Say, isn’t the government’s bailout of Chrysler 25 years ago supposed to be the great success story illustrating why taxpayer rescues of private corporations such a great idea? So why are we now being asked to pony up another $10 billion so that failing company can merge with another failing company?
Sad story. (NOTE: Link fixed.)
If the GOP hedges its future on Sarah Palin, the GOP is going to be the minority party for a long, long time.
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue gives Japanese Korean automaker Kia a sweetheart corporate welfare deal to open a plant in the Peach State. Comes back driving a shiny new Borrego. Maybe there’s an innocent explanation–maybe the car dropped down from heaven after a night of prayer.
New York City prosecutor will take the NYPD antenna sodomy case to a grand jury.
Pete Guither notes an example of members of a drug task force being honored for the sheer number of narcotics cases they’ve prosecuted. The article includes this sentence: “”The unit has seen a 50 percent increase in the number of search warrants granted to detectives who are conducting narcotics investigations.” This is how we measure success?
Turns out that the BailoutSleuth blog, which will track how your nearly $3 trillion in corporate welfare is being spent, is a project started in part by Dallas Mavericks owner and libertarian Mark Cuban. Nice. Also, a note to Sarah Palin, this is what a team of Mavericks looks like.
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on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 9:11 am by Radley Balko
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TheAgitator.com
Hmm. The sad story link is the merger link all over again.
The “Sad Story” link goes to the same Chrysler bailout story as the item above it. Not that I want to see another sad story, but it looks like one is being left out.
Re: measurement of number of search warrants- that stat might be useful if judges were doing more than just rubber-stamping any warrant application that comes across their desk. As it is, kudos for improving that stat might as well be a creative writing award.
Sorry to be a nit-picker, but Kia is a Korean company.
This search warrant nonsense is so ridiculous. It’s like Homer the Vigilante come to life.
Kent Brockman: Mr. Simpson, how do you explain the fact that burglary is down 15%, but doorknob sack beatings are up an astonishing 830%?
Homer: Well, Ken, I never said my men weren’t committing crimes….
Came here to say what Zeb said. Also, I have a tough time believing that anyone, much less a governor, would pull strings in exchange for a Kia. More likely this was just one of the sweetheart deals many states make for the job creation and down-the-line tax revenue.
worst sentence in the article about the shooting…
“The four burglary suspects were detained and interviewed, but no arrests were made.”
Which means the cop shot this innocent kid because he mistook him to be a SUSPECT in a robbery that they did not even have enough evidence to ARREST the guy for when they caught him, much less charge him with a crime.
I wonder if he said “Do you feel lucky, Punk?” as he shot the kid?
There is simply no excuse for the shooting of Julian Alexander.
Unacceptable.
But, after incidents like the shootings of Sal Culosi, Isaac Singletary et al, I think we can say with a fair amount of certainty that this officer will not be held accountable.
@aland — I never made that connection. That’s just an excellent way to look at it.
As for the Julian Alexander story, I’d ask you to keep us updated, but I think we all know how the “investigation” is going to go.
Someone needs to start lining up precinct captains in Iowa and New Hampshire for Mark Sanford starting now. He’ll win SC, and a strong showing in the early states will go a long way toward fundraising and knocking out some of the marginal candidates. If Palin and, say, Huckabee, split the evangelical vote, then he’ll be in a good position to win the whole thing, especially the Southern states on super tuesday.
Electing Sanford should be the focus of the libertarian movement for the next four years.
That swipe at the Chrysler deal is amusing, but it doesn’t follow. The bail out in the 80s was a good deal. Chrysler repaid the loan early and the government did well. Unfortunately, those who followed in Chrysler’s leadership failed to keep the company afloat.
Even so, these days I say let them sink along with GM.
If Chrysler had died in the 80’s maybe GM and Ford would be healthier now. They would potentially have more market share, and they would know there are no 2nd chances.
Kia is Korean, not Japanese….
Whoa! It takes a brave soul to mistakenly call a Korean business Japanese. I guess they all look the same to you, huh? (Kidding) Thanks to roughly 50 years of fairly brutal colonial rule, Koreans aren’t known for their love of Japan. Ask a Korean about comfort women some time. You might want to fix your mistake before you meet a Taekwondo-induced death.
Wow, Radley, such an about-face on Palin. Not that i can blame you of course.
It really goes to the vetting process. Had she not been such a dim-witted gaffe-machine this election would look very different. As evidenced by the fact that the argument against her started with “not enough experience” and moved to “just listen to her talk!”
I have an idea – why doesn’t GM and other US companies build cars that people want?
