Comments on: 4/23/09: Uh-oh… GM to shut most US plants up to 9 weeks

By: OldMarine

OldMarine — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:27:08 +0000

I got awhole list of them, but my finger gets tired typing.

By: Jerseygal

Jerseygal — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:21:08 +0000

And what the heck do Pell grants have to do with shovels?

By: Jerseygal

Jerseygal — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:20:08 +0000

Thanks for the info…just what the heck does a 'neighborhood stabilazition' entail? is said neighborhood wobbling around the city or what? What a ridiculous term. Kinda like 'community organizer.' In order for community organizer to be necessary, don't we first need a disorganized community? And what does that mean? School in the wrong place? Someone put some houses on top of a manhole? Someone's backyard is out front? What? I think I'm in cynic mode. Oh well, beats the mini-rants, I guess!

By: OldMarine

OldMarine — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:00:08 +0000

Let's recap some of those shovel ready stimulus projects:
$6 bill for university building projects (U Ky just hired a B-ball coach for 4 million/yr.)
$15 bill for pell grants (boy that sure is shovel ready, there won't be any jobs)
$4.2 bill for \"neighborhood stabilization
$5.7 bill for the \"Care\" Act, volunteers?
And of course everybodies favorite the real \"shovel\" ready project, ACORN, for 2.7 billion. Yea these are just some of the many \"shovel\" ready projects that are going to stimulate the economy. Now, there is talk that the $400 \"tax cut\" we were suppose to get will be taken away. Does the term BOHICA mean anything to the hard working American people.

By: NancyNurse

NancyNurse — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:07:13 +0000

Very true. In the 80's I worked as a unit director in skilled care for a few months. I quickly realized the staffing and budget problems and the insistent cry bybureaucratsto 'cut waste.' We didn't even have a push button phone in the facility—and one LPN cared for over 60 patients at night. Anyone who has ever cared for the elderly with conditions like Alzheimer's knows that as the sun goes down, the restlessness and confusion goes up. Instead of staffing higher at night, we were told how many nurses and aids could be used by some bureaucrat in DC who has never EVER cared for the elderly. The push toward more government intervention has NEVER made a better quality product, instead, a much worse experience for both patient and staff. All to 'save' people money. If it were up to me, I would get rid of it all, except for the people who have absolutely nowhere else to turn and I would hold BIG BROTHER accountable for their living conditions, not the staff.
I had a girlfriend whose mother held a PhD in nursing and she held a Master's degree. They wanted to open a small facility of only women with mild to moderate Alzheimers and give them the very best of care with a staffing ratio of about 6:1 and much higher use of registered nurses, not as supervisors, but as direct care providers. They worked out their own budget and could meet and exceed the local nursing home per patient. They were turned down…….the government TELLS nurses how many nurses that these patients can have, not the other way around and they were 'discriminating' against males with Alzheimers. They went back to the drawing board and came up with a plan that they could have a male wing and a female wing of the house that they were going to provide care in. They were again turned down, they needed a 'medical director' and all other excuses. They obtained one, part time. They said, no. It had to be full time. And on and on and on—one excuse after another. Finally, they gave up in frustration. Two talented, wonderful nurses who were willing to sacrifice salaries to give people what they REALLY needed were told they couldn't.
BTW, anyone who has someone at home with Alzheimers and needs cheap care—hire an illegal. I know several people cared for by illegals from eastern europe and they receive much better care than through a nursing home. Just pay them as 'companions.' And the government can't and won't say a thing!

By: Islandsox

Islandsox — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:36:21 +0000

Both my parents were in nursing homes, rather my mom was in an Alzheimer's facility. They are most definitely understaffed and we saw them decline much faster. They are both gone now. My point was this tax credit was so miniscule that it most probably helps no one, and now he's even going to reverse that to use the money for nursing-home type nationalized health care. No one has ever received truly great healthcare when it is nationalized; I've seen it in Canada and in Honduras; it is degrading and it is dangerous because the health care staff aren't motivated to do a good job or even give the appropriate meds.

By: FreeAmerikan

FreeAmerikan — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:23:16 +0000

Where is Cuomo, Pelosi, Dodd, Acorn, and Barney Fwank, on this one?
How many BILLIONS in Bailout Money has GM received? For What? A Taxpayer Funded Government Power Grab?
When a Union Company like GM closes plants and Nothing is produced for nine months, yet the UNION people still get 70% of their pay? Doesn't this cost apply to the cost of each vehicle made by GM? How could anybody stay in business with that formula? I couldn't stay in business if my employees didn't produce every hour they're paid!
Being that the 70% pay these employees are to be paid comes from the funding provided by us the taxpayers, I as a taxpayer here-by propose they be mandated to perform comunity services. I propose that service be right back on the line where they work now for 100% pay. This would at least decrease the cost per car by 30%, lowering the cost to us, the public car buyer. If they refuse, tax the 70% at 90%, as we the public do have an interest.

By: Tandab

Tandab — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:53:24 +0000

Will anyone ever look at the financial abuses within the UAW?

By: Janice_K

Janice_K — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:44:57 +0000

Sure glad we gave them BILLIONS more dollars today….NOT!!!

By: NancyNurse

NancyNurse — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:02:06 +0000

I'd sure rather have a tax cut then government backed health care. Go to any nursing home and ask to see 'intermediate care.' That is what you will get in your aged years. Or go to a VA and check out how many are sitting in waiting rooms so that you can sit in another waiting room. All day long. And when you finally see a doctor, it is a first year resident who doesn't know which way to point a thermometer.