Twofer Tuesday: Twilight Zone style for Nancy Pelosi who tells Charlie Rose ‘a VAT tax is on the table’
Golden Earring courtesy of lin1968
It’s official, Nancy Pelosi is in the Twilight Zone. She told PBS last night a VAT tax is on the table (The Hill):
Pelosi, appearing on PBS’s “The Charlie Rose Show” asserted that “it’s fair to look at” the VAT as part of an overhaul of the nation’s tax code. “I would say, Put everything on the table and subject it to the scrutiny that it deserves,” Pelosi told Rose when asked if the VAT has any appeal to her.
The VAT is a tax on manufacturers at each stage of production on the amount of value an additional producer adds to a product.Pelosi argued that the VAT would level the playing field between U.S. and foreign manufacturers, the latter of which do not have pension and healthcare costs included in the price of their goods because their governments provide those services, financed by similar taxes.
“They get a tax off of that and they use that money to pay the healthcare for their own workers,” Pelosi said, using the example of auto manufacturers. “So their cars coming into our country don’t have a healthcare component cost.
Gee, wonder why Nancy is raising AUTO MANUFACTURERS, the PENSION LIABILITIES and a VAT TAX now? Could it be b/c GM has ALREADY BURNED THROUGH THE 50B in taxpayer dollars and the UAW cannot meet their pension obligations? Could be rabbit could be…
“Somewhere along the way, a value-added tax plays into this. Of course, we want to take down the healthcare cost, that’s one part of it,” the Speaker added. “But in the scheme of things, I think it’s fair look at a value- added tax as well.”
Pelosi said that any new taxes would come after the Congress finishes the healthcare debate consuming most lawmakers’ time, and that it may come as part of a larger overhaul to the tax code.
Everyone got that? As soon as they are done ramming healthcare through they will lay a VAT tax on our axxes. Everyone is registered to vote for 2010 right?
Twilight Zone mashup courtesy of FatherMcKenize:
“The segments of intro divide the different seasons. All episodes are in order in which they first aired (instead of production order), I believe, except Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge which is purposely put last, just because I thought it was more climactic at the end (I’m used to seeing it at the end of the Zicree guide also!)”
UPDATE: Saturn goes under- Penske drops bid, GM says it will not seek alternate buyer; The New GM – CNBC.com
Wow! 1992 (the album!) !? Damn am I old!
Update: 9/30 -Commenter Thomas Stewart notes GM called the end of Saturn today as Penske withdrew its bid.
General Motors will close Saturn and wind down its dealership network after a deal to sell the faltering brand to Penske Automotive Group collapsed, the automaker said Wednesday.The breakdown of a deal that had been widely expected to close this week will force some 350 Saturn dealerships to close and could cut thousands of auto retail jobs that would have been preserved under a plan by auto magnate Roger Penske.
Shares of Penske Automotive ..were down almost 10 percent Wednesday in aftermarket trade. The breakdown of the deal was announced after the New York Stock Exchange closed.
GM’s failure to complete the deal also adds uncertainty to the automaker’s production plans as it struggles to regain its footing following a $50-billion taxpayer funded restructuring.
“This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality,” GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said in a statement…
Update 2: GM Bondholders accept counteroffer….Breaking: GM to close 14 plants Monday…
Update 2: CNBC has the details:
..The bondholders will start with 10 percent equity, 7.5 percent more at both $15 billion and $30 billion market cap. GM will emerge from this deal with $25 billion in secured debt. The offer came Thursday morning from GM and the Treasury Department. However, the move may not stop a possible bankruptcy for GM.
But in exchange for the improved payout, creditors would agree not to oppose a move to sell GM’s profitable assets to a new company funded by the U.S. government in a fast-track bankruptcy process.
The exchange offer will be open to bondholders until 5 p.m Saturday EDT, GM said…
Breaking now, GM Bondholders accept ‘sweetened’ offer, but bankruptcy still a go? developing on CNBC- GM shares resume trading
developing story on CNBC chyron…coming from AP, ugh…..
SOO glad we are spending that 60-70 Billion to save GM …so we can watch all these layoffs anyway….good Gawd almighty….and the pensions will be the next shoe to drop…you and I will carry that unfunded liability as well no doubt…i hearFed Reserve Fisher says its like 11 trillion theentire unfunded public pensions coast to coast…pfffft!!!
Video Update: GM CFO Ray Young says co won’t make June 1st $1Billion debt repayment…
Update 2: CNBC’s Phil LeBeau
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Update: Bloomberg:
General Motors Corp., trying to avoid a U.S.-backed bankruptcy on June 1, may close plants and scrap models as much as four years sooner than planned to lower its break-even point, people familiar with the effort said….
…The new plan may require GM to complete many of the reductions in models and dealers planned by 2014 as soon as next year, allowing earlier plant and job reductions, people briefed on the talks said. GM said March 31 that by 2014 it would trim dealers to 4,100 from 6,122, nameplates to 36 from 43, and U.S. assembly capacity to 2 million vehicles from 2.8 million.
The bond offer may include some framework of GM’s plan to cut $20.4 billion in obligations to a United Auto Workers union- run retiree-medical fund by more than half, two of the people said. The bond offer may disclose what portion, if any, of U.S. loans would be converted to equity, one person said.
–the flintstones car at the new york international auto show–
Breaking from WSJ on CNBC Chyron…
This is in addition to GM CEO Fritz Henderson commenting bankruptcy more likely…
they are really putting the hammer down on the bondholders..were I they, I would NOT cut a deal, I would wait for my bankruptcy judge, but the pundits say a MI bankruptcy judge will be under HUGE political pressure to wipe the bondholders out anyway…
say hello to Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman’s Little Friend..a Flintstone mobile, perhaps all we will be allowed to purchase until they reinvent the wheel..
A vehicle that meets Waxman/Pelosi emission standards
We will then get sued by people behind us as our feet produce a cloud of dust they can claim MIGHT somehow damage them as a pollutant…
Good Grief….
Moderate in the Middle 