This past Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited a GM plant in Lake Orion, Michigan. The visit was, in part, a celebration of a new trade pact between our countries. Unlike previous free trade agreements, Democrats were able to win protections for American workers that will help guard against the types of abuses that […]

Here are a couple of early photos by my wife Anne C. Savage from a visit to Michigan today by President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. They were visiting GM’s Orion Assembly Plant, in part to tout the new trade agreement passed by Congress this week. Also, the President Obama told the crowd that, unlike Republicans, he believes […]

I’m reading former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s new book A Governor’s Story in preparation for a review I’ll be writing for its release in a couple of days. I came across a paragraph which reminded me why Mitt Romney should probably just skip right over Michigan if he were to win the nomination. He should probably skip over Michigan trying […]

Good news for the Rustbelt states like mine (Michigan): Ford sales up 19% over last year. GM up 11%. Chrysler up a whopping 31%. Ford actually sold more vehicles than GM for only the second time since 1998. Ford reported March sales of 212,777, up 19 percent from the same month a year ago. That compares with GM’s 206,621 sales […]

Lots and lots and lots of talk these days about “shared sacrifice”. But, somehow all the sacrifice seems to be on those in the middle class or below. Comic by Mike Thompson – Detroit Free Press But there’s an example of TRUE shared sacrifice right in front of us today. And it worked. It’s the bailout and subsequent recovery of […]

More bad news (not) for the Obama administration. The U.S. economy is picking up a head of steam. The economy gained strength at the end of last year as Americans spent at the fastest pace in four years and U.S. companies sold more overseas. The growth is boosting hopes for a stronger 2011. The Commerce Department reports Friday that growth […]

So, this is kind of cool. GM is recycling used oil booms from the Gulf oil spill into new Chevy Volts. Plastic boom material that soaked up oil in the Gulf of Mexico has found a new use as components in General Motors Co.’s high-tech Chevrolet Volt car. Recycling the booms means producing more than 100,000 pounds of plastic resin […]

Cross-posted at Daily Kos. It’s true. I heard it on the Rec List at Daily Kos. Wikileaks is now releasing scads of documents proving that Netflix is being sexually groped by Comcast-funded TSA agents after being sterilized by PornoScanTM radiation. The worst part: President Obama hasn’t said a word about it. Not only is he failing to message this insanity […]

It’s been a busy day over at the New York Stock Exchange. GM’s initial public offering (IPO) had its stock priced $33 but it opened well over that at $35.40. As I type this, the latest trade was $35.18. Detroit Free Press editorial cartoonist Mike Thompson perhaps put it best: Something tells me that that a whole lot of anti-auto […]

As I’ve written about before at Daily Kos and elsewhere (HERE and HERE, e.g.), GM has had remarkable success in 2010 and their impending initial public offering (IPO) Thursday is cause for some rejoicing. This morning we learn that GM’s share price, originally forecasted to be $26-29, will be $32-33, an increase of of about 14%. This will increase the […]

Remember back in the “good old days of 2009 when the Obama administration stepped in to keep two of the largest American auto companies from going under? Remember how, even though it was only a loan program and a temporary stock purchase that it was characterized as a “taxpayer-funded bailout”? Well check out these headlines: Chrysler Tops Operating Profit Outlook, […]