I can’t decide what's worse, my crippled communications status (my TV died) or the lack of immediately incendiary political news. I am really glad that “yes we did”, but now what?
With no television, I cannot watch Christ Matthews yell and spit at his guests or Rachel Maddow crucify Rick Warren (again). The shortage of political firewood (Blago is asleep, Obama is in Hawaii) since Sarah Palin went away makes it tough, because no one wants to hear about the mundane realties of urban hunger or listen to another “expert” tell us why our economic conundrum sucks. But life must go on. And one more re-hash about why some Wall Street CEO thinks he deserves his multi-million dollar bonus and I will vomit. But anyway…
The economy: Today (12/28) the NYT had a new op ed from Paul Krugman (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/) in which he quotes and defends his use of the phrase:”niggling nabobs”. He essentially concludes that if you listen to all of the experts, you will, sooner or later, come to the conclusion that “nobody knows nuthin’ “. In the same newspaper, Thomas Friedman speaks up (Op-Ed Columnist: Win, Win, Win, Win, Win ... ) and while I think he makes some good points about the (needed) gas tax hikes, I have heard dissenting remarks from others who think he has got much of it wrong. You decide. All I know is I don’t “know nuthin’ “ except that somebody ran off with all the money.
I got this in an email from NOWAR (http://thirdcoastactivist.org/) this afternoon:
Hello, all. Over the weekend Israel has killed over 300 Palestinians and wounded at least 900 more with F-16 jets and Apache helicopters supplied by the United States. Anger at this assault has ignited spontaneous demonstrations in many cities, including Austin, where a protest called by UT's Palestine Solidarity Committee will take place at 5 p.m. on Monday, December 29 in front of the State Capital (11th and Congress). To read more about the ongoing crisis in Gaza, the complicity of the United States, and the broader historical context visit http://electronicintifada.net
The home pages of MSNBC.com and the BBC have been covering this firestorm and violence all day as well.
I am baffled about who to blame and why. Condi Rice and the Israeli Foreign Minister say the whole thing is the fault of Hamas for pitching rockets over the walls into Israel after breaking a truce. Hamas says it should be expected, since Israel won’t allow humanitarian food stuffs and medical supplies into Gaza. So Israel retaliates against the rockets with several hundred tons of bombs and kills at least 300 people right out of the box. The word “overkill” comes to mind.
However, I think this is all an environmental problem. Or rather a problem of environmental disruption. Perhaps we keep forgetting to remember that Palestinians and Israelis were both once nomadic desert warriors. They shared the sand, the sun, camels and brutality. Their morality was determined largely by desert survival. As the centuries progressed, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed and (eventually) arrogant Protestant democracy got mixed in there and now these two camps live in artificial walled cities. They still hate one another for a thousand thousand wrong and bigoted, short-sighted reasons and religious tenets, but their environments have been altered to maximize the terror they can inflict upon one another. They are now walled-in and have much better and more lethal weapons to use against each other (perhaps if they were forced to hack one another to bits with scimitars and hurl camel dung back and forth at each other things would slow down). . There is nothing new in their brutality: they brought it with them from the desert. They are just much more efficient in how they can go about slaughtering one another in this new environment. It is very much akin to the economic “experts” Krugman decries: “Nobody knows nuthin”.” And nobody wants to be confused by the facts. Pardon my use of the phrase, but when it comes to the use of logic, it appears that both sides can only say, “God forbid”.
The Mid-east has high-powered explosives; Wall Street has loan default/debit/credit swaps covered by a TARP. In either case, the result is dead bodies and rubble. If there were a website for all of this, it would be called "Screwup.disorg/".
ThinkProgress.org is having great fun (as are the readers) with the fact that it looks like the Bush “libery” will be a “white elephant”. It seems that many of the restrictive directives that Bush has issued will prevent many of the materials that should be in a presidential library from actually being there, making it largely an empty building. But that is to be expected as we endure the attempts by the administration to make “valedictory” (say what?) speeches and to rush to artificially create W’s “legacy”. You can read about the legacy efforts anywhere you might care to look, but I can create only this one dominant image:
A legacy, something that one leaves behind, trailing after him/her following their time in the leadership limelight, should be at least somewhat noble and awe inspiring. But when I close my eyes, all I see is W leaving a stall in the men’s room, with a long trail of toilet paper, dangling from the back of his pants, following him down the hall. And he has made it clear he has no intention of looking back. So be it.
The related not-very-new news today was that both Condi Rice and Laura Bush gave separate TV interviews and defended the Bush leadership record. Condi gave him an A+ (she must be smoking crack) and Laura Bush said , “history will tell”. It sure will. So be it. And I hope he will be “it” soon, so can all tag him and run away. There is sad irony in the fact that at the end of W’s “reign” his two most prominent Sunday morning apologists are two women, both devoid of a sense of the real world and devoted to perpetrating lies.
“Hi. My name is Dick Cheney, and I’m here to help you”. That is written on the toilet paper. The stuff legacies are made of.
We are but three days from a new year. In the absence of a television, I am rummaging through my CD collection for entertainment. I have just heard singer/songwriter Steve Goodman go on with great eloquence about the fact that, no matter how bad or gruesome or awful that which has gone before us has been, every year on Jan 1 we get the chance to begin anew. And country singer Gretchen Wilson just warbled that she was “one Bud wiser than I was a minute ago.” Perhaps in three days we will all acknowledge Steve’s admonishment to begin anew and be like Gretchen, “one Bud Wiser”.
I don’t know if that will keep any bombs from bursting over head in Gaza, make our economic experts any smarter or keep money out of he hands of some Wall Street tycoon. , but it might be a start. It would certainly be better than “nobody knows nuthin” and “one Bud wiser” would be better than none. Of course, things could get worse, but “God forbid”.
Happy New Year.
Life Goes on in Texas.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Re-Cycling When We Shouldn't
Robert Reich had an interesting blog posting on Christmas eve:
(http://robertreich.blogspot.com/).
“The Debate to Come over Wall Street, Autos, and Everything Else: Cyclical or Structural?”
The crux of the post is summarized in the last lines:
---whether the economic crisis we're experiencing is basically cyclical (in which case, nothing really needs to change over the long term, after the economy gets back on track) or structural (in which case, many aspects of our economy and society will needs to change permanently).
Above these lines, Reich talks about the basic contradiction which exists in the thinking of the old-time Wall Streeters, that this economic mess we are in is “cyclical”, that soon things will be back to normal (in effect, telling the public…you me and us… to “get over it”) and the more radical thinking that says this nightmare is “structural” and cannot be counted upon. That is what he referring to in that quote above, about matters that will need “to change permanently”.
Reich is being immensely politic and enormously polite. As long as the financial powers that be can continue to convince us that this is an acceptable “cyclical” condition, they can maintain the stranglehold on the world’s money supply. It should be abundantly clear to almost everyone right now that the “structure’ of how we have been managing and mismanaging our money does not work any more. And it needs to be changed. And will make every mogul in the history of money manipulation and how wealth is accumulated damned unhappy.
Here is where I see a great irony posed by this (now worldwide) economic disaster and the natural resource stewardship we talk about so often today. If we accept the proposition that we should stand back and allow the existing monetary structure (and its’ practices) to “cycle over” again, as it done so often in the past, we will be “re-cycling” NOT a resource but a bad and deleterious habit. To put it even more succinctly, when I bemoaned this paradoxical dilemma to a good friend last night, she reminded of one of our favorite syllogisms (attributed to Einstein): Insanity is when you keep doing the same things you have always done and expect to get different results. Duh.
At that point I began to look at the existing monetary infrastructure that we have in play as a piece of the fabric of our society. S cloth, we have used it, worn it, laundered it, dry-cleaned it, heaped praise upon it and re-used it, soiled it, re-laundered it and used it again. And after every use and re-use, it has become thinner and more difficult to maintain. And the majority of the world’s wealth has continued to accumulate in the hands of fewer and fewer people at the top of the economic (pardon the terminology) “pyramid”. We have, in effect, “re-cycled” the very financial structure which does the least to provide for those who move the stones that build the pyramid. I am reminded of slaves in ancient Egypt and the Pharos who wore the golden adornments. And Henry Paulson does sort of remind me of Yule Brenner and AIG certainly has the festivity angle down cold.
Now before anyone jumps all over me for advocating of “spreading the wealth” and short-changing Joe the Plumber, or hyping Karl Marx, urging a revitalization of hippie communes or taking out the “fascist pigs” of high finance, I have to say that I am far more inclined to maintain the more measured “Reichean” overview and to think about this somewhat logically.
The system we have in place, the “structure’ as Reich refers to it in this recent post, is broken. The TARP sins that have been committed in the name of bail-out and the ugly and counter-productive results of those sins should be obvious to everyone. $350B has already been “thrown at” the banks, and virtually none of it has spurred the economy or stopped the foreclosure debacle. The AP reported that financial institutions have refused to account for how they allocated and spent at least $1.6B of that money. Sec. Paulson is now talking about dispersing the next $350B and no one seems to know what for. Jobless rates are skyrocketing on a monthly basis, and the generally held opinion is that the big real estate, medical groups and others will be close on the heels of Detroit for bail-out money. Meanwhile Chrysler has halted all production for at last 30 days, GM has closed the last of its plants that produce SUVs and word on the street is that General Electric is in as much trouble and General Motors. I don’t see how anyone can that what we have been doing financially for the last two decades has been for the “good of the many”, but has rather (and most recently and obscenely) been for the greater good of the “the few”. I wish someone would explain to me (and to everyone else) the contorted logic that promotes multi-million dollar year-end bonuses for Wall Street execs, only because “things could have been worse” without their leadership? Is someone daft?
No one disputes our need to recycle. We need to recycle wood, paper, plastic, water and virtually every natural resource at our disposal if we are to survive, as a world of bipeds, into the coming centuries. But the one central feature of our existence that we DO NOT need to recycle is the way we have come to handle and manage money and accumulate wealth.
There are some who believe this current phase will “cycle through” and there will indeed be a recovery. But any hope of another “re-cycle” beyond that is very doubtful. We may have washed this cloth, re-cycled this fabric, so often that it is simply “used up” and we need a new one. You can choose to get on this bandwagon or choose insanity. Your call.
(http://robertreich.blogspot.com/).
“The Debate to Come over Wall Street, Autos, and Everything Else: Cyclical or Structural?”
The crux of the post is summarized in the last lines:
---whether the economic crisis we're experiencing is basically cyclical (in which case, nothing really needs to change over the long term, after the economy gets back on track) or structural (in which case, many aspects of our economy and society will needs to change permanently).
Above these lines, Reich talks about the basic contradiction which exists in the thinking of the old-time Wall Streeters, that this economic mess we are in is “cyclical”, that soon things will be back to normal (in effect, telling the public…you me and us… to “get over it”) and the more radical thinking that says this nightmare is “structural” and cannot be counted upon. That is what he referring to in that quote above, about matters that will need “to change permanently”.
Reich is being immensely politic and enormously polite. As long as the financial powers that be can continue to convince us that this is an acceptable “cyclical” condition, they can maintain the stranglehold on the world’s money supply. It should be abundantly clear to almost everyone right now that the “structure’ of how we have been managing and mismanaging our money does not work any more. And it needs to be changed. And will make every mogul in the history of money manipulation and how wealth is accumulated damned unhappy.
Here is where I see a great irony posed by this (now worldwide) economic disaster and the natural resource stewardship we talk about so often today. If we accept the proposition that we should stand back and allow the existing monetary structure (and its’ practices) to “cycle over” again, as it done so often in the past, we will be “re-cycling” NOT a resource but a bad and deleterious habit. To put it even more succinctly, when I bemoaned this paradoxical dilemma to a good friend last night, she reminded of one of our favorite syllogisms (attributed to Einstein): Insanity is when you keep doing the same things you have always done and expect to get different results. Duh.
At that point I began to look at the existing monetary infrastructure that we have in play as a piece of the fabric of our society. S cloth, we have used it, worn it, laundered it, dry-cleaned it, heaped praise upon it and re-used it, soiled it, re-laundered it and used it again. And after every use and re-use, it has become thinner and more difficult to maintain. And the majority of the world’s wealth has continued to accumulate in the hands of fewer and fewer people at the top of the economic (pardon the terminology) “pyramid”. We have, in effect, “re-cycled” the very financial structure which does the least to provide for those who move the stones that build the pyramid. I am reminded of slaves in ancient Egypt and the Pharos who wore the golden adornments. And Henry Paulson does sort of remind me of Yule Brenner and AIG certainly has the festivity angle down cold.
Now before anyone jumps all over me for advocating of “spreading the wealth” and short-changing Joe the Plumber, or hyping Karl Marx, urging a revitalization of hippie communes or taking out the “fascist pigs” of high finance, I have to say that I am far more inclined to maintain the more measured “Reichean” overview and to think about this somewhat logically.
The system we have in place, the “structure’ as Reich refers to it in this recent post, is broken. The TARP sins that have been committed in the name of bail-out and the ugly and counter-productive results of those sins should be obvious to everyone. $350B has already been “thrown at” the banks, and virtually none of it has spurred the economy or stopped the foreclosure debacle. The AP reported that financial institutions have refused to account for how they allocated and spent at least $1.6B of that money. Sec. Paulson is now talking about dispersing the next $350B and no one seems to know what for. Jobless rates are skyrocketing on a monthly basis, and the generally held opinion is that the big real estate, medical groups and others will be close on the heels of Detroit for bail-out money. Meanwhile Chrysler has halted all production for at last 30 days, GM has closed the last of its plants that produce SUVs and word on the street is that General Electric is in as much trouble and General Motors. I don’t see how anyone can that what we have been doing financially for the last two decades has been for the “good of the many”, but has rather (and most recently and obscenely) been for the greater good of the “the few”. I wish someone would explain to me (and to everyone else) the contorted logic that promotes multi-million dollar year-end bonuses for Wall Street execs, only because “things could have been worse” without their leadership? Is someone daft?
No one disputes our need to recycle. We need to recycle wood, paper, plastic, water and virtually every natural resource at our disposal if we are to survive, as a world of bipeds, into the coming centuries. But the one central feature of our existence that we DO NOT need to recycle is the way we have come to handle and manage money and accumulate wealth.
There are some who believe this current phase will “cycle through” and there will indeed be a recovery. But any hope of another “re-cycle” beyond that is very doubtful. We may have washed this cloth, re-cycled this fabric, so often that it is simply “used up” and we need a new one. You can choose to get on this bandwagon or choose insanity. Your call.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
A Pot Pourri of Pot Porridge Cold
How times have changed. Who would have ever thought that we (I) would be jumping up every morning to read the blogs, op eds and the columns of economists, before anything else? I have become, in these troubled times, a disciple of Paul Krugman (Krugman.blog.NYTimes.com/) and Robert Reich (http://robertreich.blogspot.com/). Krugman is busy every day, now (http://www.alternet.org/workplace/114804/krugman%3A_we%27re_in_for_a_year_of_%27economic_hell%27/) , and yesterday it was announced that he has started talking to the Obama economic team. Reich, now labeled as Clintonista, still speaks in plain English and makes common enough sense. How quickly, since the housing bubble burst and we were blackmailed and cajoled into giving Wall Street countless billions of dollars, that we have discounted and ignored Greenspan, Henry Paulson and the Wall Streeters we held in such high esteem for so long (Mammoth chunks of our economy are in ruins, and Greenspan recently told a congressional review board, basically, “Oops”.).
What these guys knew and when they knew it will be something we will be angry about for many years, and perhaps even generations. And I find “oops” a patheticly ineffective defense.
In these times I am also drawn to the words of writers like Noam Chomsky (http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/noamchomsky). He is masquerading as a linguist, but speaks quiet volumes about philosophy, sociology and cultural phenomena. His words are well reasoned and measured, always carefully exposing (but with little room for argument) both sides of every coin. He does this on issues like the world-wide economy, war and rumors of war, racism and regional poverty. Read Chomsky and you will understand genocide like never before.
And if you do not think that times have changed, if you have watched the tele on Sunday morning at any time in the last several weeks, you will have noted that even the noted George F. Will has changed his tone. He has made nice remarks about Democrats, Barack Obama and gays. I can watch him now without being tempted to throw my coffee cup (or my shoes) at the TV screen. I will continue to conjecture that, as the political landscape evolved into brighter and brighter hues of blue, his wife has withheld sexual favors until he cleaned up his rhetoric. Hell hath over-frozen, as Sir Will might say.
And “The times, they are a changin’ “ is also evident when, as recently as a decade ago, blind political and judicial fury would have been unleashed, willy-nilly, against Cheney-like evil-doers, at the slightest provocation or opportunity. But yesterday, Joe Biden set out to quash any such rashness: When asked what the new administration might do about prosecuting Bush-era “criminals”, he cautioned that they should “look forward, not backwards”. I do not know if it the holiday spirit driving this, but (even though I don’t agree), there is something to be said for making an effort to avoid unnecessary ugliness when everything is already ugly in the extreme. And time wounds all heels. In this case I hope it incarcerates them.
And just to keep some spice in the rum-punch bowl, not only has Rachel Maddow leapt suddenly to stardom, from the almost nothingness of Air America, she publicly went on record for excoriating the President-elect about Rick Warren. Whilst I was cheering that, I read this: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/114756/. Times can change when both public opinion and pecuniary considerations make one stop and think about how truly dear one’s religious convictions really are. I raise you one bah and see you two humbugs.
While you are at it, you might like to read this, as well: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/will_the_warren_risk_be_worth.html
Meanwhile, the more (recent) times change, the more they remain the same. Mostly I am referring to the recent exposures of the exploits of Mr. Madoff . Here is a nice Christmas story: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/114782/. While Rachel was leaping to prominence, Madoff was bringing people to the point of leaping from tall buildings, and it wasn’t because he convinced them they were Superman. And Madoff preyed on charities and non-profits. And people think I am mean. Frankly, I don’t quite know how that list (above) was kept down to ten.
The only Times which seem not be changing appreciably are the New York ones. They reported that the big change today in world-wide business was that for the first time since 1938 (?), Toyota will post a loss in earnings: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/business/23auto.html?th&emc=th.. Meanwhile, we have just agreed to fork over many billions of dollars to GM and Chrysler, whose accountants arose from some deep slumber a few weeks ago and predicted an early death for both, without some form of financial life support. This raises a few questions:
Right now, almost everyone can conjure up a picture of Mr. Scrooge, hunkered over his desk, green eye-shade in place, meticulously going over every last penny in his ledger (he was an accountant…that is what they do), grumbling about where the money isn’t. Or where the money went, like to pay the salary of that miserable Bob whats-his-name with the sick kid. He KNEW where his money came from, where it was and where it went. And he knew what to expect. Mostly. But comes now GM, Chrysler, Wall Street and (everyone predicts) soon the real estate industry, state governments, hospitals, and hula hoop manufacturers, claiming that the rumor of their demise (apologies to Mark Twain) are not rumors at all. So we act surprised and pretend to believe that that the bean-counting, Scrooge-like accountants involved in all of this did not see it coming? Are we daft? This year’s mistletoe overhead has been an overhead of phony finance that cannot be sustained. Kissing is risky a business this year.
Then we have this, from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/22/AR2008122202479.html?wpisrc=newsletter, like this is any freaking surprise. Asia has been riding on our coattails of conspicuous consumption for years and someone is supposed to be shocked? This might clear up a few things and give you some ideas: http://www.alternet.org/environment/111954/.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Crawford, nobody is really thinking about anything much at all, except perhaps when to announce the pardons for Cheney that he has been shamelessly politicking for in the press, for days now. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/114774/.
