2008 done, lets see what 2009 will bring!

Well here we are on the last day of 2008. Many are saying good riddance to a bad year and let’s hope 2009 will be better; the usual New Year’s Eve mind set – but will it be better or even can it be better?

For me it was OK. My 401(k) dropped 50%, my home value tanked, my business did not turn a big profit like it usually does but hey, my family is alive and well, I have a job and prospects are relatively good for 2009.

On the other hand, Christmas sales were way down which means people are and will be hoarding money and not spending it, especially on big ticket items. As demand slips, supply must drop and that means fewer production jobs needed and with people out of work, spending and demand go even lower and this is the vicious cycle that creates depressions.

Obama has great FDR type plans of putting millions to work fixing up our infrastructure, schools and government buildings. Just as in the 1930’s, FDR’s economic stimulus actions did not end the Great Depression, only WWII and the great demand for products it created ended the depression.

I will be delving deeply into economic issues throughout 2009 to learn what needs to be done to turn our economy around. I don’t think anyone, right now, has any concrete answers as to what will or will not work to stimulate our economy.

I do know that Wall Street needs to be cleaned out and regulated. I am a free market capitalist but what those idiots on Wall Street were doing was not capitalism, it was pure invention and trickery that should have been illegal and now MUST be illegal with dire consequences to pay if caught.

Internationally, the world is still a tinder box ready to flame at any time; Obama will have his hands full.

On the bright side, I will vacation in IXTAPA, Mexico in February and hope to explore the Badlands of South Dakota in the early spring. A week in Chicago in July and maybe fall colors in Maine for the fall. I plan on staying active, exercising and studying and commenting on the passing scene.

See you on the flip side…

FAITH & SCIENCE: Vatican against science?

Let’s get a few more Vatican / Catholic issues into the old year.

The Vatican has just issued a pronouncement titled DIGNITAS PERSONAE “The Dignity of a Person”. The document outlines the Church’s position against all things “embryonic” which means they are against in vitro fertilization, freezing unfertilized eggs, stem cell research and testing embryos to identify possible defects.

This is kind of ironic given the previous blog about the Vatican and Galileo or faith and reason also called theology and science.

I have delved into the stem cell research issue a number of times before and how a majority of American Catholics support it as they also support the freedom to choose contraception methods, which the Church also opposes.

I guess it is hard to take the Vatican seriously when the same Vatican, to this day, condemns the use of condoms for any reason even though it may help prevent AIDS.

The Vatican says that we are starting to come perilously close to “playing God” and it is here we have to take a stand. Our scientific progress has taken us to new heights of understanding how our world and our bodies work. These new discoveries hold enormous promise to combat disease and other afflictions that wreak havoc in our world.

The Pope tells us that faith and science can work hand in hand, but it still reserves the right to tell science where to go and where not to go and that to me, is not working hand in hand.

We have learned from Copernicus and Galileo that science and scientists can never allow the dictates of their faith to somehow influence their research. Don’t get me wrong, some scientists can be and many are, very religious but their work must be guided by pure scientific rules or else their work will be compromised.

The Vatican itself is “playing God” by trying to convince us that they somehow are spokesmen for God and that is plain superstitious nonsense and has been from the start. Even more disconcerting is that these old men in Rome appear not to believe in basic logic but issue proclamations that defy common sense.

I will admit to a small nagging feeling I have about scientific progress. I have always believed that old commercial where Mother Nature says “it’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature” or something like that. Nature has been evolving for billions of years and natural phenomenon like tsunamis, disease, flood, fires and yes, even wars, may have a purpose. If we eradicate all “bad” things; are we fooling with Mother Nature and maybe even creating a bigger monster? Just some thoughts at large…

The Vatican and Science through history...

I haven’t picked on the Vatican and their Catholicism lately but the Pope keeps on making pronouncements so we have to let him know what we think about his learned pronouncements.

