Super Sport G8

General Motors is really in a world of hurt these days.

Troubles for the company became highly visible during the financial crisis of 2008, where obligations the company had, most notably poor union contracts not remotely associated with reality, were "discovered" as unsustainable.

Both George W. Bush and then candidate Barack Obama thought it prudent to offer the company bailout money, which GM gladly took.  Once Obama took office, after evaluation, his team orchestrated the making of a new GM and made "recommendations" for the company, which most notably included the elimination of the proud Pontiac Motor Division. 

In addition, bailout monies failed to make their way to the appropriated parties as outlined in 200 year contract law, with union partners and political partners reaping cash benefits.

GM, under the "direction" of the administration and viewed by most as "Government Motors" embarked on effort to produce high mileage low powered cars which were beneficial to environmental concerns.

In recent months sales are reported to have been slightly increasing.  However, as reported by ZeroHedge, reported actual sales "were largely irrelevant" due to channel stuffing of inventories with 805,769 units in inventory at months end in February of 2014.

Issues surrounding a faulty ignition switch has resulted in massive recalls and has company executives testifying before Congress. While the issue not restrictive to just one model, the Chevrolet Cruze appears to have, by far, the most noted cases, with tens of deaths having been reported.

In anticipation of a barrage of lawsuits as a result of the ignition defects, because the sales of most of the affected models took place before GM's 2009 bankruptcy, the company has filed a motion in US Court to bar lawsuits on pre-bankruptcy sales.

Shares of General Motors, GM:NYSE, closed at $34.48 per share, down almost 20% from its 52 week high achieved in mid December.

I have owned GM products all my life, and have been very pleased with the products, which were generally Pontiac cars and Chevrolet trucks.  However, due primarily to the government takeover of GM, using bailout money and terminating the Pontiac Motor Division, I have opened up my candidates for a new vehicle outside of GM.

From an SUV perspective, I am looking at the Ford Explorer Limited.  With respect to a four door sedan, without Pontiac, the door has been kicked wide open.  Previously, the Pontiac G8 GXP would have been the choice. 

However, it looks like Pontiac G8 lives on in the form of the Chevrolet SS.  The SS debuted in 2014 to much fanfare, filling a need for a four door performance sedan Chevrolet has been missing for decades.  Lets check a review to see how they did:



It is not a Pontiac, but the reviews for the Super Sport Chevrolet cousin to the Pontiac G8 have been outstanding.  Not as flashy as its Pontiac predecessor, the performance and handling, a longtime Pontiac wide track feature, exceed expectations.  In addition, the interior in really impressive.

The SS does seem pricey, but vehicle inflation is in full swing, and when a comparable analysis is performed, it actually is a heck of a vehicle for the price, which is about $45K.

The price includes a gas guzzler tax, implemented by the Obama administration.  Eat my exhaust!

A few reviewers wondered why Chevrolet left the acclaimed Magnetic Ride Control system off the 2014 SS, but indications are it will on the 2015 models.

In keeping in the Pontiac family, it looks like an SS will be in my very near future.

The Heat Is On

You have no doubt heard the story about the frog and the boiling water?

As it goes, if a frog is thrown into a pan of boiling water, the frog will instantly jump right out of the pan. However, should you place the frog in the pail of water and then slowly bring the water to a boil, the frog will not recognize the change in temperature until it is too late and the frog will be boiled alive.

The story is usually descriptive in a metaphoric sense highlighting the inability of people to recognize significant changes that occur gradually until the point of no return has been reached. What is going on in America today has that same feeling, as a major transformation is underway with the greater majority of the citizenry oblivious to the changes.

Among the many instances of transformation currently at play are positions against the church, embracing reductions in military abilities and status, entrepreneurship, the lessening of the value of citizenship and American exceptionalism and individualism; gun control efforts, socialized medicine and American sovereignty.

The monetizing of the debt, expansive entitlements, bailouts, exponential stimulus spending, the devaluation of our currency, the departure from investor protocol and contract law, notable during the auto bailouts, wealth redistribution and the absence of the rule of law are among the economic examples.

That is quite a list; however, the lack of adherence to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is by far the most troublesome example, as the arrogant progressive ruling class deems themselves grantor's of rights through government, in contrast to the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from God as noted by our founding principles.

President Obama views the Constitution as a imperfect document with deep flaws of Colonialism; a document of negative liberties which limits what a government can do instead of outlining what a government must and should do.

These positions are in extreme contrast to the vision of our Founding Fathers as you might imagine.  But as the average citizen is working double to keep their family afloat amid the horrendous current economic conditions, and fails to adequately recognize the reduction in their freedom that is occurring.

The water is really getting warm!

Sometimes, we need an old friend to help us see the forest for the trees, a friend who is stern but friendly, a great communicator who is grounded in first principles and faith, a clear visionary who embraces freedom and cherishes the United States of America.

Enter Ronald Reagan:

Upcoming Occupy Oscillation

Friends, family and colleagues gathered today in Los Angeles to pay final respects to Andrew Breibart, who we lost much to soon late last week. It will be next to impossible to replace Breibart, but the lessons he taught and leadership he exhibited will span many to continue his work in his honor.

America will need it.

Among the many items Breibart was working on when he passed so suddenly, was the nucleus of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The mainstream media reports that the movement was a flare whose light has dimmed, a spontaneous gathering group of young Americans we can all be proud of.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

The group are for the most part useful idiot looter foot soldiers of a well financed machine of anti-capitalist, anti-American Marxist radicals, most of whom have not forgotten their efforts in the 1960's. The heavy hand of big government and all their tentacles coming together is their aspiration in effort to re-create '68.

While this video is lengthy, please allow our lost warrior Andrew Breibart to introduce you to some of the players and a handful of their nefarious objectives.