Back at the Fed Spa in DC, Paulson seems to want to emulate Santa Claus and is itching to give away the remaining $350B to Wall Street before the Obama gang can get their hands on it. The AP reported, in the course of things, that something like at least $1.6B of the first batch went to pay out bonuses and perks and most of the rest is unaccounted for….and Citi Corp is still flying a fleet of 9 (nine) private jets. Which brings me back to the accountants and their green eye-shades.
For the life of me ( and apparently the lives of many others), I have no idea where these number crunchers have been hiding. They are supposed to tell us about calamities like this before they happen. You would think, that with all of the financial wizards we claim to have, who make far more money than you or I do, someone could tell us HONESTLY about debacles like Enron (hell, their accounting firm couldn’t account for themselves) , Worldcom, and Lehman Bros. And now Gov. Schwarzenegger says CA is facing a $42B shortfall. And of course a large part of this is because we have had large hedge funds run by hedge-hogs, who evidently come out only at night, to undercut the financial shrubbery of America while we sleep ( we must have the curfew on Madoff all wrong: he cannot come OUT at night.) Another government f#@kup.
I must be missing something, here. Oh, yes: It’s my money. Yours too.
I don’t know why I am doing this. I am supposed to be full of good cheer. I think I will go insert one of those old fashioned VCR cassette tapes into my old-fashioned machine, and play back Bill Murray’s “Scrooged” for some laughs. I can watch it on my non-HD TV while I drink some very-fattening eggnog and eat sugar cookies.
Well SHIT FIRE! I just got a holiday greeting email from Michelle Obama! It asked me to donate to a local food bank or send a care package. What kind of silly non-neo-con compassionate conservative crap is that? I can’t just ditch eight years of conditioning in a flash. Food banks! Bah! Let then eat chocolate truffles! Care Packages! Humbug! Who cares? I’ve just gotten real comfortable being miserable, and I wish everyone would do the same and leave me alone: Hell, it’s Christmas. Show some sympathy.
What these guys knew and when they knew it will be something we will be angry about for many years, and perhaps even generations. And I find “oops” a patheticly ineffective defense.
In these times I am also drawn to the words of writers like Noam Chomsky (http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/noamchomsky). He is masquerading as a linguist, but speaks quiet volumes about philosophy, sociology and cultural phenomena. His words are well reasoned and measured, always carefully exposing (but with little room for argument) both sides of every coin. He does this on issues like the world-wide economy, war and rumors of war, racism and regional poverty. Read Chomsky and you will understand genocide like never before.
And if you do not think that times have changed, if you have watched the tele on Sunday morning at any time in the last several weeks, you will have noted that even the noted George F. Will has changed his tone. He has made nice remarks about Democrats, Barack Obama and gays. I can watch him now without being tempted to throw my coffee cup (or my shoes) at the TV screen. I will continue to conjecture that, as the political landscape evolved into brighter and brighter hues of blue, his wife has withheld sexual favors until he cleaned up his rhetoric. Hell hath over-frozen, as Sir Will might say.
And “The times, they are a changin’ “ is also evident when, as recently as a decade ago, blind political and judicial fury would have been unleashed, willy-nilly, against Cheney-like evil-doers, at the slightest provocation or opportunity. But yesterday, Joe Biden set out to quash any such rashness: When asked what the new administration might do about prosecuting Bush-era “criminals”, he cautioned that they should “look forward, not backwards”. I do not know if it the holiday spirit driving this, but (even though I don’t agree), there is something to be said for making an effort to avoid unnecessary ugliness when everything is already ugly in the extreme. And time wounds all heels. In this case I hope it incarcerates them.
And just to keep some spice in the rum-punch bowl, not only has Rachel Maddow leapt suddenly to stardom, from the almost nothingness of Air America, she publicly went on record for excoriating the President-elect about Rick Warren. Whilst I was cheering that, I read this: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/114756/. Times can change when both public opinion and pecuniary considerations make one stop and think about how truly dear one’s religious convictions really are. I raise you one bah and see you two humbugs.
While you are at it, you might like to read this, as well: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/will_the_warren_risk_be_worth.html
Meanwhile, the more (recent) times change, the more they remain the same. Mostly I am referring to the recent exposures of the exploits of Mr. Madoff . Here is a nice Christmas story: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/114782/. While Rachel was leaping to prominence, Madoff was bringing people to the point of leaping from tall buildings, and it wasn’t because he convinced them they were Superman. And Madoff preyed on charities and non-profits. And people think I am mean. Frankly, I don’t quite know how that list (above) was kept down to ten.
The only Times which seem not be changing appreciably are the New York ones. They reported that the big change today in world-wide business was that for the first time since 1938 (?), Toyota will post a loss in earnings: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/business/23auto.html?th&emc=th.. Meanwhile, we have just agreed to fork over many billions of dollars to GM and Chrysler, whose accountants arose from some deep slumber a few weeks ago and predicted an early death for both, without some form of financial life support. This raises a few questions:
Right now, almost everyone can conjure up a picture of Mr. Scrooge, hunkered over his desk, green eye-shade in place, meticulously going over every last penny in his ledger (he was an accountant…that is what they do), grumbling about where the money isn’t. Or where the money went, like to pay the salary of that miserable Bob whats-his-name with the sick kid. He KNEW where his money came from, where it was and where it went. And he knew what to expect. Mostly. But comes now GM, Chrysler, Wall Street and (everyone predicts) soon the real estate industry, state governments, hospitals, and hula hoop manufacturers, claiming that the rumor of their demise (apologies to Mark Twain) are not rumors at all. So we act surprised and pretend to believe that that the bean-counting, Scrooge-like accountants involved in all of this did not see it coming? Are we daft? This year’s mistletoe overhead has been an overhead of phony finance that cannot be sustained. Kissing is risky a business this year.
Then we have this, from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/22/AR2008122202479.html?wpisrc=newsletter, like this is any freaking surprise. Asia has been riding on our coattails of conspicuous consumption for years and someone is supposed to be shocked? This might clear up a few things and give you some ideas: http://www.alternet.org/environment/111954/.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Crawford, nobody is really thinking about anything much at all, except perhaps when to announce the pardons for Cheney that he has been shamelessly politicking for in the press, for days now. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/114774/.
Back at the Fed Spa in DC, Paulson seems to want to emulate Santa Claus and is itching to give away the remaining $350B to Wall Street before the Obama gang can get their hands on it. The AP reported, in the course of things, that something like at least $1.6B of the first batch went to pay out bonuses and perks and most of the rest is unaccounted for….and Citi Corp is still flying a fleet of 9 (nine) private jets. Which brings me back to the accountants and their green eye-shades.
For the life of me ( and apparently the lives of many others), I have no idea where these number crunchers have been hiding. They are supposed to tell us about calamities like this before they happen. You would think, that with all of the financial wizards we claim to have, who make far more money than you or I do, someone could tell us HONESTLY about debacles like Enron (hell, their accounting firm couldn’t account for themselves) , Worldcom, and Lehman Bros. And now Gov. Schwarzenegger says CA is facing a $42B shortfall. And of course a large part of this is because we have had large hedge funds run by hedge-hogs, who evidently come out only at night, to undercut the financial shrubbery of America while we sleep ( we must have the curfew on Madoff all wrong: he cannot come OUT at night.) Another government f#@kup.
I must be missing something, here. Oh, yes: It’s my money. Yours too.
I don’t know why I am doing this. I am supposed to be full of good cheer. I think I will go insert one of those old fashioned VCR cassette tapes into my old-fashioned machine, and play back Bill Murray’s “Scrooged” for some laughs. I can watch it on my non-HD TV while I drink some very-fattening eggnog and eat sugar cookies.
Well SHIT FIRE! I just got a holiday greeting email from Michelle Obama! It asked me to donate to a local food bank or send a care package. What kind of silly non-neo-con compassionate conservative crap is that? I can’t just ditch eight years of conditioning in a flash. Food banks! Bah! Let then eat chocolate truffles! Care Packages! Humbug! Who cares? I’ve just gotten real comfortable being miserable, and I wish everyone would do the same and leave me alone: Hell, it’s Christmas. Show some sympathy.
Friday, December 19, 2008
A Holiday Medley of Maladies
‘Twas the Friday before Christmas, and I fear that my Grinch status is in peril if I do not act quickly and slide down this chimney. Here are a few of my favorite things (at least this morning):
For openers, I received two emails yesterday, one each from congressional members Wexler and Boxer. Both were announcing their respective year-end efforts to push for good and beneficial humanitarian causes and to thwart those that were not (like last-minute Presidential pardons). While I applaud these efforts and their enthusiasm (their holiday spirit?), they have their heads up their yuletide asses. I only say this because, beneath the verbiage and grandiose claims of “good will towards men”, they were both asking for money. Donations. Cash. Moolah. Green stuff. Dough. As congressional leaders and keepers of the faith, I would have thought they both might have some sensitivity to and recognition of the fact that both the country and the economy being in the dumper. Talk about bad timing. Every other news story, every TV special report of the un-joys of Christmas, remind us that I (we, us) DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE ANY JOBS. I would have also thought that this reality might just enter a little bit into their thinking before they went out onto the street corner with their tin cups. But no, this did not happen. Instead, they demonstrated Grinch-like gall and asked those who have nothing to give more. This is very odd, since I believe that those who are doing the asking have plenty, already. ‘Tis a malady, for sure.
Then, in drawing my next breath, after the firestorm of indignation and hellfire that erupted about Obama asking Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation, I read this morning (Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/114018/) that conservatives are unhappy about this situation as well. I proceeded to write this to my friend, Ron:
In what I am viewing as a confirmation of my continuing theory that radical polarization will rip this country to shreds:
Did you see the story in Alternet this morning, about conservatives being pissed off, about Warren and the invocation prayer invitation, BECAUSE HE ACCEPTED THE INVITATION?
Shit fire, man. Obama hands them a golden goose and they run over it with a freaking truck. I am dumbstruck (almost).
To which, Ron responded, thusly:
“Neither side in the culture war wants peace; each wants total destruction of the other”.
“T’was the eve before inauguration, and apparently not a virtue nor good will towards men was stirring here, either. The Grinchification of spirituality. Can someone arise, to “see what the hell is the matter?”
Moving right along, the President decided, at the very last moment, to become the (almost) compassionate conservative he promised to be eight years ago: he has offered a package of candy canes to the US auto industry. $17.4B is earmarked, the bulk of it to be given to GM and Chrysler now (Ford is still boycotting Santa Claus), in order to keep them alive until early next year, and the rest to be doled out in the very early spring, if the economic environment for dinosaurs has not improved by then. This action pretends to override and ameliorate the rancor and rebellious nature of the congress. That elfin bunch recently told Detroit to take a hike (not a plane), despite almost overwhelming public opinion, to the contrary. The congress gave Detroit several lumps of coal; W decided to play Old Saint Nick and brought some fruit cake and eggnog. Detroit, at least for the next few weeks, will gain some weight and get drunk (like Wall St),.
My guess is this:
Despite the conditions, purse strings, regulations, compliances and complicated governances that the bridge loans promise to entail, Detroit will be very sick again by March. Congress said (wisely or unwisely), “You cannot have this phunny money because you were bad”, and King George has shaken his big belly and said ,”Yes you can!”. It is a gesture of fond farewell to a huge segment of American industry which is eating mostly ginger-bread crumbs for Christmas this year. For eight long years W has de-regulated and diversified and privatized and turned a blind eye to the ever-growing woes of the nations’ economy, and now he has placed a small package beneath the Charlie Brown spindly holiday tree, in the hopes that his legacy soon will be there. Kris Kringle has tried, in the last fleeting moments, to iron out a krinkle, but, in the end, as he drives out of sight, this may well be just a blip in the auto drama of plight.
A note here: on 12/18, the DOW closed DOWN over 200 points. 30 minutes after the bail-out announcement on 12/19, the DOW rallied and went up almost 100 and is holding for now. Somebody liked what they found under the tree this morning. Maybe, between the bailout cash and the coal given out by the congress, Detroit can belch some smoke in the next few weeks. Oh wait: Chrysler is already closed down. I think we just closed the barn door after the reindeer got out.
But this just in: Just to remind us that compassionate conservatism has a very limited purview, W just signed last minute regulation (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cecile-richards/bushs-parting-shot-underm_b_152336.html) that says “health care workers can deny patients vital health care information and services” if it is against their religious beliefs. Apparently this reg applies all the way down to the guy or gal who mops the hospital floor. So much for that “save the world” legacy stuff. Some awful stuff dances in W’s head, while we are so snug, in our safe, little beds.
As for who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, nobody seems to have this one figured out, especially when it comes to the remaining $350B TARP and what will happen to it. Never mind, for a second, that no one is really sure what happened to the first $350B (bankers and their coffers got stocking-stuffed, brokers got their bonuses, Madoff ran away with the dish and the spoon, hedge funds got re-hedged and AIG partied real good…twice), Paulson has now said that the feds are ready to think about spending the next pile of loot (phunny money). Once again, no one seems to be able to account for who gets this money, where it goes or who gets to spend it. A federal official confessed just yesterday that the complete lack of controls, oversight and accountability for the wad of cash already evaporated was deplorable and that the resultant effect on the mortgage and forclosure crisis was negligible and “a bust”.
There are many who say that before we all dance around the Christmas tree or have visions of sugar plums or wait to hear the sound of reindeer on the roof, we should realize that Greenspan, Paulson, et.al., have let the roof fall in around us by playing with the phunny money as if it were monopoly money. Greedy credit/fault/swap/buy-back/loan guarantees that were hedged on our bets that tomorrow would be fine have left a large deposit of soot at the base of the fireplace and the stockings are all soiled with care.
We have put away the picket signs that say, “The End is Near” until perhaps Jan.2, but they should be right back out again, shortly. It is a good thing that our money says, “In God We Trust”, because we sure as hell can’t trust anyone else. What’s in YOUR wallet?
The big “ish-shoe”: Several news sources report that the Olympic Iraqi shoe-thrower has been jailed and beaten and may have a broken arm. He has made an appeal to Maliki for a pardon and to be exempted from a multi-year jail sentence for behaving badly in the presence of a world leader. Disregarding the fact, for a moment, that there were no world leaders present for this escapade, the brouhaha seems a bit extreme. And it certainly does not warrant a jail term. People throw their weight around all the time and don’t go to jail, so what is the big deal with a couple of size 10 loafers? I know people who throw their shoes around all the time, leave them in great piles and don’t even line them up nicely, but I don’t see them being hauled off in paddy wagons, beat up or incarcerated: we should get our priorities in order, here. And how come Santa gets to wear those shiny, patent leather boots, anyway?
However, there is a contingent of (admittedly conspiracy-minded) individuals who have suggested that this entire event was staged. They have conjectured that it was a publicity stunt. They ask questions like, “How did this guy get into such a secure venue with bogus credentials?”; “How did he get in with such loose-fitting shoes?”; ”Why was the President so well-prepared to duck and cover?”; “How did this perpetrator manage to get off TWO well thrown projectiles before being stopped?”. Many believe he was not the “sole” participant in this melodrama. You might think that this is stretching the truth, but both “world leaders” needed all the press they could get, and after the cover-ups surrounding events like 9/11 and Katrina reactions, I would not put this past the Bush administration for a minute. And I think it is safe to say that the thrower is being thrown to the wolves, and certainly not in the spirit of Christmas. “And out from his cell, there arose such a clatter”: he is banging his tin cup up against the cell bars.
Speaking of Katrina, and I really hate to bring this up at the holidays, but there comes this story:
“After Katrina, it was literally open season on Black folks”
A new report in The Nation documents what many have claimed for years -- for some Black New Orleanians the threat of being killed by White vigilantes in Katrina's aftermath became a bigger threat than the storm itself.
After the storm, White vigilantes roamed Algiers Point shooting and, according to their own accounts, killing Black men at will-- with no threat of a police response. For the last three years, the shootings and the police force's role in them have been an open secret to many New Orleanians. To date, no one has been charged with a crime and law enforcement officials have refused to investigate.
The facts are finally seeing the light of day. Now we must demand action. Given Louisiana's horrible record when it comes to criminal justice and Black folks, it's the only path to justice.
You can help. Join us in calling on Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, and the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a full investigation of these crimes and any police cover-up. It takes only a moment to add your voice and to invite your friends and family to do the same:
http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/?id=1683-466342
In the two weeks after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the media created a climate of fear with trumped-up stories of Black lawlessness. Meanwhile, an armed group of White vigilantes took over the Algiers Point neighborhood in New Orleans and mercilessly hunted down Black people. "It was great!" said one vigilante. "It was like pheasant season in South Dakota. If it moved, you shot it."
The Nation's article tells the story of Donnell Herrington, Marcel Alexander, and Chris Collins -- a group of friends who were attacked by shotgun-wielding White men as they entered Algiers Point on September 1, 2005. As they tried to escape, Herrington recalls, their attackers shouted, "Get him! Get that nigger!" He managed to get away. Alexander and Collins were told that they would be allowed to live on the condition that they told other Black folks not to come to Algiers Point. Herrington, shot in the neck, barely survived.
And there's the story of Henry Glover, who didn't survive after being shot by an unknown assailant. 2 Glover's brother flagged down a stranger for help, and the two men brought Glover to a police station. But instead of receiving aid, they were beaten by officers while Henry Glover bled to death in the back seat of the stranger's car. A police officer drove off in the car soon afterward. Both Glover's body and the car were found burnt to cinders a week later. It took DNA analysis to identify the body.
Then there's the story of White militiamen who tried to drive their Black neighbors from their homes. Reggie Bell, who lived just two blocks down the street from the vigilantes' ringleader, was told at gunpoint, "We don't want you around here. You loot, we shoot." Later, another group of armed White men confronted him at his home, asking, "Whatcha still doing around here? We don't want you around here. You gotta go."
These are only a few of the stories of Black folks who were accosted in Algiers Point, and you can read more in The Nation. But unless you speak out, we may never learn the full extent of the violence. Journalists have encountered a wall of silence on the part of the authorities. The coroner had to be sued to turn over autopsy records. When he finally complied, the records were incomplete, with files on several suspicious deaths suddenly empty. The New Orleans police and the District Attorney repeatedly refused to talk to journalists about Algiers Point. And according to journalist A.C. Thompson, "the city has in nearly every case refused to investigate or prosecute people for assaults and murders committed in the wake of the storm."
The Nation's article is important, but it's just a start. For more than three years now, these racist criminals have by their own admission gotten away with murder, while officials in New Orleans have systematically evaded any kind of accountability. We have to demand it.
Please join us in calling on state and federal officials to investigate these brutal attacks and the conduct of Orleans Parish law enforcement agencies, and please ask your friends and family to do the same.
1. "Katrina's Hidden Race War," The Nation, 12-18-2008
http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1683-466342&cat=nation&link=1
2. "Body of Evidence," The Nation, 12-18-2008
http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1683-466342&cat=nation&link=2
Now, if you can read your way through these stories, without becoming ill, your stomach is stronger than mine. My guess is that a large majority of white Americans have no clue that, in the aftermath of Katrina, instead of putting out the welcome mat or milk and cookies (like we do for Santa), southern whites laid out shotguns and went after blacks, thinking they were shooting fish in a barrel and no one would care. I know we just elected a black President, but anyone who believes for a moment that racism is dead and/or dying in America had better wake up and smell the cocoa by his Christmas greenery and mistletoe.
My friend Ron has said (and I mostly agree) that the “wheels are coming off the wagon” of the American economy and culture. A few days ago I was wandering through a holiday bazaar, full of the wares of craftspeople and home-based manufacturers, trying to appreciate the beauty and grandeur of what I was seeing. In truth, most of what was for sale was nothing that anybody really needed, and also probably true was the fact that people were spending money they didn’t have. It may have been a microcosm of Hank Paulson spending the fed money on Wall St., without a care for tomorrow. Who knows?
