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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: altair19 who wrote (164418)	3/26/2009 12:44:28 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361725

Rome Total War. Not on-line; doesn't work too well when the world runs on DSL or whatever and I run on dialup. May play it one more time after this to set a speed record, but they have a new one called Empire, for the gunpowder centuries. I think America is in that one. Maybe I can wait til next winter to get it.

To: altair19 who wrote (164418)	3/26/2009 5:51:49 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 361725

Obama Will Outline Auto Strategy ‘in Next Few Days’ By Roger Runningen March 26 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he will outline his strategy for the automobile industry “in the next few days” and suggested he is open to providing automakers with more aid. “We need to preserve a U.S. auto industry,” Obama said today as he answered questions at a White House Internet town-hall event. “We will provide them with some help” even though “it’s not popular” right now to assist automakers. “My job is to measure the costs of allowing these auto companies just to collapse versus us figuring out, can they come up with a viable plan?,” Obama said. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are operating with $17.4 billion in U.S. aid and have requested as much as $21.6 billion more. Obama’s auto task force will probably recommend that the government make more money available to carmakers, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, told reporters. Obama said any aid is conditional on the automakers coming up with a plan to remain financially viable. “It is appropriate for us to say are there ways that we can provide help,” the president said. “But the price is that you’ve got to finally restructure to deal with these long-standing problems, and that means that everybody’s going to have to give a little bit.” Conditions and Mandates Representative Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, said aid conditions such as down-sizing are reasonable, though “big government mandates” such as fuel-efficiency requirements wouldn’t help the automakers. “We need to be very, very careful they don’t put conditions to further the mandates that they’ve already placed on these companies,” Rogers said on Bloomberg Television. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said today the president likely will announce his plans before he leaves March 31 for a trip to Europe that includes a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in London. Gibbs made his comment at his daily briefing for reporters that followed Obama’s town-hall event. Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said yesterday that Obama’s task force will announce more aid for GM and Chrysler within a week. GM said 7,500 United Auto Workers members have signed up for buyouts the company needs as part of cuts to keep $13.4 billion in U.S. aid, more than doubling a Barclays Capital estimate. The retirements and buyouts open slots for the biggest U.S. automaker to hire new workers for half the current union rate. Under the federal loans GM says it needs to survive, labor costs must match those of Japanese automakers in the U.S. GM and Chrysler are encouraging workers to accept buyouts, retire or quit after concessions this year eliminated benefits related to job security and unemployment pay. To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net Last Updated: March 26, 2009 16:26 EDT