Obama in Peoria: Workers still worried

Caterpillar will have to get more world completive, probably have the highest operating cost of any earth moving machinery in the world.
See more and more foriegn built earthmoving machinery around the country ever year , same with cars.

The President has bent over backwards and even had cocktails with the obstructionist Republicans and the American people are sick of these idiots that are called Republicans The heck with Judd Gregg, I don't understand why President Obama would want an obstructionist Republican in his cabinet anyway. Remember, the President reached out to the Republican party. We just went through eight years of their "ideas" and we now know that their tax cuts for the rich and deregulation will not get this country moving again. This President is trying to move forward, nobody knows if this stimulus plan will work because nobody has had these kind of problems before (thanks Republicans). The American people by the polls are supporting this President and I support this President, if it does not work this country will be in more trouble than it is right now. If you are like the obstructionist Republicans (Rush) and are hoping for failure, you will end up losing, mark my words. If it does work there will not be much left of the Republican party anymore...like there is anything left anyway.

It sounds like caterpillar is black mailing the country.. wonder what and how much they will be getting out of it and please say nothing.. with all the closed door meetings in a so called transparent administration..we know they have more pork than a pig farm.. I feel sorry for our kids..

Inky--stop it. Just stop it. Maybe it the price of gas goes back to 10 bucks a gallon we'll get our greedhead corporations to build things in the states again. I say we just FORÇE them to do so. I'm with Obama on his plan.
But I WISH the Prez I voted for, worked for, donated to would pressure his legal eagles (starlingsreally) to change tactic on Gitmo. That would REALLY Help.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/126137/obama%27s_legal_team_copies_bush%27s_%27state_secrets%27_trick_to_cover_up_torture_and_renditions/

Caterpillar's biggest problem will be the protectionist - most of which are controlled by the unions. It is Speaker Dimwit Pelosi that wouldn't pass the trade bill with Columbia of which Cat would have been one of the biggest beneficiaries.
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Ronnie,
"The President has bent over backwards and even had cocktails with the obstructionist Republicans..." That is hard to believe that a guy has cocktails with someone (probably even picked up the tab) and that individual won't do whatever he says. The nerve of those Republicans. You see, it takes more to buy off the Republicans than cheap booze - after all, they aren't Ted Kennedy!!!

We can toil, argue, posture all day and all night over this Judd Gregg mess, but the bottom line is why this guy was even ASKED to be Commerce Secretary when in the past he wanted the Commerce Department abolished. One also must question why Gregg dumped this announcement right before Obama was speaking in Peoria, Illinois at Caterpillar about jobs. Talk about stepping all over a message. Oh, we can not forget the Gregg presser, while speaking nice of Obama, repeated that this is a White House that would not work with him. Again, talk about stepping all over the White House.

I'm a big fan of working together and I'm a big fan of changing the tone etc. etc.

I am not, however, a pushover. So when you negotiate in good faith with House Republicans and they crap on your bill, you negotiate in good faith with Senate Republicans and they crap on your bill, and you make a good faith appointment of a Republican to a plum job and he does whatever the heck he did (shoot himself in the foot), well ... they've had their chance. Strike one, strike two, strike three. They've shown they can't work with us and they're not interested in doing anything to fix this country.

So, officially, screw them. Woo! I've been wanting to say that. If they want anything from me, they'd better have hats in hand. I'm not surprised, btw, and I'm glad we tried to take the high road, but no more.

If Pres. Obama maintains his tone of reaching out without compromising his principles he wins and so does America.

Inky--stop it. Just stop it. Maybe it the price of gas goes back to 10 bucks a gallon we'll get our greedhead corporations to build things in the states again. I say we just FORÇE them to do so. I'm with Obama on his plan.
But I WISH the Prez I voted for, worked for, donated to would pressure his legal eagles (starlingsreally) to change tactic on Gitmo. That would REALLY Help.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/126137/obama%27s_legal_team_copies_bush%27s_%27state_secrets%27_trick_to_cover_up_torture_and_renditions/
Posted by: Karma is powerful | February 12, 2009 7:25 PM

Sounds like you have an inside track, regarding stimus.

s Obama truly an idiot, or is he just playing one on TV. Obama claimed Catepillar CEO Owens said he will start rehiring some of the laid off workers once the stimulus money starts flowing, but Owens said the opposite once Obama left. And another cabinet nominee withdrew today. This guy is just not ready for prime time

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/02/doh-caterpillar.html

I heard Owens in a TV interview conducted shortly after Obama's speech saying that the stimulus bill does not have enough funding for infrastructure rebuilding to make a difference to Caterpiller, and that nobody who was laid off is being called back to work.