Although some of these folks are intellectually sound, many in the mid to lower levels of the Occupy movement are nothing short of useful idiots. Should the objectives of the movement meet with success, these folks will be swept under away in the tide under the hand of the intellectually elite leaders, who no longer have a use for them.

Among the topics discussed in the video, one hits very close to home for me. As a Realtor, Residential Real Estate Investor and Appraiser, I am very concerned about the effort to occupy homes, not just in an effort to re-write contracts through intimidation, but to establish a new market based on a price they dictated by socialists inspired by fairness.

Actually, price, and in turn marketplace equilibrium, is established between parties engaged in arms length transactions who through a series of sales provide a range of prices which indicate a median and a mean. Third party morons, who aspire for social justice have no place intercepting contracts, but President Obama did just that during the takeover of the car companies, and gave them precedent.

For me locally, if you are not paying your contractual obligation for any of my properties, you will be evicted as quickly as the law allows. As I say, if you are not paying, you are not staying.

If we get to a point where contract law is compromised or meaningless, the integrity of the marketplace is lost. Investors will refrain from taking any risks, and thus, growth under free market capitalism turns to nothing short of communism.

It must be recognized that this is the goal of those who are organizing the Occupy Wall Street protests. It has been a 100 year effort, and the window for opportunity to seize control is now open like never before. These power players are hoping to slam the door on capitalism before you wake up.

Efforts through health care, the churches, Big Education, the EPA inclusive of Agenda 21, regulation and taxation, the banking system, pro-Islamic (flotillas) and anti Israel actions are part of the tentacles the octopus is strangling us with.

Occupy Wall Street will move to the forefront as the summer approaches. You need to know who our opponents are and act accordingly. In the event of a crisis, the heavy hand of government will seize the chance to freedom away from the people.

Freedom is not free. In defeating this unprecedented internal threat, it is time to pay up America.

Find Light As Darkness Approaches

An honest broker. Our country has a great example of this in George Washington, the Indispensable Man. Honesty is vitally important as a virtue, but it is equally important in commerce, by individuals, corporations and market makers adhering to contract law.

When contracts are broken, it throws mistrust and uncertainty into the marketplace, creating chaos. Regrettably, the Obama administration, in their efforts to transform this divinely inspired nation, altered the rules of contract law right out of the gate upon taking office in the form of shortchanging the automaker bond holders during the auto bailout. And don't get me started on the sun-setting of the famed Pontiac brand of General Motors!!

While Congress has become seemingly irrelevant and scandals are mounting while the media cheers on the socialist agenda, the stock market, although having ups and downs, is higher than it was in the aftermath of the 2008 crash. With a 9%+ unemployment rate, small business getting clobbered, taxes and regulations increasing, restricted credit and market uncertainty, one has to wonder how the market remains so high.

During the Great Depression, folks with jobs made out fair to midland, but it was those on the outside looking in who suffered the most. Unlike that period, the FED has injected massive levels of cash into the system, and when coupled with governmental stimulus, corporations and unions on the inside have been able to maintain profitable revenue levels. But it is not real, for when the cash influx is removed, the true levels of markets will be identified, and those levels are far lower than present closing ranges.

Not only are the current market levels manufactured, but economic measures of employment, inflation and debt are fabricated. In addition, in part due to the crony capitalism, investors are uncertain of false market indicators, significantly increasing the risk associated with capital investment.

And then, there is the rule of law. The collapse of trading firm MF Global, whose CEO was former New Jersey Democrat Governor Jon Corzine, has lead federal investigators to uncover that the company seems to be missing about 1.2 billion on customer accounts. A Congressional Panel is seeking to question Corzine, who if the allegations prove true, should take up long term residency in the gray bar hotel. Although while Governor Corzine blew a huge hole in the wallet of New Jersey, few think he is dumb enough to get himself in this situation, which leads some to think this is an orchestrated hit.

One could think another Wall Street firm blowing up has little impact on the average American, but this well may. Much of the investor money is currently stuck as investigators sort through the wreckage, but investors may only get back about 40% of their potions and they are far from happy. While this is most unfortunate, far more significant issues concerning the lack of trust in the commodities market, where MF Global provided the market to hedge futures contracts, and the contagion to follow, could severely impact our capital markets.

Investors have signaled the lack of trust in the market, perhaps highlighted in a letter by Ann Barnhardt, a cattle commodities broker, who due to the lack of trust in the market place and an "abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies", ceased operations of her firm, Barnhardt Capital Management. Please read the letter that she wrote, as Barnhardt speaks a truth you are unaware of and need to be up to speed on.

Investors Business Daily does not care much for Corzine, and neither do I, but there is a much more serious problem brewing here. Trust in the capital markets is essential for investors, and without that you have inefficient markets at best. With the DOW artificially pumped, many thought the commodities markets were where realistic evaluations could be identified.

Not anymore. Perhaps this leads to a market crash, or maybe it is just another in a long line of birth pangs we have been having. If the allegations of malfeasance are true and investors are not made reasonably whole due to the theft by this firm and it's principals, most notably Obama crony Corzine, these folks need to become instant jailbirds.

If they don't, and the rule of law remains absent, the birth pangs will quickly turn into a contraction and the official birth of utter chaos in the US financial markets, something many contend is orchestrated from within the White House, will emerge. Serious as that is and factoring in the EURO fix that won't work, the FED is war gaming worst case scenarios with new stress test of our major banks forecasting potential unemployment levels of 13% and a DOW at 5600.

Reality is a mirage under this administration, and your investment dollars must be protected. As Ms. Barnhardt accurately pontificated, investment is most vulnerable under the socialist and evil regime running our country at present, and hopefully November 2012 will intercept us from the generations of darkness Ronald Reagan warned us about.

Pray we make it that far!