This one is especially interesting because it deals with history and how the Church has been trying to deal with it in our time, without seeming to re-write history in their favor or, god forbid, admit to any errors of judgment in the past; the Church is infallible, right?

The issue here is Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). He is the famous telescope inventor and star gazer. Copernicus (Polish monk 1473-1543) was the first (Catholic) to posit that the earth circled the sun and not visa versa. The official Vatican position has always been that the earth is the center of the world because god made it that way and everything else just circled mother earth because to them earth represented the center of the universe. They based all this on Holy Scripture where there was nothing and then god made earth and then everything else. To think otherwise was heresy punishable by death (burned at the stake) – so there! Actually the issue is more complicated then what I make it out to be but hey, it would take too much time and space to explain.

Copernicus was able to avoid punishment for his heretical thinking because he published his book on the day he died even though his theory had been discussed for years. Initially, there was no big deal made about his work until later when certain, full of the spirit, monks called for the theory to be condemned as heresy because it challenged Holy Scripture. The Pope had no choice but to go along.

Galileo, who had empirical evidence that Copernicus was right (he saw through his telescope) and defended his theory. That pissed the Vatican off and he was brought to trial and sentenced to jail for life and later changed to house arrest forever.

The whole affair was more political than religious but the deed was done and that’s that.

In 1992, Pope Paul II (The Polish Pope) had enough balls to say that the Church ruling against Galileo was an error due to “mutual” miscommunication?

Anyway, the current Pope, Benedict XVI is really trying to show that the Church is not against science but is a “friend” of science and that science and religion (faith & reason) can go hand in hand.

But when Benedict had to cancel a speech to an Italian university because professors there said he was anti-science because the Galileo affair is still not resolved, Benedict knew he had to do something big.

The year 2009 has been declared “Year of Astronomy” by the United Nations because it will be the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s invention of the telescope. What better year than to heal the Galileo issue.

Now the Vatican is declaring Galileo as a man of deep faith who “ saw nature as a book authored by God”. A heretic one day, a saint the next.

My point here is to draw attention to the fact that the Vatican, the Catholic Church or the Popes, make pronouncements with solemn authority as if they heard it from God himself and then years later, see how stupid and unrealistic and un-defendable some of their pronouncements were and in my opinion, are.

Sane people must finally see how absolutely “human” these Church leaders and institutions are. Church leaders, any church, made and make things up as they go along in response to some perceived need at the time. And because these are all humans and because there is no higher being influencing their decisions, some of those decisions, in time, turn out to be absurd.

If there really was a Catholic god leading the Catholic Church, we would expect him not to make his Church look so stupid, so many times throughout history and into the present.

The usual Christmas issues...

Every Christmas, I write about how Christmas was a pagan festival (Winter Solstice) taken over by the Christians and made into their own time of celebration. I do this because people bitch every year how commercial Christmas is getting and nobody care that Jesus was born at this time and that is why we celebrate.

Jesus was not born at this time because there is no evidence he was born at this time. There is a bunch of circumstantial evidence that he WAS NOT born in Bethlehem.

Winter Solstice is the time when we celebrate the shortest day in the year knowing that from now on the days will be getting longer; it is a celebration of a new year, a natural celebration of our earthly existence and not some made up celebration of religious superstition.

This is also the season for First Amendment issues when people put up religious symbols (Christmas Crèche) on public / government land. They are not satisfied with putting their religious Christmas symbols all over tarnation , no they NEED to do it at City Hall or the City Park or anywhere connected with government mainly because it is against the law.

This year it is about the rotunda at the State of Washington’s Capitol Building in Olympia. First a menorah (Jewish) followed by a Christian Crèche and then the Freedom From Religion Foundation put up a Winter Solstice placard declaring all the above to be hokum describing religion as myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.

Bill O’Reilly of Fox News was very outraged that the State of Washington allowed the atheist sign near the Christian display – how dare they?

Our government is mandated by our Constitution to either allow all symbols or none; they can’t pick and choose.