And I think someone pulled the plug on the Detroit Christmas tree lights and the tinsel fell off: The DOW just closed for the day, DOWN, 26, at 8579. I hope our white Christmas is not a white-wash.
And to all a good night.
Life goes on in Texas.
For openers, I received two emails yesterday, one each from congressional members Wexler and Boxer. Both were announcing their respective year-end efforts to push for good and beneficial humanitarian causes and to thwart those that were not (like last-minute Presidential pardons). While I applaud these efforts and their enthusiasm (their holiday spirit?), they have their heads up their yuletide asses. I only say this because, beneath the verbiage and grandiose claims of “good will towards men”, they were both asking for money. Donations. Cash. Moolah. Green stuff. Dough. As congressional leaders and keepers of the faith, I would have thought they both might have some sensitivity to and recognition of the fact that both the country and the economy being in the dumper. Talk about bad timing. Every other news story, every TV special report of the un-joys of Christmas, remind us that I (we, us) DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE ANY JOBS. I would have also thought that this reality might just enter a little bit into their thinking before they went out onto the street corner with their tin cups. But no, this did not happen. Instead, they demonstrated Grinch-like gall and asked those who have nothing to give more. This is very odd, since I believe that those who are doing the asking have plenty, already. ‘Tis a malady, for sure.
Then, in drawing my next breath, after the firestorm of indignation and hellfire that erupted about Obama asking Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation, I read this morning (Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/114018/) that conservatives are unhappy about this situation as well. I proceeded to write this to my friend, Ron:
In what I am viewing as a confirmation of my continuing theory that radical polarization will rip this country to shreds:
Did you see the story in Alternet this morning, about conservatives being pissed off, about Warren and the invocation prayer invitation, BECAUSE HE ACCEPTED THE INVITATION?
Shit fire, man. Obama hands them a golden goose and they run over it with a freaking truck. I am dumbstruck (almost).
To which, Ron responded, thusly:
“Neither side in the culture war wants peace; each wants total destruction of the other”.
“T’was the eve before inauguration, and apparently not a virtue nor good will towards men was stirring here, either. The Grinchification of spirituality. Can someone arise, to “see what the hell is the matter?”
Moving right along, the President decided, at the very last moment, to become the (almost) compassionate conservative he promised to be eight years ago: he has offered a package of candy canes to the US auto industry. $17.4B is earmarked, the bulk of it to be given to GM and Chrysler now (Ford is still boycotting Santa Claus), in order to keep them alive until early next year, and the rest to be doled out in the very early spring, if the economic environment for dinosaurs has not improved by then. This action pretends to override and ameliorate the rancor and rebellious nature of the congress. That elfin bunch recently told Detroit to take a hike (not a plane), despite almost overwhelming public opinion, to the contrary. The congress gave Detroit several lumps of coal; W decided to play Old Saint Nick and brought some fruit cake and eggnog. Detroit, at least for the next few weeks, will gain some weight and get drunk (like Wall St),.
My guess is this:
Despite the conditions, purse strings, regulations, compliances and complicated governances that the bridge loans promise to entail, Detroit will be very sick again by March. Congress said (wisely or unwisely), “You cannot have this phunny money because you were bad”, and King George has shaken his big belly and said ,”Yes you can!”. It is a gesture of fond farewell to a huge segment of American industry which is eating mostly ginger-bread crumbs for Christmas this year. For eight long years W has de-regulated and diversified and privatized and turned a blind eye to the ever-growing woes of the nations’ economy, and now he has placed a small package beneath the Charlie Brown spindly holiday tree, in the hopes that his legacy soon will be there. Kris Kringle has tried, in the last fleeting moments, to iron out a krinkle, but, in the end, as he drives out of sight, this may well be just a blip in the auto drama of plight.
A note here: on 12/18, the DOW closed DOWN over 200 points. 30 minutes after the bail-out announcement on 12/19, the DOW rallied and went up almost 100 and is holding for now. Somebody liked what they found under the tree this morning. Maybe, between the bailout cash and the coal given out by the congress, Detroit can belch some smoke in the next few weeks. Oh wait: Chrysler is already closed down. I think we just closed the barn door after the reindeer got out.
But this just in: Just to remind us that compassionate conservatism has a very limited purview, W just signed last minute regulation (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cecile-richards/bushs-parting-shot-underm_b_152336.html) that says “health care workers can deny patients vital health care information and services” if it is against their religious beliefs. Apparently this reg applies all the way down to the guy or gal who mops the hospital floor. So much for that “save the world” legacy stuff. Some awful stuff dances in W’s head, while we are so snug, in our safe, little beds.
As for who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, nobody seems to have this one figured out, especially when it comes to the remaining $350B TARP and what will happen to it. Never mind, for a second, that no one is really sure what happened to the first $350B (bankers and their coffers got stocking-stuffed, brokers got their bonuses, Madoff ran away with the dish and the spoon, hedge funds got re-hedged and AIG partied real good…twice), Paulson has now said that the feds are ready to think about spending the next pile of loot (phunny money). Once again, no one seems to be able to account for who gets this money, where it goes or who gets to spend it. A federal official confessed just yesterday that the complete lack of controls, oversight and accountability for the wad of cash already evaporated was deplorable and that the resultant effect on the mortgage and forclosure crisis was negligible and “a bust”.
There are many who say that before we all dance around the Christmas tree or have visions of sugar plums or wait to hear the sound of reindeer on the roof, we should realize that Greenspan, Paulson, et.al., have let the roof fall in around us by playing with the phunny money as if it were monopoly money. Greedy credit/fault/swap/buy-back/loan guarantees that were hedged on our bets that tomorrow would be fine have left a large deposit of soot at the base of the fireplace and the stockings are all soiled with care.
We have put away the picket signs that say, “The End is Near” until perhaps Jan.2, but they should be right back out again, shortly. It is a good thing that our money says, “In God We Trust”, because we sure as hell can’t trust anyone else. What’s in YOUR wallet?
The big “ish-shoe”: Several news sources report that the Olympic Iraqi shoe-thrower has been jailed and beaten and may have a broken arm. He has made an appeal to Maliki for a pardon and to be exempted from a multi-year jail sentence for behaving badly in the presence of a world leader. Disregarding the fact, for a moment, that there were no world leaders present for this escapade, the brouhaha seems a bit extreme. And it certainly does not warrant a jail term. People throw their weight around all the time and don’t go to jail, so what is the big deal with a couple of size 10 loafers? I know people who throw their shoes around all the time, leave them in great piles and don’t even line them up nicely, but I don’t see them being hauled off in paddy wagons, beat up or incarcerated: we should get our priorities in order, here. And how come Santa gets to wear those shiny, patent leather boots, anyway?
However, there is a contingent of (admittedly conspiracy-minded) individuals who have suggested that this entire event was staged. They have conjectured that it was a publicity stunt. They ask questions like, “How did this guy get into such a secure venue with bogus credentials?”; “How did he get in with such loose-fitting shoes?”; ”Why was the President so well-prepared to duck and cover?”; “How did this perpetrator manage to get off TWO well thrown projectiles before being stopped?”. Many believe he was not the “sole” participant in this melodrama. You might think that this is stretching the truth, but both “world leaders” needed all the press they could get, and after the cover-ups surrounding events like 9/11 and Katrina reactions, I would not put this past the Bush administration for a minute. And I think it is safe to say that the thrower is being thrown to the wolves, and certainly not in the spirit of Christmas. “And out from his cell, there arose such a clatter”: he is banging his tin cup up against the cell bars.
Speaking of Katrina, and I really hate to bring this up at the holidays, but there comes this story:
“After Katrina, it was literally open season on Black folks”
A new report in The Nation documents what many have claimed for years -- for some Black New Orleanians the threat of being killed by White vigilantes in Katrina's aftermath became a bigger threat than the storm itself.
After the storm, White vigilantes roamed Algiers Point shooting and, according to their own accounts, killing Black men at will-- with no threat of a police response. For the last three years, the shootings and the police force's role in them have been an open secret to many New Orleanians. To date, no one has been charged with a crime and law enforcement officials have refused to investigate.
The facts are finally seeing the light of day. Now we must demand action. Given Louisiana's horrible record when it comes to criminal justice and Black folks, it's the only path to justice.
You can help. Join us in calling on Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, and the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a full investigation of these crimes and any police cover-up. It takes only a moment to add your voice and to invite your friends and family to do the same:
http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/?id=1683-466342
In the two weeks after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the media created a climate of fear with trumped-up stories of Black lawlessness. Meanwhile, an armed group of White vigilantes took over the Algiers Point neighborhood in New Orleans and mercilessly hunted down Black people. "It was great!" said one vigilante. "It was like pheasant season in South Dakota. If it moved, you shot it."
The Nation's article tells the story of Donnell Herrington, Marcel Alexander, and Chris Collins -- a group of friends who were attacked by shotgun-wielding White men as they entered Algiers Point on September 1, 2005. As they tried to escape, Herrington recalls, their attackers shouted, "Get him! Get that nigger!" He managed to get away. Alexander and Collins were told that they would be allowed to live on the condition that they told other Black folks not to come to Algiers Point. Herrington, shot in the neck, barely survived.
And there's the story of Henry Glover, who didn't survive after being shot by an unknown assailant. 2 Glover's brother flagged down a stranger for help, and the two men brought Glover to a police station. But instead of receiving aid, they were beaten by officers while Henry Glover bled to death in the back seat of the stranger's car. A police officer drove off in the car soon afterward. Both Glover's body and the car were found burnt to cinders a week later. It took DNA analysis to identify the body.
Then there's the story of White militiamen who tried to drive their Black neighbors from their homes. Reggie Bell, who lived just two blocks down the street from the vigilantes' ringleader, was told at gunpoint, "We don't want you around here. You loot, we shoot." Later, another group of armed White men confronted him at his home, asking, "Whatcha still doing around here? We don't want you around here. You gotta go."
These are only a few of the stories of Black folks who were accosted in Algiers Point, and you can read more in The Nation. But unless you speak out, we may never learn the full extent of the violence. Journalists have encountered a wall of silence on the part of the authorities. The coroner had to be sued to turn over autopsy records. When he finally complied, the records were incomplete, with files on several suspicious deaths suddenly empty. The New Orleans police and the District Attorney repeatedly refused to talk to journalists about Algiers Point. And according to journalist A.C. Thompson, "the city has in nearly every case refused to investigate or prosecute people for assaults and murders committed in the wake of the storm."
The Nation's article is important, but it's just a start. For more than three years now, these racist criminals have by their own admission gotten away with murder, while officials in New Orleans have systematically evaded any kind of accountability. We have to demand it.
Please join us in calling on state and federal officials to investigate these brutal attacks and the conduct of Orleans Parish law enforcement agencies, and please ask your friends and family to do the same.
1. "Katrina's Hidden Race War," The Nation, 12-18-2008
http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1683-466342&cat=nation&link=1
2. "Body of Evidence," The Nation, 12-18-2008
http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1683-466342&cat=nation&link=2
Now, if you can read your way through these stories, without becoming ill, your stomach is stronger than mine. My guess is that a large majority of white Americans have no clue that, in the aftermath of Katrina, instead of putting out the welcome mat or milk and cookies (like we do for Santa), southern whites laid out shotguns and went after blacks, thinking they were shooting fish in a barrel and no one would care. I know we just elected a black President, but anyone who believes for a moment that racism is dead and/or dying in America had better wake up and smell the cocoa by his Christmas greenery and mistletoe.
My friend Ron has said (and I mostly agree) that the “wheels are coming off the wagon” of the American economy and culture. A few days ago I was wandering through a holiday bazaar, full of the wares of craftspeople and home-based manufacturers, trying to appreciate the beauty and grandeur of what I was seeing. In truth, most of what was for sale was nothing that anybody really needed, and also probably true was the fact that people were spending money they didn’t have. It may have been a microcosm of Hank Paulson spending the fed money on Wall St., without a care for tomorrow. Who knows?
And I think someone pulled the plug on the Detroit Christmas tree lights and the tinsel fell off: The DOW just closed for the day, DOWN, 26, at 8579. I hope our white Christmas is not a white-wash.
And to all a good night.
Life goes on in Texas.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Public Prayer , Public Outcry
Since I am somewhat of an expert, when it comes to knee jerk reactions, I felt the need to have one of a reciprocal nature,when I read this article by Sarah Posner.
A Bigot, Anti-Choice Pastor Picked for Obama's Inauguration
By Sarah Posner, TheNation.com. Posted December 18, 2008.
http://www.alternet.org/election08/113772/?cID=1085622#c1085622
I have been watching coverage of this morning's press conference with the Pres-elect. Predictably, the press questions and the MSM follow-up punditry have placed the Warren story over and above any other noteworthy announcements about appointments and nominations for high government posts. What dolts we are.
First of all, I am vehement in my beliefs (as are many others here) about the separation of church and state. I don't know why(logically speaking) we need either an invocation or a benediction at a highly secular ceremony. Just performing those at all, by anyone, is cow-towing to the Christian masses who maintain the misguided (and emotional) sense of religion that pervades America. This was never supposed to be a "Christian nation" in the first place, and we have managed to contort that vision horrifically.
Be that as it may (too little, too late, too bad), Obama said that he had previously been asked to speak at Warren's church, despite his beliefs that are quite contrary to Warrens', and he was, in the spirit of "bringing America together", offering Warren a similiar oportunity. Personally, I think Warren has all the exposure anyone should have and do not relish him getting any more free PR.
However, I applaud Obama for exhibiting tolerance and showing some degree of deference to the religious right in sharing the platform in this manner. The really good news is that about an hour after it is all over, we will have forgotten what Warren said, anyway, and we can move on. As strongly as I object to injecting prayer into this event in any fashion, I really don't see that it is worth getting our liberal and progressive panties in a bunch over. Jesus Christ! (pardon the expression) The economy is in the tank and Bush is almost gone! Pray about those!
A Bigot, Anti-Choice Pastor Picked for Obama's Inauguration
By Sarah Posner, TheNation.com. Posted December 18, 2008.
http://www.alternet.org/election08/113772/?cID=1085622#c1085622
I have been watching coverage of this morning's press conference with the Pres-elect. Predictably, the press questions and the MSM follow-up punditry have placed the Warren story over and above any other noteworthy announcements about appointments and nominations for high government posts. What dolts we are.
First of all, I am vehement in my beliefs (as are many others here) about the separation of church and state. I don't know why(logically speaking) we need either an invocation or a benediction at a highly secular ceremony. Just performing those at all, by anyone, is cow-towing to the Christian masses who maintain the misguided (and emotional) sense of religion that pervades America. This was never supposed to be a "Christian nation" in the first place, and we have managed to contort that vision horrifically.
Be that as it may (too little, too late, too bad), Obama said that he had previously been asked to speak at Warren's church, despite his beliefs that are quite contrary to Warrens', and he was, in the spirit of "bringing America together", offering Warren a similiar oportunity. Personally, I think Warren has all the exposure anyone should have and do not relish him getting any more free PR.
However, I applaud Obama for exhibiting tolerance and showing some degree of deference to the religious right in sharing the platform in this manner. The really good news is that about an hour after it is all over, we will have forgotten what Warren said, anyway, and we can move on. As strongly as I object to injecting prayer into this event in any fashion, I really don't see that it is worth getting our liberal and progressive panties in a bunch over. Jesus Christ! (pardon the expression) The economy is in the tank and Bush is almost gone! Pray about those!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
OOPS! Celebrity Status!
Is America's political 'nobility' undemocratic?
Kennedys, Bushes, Rockefellers demonstrate genetic popularity and power
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28257519/
If you will read this article, you might get a sense of the frustration I hear from others about how our “democratic” government is growing increasingly “un-democratic”. Like Robin Leach’s show, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, our government is becoming a celebrity haven and a “good ole’ boys (and girl's) club”. Our politicians have long since stopped asking what they might do for their country, but what the country might do for them. They worry more about spotlights and footlights than they do about fixing stoplights and closing tax loopholes. They would rather be television stars and headline grabbers than work as soldiers in the trenches of everyday life and spend any energy combating the woes of poverty and inequality. Busting a union for ideological sensationalism is more important than busting a drug cartel. Getting face time on Meet the Press and receiving a celebrity endorsement is more important than face time on the street with Joe the Real Plumber or taking a stand against wanton government waste that takes funds away from entitlement programs for the poor and/or unemployed.
If you consider only the fact that the RNC spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on clothing, hair stylings and make-up for Sarah Palin, it tells us about how easily Americans are distracted by the glamorousness, flash and pizzazz of runway status. Politicos are learning what India’s Bollywood learned years ago: get something on the silver screen with name-brand recognition and nice clothes and it will sell…and turn a profit.
We have come to elect “leaders” for their spectacular smiles and familial ties rather than for talent, insight, and leadership abilities, or for any sense for philanthropy. Bush wants to manufacture a legacy for Jeb, Nancy Reagan wanted to be the Queen of the United States (until we just said no to both her and her drug slogans), we have an entire cadre of “Clintonistas” and now we have Caroline Kennedy, about to be named (crowned?) the Princess of New York, the belle of the Ball and perhaps next contender for Female Ruler of the Universe. We have gone from, “Here I am. I’m qualified to represent you, elect me, please”, to “Hi there! I am a famous son, daughter, nephew or cousin of a noble member of an aristocratic American clan that comes from old money (and I’d like to be a movie star), so vote for me and you will get goosebumps when I speak to Fox News”. Sick. Disturbing. Disheartening. Disgusting.
The humorist Andy Borowitz gave it this spin, this morning:
Caroline Kennedy Asks to be Time’s Person of the Year, Places Phone Call to Magazine’s Editor
Caroline Kennedy would like to be considered Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2009 and has let the magazine's editor know of her interest in the honor, aides to Ms. Kennedy confirmed today.While some observers considered Ms. Kennedy's bid to be premature, especially since 2009 has not officially begun, aides to the New York senatorial aspirant said that it reflected her view that 2009 will be a very big year for her."I think Caroline's calling Time magazine and asking to be put on the cover shows just what a tireless worker she is," said cousin Kerry Kennedy. "When she really wants something, she's not afraid to roll up her sleeves and make a phone call."Her cousin said that having witnessed Caroline's work ethic, she has no doubt that she is deserving of Time's highest honor: "I can't tell you how many times she's gotten the wrong number, been put on hold, or had calls dropped altogether."In addition to the Person of the Year honors, Kerry Kennedy said that Caroline had also expressed an interest in next year's Nobel Peace Prize."That's a call she hasn't made yet," Ms. Kennedy said. "She has to figure out the time difference in Oslo."
Silly of course, and nonsensical, but frighteningly too close to the reality of American politics.
I suggest that our next election cycle feature on the names of people we have never heard of before: No Bushes, no shrubs, No Clintons or “istas”, no Reagans or Rockefellers, no Goldmans and no Sachs. No Wall Streeters or Fleet Streeters, and no first cousins twice removed of Billy Bob whoever he is. Not even any Washingtons or Jeffersons, or any Hillary William Jeffersons. Enough.
We need to elect some people who speak FOR us and not in spite of us. We need to elect people who will be eager to serve instead of be served. We need to elect people that are in for the duration and not the adoration. Let’s skip the Edward’s haircuts and the Biden suits and the Charlton Heston bravado and elect John Jones Smith. Let’s elect Maggie Elizabeth Everyman or Elmer Foxworthy instead of Nigel Newsworthy. Let’s elect someone like me, with bad teeth and a crooked smile (no, not that Cheney smirk).