(happy owner of a german car)
“Had she not been such a dim-witted gaffe-machine.”
This is not a disqualification. See, e.g., Biden, Joe. D-MBNA
“From the window they saw Alexander handcuffed and bleeding in the front yard.”
handcuffed after he was shot. which means that the officer STILL thought the Alexander was a suspect even AFTER he fired. which makes you wonder if the cop even knew who he was chasing. and this quote makes you wonder WHY he was chasing them …
“The four burglary suspects were detained and interviewed, but no arrests were made.”
However, a Korean company showering government officials with pricey gifts to obtain a sweetheart deal is pretty much par for the course over there. They probably wouldn’t understand why it’s such a big deal. In fact, had this happened in Korea, Governor Whoever and his minions would probably have been treated to a night of debauchery in a Korean room salon, which is pretty much a high-priced brothel.
These sick fucks have ruined a child’s life before the kid is even born. And they didn’t even pretend the kid’s father did anything wrong, they were just decided it was time for somebody to die, and he was in the wrong place (his own front yard) at the wrong time (whenever there is a police officer around).
“no arrests were made.”
After reading about the witnesses involved in the NYPD antenna thing, I have changed my mind from since my previous post. The evidence is certainly not in their favor. Raped with a walkie-talkie for smoking pot. And to think, it could have been worse, he could’ve been shot…for not hurting anyone.
Why did the police shoot the homeowner? Even if he WAS a burgular, the police have no right to shoot unless in imminent danger. This just goes to show how trigger happy the cops are.
The homeowner is shot on his own property, and is left cuffed and bleeding. The wife is not allowed to even comfort him in his dying moments. But, of course, it was all for police safety.
I look at this story and think of Monday’s letter from the Milwaukee police justifying the actions in the Cheye Calvo puppicide case. Especially the one where police officer sees Calvo’s dead dogs and thinks hey, that reminds me, my own dog needs to get her vaccinations: I’ll just make a quick cell phone call to my vet while Calvo lies on the floor looking at his bleeding dogs.
To quote from anti-commie witchhunts of the 50s “Have you people no decency.” Its time we asked the same question.
The only reason why people don’t like Palin is because she’s the living embodiment of being pro-life. And people can’t stand that, especially people working for or voting for the Infanticide Candidate.
Why am I seeing PDS here? Seriously? She’s not a “gaffe machine” (particularly not next to Joe Biden and Barack Obama), she’s not stupid, and she has been bringing out bigger crowds than any of the other candidates. People like her.
She also is the first major-party candidate to have the balls (take that as you will) to admit that she smoked pot, inhaled, and even pointed out that it was legal in Alaska.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/29/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4397109.shtml
While I don’t like the last line there (and consider it a throwaway to keep Dobson of going into fatal epileptic fits) the fact is that she is honest, unlike Clinton or Bush.
As for the idea that she wasn’t “vetted”, you think Obama was? Again, let’s be frank – how much time did he spend with Bill Ayers? Say what you want, I wouldn’t be part of *any* organization that Bill Ayers was part of. As a libertarian, I can see that he’s against absolutely everything that I stand for. And he’s unlikely to be Obama’s only freaky friend.
Love the bailoutsleuth.com blog. That is one of the best finds yet. Every government agency should be transparent with its funding. We now see that any transparency the Treasury and government promised is null and void. We need to insist that all be revealed. It is our money, folks!
Michael,
As I said, I suspect that the Palin Derrangement Syndrome exists because people hate that she’s a living embodiment of being pro-life. There are many, many, many people who are rooted in the Culture of Death.
To me, one of the telling parts of the Julian Alexander story is at the tail end.
Note how there’s no mention of talking to other, non-police, witnesses (of which it sounds like there should be several) about what the officer said and did. And, what’s this “investigators would interview the officer” business? (Emphasis mine.) Like days later? He should have been interviewed immediately after, not after getting time to concoct a story that justifies his actions. It really sounds like a process designed only to exonerate the officer, rather than to determine all of what happened. I am pretty sure that if I had shot someone, the police wouldn’t give me a couple days off to think about what to say before “interviewing” me!
Meanwhile, why specifically did he shoot anyway? Someone not obeying an officer’s commands (whether he’s a suspect or not) is not sufficient grounds for using lethal force against him. The article was brief, but it never mentioned that Alexander was brandishing a weapon or that the officer had any other reason to believe Alexander was an immediate threat to anyone’s life. Shouldn’t that be a key determination?
On narcotic squads:
Drug squads have always justified their existence with such “productivity” stats. Too bad they don’t use, say, lower drug use or less drug violence as the indicators of success.