But the question still remains why these religious people HAVE to put up their religious stuff on government property; they can put it up practically everywhere else. I think they are trying to make a point that the United States is a Judeo-Christian nation; no others allowed and these morons need to be put in their place by telling them they are breaking the law even though they are oblivious to what is that law and would not listen even if that law was explained kindergarten style to them.

It has become a tradition…

BUSH AND CHANEY: SO WHAT!

I realize Bush and Chaney are leaving office soon but I just can’t help myself and need to point out what true assholes and idiots these men were and are but I am coming around to seeing Bush as a well meaning, naïve fellow who just did what he was told to. Chaney on the other hand is a smart, sane and flaming asshole.

They are giving their “last” interviews where they are usually asked questions about how they think they did, what they would have done differently and if they regret any specific things they did.

Well Dick Chaney when told that most Americans now believe that they were misled on purpose about Iraq and were basically duped into agreeing to the Iraq War said “SO”?

Did you get that – SO? Bush followed suite and used the same answer in his interviews. Can you believe this? They are not even trying to defend their actions by lying, they just say SO or even better SO WHAT?

I just want to remind all my Bush loving and supporting friends that they were taken for a ride and so did the whole country. They tried to democratize the Middle East by invading Iraq under false pretenses and they failed big time and now they just say SO WHAT?

BUSH IS CORRECT ON AUTO BAILOUT...did I say that?

Wow so many interesting happenings here and in the world and I didn’t have a moment to spare for myself; its all about getting ready for Christmas. Listen, we have 40 people over for Christmas Eve so is one busy guy and getting too old to keep doing this.

Anyway, since I have been talking about the AUTO BAILOUT for so long, let us bring that issue up to date.

I AGREED WITH PRESIDENT BUSH when he gave his speech before signing the auto bailout loan package. Since I hardly EVER agree with Bush, I had to capitalize that fact.

He said that under normal circumstances, our capitalist system would have dictated letting the auto companies reorganize under bankruptcy protection (as I have stressed so many times before) BUT THESE ARE NOT NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

YES, GM and Chrysler needed to do some serious restructuring to remain viable in this global marketplace and they were slowly getting there and, in my opinion, would have made it IF the car market did not collapse due to the morons on Wall Street; now the world car market has dived also.

Ford did not need a helping hand because they downsized and generally prepared for a downturn in the market, better and faster than either GM or Chrysler but they will also feel much pain if people will not buy new cars because they are scared about the economy or have already lost their jobs.

If the economy does not pick up and people start buying new cars, no amount of reorganization or bailout money will help…

Bush did include some stipulations into the loan contract that mandates a restructuring which includes doing something about the UAW union. The leader of the union immediately said bullshit to that and intimated that when Obama takes the reins of office, the unions will be on top again telling the government what they want to be done.

Well, I think Obama heard that and said not so fast; the union contracts need to be renegotiated and brought down and integrated with current reality. Obama talked like a union lackey during his campaign but me thinks he was just “politicking” and has no intention of being a union lackey.

BUT like I said, if the economy does not improve and people don’t start buying cars and big stuff, the companies and workers are doomed.

AUTO BAILOUT: Let sanity and common sense prevail

Lordy, lordy, the auto deal is dead and all hell has broken loose out here in Michigan. Don’t worry, Bush has $15 billion left in TARP and he will give that to the auto companies and at least leave the presidency on a somewhat positive note.

Yes, the deal breaker was the UAW since they said NO to any immediate wage and benefit concessions. They would rather GM & Chrysler go bankrupt and they all lose their jobs instead of giving into GOP demands. Hey, that is how they think.

Anyway, in the process of discussing this whole issue it became apparent that people still don’t get the big picture and keep asking naive questions that need to be answered.

HOW DID THE AUTO COMPANIES GET INTO THIS MESS? The short answer is Wall Street. The assholes on Wall Street screwed our financial system up so badly with their greed and stupidity that the country plunged into a recession with credit markets all but dried up. At this very tenuous moment, car sales as well as other sales, dived; no credit available and nobody brave enough to spend.