It is time to elect the guy next door, the guy nobody has ever heard of, but the guy (or gal) who is pissed off about potholes and poobahs, doesn’t have a secret stash of oil money in an account off-shore, only has one old car that needs new tires and does not own three houses on a synthetic beachfront in Arizona, funded by beer money.
Old money does not automatically impart new wisdom. Leadership is not genetic. Genealogies do not guarantee insight. Nomenclature does not ensure noble behavior. Those who governed once before does not mean that this one can govern now. Photogenic affability does not promise pervasive ingenuity. Being smartly dressed does not necessarily portend making smart decisions. The current normal business has become abnormal showbusiness and the forecasted new normal aristocracy is most likely old hat. We need some new hats.
Kennedys, Bushes, Rockefellers demonstrate genetic popularity and power
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28257519/
If you will read this article, you might get a sense of the frustration I hear from others about how our “democratic” government is growing increasingly “un-democratic”. Like Robin Leach’s show, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, our government is becoming a celebrity haven and a “good ole’ boys (and girl's) club”. Our politicians have long since stopped asking what they might do for their country, but what the country might do for them. They worry more about spotlights and footlights than they do about fixing stoplights and closing tax loopholes. They would rather be television stars and headline grabbers than work as soldiers in the trenches of everyday life and spend any energy combating the woes of poverty and inequality. Busting a union for ideological sensationalism is more important than busting a drug cartel. Getting face time on Meet the Press and receiving a celebrity endorsement is more important than face time on the street with Joe the Real Plumber or taking a stand against wanton government waste that takes funds away from entitlement programs for the poor and/or unemployed.
If you consider only the fact that the RNC spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on clothing, hair stylings and make-up for Sarah Palin, it tells us about how easily Americans are distracted by the glamorousness, flash and pizzazz of runway status. Politicos are learning what India’s Bollywood learned years ago: get something on the silver screen with name-brand recognition and nice clothes and it will sell…and turn a profit.
We have come to elect “leaders” for their spectacular smiles and familial ties rather than for talent, insight, and leadership abilities, or for any sense for philanthropy. Bush wants to manufacture a legacy for Jeb, Nancy Reagan wanted to be the Queen of the United States (until we just said no to both her and her drug slogans), we have an entire cadre of “Clintonistas” and now we have Caroline Kennedy, about to be named (crowned?) the Princess of New York, the belle of the Ball and perhaps next contender for Female Ruler of the Universe. We have gone from, “Here I am. I’m qualified to represent you, elect me, please”, to “Hi there! I am a famous son, daughter, nephew or cousin of a noble member of an aristocratic American clan that comes from old money (and I’d like to be a movie star), so vote for me and you will get goosebumps when I speak to Fox News”. Sick. Disturbing. Disheartening. Disgusting.
The humorist Andy Borowitz gave it this spin, this morning:
Caroline Kennedy Asks to be Time’s Person of the Year, Places Phone Call to Magazine’s Editor
Caroline Kennedy would like to be considered Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2009 and has let the magazine's editor know of her interest in the honor, aides to Ms. Kennedy confirmed today.While some observers considered Ms. Kennedy's bid to be premature, especially since 2009 has not officially begun, aides to the New York senatorial aspirant said that it reflected her view that 2009 will be a very big year for her."I think Caroline's calling Time magazine and asking to be put on the cover shows just what a tireless worker she is," said cousin Kerry Kennedy. "When she really wants something, she's not afraid to roll up her sleeves and make a phone call."Her cousin said that having witnessed Caroline's work ethic, she has no doubt that she is deserving of Time's highest honor: "I can't tell you how many times she's gotten the wrong number, been put on hold, or had calls dropped altogether."In addition to the Person of the Year honors, Kerry Kennedy said that Caroline had also expressed an interest in next year's Nobel Peace Prize."That's a call she hasn't made yet," Ms. Kennedy said. "She has to figure out the time difference in Oslo."
Silly of course, and nonsensical, but frighteningly too close to the reality of American politics.
I suggest that our next election cycle feature on the names of people we have never heard of before: No Bushes, no shrubs, No Clintons or “istas”, no Reagans or Rockefellers, no Goldmans and no Sachs. No Wall Streeters or Fleet Streeters, and no first cousins twice removed of Billy Bob whoever he is. Not even any Washingtons or Jeffersons, or any Hillary William Jeffersons. Enough.
We need to elect some people who speak FOR us and not in spite of us. We need to elect people who will be eager to serve instead of be served. We need to elect people that are in for the duration and not the adoration. Let’s skip the Edward’s haircuts and the Biden suits and the Charlton Heston bravado and elect John Jones Smith. Let’s elect Maggie Elizabeth Everyman or Elmer Foxworthy instead of Nigel Newsworthy. Let’s elect someone like me, with bad teeth and a crooked smile (no, not that Cheney smirk).
It is time to elect the guy next door, the guy nobody has ever heard of, but the guy (or gal) who is pissed off about potholes and poobahs, doesn’t have a secret stash of oil money in an account off-shore, only has one old car that needs new tires and does not own three houses on a synthetic beachfront in Arizona, funded by beer money.
Old money does not automatically impart new wisdom. Leadership is not genetic. Genealogies do not guarantee insight. Nomenclature does not ensure noble behavior. Those who governed once before does not mean that this one can govern now. Photogenic affability does not promise pervasive ingenuity. Being smartly dressed does not necessarily portend making smart decisions. The current normal business has become abnormal showbusiness and the forecasted new normal aristocracy is most likely old hat. We need some new hats.
Monday, December 15, 2008
The President Gets It Right
Somewhere, over the Atlantic Ocean, aboard Air Force One, sometime on December 14 or 15, President Bush was asked about the status of negotiations, relative to funding a bail out and/or bridge loans for the US auto industry. The President stated that he wouldn’t give a precise timetable, and that, “This will not be a long process
Because of the economic fragility of the autos”.
Precision, the King’s English and eloquence all struck like proverbial lightning, at the same place and time and all at once, together, simultaneously. You betcha.
The news is this: The President of the United States has finally figured out what the crux ,central core, and hugely responsible issues are at the center of the country’s current economic crisis: freaking autos are economically fragile. Whew. Finally. What a goddam relief. I was afraid we would go another few weeks (five, to be exact) before someone figured out just exactly what the sam-hill was wrong with America. It must be Christmas. We have been given a gift.
But as with all “gifts” that come from the government, I suspected something else was in play, and I chose not to be entirely euphoric.
While I was reading the report of this presidential revelation/proclamation, I was also reading about and watching videos telling about and showing the shoes of an Iraqi reporter, being hurled through the air at Bush’s head, during a press conference in Baghdad. Suddenly I had an epiphany, and I am guessing that W had epiphanied, as well. I realized the great likelihood that, for perhaps the first time in his life, without alcohol or drugs, George W. Bush had been faced with real trauma.
We need to keep this incident in its’ proper perspective if we are to fully appreciate the devastating implications of what really happened here. W was on foreign soil, in a newly liberated country (Cheney says so, anyway), standing behind an unfamiliar lectern, next to a world leader (?), amid a sea of doubt and potential hostility (only because he has been lying about this country, liberation, democracy and war for years), and suddenly, unexpectedly, without warning, two pieces of footwear came flying through the conference room, aimed more or less directly at his head. The shock and awe must have been terrifying. Unfathomable fear and previously undreamt-of terror must have grasped the President by his very being and shaken him to his ephemeral core. This manner of precarious and fright-laden situation is what many would call trauma inducing ,and it is highly likely that it indeed descended on the mind (?) of George W. Bush, as he stood, there, chock full of hubris and assumed self-righteousness.
Such an assault, coming as it were, from out of a crowd of reporters, previously assumed to be filled with adoration, must have been the penultimate shock. I know it would have rattled my underpinnings, and I don’t even lie that much (and if I did, or you did, I, or we, would not get caught so often).
Sometime later, during an interview, the President attempted to brush off the severity of the event, saying that it was no different that when “people wave at you, using less than five fingers”, and claiming to fail to see what “his beef” was ,when it came to the Iraqi version of a shoe-bomber. However, I suspect that the incident had a lot more to do with the remarks about “auto fragility”, quoted above.
Trauma can be truly revelatory. It can be a real eye-opener, after the fact. Trauma, neurologically speaking, induces autonomic reactions of fight or flight. Since the president stood his ground, ducking the missiles very effectively, as he has ducked morality, vision, common decency , logic and good grammar for eight years, indicated that he did not choose flight: he stood his Texas cowboy ground and remained steadfast, clutching the lectern with both hands. To reinforce the impression that he was not shaken or unduly moved by what had happened during the attempted sole-ful attack, he conjectured that this little skirmish did not “reflect the broad attitude” of the Iraqi people (I though it would have been a broad “spectrum”, but that word is much too big for him). Clearly the depth of the traumatization caused him to lose sight of the symbolism involved when, many years earlier, as the statute of Saddam was pulled down in the Baghdad square, the Iraqi citizenry pounded it with their shoes. This public behavior is generally believed to be a display of contempt and hatred in the Arab world. . But when you have been traumatized to the extent that W obviously was, some of the details get a little blurry, in hindsight. Like, ya know, lookin’ over yer shoulder?
Nevertheless, I am led to believe that this very event is what caused the president to proclaim, just a short time later, that our economic woes could be laid squarely at the feet (tires) of fragile auto economics. I am grateful that, in his somewhat unstable state, he did not refer to either “auto erotics” or any form of frigidity rather than fragility ( either mispsokeness, while probably not being any big surprise, would have been a dead give-away about his condition). My guess is that Hank Paulson might have come to a similarly grand economic revelation if he had been hit on the head by a falling brick from the Lehman Bros. building on Wall Street. But we have not been so lucky as to have that “befall” us, so to speak. .
As it stands now, we are vey fortunate to know that our President has “got it right”, as Monty Python might perchance observe. Surely, now that we (and W) are armed with such valuable insight as to why we have no money to spend on Christmas gifts, while the financial and banking CEO’s of New York are in Dubais, on holiday, and why Detroit products cost so much, break down so often and consume so much gasoline, time and energy, that our national quality of life will improve, shortly. Or at least as soon as W forms a Presidential commission to investigate the auto economic fragility problem. Perhaps Mitt Romney can head that up, as the (sic) Car economic fragility czar.
The alleged assailant, by the way, is being held in jail, apparently for attempting to induce harm, or creating an environment of danger, or something like that, in the presence of a world leader. Of the two men behind the lectern, the authorities in Iraq have chosen to say that it was the Iranian President they were referring to. I think we all know how and why they made their distinction.
However, we should consider one other nasty eventuality that might have come about: had either one (or both ) of the shoes hit their intended target, there would have been the recorded sound of the non-resonating thud of the shoe(s) hitting an empty vessel. Had that occurred, the main stream media would have given us much more coverage to wade through, the pundits and analysts would be almost as busy as they were covering the gaffs of Sarah Palin, and Christmas would not have something like the “economic fragility of the autos” to blame for our aggregate misery. It could have been worse.
Because of the economic fragility of the autos”.
Precision, the King’s English and eloquence all struck like proverbial lightning, at the same place and time and all at once, together, simultaneously. You betcha.
The news is this: The President of the United States has finally figured out what the crux ,central core, and hugely responsible issues are at the center of the country’s current economic crisis: freaking autos are economically fragile. Whew. Finally. What a goddam relief. I was afraid we would go another few weeks (five, to be exact) before someone figured out just exactly what the sam-hill was wrong with America. It must be Christmas. We have been given a gift.
But as with all “gifts” that come from the government, I suspected something else was in play, and I chose not to be entirely euphoric.
While I was reading the report of this presidential revelation/proclamation, I was also reading about and watching videos telling about and showing the shoes of an Iraqi reporter, being hurled through the air at Bush’s head, during a press conference in Baghdad. Suddenly I had an epiphany, and I am guessing that W had epiphanied, as well. I realized the great likelihood that, for perhaps the first time in his life, without alcohol or drugs, George W. Bush had been faced with real trauma.
We need to keep this incident in its’ proper perspective if we are to fully appreciate the devastating implications of what really happened here. W was on foreign soil, in a newly liberated country (Cheney says so, anyway), standing behind an unfamiliar lectern, next to a world leader (?), amid a sea of doubt and potential hostility (only because he has been lying about this country, liberation, democracy and war for years), and suddenly, unexpectedly, without warning, two pieces of footwear came flying through the conference room, aimed more or less directly at his head. The shock and awe must have been terrifying. Unfathomable fear and previously undreamt-of terror must have grasped the President by his very being and shaken him to his ephemeral core. This manner of precarious and fright-laden situation is what many would call trauma inducing ,and it is highly likely that it indeed descended on the mind (?) of George W. Bush, as he stood, there, chock full of hubris and assumed self-righteousness.
Such an assault, coming as it were, from out of a crowd of reporters, previously assumed to be filled with adoration, must have been the penultimate shock. I know it would have rattled my underpinnings, and I don’t even lie that much (and if I did, or you did, I, or we, would not get caught so often).
Sometime later, during an interview, the President attempted to brush off the severity of the event, saying that it was no different that when “people wave at you, using less than five fingers”, and claiming to fail to see what “his beef” was ,when it came to the Iraqi version of a shoe-bomber. However, I suspect that the incident had a lot more to do with the remarks about “auto fragility”, quoted above.
Trauma can be truly revelatory. It can be a real eye-opener, after the fact. Trauma, neurologically speaking, induces autonomic reactions of fight or flight. Since the president stood his ground, ducking the missiles very effectively, as he has ducked morality, vision, common decency , logic and good grammar for eight years, indicated that he did not choose flight: he stood his Texas cowboy ground and remained steadfast, clutching the lectern with both hands. To reinforce the impression that he was not shaken or unduly moved by what had happened during the attempted sole-ful attack, he conjectured that this little skirmish did not “reflect the broad attitude” of the Iraqi people (I though it would have been a broad “spectrum”, but that word is much too big for him). Clearly the depth of the traumatization caused him to lose sight of the symbolism involved when, many years earlier, as the statute of Saddam was pulled down in the Baghdad square, the Iraqi citizenry pounded it with their shoes. This public behavior is generally believed to be a display of contempt and hatred in the Arab world. . But when you have been traumatized to the extent that W obviously was, some of the details get a little blurry, in hindsight. Like, ya know, lookin’ over yer shoulder?
Nevertheless, I am led to believe that this very event is what caused the president to proclaim, just a short time later, that our economic woes could be laid squarely at the feet (tires) of fragile auto economics. I am grateful that, in his somewhat unstable state, he did not refer to either “auto erotics” or any form of frigidity rather than fragility ( either mispsokeness, while probably not being any big surprise, would have been a dead give-away about his condition). My guess is that Hank Paulson might have come to a similarly grand economic revelation if he had been hit on the head by a falling brick from the Lehman Bros. building on Wall Street. But we have not been so lucky as to have that “befall” us, so to speak. .
As it stands now, we are vey fortunate to know that our President has “got it right”, as Monty Python might perchance observe. Surely, now that we (and W) are armed with such valuable insight as to why we have no money to spend on Christmas gifts, while the financial and banking CEO’s of New York are in Dubais, on holiday, and why Detroit products cost so much, break down so often and consume so much gasoline, time and energy, that our national quality of life will improve, shortly. Or at least as soon as W forms a Presidential commission to investigate the auto economic fragility problem. Perhaps Mitt Romney can head that up, as the (sic) Car economic fragility czar.
The alleged assailant, by the way, is being held in jail, apparently for attempting to induce harm, or creating an environment of danger, or something like that, in the presence of a world leader. Of the two men behind the lectern, the authorities in Iraq have chosen to say that it was the Iranian President they were referring to. I think we all know how and why they made their distinction.
However, we should consider one other nasty eventuality that might have come about: had either one (or both ) of the shoes hit their intended target, there would have been the recorded sound of the non-resonating thud of the shoe(s) hitting an empty vessel. Had that occurred, the main stream media would have given us much more coverage to wade through, the pundits and analysts would be almost as busy as they were covering the gaffs of Sarah Palin, and Christmas would not have something like the “economic fragility of the autos” to blame for our aggregate misery. It could have been worse.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Great Expectations
Whenever we place unrealistic expectations upon ourselves or someone else, disappointment and sorrow are soon to follow. Both the "Audacity of Hope" and the Obama administration have just been dragged into unfair territory.
Articles just this morning include:
-A plea by many for Obama to legalize "Mary Jane";
-An expose' demanding that Obama stop sexual exploitation of children;
-A call for Obama to nationalize and oversee American automobile production;
-More calls for immediate universal health care;
This weeks' emails included:
- Various invitations from multiple groups, sponsoring Obama "house parties". At these gatherings, they will apparently produce lists of issues and problems, which they will presumably submit to the Obama administration for immediate action. This presupposes an immdiate response, but no one seems braced for disappointment. Proverbial caution has been thrown to the proverbial wind.
- I recieved no less than 8 (eight) petitions from assorted groups, asking Obama to save whales, save polar bears, end poverty, stop global warming, reduce nukes, reform banks, turn coal green and reform Congressional ethics laws. And they all "expect" them to be a fait accompli by early 2009.
In none of these do I see or hear the word "compromise", nor do I sense any reasonable approach concerning just how long it takes to accomplish any of these. Obama does, after all, have to work with and through the Congress to effect any of this. But perhaps I have erred on the side of realism.
The "Audacity of Hope" is mutating into unreasonable demands and expectations. The only way for the new administration to succeed, to any measureable degree, is for the American people NOT TO BURDEN it with lists of demands founded on the wildest of dreams and unrealistic expectations. Southern plantation owners did that to black slaves 250 years ago. Surely we can do better, today.
Put yet another way, why should we party so hearty that we give Obama a hangover before he even reaches office?
And does anyone we remember how we scoffed at the Bush administration, for proposing "Aspirational horizons"? I am also inclined to think that unbounded ecstasy and euphoria can lead to catastrophic misery.
Life goes on in Texas.
Articles just this morning include:
-A plea by many for Obama to legalize "Mary Jane";
-An expose' demanding that Obama stop sexual exploitation of children;
-A call for Obama to nationalize and oversee American automobile production;
-More calls for immediate universal health care;
This weeks' emails included:
- Various invitations from multiple groups, sponsoring Obama "house parties". At these gatherings, they will apparently produce lists of issues and problems, which they will presumably submit to the Obama administration for immediate action. This presupposes an immdiate response, but no one seems braced for disappointment. Proverbial caution has been thrown to the proverbial wind.
- I recieved no less than 8 (eight) petitions from assorted groups, asking Obama to save whales, save polar bears, end poverty, stop global warming, reduce nukes, reform banks, turn coal green and reform Congressional ethics laws. And they all "expect" them to be a fait accompli by early 2009.
In none of these do I see or hear the word "compromise", nor do I sense any reasonable approach concerning just how long it takes to accomplish any of these. Obama does, after all, have to work with and through the Congress to effect any of this. But perhaps I have erred on the side of realism.
The "Audacity of Hope" is mutating into unreasonable demands and expectations. The only way for the new administration to succeed, to any measureable degree, is for the American people NOT TO BURDEN it with lists of demands founded on the wildest of dreams and unrealistic expectations. Southern plantation owners did that to black slaves 250 years ago. Surely we can do better, today.
Put yet another way, why should we party so hearty that we give Obama a hangover before he even reaches office?
And does anyone we remember how we scoffed at the Bush administration, for proposing "Aspirational horizons"? I am also inclined to think that unbounded ecstasy and euphoria can lead to catastrophic misery.
Life goes on in Texas.
