Biden defends auto rescue in first big 2012 foray

I inadvertently left off an item regarding trade wars that I intended to mention in Mish 2012 Predictions; 2011 Year in Review with Max Keiser. I also have some commentary on the US election, precious metals, and energy. Trade Wars

Vice President Joe Biden made the case for new gun measures being floated in the Senate on "Morning Joe" Thursday, arguing that they could have had some effect on recent mass shooting incidents.

A number of proposals on taxes and the budget have come out recently, one by President Obama, one by Mitt Romney, and one by a friend, John Mauldin. Every one of the proposals are fatally flawed, most of the for multiple reasons. Before one can fix a problem one must understand it. In general, Democrats want to raise taxes and spend money. Republicans on the other hand generally want to cut taxes and spend money. Military spending and Medicare spending both soared under Republican. Bush signed a disastrous Medicare bill.

President Barack Obama made an aggressive play to claim credit for rescuing the iconic US auto industry, but admitted that tough economic times were clouding his reelection bid.Obama declared in Washington that "the US auto industry is back," revving up his drive to turn his successful bailout of the sector into votes in key midwestern battleground states in November's election.Vice President Joe Biden meanwhile spelled out a blunt reelection message for his boss at a fundraising event in Texas, saying: "Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive."

Reuters - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney defended his stand against federal lending to rescue the nation's ailing automakers during the recession while on a visit to Michigan -- the state that most benefited from that move -- on Thursday.

A Sierra Club volunteer in South Carolina said United States Vice President Joe Biden appeared to indicate his opposition to TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL in a brief conversation with her last week. Elaine Cooper, a environmental activist with the state’s Sierra Club chapter, said in a blog post that she asked Biden if the administration was serious about addressing climate change and if President Barack Obama would reject the pipeline, which would carry diluted bitumen from Alberta to refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast.