Michigan on Monday as a critical boost for hybrid and electric cars — and a success for his administration’s economic stimulus program.

But even as mass-produced advanced batteries start rolling off assembly lines, costs are high for consumers, and hurdles remain.

“This is about the birth of an entire new industry in America, an industry that’s going to be central to the next generation of cars,” Obama said Monday in a phone call broadcast at the opening of A123 Systems Inc.’s lithium ion battery plant in Livonia, Mich.

“And it’s going to allow us to start exporting those cars, making them comfortable, convenient, and affordable. …. When folks lift up their hoods on the cars of the future, I want them to see engines and batteries that are stamped: ‘Made in America,’” Obama said, according to a transcript of the call released by the White House…

…Despite the fanfare, the battery industry faces many hurdles. Gas-electric hybrid vehicles represent about 1 percent of new vehicle sales, and many plug-in hybrids and battery electric cars are just entering the market.

Costs are high. The government has estimated that a battery with a 100-mile range costs about $33,000, although stimulus money could bring that down to $10,000 by the end of 2015.

That stimulus money came from job-producing investors and private companies. The government wasted the money, after taking a cut for their unions.

News

Is Obama correct to think that Republicans don’t know what to cut?

1 Comment

From David Freddoso, in the Washington Examiner.(H/T Nice Deb)

Excerpt:

He finished speaking in Cleveland by urging his audience to “choose the future over the past.” A good thing — we should move on to 2011 instead of repeating the year 2009. Anyway, here were his “they-have-no-ideas” remarks, in part:

Just this year, these same Republicans voted against a bipartisan fiscal commission that they themselves proposed.  And when you ask them what programs they’d actually cut, they usually don’t have an answer.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., replies:

“President Obama must have misspoken today, because I have personally sat across the table from him and suggested specific ways to cut spending. Furthermore, House Republican Leader John Boehner and I urged President Obama to work with Republicans to cut spending by using his authority to send Congress a “rescissions” package.  In fact, we sent President Obama a letter twice pledging to work together with him on that effort. We still have not heard back – seven months later. It doesn’t end there, through the YouCut program House Republicans have offered over $120 billion in spending cuts, only to be voted down by Democrats in the House. Finally, House Republicans Jeb Hensarling and Paul Ryan have introduced a “Cut Spending Now” package of specific cuts that would save taxpayers $1.3 trillion.

“President Obama is entitled to his opinion, but he’s not entitled to his own facts, and with that in mind I am asking him to either clarify or withdraw the accusation that he made earlier today.”

If you want to cut spending, you vote for Republicans. If you want 3 trillion in deficits over two years, vote Democrat.

News

US poverty rate rises record amount under Obama’s leadership

1 Comment

Story here from the NY Daily News. (H/T Wes Widner)

Excerpt:

The U.S. poverty rate has skyrocketed by a record amount under the Obama administration, with one out of seven Americans considered poor last year, according to a report Saturday.

The disturbing trend is an estimate of 2009 census data set for release on Thursday, The Associated Press reported.

Underscoring the depth of the recession, a projected 45 million people – or about 15% of the population – were poor last year. In 2008, 13.2% of the country lived in poverty.

The estimated 1.8 percentage-point increase in 2009 is the largest year-to-year uptick since the U.S. started calculating poverty figures in 1959. The previous high came during the 1980 national energy crisis, when the rate soared 1.3 percentage points to 13%.

More from Fox News.  (H/T Dad)

Excerpt:

Demographers also are confident the report will show:

  • Child poverty increased from 19 percent to more than 20 percent.
  • Blacks and Latinos were disproportionately hit, based on their higher rates of unemployment.
  • Metropolitan areas that posted the largest gains in poverty included Modesto, Calif.; Detroit; Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.; Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Numbers don’t lie – he’s the worst President ever.