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Economy of Illinois Politics
A great many people who know me, and know that I am not only from Illinois, but also from Chicago, have been asking me what I think about the recent disclosure and exposure of the attempt by the Honorable (I use the term loosely) Illinois Governor Blagojevich to "sell" the Senate seat left open by President-Elect Barack Obama (please hold the Polish jokes). After reading blogs and articles and columns and op-eds, and looking through a mountain of political editorial cartoons, I think I am ready to make a statement. Any condemnation is premature.
Despite the rancor and cries for damnation that have come from other (I'm certain) innocent Democrats, along with numerous calls for his resignation and threats to impeach, I have to say that the Governor makes me proud. There. I said it. He's my boy.
America is a land of traditions and traditional values. And American Illinois is a state of commerce, ingenuity, world class corn and dairy products (screw Wisconsin; damn cheeseheads) , and the Land of Lincoln (Honest Abe, you know). Chicago has grown from being a lakeside native American Indian resort and fishing hole, to the home a great and memorable fire, a head-bashing spree by corrupt police in 1968, interminable terms by Daleybots and the only river in America (I think) that not only flows backwards, but turns bright green every March, in spite of the pollutant level.
And the Governor's office, the state drivers licensing bureau, the Chicago City Council and its' Aldermen, the Farm Bureau (probably) and IDOT (or whatever it is called now, which never really finished any highway or tollway it ever started), in conjunction with the remnants of Al Capone's mafia structures...all of these have traditions to be upheld. And the greatest of these is corruption ( Think, "And the greatest of these is love"). Blagojevich was simply holding up his end of a long-standing bargain and keeping tradition alive, by trying to actually sell a Senate seat. This man understands the true role of the Governor of Illinois and has strived mightily to uphold the values entrusted to him. He done good (now you can tell a Polish joke).
However, this all raises an economic question which I had never pondered until now. Since nobody in Illinois ever buys anything, invests in anything or seeks to acquire anything that they cannot make money on, what, exactly does one want with a Senate seat? It is obvious now, since there were apparently several bidders, that there is much profit to be made by this purchase, and those of us who did not bid, and did not pick up on this new trend in economics, have lost an investment opportunity. Sarah Palin might say that we had missed out real traditonal American values.
While it may be that holding a federal Senate seat in Illinois is financially akin to managing a Wall Street hedge fund, this angle and aspect of political fund raising had never occurred to me. Where have I been, all my life? (gratefully, not in Illinois, for most of it).
So here is the question you must answer, if we are to truly understand the dynamics of this affair: (frankly I am dumbfounded that Krugman or Reich or Freidman or Paulson or Geithner haven't yet asked this or set forth an equation):
Part one: How much does one actually pay for an Illinois Senate seat? We really do need a dollar amount or the number of first-borns one must pledge.
Part two: In order to determine the fair market value (like hog belly futures... they do that in Chicago, as well) one must be able to calculate, well in advance, the ROI (that's "Return on Investment" for those of you who flunked Econ 101 at Wharton) of said Illinois Senate seat, as well as be able to know how long it will take to achieve that ROI.
While this mathematical challenge has me completely stumped, clearly good ole' Blago and at least five other bidders had it figured out, otherwise the potential transaction would not have made it this far. And I am amazed that the Chicago Tribune has not had a bevy of economists at U of I working on it.
As far as holding one of the Senate seats is concerned, the must be "gold in them thar hills" and most of us have been too stupid to look there. Blago is to be commended for keeping the faith and holding the tradition high, for all to see. Perhaps it will get his picture on the new license plates they stamp out at the prison he will attend. Who knows. All fame has a price.
But I want the equation for future use. If the ROI is that good, I could become a traditionalist, real quick.
Despite the rancor and cries for damnation that have come from other (I'm certain) innocent Democrats, along with numerous calls for his resignation and threats to impeach, I have to say that the Governor makes me proud. There. I said it. He's my boy.
America is a land of traditions and traditional values. And American Illinois is a state of commerce, ingenuity, world class corn and dairy products (screw Wisconsin; damn cheeseheads) , and the Land of Lincoln (Honest Abe, you know). Chicago has grown from being a lakeside native American Indian resort and fishing hole, to the home a great and memorable fire, a head-bashing spree by corrupt police in 1968, interminable terms by Daleybots and the only river in America (I think) that not only flows backwards, but turns bright green every March, in spite of the pollutant level.
And the Governor's office, the state drivers licensing bureau, the Chicago City Council and its' Aldermen, the Farm Bureau (probably) and IDOT (or whatever it is called now, which never really finished any highway or tollway it ever started), in conjunction with the remnants of Al Capone's mafia structures...all of these have traditions to be upheld. And the greatest of these is corruption ( Think, "And the greatest of these is love"). Blagojevich was simply holding up his end of a long-standing bargain and keeping tradition alive, by trying to actually sell a Senate seat. This man understands the true role of the Governor of Illinois and has strived mightily to uphold the values entrusted to him. He done good (now you can tell a Polish joke).
However, this all raises an economic question which I had never pondered until now. Since nobody in Illinois ever buys anything, invests in anything or seeks to acquire anything that they cannot make money on, what, exactly does one want with a Senate seat? It is obvious now, since there were apparently several bidders, that there is much profit to be made by this purchase, and those of us who did not bid, and did not pick up on this new trend in economics, have lost an investment opportunity. Sarah Palin might say that we had missed out real traditonal American values.
While it may be that holding a federal Senate seat in Illinois is financially akin to managing a Wall Street hedge fund, this angle and aspect of political fund raising had never occurred to me. Where have I been, all my life? (gratefully, not in Illinois, for most of it).
So here is the question you must answer, if we are to truly understand the dynamics of this affair: (frankly I am dumbfounded that Krugman or Reich or Freidman or Paulson or Geithner haven't yet asked this or set forth an equation):
Part one: How much does one actually pay for an Illinois Senate seat? We really do need a dollar amount or the number of first-borns one must pledge.
Part two: In order to determine the fair market value (like hog belly futures... they do that in Chicago, as well) one must be able to calculate, well in advance, the ROI (that's "Return on Investment" for those of you who flunked Econ 101 at Wharton) of said Illinois Senate seat, as well as be able to know how long it will take to achieve that ROI.
While this mathematical challenge has me completely stumped, clearly good ole' Blago and at least five other bidders had it figured out, otherwise the potential transaction would not have made it this far. And I am amazed that the Chicago Tribune has not had a bevy of economists at U of I working on it.
As far as holding one of the Senate seats is concerned, the must be "gold in them thar hills" and most of us have been too stupid to look there. Blago is to be commended for keeping the faith and holding the tradition high, for all to see. Perhaps it will get his picture on the new license plates they stamp out at the prison he will attend. Who knows. All fame has a price.
But I want the equation for future use. If the ROI is that good, I could become a traditionalist, real quick.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
I Always Write Too Soon
There will be a short pause
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28138287/
While we all get screwed.
Happy Holidays.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28138287/
While we all get screwed.
Happy Holidays.
Idiocy Prevails On the One Side, Cools Heads on the Other
And apparently ne’er the twain shall meet.
‘Twas the night before Christmas..and some kind gentleman just told me a few days ago that we have three ways of thinking in America (remember this?): Right brained, left brained and lame brained. Guess who (or what) is winning?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28108346/
And the beat goes on. " White House and democrats have limited intercourse and produce handicapped child". For $14M.
I have already sent out pieces by both Krugman (German/European cars) and Freidman (Electric cars and software upgrades) earlier this morning (check all the stuff you deleted). There have been comments.
Martha said:
Tracey said (along the way, after reading Krugman and me):
‘Twas the night before Christmas..and some kind gentleman just told me a few days ago that we have three ways of thinking in America (remember this?): Right brained, left brained and lame brained. Guess who (or what) is winning?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28108346/
And the beat goes on. " White House and democrats have limited intercourse and produce handicapped child". For $14M.
I have already sent out pieces by both Krugman (German/European cars) and Freidman (Electric cars and software upgrades) earlier this morning (check all the stuff you deleted). There have been comments.
Martha said:
I've seen Friedman interviewed before and he gives a lot to think about. Habits of mind are dangerous things, and hard to break. What we need is a merge of expertise in vehicle manufacturing and the new business platform. Then we could have the best of both worlds. It doesn't have to be a "either/or" proposition, if the two could co-exist, which, so far they haven't, in the automobile industry. Friedman makes it sound that some in the world have seen that it's in their best interest to do so. I don't think Detroit, or Washington has caught on to that yet. They better get out of the box, or they will be left behind. That goes for the consumer too.
Tracey said (along the way, after reading Krugman and me):
Uh - I am one of those "underclass" who are more plugged in, and wear my "pretentious Eco-Snob" badge with great pride. Please convey that to all you know. THEY are the underclass of insensitives whose karma will catch up with them. Intellect and awareness trumps conspicuous consumption any day.
(Tracey drives a Prius.)
Barbara said that the "idea of a Czarina" was much more attractive. Or words to that effect. When I later told her that "Czarina" had just called me, from down on 6th St. in Austin, and wanted me to come buy her a beer, Barbara said it did not much help the cause of female equality. Touche'.
It sounds like having a “car czar” appears inevitable, because everyone in Congress is thinking exactly the way in which Friedman (see the NYT article) urged that we should not. I think the decisions (in spite of what I think about republicans) probably are ass-backwards, but that is because we have so many asses making them.This is a really crappy thing to do to Santa Claus.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
A Czar, A Czarina, or A Dis-czar-ster?
Now that the jury has mostly come in on the fall-out that was has been called a bail-out of Wall Street, most opinions are that it did too little, too late, or did nothing at all to stave off economic mayhem. We saved the bankers’ salaries and paid for parties for brokers and hedge fund hedge hogs, and the banks that got the money used it to pay off stockholders and invest it to make money elsewhere. Seemingly none of it went out as loans to help anyone who needed it: Republic Door and Window in Chicago is an example of how not to manage money, save jobs and work in the interest of the public good. The employees are sitting in, the company is sitting out, the bank is sitting pat and everyone will not have a Merry Christmas. Obama has said the workers have his support: he should be grabbing B Of A by the throat and making them turn blue. I doubt anyone at that bank will go without a turkey or ham on Dec. 25.
I have lost track of the numbers involved: Faced with a huge public outcry, the congress said no to a $700B deal for Wall Street. The weekend passed and then so did a new bill, for $850B. To date, there has been about $152B (?) spent with no visible effect. There is another story (or group of them) that Paulson and his minions have doled out about $2T (yes, trillion) which is largely unaccounted for. All that seems certain I that the Paulsonites will certainly have jobs after Jan. 20. Somewhere on Wall Street. And today the CEO of Merrill cavalierly asked to receive his $10M bonus, anyway. How did we manage to raise and propagate these idiot totems of industry? This man has inadvertently stuck his head up his own posterior. No mean trick but he is clearly a mean man: why should we be surprised? Tar and feathers would be good, here.
But, while the current Governor of Illinois is whisked off by the feds for selling government congressional seats (hell, he was only fulfilling his traditional role in IL politics), there is the ongoing, low-level blip on the radar screen in Detroit, the Big used-to-be Three and the paltry matter of somewhere between $15 and 34B. This is another public display of bail-out or life-line or bridge loan or congressional pocket change change rattling. I have never seen a story grow up so fast over so little, change as rapidly, get twisted so violently or produce so few results as this one has. Whatever this amount of money eventually turns out to be (if it does at all), it will be, by any reasonable estimate, like pouring a bucket of warm water into an Olympic-sized swimming pool to heat it up. Most believe that whatever forms this measure takes, it will only stave off a manufacturing holocaust for a few months…if that. You might read www.alertnet.org/workplace/111029, if you want to hear more. The biggest and most startling line in that article is that the business of Detroit is “more transparent” than that of Wall Street: “With Wall street, lack of clarity, helped bag the money”.
Enter Uncle Sam and the regulatory watchdogs (just when I thought this could not get worse, it gets worse).
It has been suggested that any bail-out/bridgeloan/lifeline/credit extension bring along with it the appointment of a “Car Czar”. Oh joy.
Before I tell you why I think this idea stinks and what might be an alternative, just let me remind you of two or three other events in our history that have been much ballyhooed and accomplished little or nothing. Several years ago, our sense of societal guilt/philanthropy/elitism led to us to appoint a “Drug Czar”. We could have just said “NO”, but we bought off on the idea anyway. For all of the clamor and cheering, today we have more drugs on the street than ever, more law enforcement time and money engaged in drug traffic fighting than ever and more people incarcerated for petty drug crimes per 100 members of the population (more than any other country in the world) than ever. This has been a spectacular accomplishment, along with winning the war in Viet Nam, eradicating poverty and homelessness in the US, making all educational programs equal in quality and introducing “Intelligent Design” (with saddles on dinosaurs) as a way to interpret science. For all of our “fundamental” beliefs, we are fundamentally screwed up.
Yu might remember that more recently, the Bush administration promoted the position of a “war czar” (how did we get so tied up in Russian history, anyway?). We had so many wars (like the old woman who lived in a shoe), that we didn’t know what to do. The notion was that we should consolidate, oversee and coordinate our comprehensive plans to implant democracy all over the world (in order to lower oil prices and eradicate terrorism). Well, we all know how well that has worked out, as well. My heart is warmed by both little nuggets of American ingenuity in action.
The notion of a “car Czar” is preposterous and laughable from almost any angle. Already today a TV pundit has recommended brain-dead, non-managerial “mental recession” Phil Gramm for the Job. Hell, we might as well appoint “Heckuva Job Brownie”: the next fuel efficient car off of the Detroit assembly line could be called a “Katrina”. It could run on crawfish ettoufee’ and warm beer.
I have no doubt whatsoever than anyone appointed by our government to oversee the American car industry, for a week or a month or a year, would have a snowball’s chance in hell of having any positive impact on this floundering manufacturing beast. They can barely manage themselves and the insertion of government interference will simply exacerbate the nightmare of needed reform and re-structure. Despite his pedigree, Mitt Romney would be a joke; any past auto insider would have no ability to see beyond the way things have always been done; a neophyte or Wharton school guy would have no clue about where to start. The Board would give a new car, an allowance and the keys to the executive dining room, and that would be that.
This is all comes , of course, before you realize that the money will be used to shore up failing pieces of Detroit, scattered and battered around the world and will not save any American jobs? Probably? Anyone who cannot se that boondoggle coming deserves dog food for breakfast.
If we are going to do this (I am on my hands and knees praying as I have seldom ever done that we don’t) maybe we should appoint a “Czarina”, and I don’t mean Fiorina. A woman would understand better how to manage a day-to-day budget. Women probably write more checks to Chrysler Finance, FoMoCo and GMAC than anyone else (they know how much money those clowns get now, much better than anyone else) and they do not believe that monster pick-up trucks with nudie profiles on the rear mudflaps will help the country’s transportation woes. They drive more mini-vans and cross-overs and hate the smell that gasoline leaves on their clothing, and are mostly correct in believing that all big truck drivers are red-necked a**holes who cause accidents, drive drunk and clog the highways. Give the job to a bright, economically minded, stiff—necked woman, throw away the keys to the “privileged” men’s room and clubhouse and the company limo and let ‘er rip. Testicles in the auto industry will shrink up and recede, nation-wide, but some good decisions might be made. (The boards of directors of all three “giants” would have to be replaced with women, too, if this is going to work).
Waggoner should be given a wagon to ride upon, Mulalay should go back to building model airplanes (Bill Ford can be a stay-at-home dad) and that Chrysler guy should go back to moving 2X4’s at Home Depot or be shipped back to Italy (Iacocca is waiting).
Someone just recently said (oh, that was me I the last blog or so) that Chrysler is already on life support and someone should just pull the plug. It was a bad product buy by the investors, like when I by a cheap lawnmower at Wal-Mart, and GM should just do what very red-oil-blooded American entrepreneur does and file for re-organization in bankruptcy court. Somebody in Tokyo will pickup the pieces, and American ingenuity will find something else to do with our tooling and resources. Ford seems to be holding up. Henry may be only rolling half-way over in his grave.
This situation has become ludicrous, in its’ scope and disproportionate media coverage. The pickets have been circling the fences in Detroit for years, holding signs that say, “The end is near”, and until gas went to $4.00 and Dishes on Wall Street ran away with the spoons, nobody noticed that more members of Congress drive Hondas than Chevys.
A car czar is a pending dis-czar-ster. As surely as the polar ice caps are melting and there is no such things as clean coal, Detroit is on the skids. The world is changing. And you can’t freaking drive your big pick-up to the hardware store anymore anyway: there aren’t any left.
I have lost track of the numbers involved: Faced with a huge public outcry, the congress said no to a $700B deal for Wall Street. The weekend passed and then so did a new bill, for $850B. To date, there has been about $152B (?) spent with no visible effect. There is another story (or group of them) that Paulson and his minions have doled out about $2T (yes, trillion) which is largely unaccounted for. All that seems certain I that the Paulsonites will certainly have jobs after Jan. 20. Somewhere on Wall Street. And today the CEO of Merrill cavalierly asked to receive his $10M bonus, anyway. How did we manage to raise and propagate these idiot totems of industry? This man has inadvertently stuck his head up his own posterior. No mean trick but he is clearly a mean man: why should we be surprised? Tar and feathers would be good, here.
But, while the current Governor of Illinois is whisked off by the feds for selling government congressional seats (hell, he was only fulfilling his traditional role in IL politics), there is the ongoing, low-level blip on the radar screen in Detroit, the Big used-to-be Three and the paltry matter of somewhere between $15 and 34B. This is another public display of bail-out or life-line or bridge loan or congressional pocket change change rattling. I have never seen a story grow up so fast over so little, change as rapidly, get twisted so violently or produce so few results as this one has. Whatever this amount of money eventually turns out to be (if it does at all), it will be, by any reasonable estimate, like pouring a bucket of warm water into an Olympic-sized swimming pool to heat it up. Most believe that whatever forms this measure takes, it will only stave off a manufacturing holocaust for a few months…if that. You might read www.alertnet.org/workplace/111029, if you want to hear more. The biggest and most startling line in that article is that the business of Detroit is “more transparent” than that of Wall Street: “With Wall street, lack of clarity, helped bag the money”.
Enter Uncle Sam and the regulatory watchdogs (just when I thought this could not get worse, it gets worse).
It has been suggested that any bail-out/bridgeloan/lifeline/credit extension bring along with it the appointment of a “Car Czar”. Oh joy.
Before I tell you why I think this idea stinks and what might be an alternative, just let me remind you of two or three other events in our history that have been much ballyhooed and accomplished little or nothing. Several years ago, our sense of societal guilt/philanthropy/elitism led to us to appoint a “Drug Czar”. We could have just said “NO”, but we bought off on the idea anyway. For all of the clamor and cheering, today we have more drugs on the street than ever, more law enforcement time and money engaged in drug traffic fighting than ever and more people incarcerated for petty drug crimes per 100 members of the population (more than any other country in the world) than ever. This has been a spectacular accomplishment, along with winning the war in Viet Nam, eradicating poverty and homelessness in the US, making all educational programs equal in quality and introducing “Intelligent Design” (with saddles on dinosaurs) as a way to interpret science. For all of our “fundamental” beliefs, we are fundamentally screwed up.
Yu might remember that more recently, the Bush administration promoted the position of a “war czar” (how did we get so tied up in Russian history, anyway?). We had so many wars (like the old woman who lived in a shoe), that we didn’t know what to do. The notion was that we should consolidate, oversee and coordinate our comprehensive plans to implant democracy all over the world (in order to lower oil prices and eradicate terrorism). Well, we all know how well that has worked out, as well. My heart is warmed by both little nuggets of American ingenuity in action.
The notion of a “car Czar” is preposterous and laughable from almost any angle. Already today a TV pundit has recommended brain-dead, non-managerial “mental recession” Phil Gramm for the Job. Hell, we might as well appoint “Heckuva Job Brownie”: the next fuel efficient car off of the Detroit assembly line could be called a “Katrina”. It could run on crawfish ettoufee’ and warm beer.
