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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (476591)	4/30/2009 10:36:22 AM
From: i-node	2 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1575771

>> Let's just make sure Obama stays healthy... Absolutely. By picking Biden, he took out the best possible life, health & accident policy. Nobody wants this guy as president.

To: Road Walker who wrote (476591)	5/1/2009 12:17:48 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575771

WASHINGTON – Joe Biden said Thursday he advised his family to stay off airplanes and subways because of the new swine flu, a remark that forced the vice president's office to backtrack and prompted one airline official to complain about "fear-mongering." I don't get this one........I know Biden has a loose jaw but I see nothing wrong with this comment. We're supposed to pretend that getting on a plane or subway diminishes, not increases the chances of getting the disease. I know the transportation industry is hurting and they needed a new flu like they needed a new hole in their collective heads but sh*t happens. And btw I saw the clip with Matt Lauer......it was a clumsy exchange on both sides.

To: Road Walker who wrote (476591)	5/1/2009 12:20:49 AM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1575771

Let's just make sure Obama stays healthy... It was announced tonite that this particular flu is lacking an amino acid that allows it to replicate quickly once someone has contracted it. That's why the cases in the US have been fairly mild. I think the time to worry is next fall if we don't have a vaccine. Of course, the real problem is the Southern Hemisphere.........they are just going into their fall and winter with no vaccine. If the flu mutates and 'learns' to replicate more quickly, they could be in serious trouble.

To: Road Walker who wrote (476591)	5/1/2009 12:38:17 AM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1575771

Obama picks a fight with 'speculators' By EAMON JAVERS \| 4/30/09 1:18 PM EDT Updated: 4/30/09 7:11 PM EDT Text Size: With a flash of anger Thursday morning, President Barack Obama offered a blistering critique of “a small group of speculators” who refused to go along with the government’s plan to keep Chrysler out of bankruptcy. But in a background briefing with reporters at the White House later, senior administration officials would not say exactly who the speculators are that have angered the president. “We know who some of them are,” said an administration official. But asked if he would name them, the official said, “no.” The White House is somewhat hamstrung because it is not dealing with the lenders directly. Instead, Obama’s auto task force is negotiating with J.P. Morgan, which is serving as the lenders’ agent. J.P. Morgan represented lenders that agreed to take the deal as well as those that rejected it. Even as lawmakers on Capitol Hill were blaming at least three funds - Oppenheimer Funds, Perella Weinberg Partners and Stairway Capital – White House officials are declining to name names. Still, the administration official insisted, “we’re not trying to hide them or protect them.” But the funds may be trying to hide and protect themselves. A group calling itself “The Committee of Chrysler Non-Tarp Lenders” put out a statement Thursday complaining that the negotiating process was unfair – because they were forced to deal with the banks that had taken significant government investment, and therefore were unfairly biased toward the government’s negotiating position. The group – which refuses to list its members – claims to represent about $1 billion in loans to Chrysler, and says its members have not taken any government TARP bailout money. “We have been systematically precluded from engaging in direct discussions or negotiations with the government” the group complained. “Instead, we have been forced to communicate through an obviously conflicted intermediary: a group of banks that have received billions of TARP funds.” The group also urges the public not to “succumb to unproductive and unwarranted finger pointing.” Obama’s tough tone sets up a dramatic showdown with the lenders. But it might be exactly the political fight that the White House wants right now. The White House had offered Chrysler’s lenders a deal to take roughly 33 cents on a dollar to write off the company’s debt. Most took the deal, but a few holdouts said it wasn’t good enough — and their refusal to go along pushed the company into bankruptcy. So Obama is calling them out. “A group of investment firms and hedge funds decided to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout. They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices and they would have to make none,” Obama said. Some of the hedge funds, Obama said, demanded returns twice as high as other lenders were getting. “I don't stand with them,” Obama said. “I stand with Chrysler's employees and their families and communities. I stand with Chrysler's management, its dealers and its suppliers. I stand with the millions of Americans who own and want to buy Chrysler cars.” It’s clear that the White House thinks the politics of battling unnamed “speculators” works in its favor. After the AIG bonus fiasco, the White House was accused of being too willing to let financiers profit at the expense of taxpayers. But now the hedge fund intransigence over Chrysler allows Obama to bring the full weight of the presidency to bear in a fight against wealthy financiers on behalf of Chrysler’s employees and management. The fight now goes to bankruptcy court in New York, where both sides will try to persuade a federal judge of the merits of their case. politico.com