Since we can’t win the war on drugs, it’s all about arrests, search warrants, and busting down doors. Yes, hard as it is to imagine, in the police world, busting down doors is good, and the more doors busted down the better.
Even if the raid is a failure (like it’s not where the big-time dealer was packaging), as long as they can find any drugs–like one joint for personal use–it is considered a success. It is all about quantity over quality. http://www.copinthehood.com
The same could be said of Biden. The more that he and Obama talk, the more I can pretty much guarantee it that within 2 years, Radley and the rest of the Reason crowd will change their minds about him being the lesser of the two evils. Granted, I’m not sure how much credibility they have on this election, considering how quickly they were willing to throw Ron Paul, the only real libertarian candidate with clout, under the bus when hints of politically incorrect writings conducted under his name came up.
In connection with the Alexander shooting, I believe most officers are trained or encouraged to make statements and reports away from the incident and keep them to a minimum. They are also told to wait for their own lawyer (and often, a union representative), to be present for any interviews or questioning by anyone. For whatever reason, the officer’s side of the story will most likely have the benefit of good legal advice.
And we still have radio silence on the blatant invasion of privacy for Joe Wurzelbacher in Ohio, even as people are being charged with gross incompetence and the child services director is claiming that they investigate anyone with “sudden notoriety”. I guess that’s enough probable cause around here as long as the person asking is unpopular with the crowd.
Except that the esteemed Mr. Wurzelbacher is on the road stumping for McCain. Seems to me that when you join a campaign, you kind of invite scrutiny.
Palin is this decade’s Dan Quayle.
I guess that’s enough probable cause around here as long as the person asking is unpopular with the crowd.
Blog on the topics I think are important, dammit! Or I’ll impugn your motives!
For what it’s worth, I think the government investigations into Mr. The Plumber are deplorable. I just haven’t had enough time to read up on them to offer a detailed opinion.
But I guess I should have devoted 10 paragraphs to that yesterday, instead of to the far less important issue of the Louisiana Supreme Court denying pro se appeals in 2,500 murder cases. You know, just to prove the political neutrality I’ve never claimed to possess.
In that awful “mistaken identity” case from California, notice how again we hear the “the last thing we want to do…” line of crap like that makes it ok.
You hear it all the time. Last thing we want to do is: kill innocent people; convict innocent people; let guilty people go free.
However, It’s clearly NOT the last thing polcie want to do in any of those cases cuz they happen all the time. Maybe this cop wasn’t going all commando killing machine on whoever came into his field of vision, maybe he was scared and panicked, but whatever his reasons firing was obviously not a last resort in this terrible, sad case.
Cops want to justify their actions by saying these are the last things they want to see happen, and that the job is so tough. Bt they would never dream of extended similar justifications to the actions of those they chase and arrest.
Radley Balko has demonstrated often enough that police officers act with impunity in virtually any action that results in a civilian death. A police officer acting in official capacity, even if acting criminally as long as it is done in official capacity and not for direct personal gain, is subject to no law.
This is anarchy with privilege, or anarchy only for the ruling class.
In a world where every individual has equal standing among others (pure anarchy), the limit imposed on the police officer in this case would be a revenge killing by the victim’s family (who would have to act with discretion to ensure that the revenge cycle did not perpetuate). Those who undertake to prevent crime or act the way the officer did in this case would do so with the foreknowledge that if they did not act in a responsible manner, their own life would be forfeit.
There are many examples of this occurring in the real world: the Dutch traffic engineer who designs what appear to be “dangerous” roads without signs or signals that actually decrease accidents and fatalities, and open-carry laws or concealed-carry laws for handguns that create a sense of unease and confusion among criminals. I see no reason why this would not work if the State monopoly on murder were rescinded.
If the last thing you want to do is kill people, then pulling a gun shouldn’t be the first thing you do.
Notice that in the Alexander shooting the officer (as always) is not named. This from an agency that is more than willing to release suspect’s names, mug shots, personal information when the suspect is a “civilian”. Officers, however, get the presumption of innocence, the cloak of anonymity, and “home field advantage” during interrogations.
Someone needs to start lining up precinct captains in Iowa and New Hampshire for Mark Sanford starting now. He’ll win SC, and a strong showing in the early states will go a long way toward fundraising and knocking out some of the marginal candidates. If Palin and, say, Huckabee, split the evangelical vote, then he’ll be in a good position to win the whole thing, especially the Southern states on super tuesday.
Electing Sanford should be the focus of the libertarian movement for the next four years.
I’d actually vote Republican if they trotted out Sanford and Flake.