I have no doubt whatsoever than anyone appointed by our government to oversee the American car industry, for a week or a month or a year, would have a snowball’s chance in hell of having any positive impact on this floundering manufacturing beast. They can barely manage themselves and the insertion of government interference will simply exacerbate the nightmare of needed reform and re-structure. Despite his pedigree, Mitt Romney would be a joke; any past auto insider would have no ability to see beyond the way things have always been done; a neophyte or Wharton school guy would have no clue about where to start. The Board would give a new car, an allowance and the keys to the executive dining room, and that would be that.
This is all comes , of course, before you realize that the money will be used to shore up failing pieces of Detroit, scattered and battered around the world and will not save any American jobs? Probably? Anyone who cannot se that boondoggle coming deserves dog food for breakfast.
If we are going to do this (I am on my hands and knees praying as I have seldom ever done that we don’t) maybe we should appoint a “Czarina”, and I don’t mean Fiorina. A woman would understand better how to manage a day-to-day budget. Women probably write more checks to Chrysler Finance, FoMoCo and GMAC than anyone else (they know how much money those clowns get now, much better than anyone else) and they do not believe that monster pick-up trucks with nudie profiles on the rear mudflaps will help the country’s transportation woes. They drive more mini-vans and cross-overs and hate the smell that gasoline leaves on their clothing, and are mostly correct in believing that all big truck drivers are red-necked a**holes who cause accidents, drive drunk and clog the highways. Give the job to a bright, economically minded, stiff—necked woman, throw away the keys to the “privileged” men’s room and clubhouse and the company limo and let ‘er rip. Testicles in the auto industry will shrink up and recede, nation-wide, but some good decisions might be made. (The boards of directors of all three “giants” would have to be replaced with women, too, if this is going to work).
Waggoner should be given a wagon to ride upon, Mulalay should go back to building model airplanes (Bill Ford can be a stay-at-home dad) and that Chrysler guy should go back to moving 2X4’s at Home Depot or be shipped back to Italy (Iacocca is waiting).
Someone just recently said (oh, that was me I the last blog or so) that Chrysler is already on life support and someone should just pull the plug. It was a bad product buy by the investors, like when I by a cheap lawnmower at Wal-Mart, and GM should just do what very red-oil-blooded American entrepreneur does and file for re-organization in bankruptcy court. Somebody in Tokyo will pickup the pieces, and American ingenuity will find something else to do with our tooling and resources. Ford seems to be holding up. Henry may be only rolling half-way over in his grave.
This situation has become ludicrous, in its’ scope and disproportionate media coverage. The pickets have been circling the fences in Detroit for years, holding signs that say, “The end is near”, and until gas went to $4.00 and Dishes on Wall Street ran away with the spoons, nobody noticed that more members of Congress drive Hondas than Chevys.
A car czar is a pending dis-czar-ster. As surely as the polar ice caps are melting and there is no such things as clean coal, Detroit is on the skids. The world is changing. And you can’t freaking drive your big pick-up to the hardware store anymore anyway: there aren’t any left.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
The Big Three, the Big Swindle and The Boat We Might Catch
“Would you care for some rot-gut red, with your crow, sir?”
These are confusing, trying and muddled times. Several weeks ago, Henry Paulson, aka The Harbinger of Death, threatened our country (in a sniveling, poorly written two-page memo) with mayhem, cultural dissolution, financial disaster and the end of American life as we know it, if we did not consider and immediately approve, post haste, a bailout for Wall Street bankers and financiers, in the amount of $700B. The country rose up in a loud voice and said, “NO!”, the Congress backpedaled for a few days, then re-grouped and instead approved a bail-out bill for more than $850B. Weeks later, we are all still scratching our heads about exactly what happened.
Unless you have been completely isolated from the recent news reports, you know a number of events have since transpired, none of which are particularly encouraging or heartening. The office of the GAO has reported that there is virtually no oversight for how this money is being spent; there are reports that Paulson, et al, without any oversight, have doled out some $2T that is unaccounted for; AIG has used large amounts of its’ cash for parties; we have had to rescue Citibank; most of the $850B is still not apportioned; the stock market has tanked; mortgages and still foreclosing, nation wide; 401K plans are shrinking faster than anyone could imagine…the list of consequent, contingent and ongoing disasters goes on and on. This is what we might chose to call “The Big Swindle”. There is a rumor that there is a new economic team on the way, but their impact is some months off, their effectiveness is still mere speculation and we have no leadership in this tumultuous transition period between the Bush and Obama administrations (W has been hiding behind a Christmas tree in the Whitehouse, revealing his “regrets” to Charles Gibson. That is really helpful.)
But the scenario ripens with both age and the reported availability of mountains of disposable cash from the treasury. Now, as it happened, at the end of November, the CEO’s of Detroit’s Big Three (which are not as big as they used to be…or think they are) came, hat-in-hand, via private jet, to Washington to make their own plea for survival funding. They brought with them a myriad of problems, conundrums, contradictions and perplexing issues. What they did not bring was any humility.
Their lavish method of travel notwithstanding, these three titans of industry also appeared with their hand out, pleading poverty, with a silk top hat in which to collect the funds and wearing silk suits. In a manner nearly as obscene as the one Paulson used in demanding funds for the original $700B, they had no plan for what they would do with the money, other than to keep on “doing what they have always been doing”. In the only smart move any congressional body has made in at least a decade, the auto industry moguls were sent home. They were told to come back when they had a plan, a strategy and some vision of the future which had any shred of credibility. Recently some plans have been leaked, including the bald-faced insult that they will all forego their annual multi-million dollar salaries (maybe) if their companies get government money, that they will all travel by hybrid vehicle this time and they have considered the future (at least a little) in their plans for use of the funding (Ford has actually promised a very small percentage increase in their CAFÉ standards within five years. Wow.).
There remain some glitches in the procedure. First of all, on this return trip, the “guys” have had time to think up reasons to increase the originally proposed bail-out/loan/bridge loan/grant/funding proposal from $25B to $34B. While Ford says it would only like their share to be in the form of a $9B line of credit (to be used should one of the other two fail, which is a fall-back position no one understands), Chrysler just simply says that it needs the money to survive and GM promises that this money (they want $18B) will ensure plant closures and the layoffs of up to 30,000 workers over the next few years. On top of this, GM has suddenly announced that with out at least $4B before the end of the year, they will collapse completely. Somehow, I find it very difficult to believe that the army of bean counters at GM did not have any clue that this collapse might take place before it became clear that the Feds were loosely throwing money around. These guys from Detroit must really believe that we are as stupid as we look. After how we responded to Paulson, we must look pretty stupid.
At any rate, the polarizing discussion swirling about for the last two weeks or so has been something like Hamlet’s dilemma, with each side asking the other, “To bail-out or not to bail out?” You can (and probably have) read stories in Newsweek, MSNBC.com, the MSM, in blogs and on numerous web sites, either vehemently urging the demise of these dinosaurs (and how they got to be and stay alive), as well as those wailing about the millions of sub-contract and supplier tier jobs that will be lost if the Big Three go Big Belly Up. (Michael Moore, whether you like him or not, did a nice job of summing it all up last night on “Countdown”, with Keith Olbermann, on MSNBC-TV; you can watch it on your computer). But we may be missing the boat, here.
Whilst everyone has been looking the other way, hoping for gas prices to go down, buying more and more goods produced in China and ignoring the 800 pound reality gorilla in the room, everyone has also known (but wouldn’t admit) that Detroit can not seem to build cars that anyone wants, its’ cost structures were non-competitive, it had little R&D in the pipeline for needed future transportation technologies, had too many brands and had made too much money for the last 60 years without planning effectively for old age. They just seem to have woken up and started wondering where their 401K had gone.
My name is not Krugman or Reich or Friedman or Keynes, but it occurs to me that the boat we might catch might look something like this:
To begin with, if everything I have read is true, last year the government approved a $25B grant for the auto industry to work on new electric and hybrid auto technologies. It is my understanding that Japan has made the same effort for their auto industry. This would push ahead some competitiveness and forestall complete disaster in the industry, here. WE SHOULD GIVE IT TO THEM, NOW. But there should be accountability strings attached, and progress reports. We deserve to know how they are spending our money. If it is mal-appropriated, it should be returned.
Secondly, and with as many strings attached, we should pull another $25B out of the sum already allocated (since Paulson has no real plans for spending it anyway) and set it up in an interest bearing account. The Bogus Three can draw upon it as a line of credit, as needed, to keep things afloat and weather the current storm, as best they can.And this money should be put into a repayment schedule, to begin in 18-24 months. We should also recognize that this will only limit layoffs and lowered productions, not stop them. The general state of the economy right now indicates that very few people will be out buying new cars in any record numbers, any time soon.
A third bold move would be to change the name of the UAW to the United Manufacturing Workers (the UMW) and get them to join in the re-training (help provide funding) of their members to build, assemble and manufacture other and more diverse goods. For instance: The hot ticket everywhere these days seems to be wide-screen HD, digital televisions sets. I cannot help but believe that with the creativity and resourcefulness of Motorola, GE, Hitachi, Panasonic, and Sony (to name just a few) with deep roots and pockets in the US, we could not manage to assemble those TV’s in this country. In fact, we could even think about using our vast resources to supply the raw materials. It might push a few low-end Korean manufacturers out of the spotlight, but there would be some immediate consequences and benefits to our economy and employment statistics. Look at it this way:
An auto assembly line worker making $26.00/hr. is currently an endangered species (that $70/hr worker is a myth). Were he/she to be re-trained to assemble/manufacture the thousands of HD TV sets that are in such huge demand, they might only make $16/hr., but they would not be out of work and in danger of losing their home. The money would run back through the economy and eventually the new “hybrid” vehicles that Detroit would be selling by then could be a much needed purchase by the people who would now have the money (from jobs) to pay for them.
The Obama administration is (already) talking about (finally) paying attention to rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. We will need more skilled workers to rebuild electrical transmission lines, gas lines, bridges, tunnels, roadways and sewer and transportation systems. We will need to build windmills and water transmission routes. We will need communications workers, more draftspeople, more environmental researchers and more teachers. And all of that means that we need more earth moving machines (Caterpillar can’t build them all, and Komatsu shouldn’t), dump trucks (hello, General Motors: nobody needs a Cadillac), surveying gear, cranes, steel production, rebar and electronic measuring devices. There is no reason that all of this cannot be manufactured and produced in the United States. There is no reason the 30-50,000 auto workers, whose jobs are at risk cannot be trained to do these jobs and save their homes and send their children to college. And we should not forget that we may a nearly endless supply of empty, under or un-utilized manufacturing facilities which could be pressed into service, in very short order. And the nations’ governors just m et with the President elect, and they told him that their states were literally days, weeks and months way from being able to put “shovels in the ground” for rebuilding projects.
But we will need to face some tough realities (you thought I forgot about the crow by now, didn’t you?). Initially, we need to put a harness on greed and the seemingly insatiable appetite Wall Street has for instant profits and shareholder “overnight” wealth. That may never happen in America again. The Dellionaire/Microsoft phenomenon may never occur again, ever. Secondly, that US –made TV set may cost 5-10% more than the one we used to buy at Circuit City from Indonesia…but the worker will have the money to pay for it. And Circuit City will not make the retail profit it used to, but it will still be in business as a retailer. Wal-Mart may have a problem if they cannot buy everything from China. Sorry.
GM may eventually have to file for bankruptcy and restructure, despite the federal aid dollars. That would not be the end of the world. Too much has been written recently about what will happen: other companies will move in to the vacuums created and address the new needs: the small company that paints plastic bumpers for GM can move on to paint plastic parts for TV’s from Motorola. It will take some time, but Rome was not built in a day (and the US will not go away in one, either). Ford will most likely soldier on or at least plans to. Chrysler is a lame duck on life support. When Daimler Benz gave up on it, and Cerebrus bought it, their clear intention was to either make a go of it or write it off. It was their risk, they took it, and they lost. The tax payer should no more be held accountable or responsible for that gamble than they would be if Proctor and Gamble gambled on a new laundry detergent and failed. The only difference is in the scale of the economies involved.
Mary Ann Keller, a noted automotive journalist, has been saying for years, that there would eventually only be two or three automobile companies in the world. Every day it becomes clearer that one of those will be Toyota (or some Japanese conglomerate with Toyota at the center). We are witnessing manufacturing Darwinism as the world gets “flatter” (Friedman) and GM’s position as the center of (their own) universe is passing. Must I remind you of the old adage about throwing good money after bad?
This discussion about saving the US auto industry, as I alluded to earlier, is quite polarized. As many people want to save it (for many of the wrong reasons) using tax payer money (a very wrong solution) as want to see it die (for some other wrong reasons, like spite); the Michigan legislators are screaming for it (their job security) and many others (including many members of congress) are screaming against it (which has something to do with our nose in spite of our face). I am suggesting a middle ground.
I am left with three principal thoughts. Right up front, we should recognize that the model employed by Wall Street for the past several decades simply does not work. The events of the past several weeks and months have borne this out, without contradiction. Short-term, high yield greed is no way to build and maintain a robust economy. It should not be difficult for anyone to see that the net loss in earning power without reasonably equal accumulations of wealth for the traditional middle class has been both destructive and counter productive. And as far as the auto industry debate is concerned, GM, Ford, Chrysler and their minions are representatives of this failed model. Simple life support and prolongation of life as it has been is no remedy.
I must add to that a quote I read in a NYT editorial this week by Prof. Krugman. An Indian economist, Prabhat Patnaik, said that, the “free market system [demonstrates] the incapacity to distinguish between speculation and enterprise.” Put simply, greed ( unfettered speculation) is what prompts GM to have far too many “brands” (who the hell needs a Hummer, anyway?), and for Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes and Handy Andy or some other home supply company or discount outlet to have a big box store on every available scrap of land in America. As Michael Moore pointed out (again) last night on “Countdown”, if no one has a job, who will there be to buy the automobiles, shop at Wal-Mart or buy even discounted clothing? If we engaged in and invested in real growth-oriented enterprise, we would not be confronted so bluntly by this dilemma. It seems that you can buy anything at Wal-Mart except logic.
In a new blog (here comes point number three) on 12/3, Robert Reich (http://robertreich.blogspot.com) points out that while we are scrambling to “rescue” financial capital, we are ignoring and squandering human capital. I.e., while we work harder and harder to keep solvent and propagate the financial frontispieces of our economy, we are ignoring the workers and the human infrastructures that constitute the lifeblood of our culture (and perhaps even our existence).
The realities and the disappointments of the Wall Street rescue plan are becoming more obvious every day, and we surely do not need to have a repeat performance when it comes to Detroit, even if it is on a much smaller scale. But we cannot merely set the auto industry completely adrift, either. We should find a method and pathway that will rescue the untapped potentials that are lying about to be optioned nearly for the taking. But, as we learned from the Wall Street debacle, that old line about “too big to fail” is too big to swallow. And this applies equally to Detroit.
There is much crow to eaten in the near future. Sadly there is plenty go around, and the Big Three should figure that out and ditch the caviar along with their corporate jets. But unless we want to re-enact the champagne breakfasts of AIG, we had better make sure that everyone knows that rot gut red is all there is with which to drink it down.
Life Goes On In Texas
These are confusing, trying and muddled times. Several weeks ago, Henry Paulson, aka The Harbinger of Death, threatened our country (in a sniveling, poorly written two-page memo) with mayhem, cultural dissolution, financial disaster and the end of American life as we know it, if we did not consider and immediately approve, post haste, a bailout for Wall Street bankers and financiers, in the amount of $700B. The country rose up in a loud voice and said, “NO!”, the Congress backpedaled for a few days, then re-grouped and instead approved a bail-out bill for more than $850B. Weeks later, we are all still scratching our heads about exactly what happened.
Unless you have been completely isolated from the recent news reports, you know a number of events have since transpired, none of which are particularly encouraging or heartening. The office of the GAO has reported that there is virtually no oversight for how this money is being spent; there are reports that Paulson, et al, without any oversight, have doled out some $2T that is unaccounted for; AIG has used large amounts of its’ cash for parties; we have had to rescue Citibank; most of the $850B is still not apportioned; the stock market has tanked; mortgages and still foreclosing, nation wide; 401K plans are shrinking faster than anyone could imagine…the list of consequent, contingent and ongoing disasters goes on and on. This is what we might chose to call “The Big Swindle”. There is a rumor that there is a new economic team on the way, but their impact is some months off, their effectiveness is still mere speculation and we have no leadership in this tumultuous transition period between the Bush and Obama administrations (W has been hiding behind a Christmas tree in the Whitehouse, revealing his “regrets” to Charles Gibson. That is really helpful.)
But the scenario ripens with both age and the reported availability of mountains of disposable cash from the treasury. Now, as it happened, at the end of November, the CEO’s of Detroit’s Big Three (which are not as big as they used to be…or think they are) came, hat-in-hand, via private jet, to Washington to make their own plea for survival funding. They brought with them a myriad of problems, conundrums, contradictions and perplexing issues. What they did not bring was any humility.
Their lavish method of travel notwithstanding, these three titans of industry also appeared with their hand out, pleading poverty, with a silk top hat in which to collect the funds and wearing silk suits. In a manner nearly as obscene as the one Paulson used in demanding funds for the original $700B, they had no plan for what they would do with the money, other than to keep on “doing what they have always been doing”. In the only smart move any congressional body has made in at least a decade, the auto industry moguls were sent home. They were told to come back when they had a plan, a strategy and some vision of the future which had any shred of credibility. Recently some plans have been leaked, including the bald-faced insult that they will all forego their annual multi-million dollar salaries (maybe) if their companies get government money, that they will all travel by hybrid vehicle this time and they have considered the future (at least a little) in their plans for use of the funding (Ford has actually promised a very small percentage increase in their CAFÉ standards within five years. Wow.).
There remain some glitches in the procedure. First of all, on this return trip, the “guys” have had time to think up reasons to increase the originally proposed bail-out/loan/bridge loan/grant/funding proposal from $25B to $34B. While Ford says it would only like their share to be in the form of a $9B line of credit (to be used should one of the other two fail, which is a fall-back position no one understands), Chrysler just simply says that it needs the money to survive and GM promises that this money (they want $18B) will ensure plant closures and the layoffs of up to 30,000 workers over the next few years. On top of this, GM has suddenly announced that with out at least $4B before the end of the year, they will collapse completely. Somehow, I find it very difficult to believe that the army of bean counters at GM did not have any clue that this collapse might take place before it became clear that the Feds were loosely throwing money around. These guys from Detroit must really believe that we are as stupid as we look. After how we responded to Paulson, we must look pretty stupid.
At any rate, the polarizing discussion swirling about for the last two weeks or so has been something like Hamlet’s dilemma, with each side asking the other, “To bail-out or not to bail out?” You can (and probably have) read stories in Newsweek, MSNBC.com, the MSM, in blogs and on numerous web sites, either vehemently urging the demise of these dinosaurs (and how they got to be and stay alive), as well as those wailing about the millions of sub-contract and supplier tier jobs that will be lost if the Big Three go Big Belly Up. (Michael Moore, whether you like him or not, did a nice job of summing it all up last night on “Countdown”, with Keith Olbermann, on MSNBC-TV; you can watch it on your computer). But we may be missing the boat, here.
Whilst everyone has been looking the other way, hoping for gas prices to go down, buying more and more goods produced in China and ignoring the 800 pound reality gorilla in the room, everyone has also known (but wouldn’t admit) that Detroit can not seem to build cars that anyone wants, its’ cost structures were non-competitive, it had little R&D in the pipeline for needed future transportation technologies, had too many brands and had made too much money for the last 60 years without planning effectively for old age. They just seem to have woken up and started wondering where their 401K had gone.