Ronnie, the only sure things are that if it doesn't work, democrats will blame the republicans for its failure and still claim it worked.

Saving swamp mice is not my idea of good fiscal policy.

I wonder what the new government contract with Cat looks like. It has to be big enough for their CEO to cave like Specter.

Obama is going to save the WORLD (including Chicago), right?

I didn't think so either. This one has alot of weight to carry.

Obama is going to save the WORLD (including Chicago), right?

I didn't think so either. This one has alot of weight to carry.

"Caterpillar will probably have to lay off more employees before it starts thinking about rehiring, its chairman Jim Owens says."
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/12/business/NA-US-Obama-Caterpillar.php
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D'OH!

You are clowns. Yeah the Republicans and Rush put in the PORK and GARBAGE in this stimulus. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid don't give one IOTA what you people think or do. READ THE PLAN the Stimulus is online, get a clue and get informed. And GITMO? Yeah the President already placated your soft inner loving selves by saying GITMO is closing but funny thing happened, no one wants them and the genius Dems have no clue what to do.

How about we water board Reid and Pelosi? Oh the poor, poor terrorists, lets have them in YOUR backyard for a summer BBQ and you can tell us all about HOPE AND CHANGE. You voted for this inexperience dolt now watch the fun!

Regarding the watered down stimulus package.

Gov. Pawlenty, R-MN, just told a huge lie on the News Hour and didn't get called on it. He said of the $700+ billion package that "only $100 *million* was for infrastructure". He wasn't called on it by the moderator.

Woodruff finally asked him that if he was so against the bill was he going to accept the money for MN. He turned green then said yes, he was.
Here's what has happened. The Republicans have a bill to their liking, yet can vote against it, and when it fails to deliver on all the promises made they will take the credit for opposing it.

Snow and Specter are NOT moderates. They are conservative Reagan Republicans. They just seem moderate because the Repubs have moved so far to the right. Basically Obama has been had. He and the Dems gave the Repubs everything they wanted without the Reps. having to vote for it.

Obama needs an entire new political advise team. These people are gonna tear him a new one.

Regarding the watered down stimulus package.

Gov. Pawlenty, R-MN, just told a huge lie on the News Hour and didn't get called on it. He said of the $700+ billion package that "only $100 *million* was for infrastructure". He wasn't called on it by the moderator.

Woodruff finally asked him that if he was so against the bill was he going to accept the money for MN. He turned green then said yes, he was.
Here's what has happened. The Republicans have a bill to their liking, yet can vote against it, and when it fails to deliver on all the promises made they will take the credit for opposing it.

Snow and Specter are NOT moderates. They are conservative Reagan Republicans. They just seem moderate because the Repubs have moved so far to the right. Basically Obama has been had. He and the Dems gave the Repubs everything they wanted without the Reps. having to vote for it.

Obama needs an entire new political advise team. These people are gonna tear him a new one.

This Cat photo op made a fool out of Obama. If he knew anything about business or did some basic homework about the company he never would have exposed himself to the corporate ridicule that is occurring behind closed doors. He inexperience is showing, but the union guys loved him and the MSM all did high fives for him. Wonder if the ole' union boys will whoop and holler when their jobs head south to a right to work state and the layoffs continue due to his lack of knowledge about global economics.

When the white house tries to control the census which would give them the ability to shape congressional districts and manipulate things for the sole purpose of keeping power, then I aplaud those willing to stand up against it. When they try to stifle free speech and call it "the fairness doctrine", we must stand against it. When Bush gave us the patriot act you were all against it, now when Obama's white house is pulling the same kind of crap, you are for it. you are idiots

I see bad things a brewing. But the one silver lining in this is, and mark my words, republicans are digging themselves into a hole that they won't come out of. Outside of these pages....that's the real world, most Americans see Obama as a decent man, trying to do the right thing. The republicans are coming off as the Snydly Whiplash in this whole thing. This Judd Gregg deal.......he is just one more nail in the coffin. Do you know how many Americans give a damn about the census? Just you swamp rats and a few more. End of story. The republicans now look like the children that refused to play because their feelings got hurt. They seem like nasty children and it will hurt them badly in Americas eyes. The obstructionist card is the worst hand they could have played.........they still haven't gotten that yet from the election. I agree with C.Mo and think we should pull every thing out of the bill put in by the republicans......if you want to play like children...take away their toys.