Fuck. Now I’m sorry I came back to read the sad story.
Radley, what was the “sweetheart corporate welfare deal” given to Kia? The article didn’t give any details.
If the Georgian taxpayers are being asked to pay extra money, which will end up in the pockets of Kia, like taxpayer-funded sports stadiums, I’d agree with you. The solution to that would be to make the corporation pay its own way and stop stealing by proxy.
But if Kia is just getting tax breaks that others don’t get, that is not welfare. It’s just screwing everyone else. The solution to that is not to take more from Kia, but to take less from everyone. I don’t know if you’re doing that here, but too many people who mention “corporate welfare” make that hideous moral equivalence.
Re: Chrysler Bailout being a bad idea last time.
The government did make money off the 1970s Chrysler bailout and averted some serious problems in Michigan/Ohio.
That does not mean that it was a good idea.
If Chrysler had gone under it would have forced all the major players in the industry to reexamine their assumptions.
-GM and Ford would have to had considered their management and business strategy, instead of producing lower quality, lower price products, under the protection of tarriffs, regulations, and government favors.
-The UAW and other unions would have to had addressed unsustainable salaries/benefits/rules.
-Michigan and Ohio would have to had addressed tax and industrial, tax and labor policy.
Because Chrysler was saved, there was no need for the US auto industry to face these challenges, and they spent the next 30+ years mostly doing the same thing that they had been doing before, and focussed on political rent seeking over innovation and quality.
If Chrysler went down in the 1970s, there was two other much stronger companies to pick up the slack. 2008, we are not just talking about Chrysler, but all three of them in significant trouble, and with much stronger international and domestic competition (e.g. Toyota, Honda, BMW, Kia etc in the USA). e.g. GM market capitalization !2.7bn; Oprah Winfrey ~2.5bn
Its like not amputating a gangrenous leg: you might be very pleased to save the leg, but you could soon find the whole body riddled with disease.
The other issue is that saving Chrysler taught companies that they too could be “too big to fail” After Chrysler, we had airlines (still a mess), savings and loans, etc etc. Now banks and insurance.
Do you really think saving Chrysler was such a great idea now?
Rush Limbaugh says that the Republican Party has no one they can rally around. There is an honorable man named Ron Paul that exemplifies being a statesman and honoring his oath of office. He has droves of people that he rallies because of the message, not the man. The “pretend he doesn’t exist” position continues …
Lee,
Paul is tainted goods by reason of some of his less savory associations, which making rallying around him someone difficult (and mainstream political suicide ).
Rep. Jeff Flake out of AZ might be good though, for the Republicans, if they want to be less statist.
How can people watch Palin interviewed and not come to the conclusion that she’s stupid?
Especially given that in the Couric interview, she was asked obvious questions.
Did you really think the folks preparing her thought the financial crisis or her lack of foreign policy experience wouldn’t come up? They probably prepped her extensively on exactly those issues and she still came off like a high school kid BSing a book report.
There’s gaffes and then there’s not knowing what you’re talking about.
I saw the story about the home owner being shot by the cop this morning on CNNHN (Robin is the hawt). One thing the article did not say was that the home owner was armed with a rather large club. Another piece that was left out is that he was shot several feet from this club that he left his house with.
What I gathered this morning was that his family is pretty pissed because it appears that the unnamed cop made have had him drop his club and move away then shot him.
I do not want to imply that this is what was reported, but it is what it appears happened.
Damn I’m tired! I hope those mistakes on my last post do not make me look to stupid.
Here is a link to the video.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/10/29/lopez.man.shot.in.yard.kcal
The most depressing thing about the shooting is that we know what’s going to happen next. The same series of steps will occur (like not releasing the cop’s name) and ultimately the cop will be exhonerated, whethere he was negligent or not. Because of that this Alexander’s already tragic death will be make worthless.
When you know what’s going to happen next and there’s not a damn thing that can be done about it, what makes our country any different that the worst sort of dictatorship! What the hell do we have to do to change such an obviously rotten system? We should apologize to the UK and tell them we were wrong about not wanting tyranny!
I think the biggest issue with the Chrysler bailout was that it brought the moral hazard into play. How careful did GM and Ford have to be knowing that could make a strong case for a bailout.
I’m sick of our government fawning over big corporations. The truly sad part of the Chrysler story is that no new US companies grew to make a bid at joining the big three. Our mercantile system made it too difficult for new US start ups to develop and grow.
If there is one thing I would like to hear from either of the 2 major party candidates that would give me hope, it would be to state that we need to make sure that we encourage the creation of new businesses in this country, not bail out failed ones.