My name is not Krugman or Reich or Friedman or Keynes, but it occurs to me that the boat we might catch might look something like this:
To begin with, if everything I have read is true, last year the government approved a $25B grant for the auto industry to work on new electric and hybrid auto technologies. It is my understanding that Japan has made the same effort for their auto industry. This would push ahead some competitiveness and forestall complete disaster in the industry, here. WE SHOULD GIVE IT TO THEM, NOW. But there should be accountability strings attached, and progress reports. We deserve to know how they are spending our money. If it is mal-appropriated, it should be returned.
Secondly, and with as many strings attached, we should pull another $25B out of the sum already allocated (since Paulson has no real plans for spending it anyway) and set it up in an interest bearing account. The Bogus Three can draw upon it as a line of credit, as needed, to keep things afloat and weather the current storm, as best they can.And this money should be put into a repayment schedule, to begin in 18-24 months. We should also recognize that this will only limit layoffs and lowered productions, not stop them. The general state of the economy right now indicates that very few people will be out buying new cars in any record numbers, any time soon.
A third bold move would be to change the name of the UAW to the United Manufacturing Workers (the UMW) and get them to join in the re-training (help provide funding) of their members to build, assemble and manufacture other and more diverse goods. For instance: The hot ticket everywhere these days seems to be wide-screen HD, digital televisions sets. I cannot help but believe that with the creativity and resourcefulness of Motorola, GE, Hitachi, Panasonic, and Sony (to name just a few) with deep roots and pockets in the US, we could not manage to assemble those TV’s in this country. In fact, we could even think about using our vast resources to supply the raw materials. It might push a few low-end Korean manufacturers out of the spotlight, but there would be some immediate consequences and benefits to our economy and employment statistics. Look at it this way:
An auto assembly line worker making $26.00/hr. is currently an endangered species (that $70/hr worker is a myth). Were he/she to be re-trained to assemble/manufacture the thousands of HD TV sets that are in such huge demand, they might only make $16/hr., but they would not be out of work and in danger of losing their home. The money would run back through the economy and eventually the new “hybrid” vehicles that Detroit would be selling by then could be a much needed purchase by the people who would now have the money (from jobs) to pay for them.
The Obama administration is (already) talking about (finally) paying attention to rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. We will need more skilled workers to rebuild electrical transmission lines, gas lines, bridges, tunnels, roadways and sewer and transportation systems. We will need to build windmills and water transmission routes. We will need communications workers, more draftspeople, more environmental researchers and more teachers. And all of that means that we need more earth moving machines (Caterpillar can’t build them all, and Komatsu shouldn’t), dump trucks (hello, General Motors: nobody needs a Cadillac), surveying gear, cranes, steel production, rebar and electronic measuring devices. There is no reason that all of this cannot be manufactured and produced in the United States. There is no reason the 30-50,000 auto workers, whose jobs are at risk cannot be trained to do these jobs and save their homes and send their children to college. And we should not forget that we may a nearly endless supply of empty, under or un-utilized manufacturing facilities which could be pressed into service, in very short order. And the nations’ governors just m et with the President elect, and they told him that their states were literally days, weeks and months way from being able to put “shovels in the ground” for rebuilding projects.
But we will need to face some tough realities (you thought I forgot about the crow by now, didn’t you?). Initially, we need to put a harness on greed and the seemingly insatiable appetite Wall Street has for instant profits and shareholder “overnight” wealth. That may never happen in America again. The Dellionaire/Microsoft phenomenon may never occur again, ever. Secondly, that US –made TV set may cost 5-10% more than the one we used to buy at Circuit City from Indonesia…but the worker will have the money to pay for it. And Circuit City will not make the retail profit it used to, but it will still be in business as a retailer. Wal-Mart may have a problem if they cannot buy everything from China. Sorry.
GM may eventually have to file for bankruptcy and restructure, despite the federal aid dollars. That would not be the end of the world. Too much has been written recently about what will happen: other companies will move in to the vacuums created and address the new needs: the small company that paints plastic bumpers for GM can move on to paint plastic parts for TV’s from Motorola. It will take some time, but Rome was not built in a day (and the US will not go away in one, either). Ford will most likely soldier on or at least plans to. Chrysler is a lame duck on life support. When Daimler Benz gave up on it, and Cerebrus bought it, their clear intention was to either make a go of it or write it off. It was their risk, they took it, and they lost. The tax payer should no more be held accountable or responsible for that gamble than they would be if Proctor and Gamble gambled on a new laundry detergent and failed. The only difference is in the scale of the economies involved.
Mary Ann Keller, a noted automotive journalist, has been saying for years, that there would eventually only be two or three automobile companies in the world. Every day it becomes clearer that one of those will be Toyota (or some Japanese conglomerate with Toyota at the center). We are witnessing manufacturing Darwinism as the world gets “flatter” (Friedman) and GM’s position as the center of (their own) universe is passing. Must I remind you of the old adage about throwing good money after bad?
This discussion about saving the US auto industry, as I alluded to earlier, is quite polarized. As many people want to save it (for many of the wrong reasons) using tax payer money (a very wrong solution) as want to see it die (for some other wrong reasons, like spite); the Michigan legislators are screaming for it (their job security) and many others (including many members of congress) are screaming against it (which has something to do with our nose in spite of our face). I am suggesting a middle ground.
I am left with three principal thoughts. Right up front, we should recognize that the model employed by Wall Street for the past several decades simply does not work. The events of the past several weeks and months have borne this out, without contradiction. Short-term, high yield greed is no way to build and maintain a robust economy. It should not be difficult for anyone to see that the net loss in earning power without reasonably equal accumulations of wealth for the traditional middle class has been both destructive and counter productive. And as far as the auto industry debate is concerned, GM, Ford, Chrysler and their minions are representatives of this failed model. Simple life support and prolongation of life as it has been is no remedy.
I must add to that a quote I read in a NYT editorial this week by Prof. Krugman. An Indian economist, Prabhat Patnaik, said that, the “free market system [demonstrates] the incapacity to distinguish between speculation and enterprise.” Put simply, greed ( unfettered speculation) is what prompts GM to have far too many “brands” (who the hell needs a Hummer, anyway?), and for Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes and Handy Andy or some other home supply company or discount outlet to have a big box store on every available scrap of land in America. As Michael Moore pointed out (again) last night on “Countdown”, if no one has a job, who will there be to buy the automobiles, shop at Wal-Mart or buy even discounted clothing? If we engaged in and invested in real growth-oriented enterprise, we would not be confronted so bluntly by this dilemma. It seems that you can buy anything at Wal-Mart except logic.
In a new blog (here comes point number three) on 12/3, Robert Reich (http://robertreich.blogspot.com) points out that while we are scrambling to “rescue” financial capital, we are ignoring and squandering human capital. I.e., while we work harder and harder to keep solvent and propagate the financial frontispieces of our economy, we are ignoring the workers and the human infrastructures that constitute the lifeblood of our culture (and perhaps even our existence).
The realities and the disappointments of the Wall Street rescue plan are becoming more obvious every day, and we surely do not need to have a repeat performance when it comes to Detroit, even if it is on a much smaller scale. But we cannot merely set the auto industry completely adrift, either. We should find a method and pathway that will rescue the untapped potentials that are lying about to be optioned nearly for the taking. But, as we learned from the Wall Street debacle, that old line about “too big to fail” is too big to swallow. And this applies equally to Detroit.
There is much crow to eaten in the near future. Sadly there is plenty go around, and the Big Three should figure that out and ditch the caviar along with their corporate jets. But unless we want to re-enact the champagne breakfasts of AIG, we had better make sure that everyone knows that rot gut red is all there is with which to drink it down.
Life Goes On In Texas
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Holiday Cheer
A day or so ago, I met with my friend Ron, for coffee. I made an observation about Americans and traditions and he, of course, challenged my reasoning. Well, I thought about it.
Good Sir:
Not being one to let sleeping dogs fart in the their sleep and get away with it, I drug out Webster's and looked up "tradition". This is, of course, per our talk about my earlier observation that many Americans mistake (oftentimes) habits (or habitual behavior) for tradition. (Habit, by the way, comes from habere, meaning to have or hold...as in clutch, hold on to, maintain). Tradition, however, comes from the Latin, tradere, to hand down, or to surrender (hand over). It would seem to imply that whatever is being handed down is also being entrusted, (to later be handed down another day) and that whatever it is, it must (or should) have some value attached to it or intrinsic in it. I do not (pardon the use of ther word, here) traditionally and automatically attach intrinsic value to routine habit. Most of what we "hand down" in this country are court decisions or matters of red necked bigotry, and their value is frequently in question. ( and I know, before you say it, that both are frequently simply the unexamined transference of ignorance). For me, the only item ever truly "handed down" or "surrendered" to me was my wretched first name, which came from my grandmother's first boyfriend, whom she regretted not marrying soon after she married my drunken grandfather. I think curses may also be traditional. I also have my birth certificate, but it is currently under review by the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Be all that as it may (or might be...or might not be...I smell an argument coming), I suppose my remark/observation is based upon the fact that having a holiday party simply to have one (because we always have had one, and not to "celebrate", as in rejoice, remember, commemorate, observe with reverence; or routinely giving a gift (especially if it is a new gift, and not, say a hand-me-down) probably does not constitute a "handing down" or a "surrender" of anything that has a particular value, either intrinsic or manufactured for the occasion. And if these actions are done repetitively and most probably without pre-meditation, and as a matter of course (because "we've always done it this way" ), the repetitive act is merely a "habit" (something we hold on to without thought) and not a "tradition", as described above. This could be held to mean that in many instances, we attempt to have our cake and eat it, too, while not surrendering any of it. Sadly, for many, habits can be addictive and may cause tunnel-vision, thereby limiting perspective and personal growth. In other words, we choke on our cake.
And habits can be hard to break (un-have, no longer wear, as in "I will have nun of it") because any such occasion requires us to take a fresh look at any situation at hand and then muster the raw courage (gumption?) to actually DO something differently (or perhaps not at all). Which is the reason why (in great likelihood) insitutional resistance to change is so great, because th"we never did it that way before" (bald-faced lying seems to be a tradition among our politicians and there is sadly little value there, either. I suppose that means it is merely a habit?Or addictive?). This also helps to further understand the definition of insanity, wherein we "keep doing the same old things we've always been doing and expect to get different results."
In conclusion, let me say that this is the essential reasoning behind my cause celebre to say "Bah Humbug" at this time of year and to hypothesize that you are now wishing to hell you had never asked me to clarify this over a freaking cup of coffee. Merry Christmas. Have a piece of cake.
Good Sir:
Not being one to let sleeping dogs fart in the their sleep and get away with it, I drug out Webster's and looked up "tradition". This is, of course, per our talk about my earlier observation that many Americans mistake (oftentimes) habits (or habitual behavior) for tradition. (Habit, by the way, comes from habere, meaning to have or hold...as in clutch, hold on to, maintain). Tradition, however, comes from the Latin, tradere, to hand down, or to surrender (hand over). It would seem to imply that whatever is being handed down is also being entrusted, (to later be handed down another day) and that whatever it is, it must (or should) have some value attached to it or intrinsic in it. I do not (pardon the use of ther word, here) traditionally and automatically attach intrinsic value to routine habit. Most of what we "hand down" in this country are court decisions or matters of red necked bigotry, and their value is frequently in question. ( and I know, before you say it, that both are frequently simply the unexamined transference of ignorance). For me, the only item ever truly "handed down" or "surrendered" to me was my wretched first name, which came from my grandmother's first boyfriend, whom she regretted not marrying soon after she married my drunken grandfather. I think curses may also be traditional. I also have my birth certificate, but it is currently under review by the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Be all that as it may (or might be...or might not be...I smell an argument coming), I suppose my remark/observation is based upon the fact that having a holiday party simply to have one (because we always have had one, and not to "celebrate", as in rejoice, remember, commemorate, observe with reverence; or routinely giving a gift (especially if it is a new gift, and not, say a hand-me-down) probably does not constitute a "handing down" or a "surrender" of anything that has a particular value, either intrinsic or manufactured for the occasion. And if these actions are done repetitively and most probably without pre-meditation, and as a matter of course (because "we've always done it this way" ), the repetitive act is merely a "habit" (something we hold on to without thought) and not a "tradition", as described above. This could be held to mean that in many instances, we attempt to have our cake and eat it, too, while not surrendering any of it. Sadly, for many, habits can be addictive and may cause tunnel-vision, thereby limiting perspective and personal growth. In other words, we choke on our cake.
And habits can be hard to break (un-have, no longer wear, as in "I will have nun of it") because any such occasion requires us to take a fresh look at any situation at hand and then muster the raw courage (gumption?) to actually DO something differently (or perhaps not at all). Which is the reason why (in great likelihood) insitutional resistance to change is so great, because th"we never did it that way before" (bald-faced lying seems to be a tradition among our politicians and there is sadly little value there, either. I suppose that means it is merely a habit?Or addictive?). This also helps to further understand the definition of insanity, wherein we "keep doing the same old things we've always been doing and expect to get different results."
In conclusion, let me say that this is the essential reasoning behind my cause celebre to say "Bah Humbug" at this time of year and to hypothesize that you are now wishing to hell you had never asked me to clarify this over a freaking cup of coffee. Merry Christmas. Have a piece of cake.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Hope and Change, Change and Hope
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/24/change_is_coming_to_fema.html
This article showed up in the Washington Post Politics Daily section of this morning’s emails. Those of you who know anything about me know that:
When W rolled FEMA into DHS, I went ballistic. I said then that it was a terrific way to neuter a needed agency, and I was proven right.Everything that came from it afterwards, was stillborn.
When Katrina hit, and New Orleans was lost, then the government denied there was problem and CNN was broadcasting pictures of refugees at the stadium in the rain, I knew that affairs had gone completely sour.
When it was reported that “Brownie” was out looking for new shirts, at a department store many miles form the scene of the disaster, my stomach churned.
When some days later, W told “Brownie” he was doing “a heckuva job”, I vomited.
When Brownie got shit-canned, I stood up and cheered and told everyone that I just wanted a shot at that job for a month or so. (I probably would have shot by a Bushie Brown Shirt brigade, but I really didn’t care; my sensibilities were enraged).
Now the word on the Obama street (see the article) is that change is on the way for FEMA. Hip Hip Hooray! Hope! Change! Change! Hope!
But then one reads on. The rumor is that James Witt, another Clintonista and Arkansas crony, will be brought in to reprise his clean-up act. And he will bring along Mark Merrit to help and then succeed him. If anything in the report about Witt’s activities after he left FEMA is true, then we should be wary. He obviously learned enough about the slovenly government relief processes during his tenure to profit enormously from them, afterward. And he has a skillful and learned protégé’. Again, if at all true, he has been ably aided and abetted by the likes of state governors and their successors (Would trust Bobbie Jindal with YOUR wife?). Let’s just hold the cheering and applause for a bit, shall we?
Alongside this disclosure came the announcement, by the Fed (and broadcast widely in the Mostly Silly Media), that several billion more dollars were suddenly being released into the consumer marketplace to promote consumer spending (Christmas gifts?), finance new automobiles (which are largely over-priced and fuel-inefficient) and (finally) to do something about the gazillion dollars a risk in current home mortgage foreclsures around the country (which should have been done long ago).
Hank Paulson, appearing gaunt, haggard and frightened as ever, held a another press conference, looking like a cornered dog who has been caught stealing the Thanksgiving turkey off of the dining room table, and blurted, stumbled and gasped his way through a series of nearly incoherent explanations..and now we wait to see if Wall Street will jump for joy or jump off the ledge of the highest building.
The first pundit and media reactions were that this economic move did not ever require the draconian predictions laid out two months ago, about those predicted massive defaults and martial law, and it would seem that the Fed, W, Paulson and the rest are merely grandstanding for the holidays. But it seems to me to be a sack of large coal lumps being left at the front door of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
There is certainly hope for change in the air, but these announcements make me wonder if we should change our hopes, just a little bit, until we know exactly what the future portends. I would really like to get into the holiday spirit, instead of just being dispirited.
Life goes on in Texas.
This article showed up in the Washington Post Politics Daily section of this morning’s emails. Those of you who know anything about me know that:
When W rolled FEMA into DHS, I went ballistic. I said then that it was a terrific way to neuter a needed agency, and I was proven right.Everything that came from it afterwards, was stillborn.
When Katrina hit, and New Orleans was lost, then the government denied there was problem and CNN was broadcasting pictures of refugees at the stadium in the rain, I knew that affairs had gone completely sour.
When it was reported that “Brownie” was out looking for new shirts, at a department store many miles form the scene of the disaster, my stomach churned.
When some days later, W told “Brownie” he was doing “a heckuva job”, I vomited.
When Brownie got shit-canned, I stood up and cheered and told everyone that I just wanted a shot at that job for a month or so. (I probably would have shot by a Bushie Brown Shirt brigade, but I really didn’t care; my sensibilities were enraged).
Now the word on the Obama street (see the article) is that change is on the way for FEMA. Hip Hip Hooray! Hope! Change! Change! Hope!
But then one reads on. The rumor is that James Witt, another Clintonista and Arkansas crony, will be brought in to reprise his clean-up act. And he will bring along Mark Merrit to help and then succeed him. If anything in the report about Witt’s activities after he left FEMA is true, then we should be wary. He obviously learned enough about the slovenly government relief processes during his tenure to profit enormously from them, afterward. And he has a skillful and learned protégé’. Again, if at all true, he has been ably aided and abetted by the likes of state governors and their successors (Would trust Bobbie Jindal with YOUR wife?). Let’s just hold the cheering and applause for a bit, shall we?
Alongside this disclosure came the announcement, by the Fed (and broadcast widely in the Mostly Silly Media), that several billion more dollars were suddenly being released into the consumer marketplace to promote consumer spending (Christmas gifts?), finance new automobiles (which are largely over-priced and fuel-inefficient) and (finally) to do something about the gazillion dollars a risk in current home mortgage foreclsures around the country (which should have been done long ago).
Hank Paulson, appearing gaunt, haggard and frightened as ever, held a another press conference, looking like a cornered dog who has been caught stealing the Thanksgiving turkey off of the dining room table, and blurted, stumbled and gasped his way through a series of nearly incoherent explanations..and now we wait to see if Wall Street will jump for joy or jump off the ledge of the highest building.
The first pundit and media reactions were that this economic move did not ever require the draconian predictions laid out two months ago, about those predicted massive defaults and martial law, and it would seem that the Fed, W, Paulson and the rest are merely grandstanding for the holidays. But it seems to me to be a sack of large coal lumps being left at the front door of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
There is certainly hope for change in the air, but these announcements make me wonder if we should change our hopes, just a little bit, until we know exactly what the future portends. I would really like to get into the holiday spirit, instead of just being dispirited.