And all should note what the CEO of Caterpilar had to say about Obama's re-hiring claims, completely contradicting him- he said "we'll be laying off MORE people before there's any hiring".

Such misguided Keynsian economic policy as the Democrats adore (because it requires more spending) was comprehensively discredited a long, long time ago.

The reality that Obama needs to recognize is that the New Deal was a financial disaster- actually far worse than the market downturn that lead to it. He needs to stop basing his policies on dumbed-down civics-text versions of events and consider economic logic.

And the president has decided to demonize private enterprise, just as FDR did, as a way to present government as the great savior… so typical of socialists with no business or executive managerial experience.

You cannot make a country rich by looting taxpayers, then paying people to pour cement and pick up trash. These activities amount to capital consumption- and are not sources of productive investment. One can say that they are either useless or needed tasks, but it is not a matter of ideology as to whether such public projects will make us all wealthier... they WILL NOT. -

Do enough of this nonsense, distorting incentives and crippling the guiding hand of the market, and you can destroy the livelihoods of an entire generation-

http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com

CM,
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You don't explain what you believe the truth is. Is "$100 million" suppose to be $100 billion"?
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Sort of like Nancy Pelosi saying "500 million Americans are losing their jobs". It's a simple misspeak.
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The difference is that Chris Wallace of Fox News was listening to his guest and politely corrected her; while Judy Woodruff of PBS probbably wasn't listening, but thinking of the next thing to say.
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Here's the full quote from PBS
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"But as to the infrastructure piece, the news reports I read today said the grand total of the infrastructure is a bit over $100 million, with roads and bridges only being $46 million, other categories of infrastructure getting you up to that $100 million total against a now nearly $800 billion bill. So it's not even close to half, infrastructure is not even close to half or a significant overall percentage in the bill."
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As he says it is not near 1/2, you can see it is an honest mistake.

"Outside of these pages....that's the real world, most Americans see Obama as a decent man

No they don't. His approval rating is sliding faster than any president in history's. And what would you know about the real world, Hussein? Aren't you the guy that brags on these pages about how you haven't held a job in years and devotes 100% of his time to political activism?
Why don't you leave the real world stuff to those of us who have jobs, pay taxes and actually, you know, PARTICIPATE in the economy. End of story.

Actually, I watched that interview, and remember being relieved when the OTHER guest being interviewed DID correct Pawlenty. So he was called on it.

The guy's name was Eric Schmidt, and he said, "It's important to remember that, as I mentioned, about $500 billion are things which involve direct payments to the states, to local government, things like hiring policemen, that sort of thing, as well as infrastructure, and the infrastructure number is about 150, if you add it all up."

I do think Pawlenty deserves credit for making a mistake here. He's bad with numbers, or Norm Coleman would have come out on top in the vote re-count.

Actually, since Pawlenty uses the "million" figure TWICE, this looks less like a mistake and more like an idiot talking.

So it probably IS a mistake. Idiots are prone to them.

I make mistakes very frequently...So I as an idiot know what I'm talking about...

I just got laid off from Caterpillar from the Decatur, Il plant. I was excited to see Obama say Owens was hiring the people that got laid off back-but then to hear Owens say he is not hiring back but actually laying off more made me realize that is Caterpillar for you. I got laid of 2 days before Christmas and last month we just found out that my husband is being laid off from Caterpillar as well in April. He was told that is was a permanant layoff-so he just lost his job of three year. Jim Owens told the Wall Street Journal that claims he is going to clean up the Midwest, I would sure say he is cleaning up for the Decatur plant is almost closed and the motorgrader line is being shipped to a right to work state. Along with that most of our production is being shipped overseas to China and India. Caterpillar or Jim Owens does not care about the future of the company in America-as long as he can cut the cost of the union employee.