Life goes on in Texas.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Time For a MashUp
This is what ThinkProgess.org calls it when they glom together several relevant pieces of info and/or video about one subject, and put it into a coherent feature. It is usually about an event or happening that they think should be given special notice by people like me, who read that stuff. In no particular order, here, then, is my mashed up “Week In Review” (with apologies to the NYT):
I found an article by Yglesius, I think, (ThinkProgress) this week about the tens of tens of BILLIONS of dollars the US spends every year on sophisticated aircraft for warmaking. Grumman, Boeing, GE, IBM and Northrup, to name a few, receive so much money to build, outfit, maintain and re-supply fighter jets and bombers, that it constitutes a disproportionally huge share of the national budget. I am wondering why? As “Fred on Everything” pointed out this week, these hot-shot, missile carrying, infra-red equipped weapons of mass destruction cannot hit much of anything, in particular. Despite multi-million dollar guidance systems, they mostly blow up innocent Iraqi, Turkish and Pakistani civilians. If they are lucky, their Top Guns only destroy two or three jubilant wedding parties as they vainly attempt to assassinate a miscellaneous belt-bomb carrying insurgent hiding in a mud flat, somewhere in the hills of Afghanistan. The spending of these billions goes almost completely unnoticed when we have no reasonable plan of action for health care in this country (more on that in a minute), mortgage foreclosures are rampant, AIG execs are playing in hot tubs and we are debating whether or not to allocate (what now appears to be) a paltry $25B to slow down the inevitable demise of another industrial behemoth, the Detroit Big Three. (I think a Hummer is a Grumman product, but I am not sure. I am certain it has gasoline-seeking radar capabilities).
The USSR (remember those guys?)used to spend far more on its’ military buildup than it did anything else, and we all railed against that as a “false economy” and hideous communism. Now we appear to be doing the same thing and no one notices. Worse, by our oversight and ignorance, we are condoning it. And we wonder why the economy is in such bad shape? We spend nothing (to speak of) on infrastructure and the basic well being of our citizens. We spend pittances on education and millions on salaries and fringe benefits for members of congress who work part-time and do mostly nothing. And then there is the auto industry and that dust-up: it is another example of an artificial economy and another one of our dinosaurs which is rumored to be “too big to fail”. Why not try this approach: Give those guys the $25B already allocated by the Dept. Of Energy to go green, but do it with lots of strings attached ( and don’t BS me about requiring the sell-off of two of five corporate jets.) Cut out those ridiculous exec salaries and stipends for board members, hire some bright, innovative and productive contributors and get on with what should have been done 30 years ago. (Jimmy Carter, are you out there?) Then LOAN the Big Dolts another $25B out of that pot we already have approved (Only 8% of the total?) with therepayments to begin back to the treasury in 18 months, with interest, when the immediate crunch is over. Or sell the whole mess to Toyota and take your lumps.
I keep sending out columns by Nobel winner Krugman ( a voice in the wilderness) and everyone should add http://robertreich.blogspot.com to their favorites. I think these two guys are the only ones (maybe) who know what is going on (maybe), why it is the way it is and what the hell to do about it, in order to keep the sky from falling. Hank Paulson is Chicken Little and we have heard enough if his chicken shit. I would laugh hysterically at his antics if I were not sobbing so uncontrollably.
Health care: It is very curious that the Obama team has announced cabinet positions in many areas (I’m getting to all that) EXCEPT HHS, which would include health care. During one of the presidential debates, Brokaw asked Obama and McCain about health care. He said that for some in the US, it was seen as a priviledge, some people thought it should be a right, and whose responsibility was it, anyway? Both of the candidates punted. They both had the chance to drive right through that huge opening, and the both drove around the mountain. More chicken shit. They both had the chance to say this: Health care in the US should NOT BE a priviledge. health care in the US SHOULD BE a right of every citizen ,and, as the richest and most creative country in the world (or should be), Health Care in the US, for every citizen, should be our complete responsibility. Neither one said that, it would have answered the question emphatically and clearly and we could be having those discussions right now. So far, however, health care is still the big bad wolf, just outside the kitchen door and nobody wants to open it. The longer we a wait, the worse the situation will become. But we chat endlessly with the know-nothing CEO’s who flog the auto industry and we build more F-18 fighter jets. Brilliant. Defamatory. Incriminating. Embarrassing.Our priorities are not, well, priorities
At an election night party, standing around in someone else’s kitchen, Keith Bell (a friend of a friend and a world champion swimmer and senior citizen) said to me: “Health Care should not be a commodity”. Think about THAT ONE, for a minute.
Senate seats in Congress: The Dems are both livid and wild ( and laviciously greedy)about having 60 of them so they can bullet-proof any legislation they want and ride rough-shod over and through the decisions of the past like a bulldozer over a bunch of Tonka toys in the sandbox. The post-election brouhaha over the seats in MN, GA, and AK (and the continued pleas for money to ensure democratic wins) is nauseating. Two more seats will not spoil or ruin the party’s party. Without them there will be no tension and probably no creativity in the legislative process. Things could be worse: you could (for stupid and molly-coddle reasons) welcome Lieberman back into the fold after he stabbed you in the back. You could give Ted Stevens a standing ovation as he leaves the floor after becoming a convicted felon. And you could largely ignore the fact that Ted Kennedy came back to work with a brain tumor. At least none of the nitwits brought a bill up to the vote about what sort of new dog might be allowed in the White House. At least not yet.
And right now the Congress is flagrantly displaying its’ back side: This past week, when the economy was shredding itself, the holidays are here and no one has money to spend (or knows whether they will have a job next week) and Sarah Palin is hosting a telecast of the beheading of a turkey, the Congress voted not to take any significant action on anything of any importance until after they come back into session after this break. HOWEVER, they did manage to hold elections for leadership posts for the next congress, before the next congress even convenes. Would someone please tell me why the old congress is selecting the leadership for the new congress????? As usual, our gallant elected officials are making grandiose plans for time off, plans for what they will do later to plan for doing later, and spending no time doing anything right now, when everything needs most to be done, YESTERDAY. Turd Blossom may have moved on to Fox Noise, but he has apparently left behind plenty of seeds of malfeasance, sloth, self-aggrandizement and the pomposity of the infatuation of power. And having failed at everything political, Fred Thompson is returning to acting.Wait a minute: returning?
MEANWHILE, ThinkProgess also reports that the Bush administration is in a “sprint toward the finish line”, moving rapidly backard, to dismantle, cripple or undo legislation vital to the environment. Then, in order to add insult to injury, the administration has been busy “burrowing” politically appointed officials(Dana "The Twit" Perino has said that the new administration should be glad to have these "experienced" people?) into permanent government jobs they cannot be ousted from later, further polluting the waters and progress for years and months to come. (Remember when the Clinton administration glued down the keys on White House west wing keyboards before Bushies took office? We are not dealing with adults, here. ) And there is a terrible irony and sadness which pervades the entire notion that the one man who was elected to provide dignified leadership and vision for our country has turned out to be the ultimate saboteur. And let the pardons begin.
Richardson for Secretary of Commerce. A good choice and an apt reward for someone who stood up the Clinton’s and had Obama’s back from day one. He is a good man and I am much more comfortable knowing that he can read the clauses and terms of the NAFTA and proposed Columbian trade deals in their native languages.
Napolitano for DHS. She has street cred and a rep for getting things done. She (like Richardson) has a good grasp on the border immigration issues. Although there are many who wonder about how she will handle terrorist problems, I will sleep better at night, knowing that she will, in all likelihood, prevent insurgent Italian immigrants from blowing up the NYC subway system. If we are really lucky, she will flush away most of FEMA and resist the urge to rehire anyone who has done a “heckuva job”.
Geithner for the Treasury: OMG! He is white, of teutonic ancestry, intellectual, educated, unbiased and not from Wall Street. If you place his photo next to Paulson’s, you immediately see the clear contrast between what you get when you position the age of the 21rst century next to the Jurrasic one. Kind of like Einstein next to T-Rex.
Hillary for Secretary of State. Duh. Like we didn’t see that one coming. She has managed NOT to scratch out anyone’s eyes lately, can most likely keep Sarkozy’s wife at bay, can probably dance with the Iranians better than Condi Nasty, keep Berlusconi’s hands off her ass and bring some grace., elegance, determinedness and required female bitchiness back to the office. She will be sort of the anti-Kissenger. But if Obama pays off her campaign bills, I will be really pissed. What the catter might play at while the cat is away is anyone’s guess, but it is worth the risk.
Rachel Maddow: Her show just gets better every day, and I have been very curious to watch her navigate the recently troubled waters of gay rights, Prop 8 and so on. This week, this happened:
Update: When contacted by ThinkProgress, Rachel Maddow explained her reasons for avoiding the subject of gay rights with Huckabee:
I weighed whether or not to ask him about his anti-gay views, but I really don't care about them very much. Huckabee is a doctrinaire anti-gay theocratic social conservative whose views are well-known and heartfelt. I also probably wouldn't bother asking Sarah Palin about her anti-gay views if I had the opportunity to interview her -- it's just not the most interesting or newsworthy (or ridiculous) thing about either of them.
AlterNet reported this after ThinkProgess snared it. As usual, Rachel took the most logical action at the most opportune time and chose not to play in the in mud, but rather to stick with what really mattered and was not so “ridiculous”, so as not to waste our time. Then on the program on 11/21, she featured a story about the sale of stuffed “patriotic” RNC elephants as Christmas presents. The accompanying press release said that all proceeds from the sales would go to fight “left-wing Democratic legislative attempts in Congress”. She demurred that this was certainly in the spirit of Christmas. Bravo Rachel.
Lefties in blogosphere, dismayed progressives and label/name calling: There appear to be a ton of hot-under-the-collar far left wing bloggers who are yelling about being betrayed by Obama for even looking at former officials and dignitaries for posts in the new administration. Shut up! You are like Congressional democrats, crying over a seat or two when there are better things to worry about. You cannot have your cake and eat it, too. You have a new President whose presence portends a better world. There is also a debate about either dissolving the notion of progressives altogether, post election, or merely changing their names to “liberal”. Y’all worry far too much about names and labels. Just sign the (right) damn (left)petitions, make your voices heard where it counts, vote out slime balls and stop worrying about what you called yourself. Just act with integrity, honor and dignity and stop writing meaningless rants to OpEdNews: nobody reads that anymore anyway, and if you have something we all need to hear, there are better forums.
Life goes on in Texas.
I found an article by Yglesius, I think, (ThinkProgress) this week about the tens of tens of BILLIONS of dollars the US spends every year on sophisticated aircraft for warmaking. Grumman, Boeing, GE, IBM and Northrup, to name a few, receive so much money to build, outfit, maintain and re-supply fighter jets and bombers, that it constitutes a disproportionally huge share of the national budget. I am wondering why? As “Fred on Everything” pointed out this week, these hot-shot, missile carrying, infra-red equipped weapons of mass destruction cannot hit much of anything, in particular. Despite multi-million dollar guidance systems, they mostly blow up innocent Iraqi, Turkish and Pakistani civilians. If they are lucky, their Top Guns only destroy two or three jubilant wedding parties as they vainly attempt to assassinate a miscellaneous belt-bomb carrying insurgent hiding in a mud flat, somewhere in the hills of Afghanistan. The spending of these billions goes almost completely unnoticed when we have no reasonable plan of action for health care in this country (more on that in a minute), mortgage foreclosures are rampant, AIG execs are playing in hot tubs and we are debating whether or not to allocate (what now appears to be) a paltry $25B to slow down the inevitable demise of another industrial behemoth, the Detroit Big Three. (I think a Hummer is a Grumman product, but I am not sure. I am certain it has gasoline-seeking radar capabilities).
The USSR (remember those guys?)used to spend far more on its’ military buildup than it did anything else, and we all railed against that as a “false economy” and hideous communism. Now we appear to be doing the same thing and no one notices. Worse, by our oversight and ignorance, we are condoning it. And we wonder why the economy is in such bad shape? We spend nothing (to speak of) on infrastructure and the basic well being of our citizens. We spend pittances on education and millions on salaries and fringe benefits for members of congress who work part-time and do mostly nothing. And then there is the auto industry and that dust-up: it is another example of an artificial economy and another one of our dinosaurs which is rumored to be “too big to fail”. Why not try this approach: Give those guys the $25B already allocated by the Dept. Of Energy to go green, but do it with lots of strings attached ( and don’t BS me about requiring the sell-off of two of five corporate jets.) Cut out those ridiculous exec salaries and stipends for board members, hire some bright, innovative and productive contributors and get on with what should have been done 30 years ago. (Jimmy Carter, are you out there?) Then LOAN the Big Dolts another $25B out of that pot we already have approved (Only 8% of the total?) with therepayments to begin back to the treasury in 18 months, with interest, when the immediate crunch is over. Or sell the whole mess to Toyota and take your lumps.
I keep sending out columns by Nobel winner Krugman ( a voice in the wilderness) and everyone should add http://robertreich.blogspot.com to their favorites. I think these two guys are the only ones (maybe) who know what is going on (maybe), why it is the way it is and what the hell to do about it, in order to keep the sky from falling. Hank Paulson is Chicken Little and we have heard enough if his chicken shit. I would laugh hysterically at his antics if I were not sobbing so uncontrollably.
Health care: It is very curious that the Obama team has announced cabinet positions in many areas (I’m getting to all that) EXCEPT HHS, which would include health care. During one of the presidential debates, Brokaw asked Obama and McCain about health care. He said that for some in the US, it was seen as a priviledge, some people thought it should be a right, and whose responsibility was it, anyway? Both of the candidates punted. They both had the chance to drive right through that huge opening, and the both drove around the mountain. More chicken shit. They both had the chance to say this: Health care in the US should NOT BE a priviledge. health care in the US SHOULD BE a right of every citizen ,and, as the richest and most creative country in the world (or should be), Health Care in the US, for every citizen, should be our complete responsibility. Neither one said that, it would have answered the question emphatically and clearly and we could be having those discussions right now. So far, however, health care is still the big bad wolf, just outside the kitchen door and nobody wants to open it. The longer we a wait, the worse the situation will become. But we chat endlessly with the know-nothing CEO’s who flog the auto industry and we build more F-18 fighter jets. Brilliant. Defamatory. Incriminating. Embarrassing.Our priorities are not, well, priorities
At an election night party, standing around in someone else’s kitchen, Keith Bell (a friend of a friend and a world champion swimmer and senior citizen) said to me: “Health Care should not be a commodity”. Think about THAT ONE, for a minute.
Senate seats in Congress: The Dems are both livid and wild ( and laviciously greedy)about having 60 of them so they can bullet-proof any legislation they want and ride rough-shod over and through the decisions of the past like a bulldozer over a bunch of Tonka toys in the sandbox. The post-election brouhaha over the seats in MN, GA, and AK (and the continued pleas for money to ensure democratic wins) is nauseating. Two more seats will not spoil or ruin the party’s party. Without them there will be no tension and probably no creativity in the legislative process. Things could be worse: you could (for stupid and molly-coddle reasons) welcome Lieberman back into the fold after he stabbed you in the back. You could give Ted Stevens a standing ovation as he leaves the floor after becoming a convicted felon. And you could largely ignore the fact that Ted Kennedy came back to work with a brain tumor. At least none of the nitwits brought a bill up to the vote about what sort of new dog might be allowed in the White House. At least not yet.
And right now the Congress is flagrantly displaying its’ back side: This past week, when the economy was shredding itself, the holidays are here and no one has money to spend (or knows whether they will have a job next week) and Sarah Palin is hosting a telecast of the beheading of a turkey, the Congress voted not to take any significant action on anything of any importance until after they come back into session after this break. HOWEVER, they did manage to hold elections for leadership posts for the next congress, before the next congress even convenes. Would someone please tell me why the old congress is selecting the leadership for the new congress????? As usual, our gallant elected officials are making grandiose plans for time off, plans for what they will do later to plan for doing later, and spending no time doing anything right now, when everything needs most to be done, YESTERDAY. Turd Blossom may have moved on to Fox Noise, but he has apparently left behind plenty of seeds of malfeasance, sloth, self-aggrandizement and the pomposity of the infatuation of power. And having failed at everything political, Fred Thompson is returning to acting.Wait a minute: returning?
MEANWHILE, ThinkProgess also reports that the Bush administration is in a “sprint toward the finish line”, moving rapidly backard, to dismantle, cripple or undo legislation vital to the environment. Then, in order to add insult to injury, the administration has been busy “burrowing” politically appointed officials(Dana "The Twit" Perino has said that the new administration should be glad to have these "experienced" people?) into permanent government jobs they cannot be ousted from later, further polluting the waters and progress for years and months to come. (Remember when the Clinton administration glued down the keys on White House west wing keyboards before Bushies took office? We are not dealing with adults, here. ) And there is a terrible irony and sadness which pervades the entire notion that the one man who was elected to provide dignified leadership and vision for our country has turned out to be the ultimate saboteur. And let the pardons begin.
Richardson for Secretary of Commerce. A good choice and an apt reward for someone who stood up the Clinton’s and had Obama’s back from day one. He is a good man and I am much more comfortable knowing that he can read the clauses and terms of the NAFTA and proposed Columbian trade deals in their native languages.
Napolitano for DHS. She has street cred and a rep for getting things done. She (like Richardson) has a good grasp on the border immigration issues. Although there are many who wonder about how she will handle terrorist problems, I will sleep better at night, knowing that she will, in all likelihood, prevent insurgent Italian immigrants from blowing up the NYC subway system. If we are really lucky, she will flush away most of FEMA and resist the urge to rehire anyone who has done a “heckuva job”.
Geithner for the Treasury: OMG! He is white, of teutonic ancestry, intellectual, educated, unbiased and not from Wall Street. If you place his photo next to Paulson’s, you immediately see the clear contrast between what you get when you position the age of the 21rst century next to the Jurrasic one. Kind of like Einstein next to T-Rex.
Hillary for Secretary of State. Duh. Like we didn’t see that one coming. She has managed NOT to scratch out anyone’s eyes lately, can most likely keep Sarkozy’s wife at bay, can probably dance with the Iranians better than Condi Nasty, keep Berlusconi’s hands off her ass and bring some grace., elegance, determinedness and required female bitchiness back to the office. She will be sort of the anti-Kissenger. But if Obama pays off her campaign bills, I will be really pissed. What the catter might play at while the cat is away is anyone’s guess, but it is worth the risk.
Rachel Maddow: Her show just gets better every day, and I have been very curious to watch her navigate the recently troubled waters of gay rights, Prop 8 and so on. This week, this happened:
Update: When contacted by ThinkProgress, Rachel Maddow explained her reasons for avoiding the subject of gay rights with Huckabee:
I weighed whether or not to ask him about his anti-gay views, but I really don't care about them very much. Huckabee is a doctrinaire anti-gay theocratic social conservative whose views are well-known and heartfelt. I also probably wouldn't bother asking Sarah Palin about her anti-gay views if I had the opportunity to interview her -- it's just not the most interesting or newsworthy (or ridiculous) thing about either of them.
AlterNet reported this after ThinkProgess snared it. As usual, Rachel took the most logical action at the most opportune time and chose not to play in the in mud, but rather to stick with what really mattered and was not so “ridiculous”, so as not to waste our time. Then on the program on 11/21, she featured a story about the sale of stuffed “patriotic” RNC elephants as Christmas presents. The accompanying press release said that all proceeds from the sales would go to fight “left-wing Democratic legislative attempts in Congress”. She demurred that this was certainly in the spirit of Christmas. Bravo Rachel.
Lefties in blogosphere, dismayed progressives and label/name calling: There appear to be a ton of hot-under-the-collar far left wing bloggers who are yelling about being betrayed by Obama for even looking at former officials and dignitaries for posts in the new administration. Shut up! You are like Congressional democrats, crying over a seat or two when there are better things to worry about. You cannot have your cake and eat it, too. You have a new President whose presence portends a better world. There is also a debate about either dissolving the notion of progressives altogether, post election, or merely changing their names to “liberal”. Y’all worry far too much about names and labels. Just sign the (right) damn (left)petitions, make your voices heard where it counts, vote out slime balls and stop worrying about what you called yourself. Just act with integrity, honor and dignity and stop writing meaningless rants to OpEdNews: nobody reads that anymore anyway, and if you have something we all need to hear, there are better forums.
Life goes on in Texas.
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