Like I said, this is the short answer; no company can survive a 50% drop in sales without DRASTIC measures. The auto companies could have possibly survived the drop in sales for awhile IF there was money they could borrow BUT, as I said, the credit market dried up.

WHY ALL THE BILLIONS TO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND NOT TO AUTO COMPANIES?
Please remember that Paulson and Bernake went bonkers with billion dollar bailouts to banks, financial institutions and insurance firms which were all kind of linked, because they were trying the STOP THE U.S. BANKING / FINANCIAL SYSTEM FROM SHUTTING DOWN. If that happened, every company in the U.S. and every American in the U.S. would suffer or die financially; see the difference between financial institutions and manufacturers?

The fact is that no other U.S. manufacturer is asking for help and especially, none of the other auto companies. Many companies are just declaring bankruptcy as per our capitalistic system. If you read the paper you will see daily lists of companies declaring bankruptcy.

Ford Motor Company, because they were forward thinking people, is in a much stronger position to weather this economic downturn but they will too, eventually need a line of credit and that is all they are asking for.

GM and Chrysler were not as forward thinking as Ford but were making progress in restructuring; they just did not do it fast enough and now are stuck with enormous costs and no sales.

The unions and their so called legacy costs (pensions / health coverage) are one of the biggest factors in why the Big 3 are not prepared to survive this perfect economic storm BUT they were working towards diminishing the unions as factors (buyouts, etc.) and in time, would probably be in a lean and mean competitive position; economic events beyond their control occurred and they were not ready.

We should not be shouting at each other as to what is the right thing to do or the humanitarian thing to do, we should be looking at the situation with the best interest of all in mind and for that the UAW needed to step up to the plate and accept the GOP request to align their wages and benefits to those of existing non-union auto worker’s wages and benefits. It would not be that drastic since most of the new hires at the Big 3 already do that. No. the problem is the UAW leadership which refuse to see reality and believe that with a new Democratic administration coming in, they have a chance to regain their old power and glory and I say that this cannot be allowed to happen and the GOP opponents of the auto bill were doing just that!

GOP SENATORS DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE

It should not be a surprise to anyone that many people in Michigan are really, and I mean really, pissed off at the GOP Senators from the South that are blocking the auto bailout package passed by the House of Representatives today. In fact, that bill is dead as of right now with no chance of passage BUT a new bill may be written tonight in the Senate which the House would have to be called back into session to pass.

What gives? I have tried to explain before how the rest of the country feels about the Detroit auto three (3), (we cannot say the auto industry bailout because it has nothing to do with the many other auto companies in this country that are also part of the auto industry and producing autos for sale here).

The GOP Senators blocking the bailout have auto companies located in their states. Some of them actually have GM plants in their states. What do they want?

They want the UAW union to be cut down to size. Specifically, they want the union to agree to get compensation equal to what union auto workers get in their Southern states. Why? So the UAW does not try to unionize Southern auto workers by promising them richer benefits on a par with what the current UAW auto workers get.

Also, the UAW has targeted certain state senate races where a Democrat had a chance to beat the GOP candidate and has put in large amounts of cash to help the Democratic candidate beat the GOP candidate.

The UAW and other unions have also made it clear that the Democrats owe them for winning the election (bullshit!) and now will demand rules and regulations that will make unionization efforts easy and practically guaranteed (Labor Free Choice Act). These new rules will enable labor to grow again into the power it once was.

You know my views on the unions and I agree that stopping the unions from regaining their political and organizational power, is of utmost importance if this nation is to come out of this financial crisis quickly and intact; the GOP Senators are basically cutting the union’s balls off.

My support for auto company bankruptcy was basically for the restructured companies to have legal means to rid themselves of the unions and transfer pension responsibilities to the federal government. Since bankruptcy seems to have been reasoned as not the best idea then marginalizing the UAW must be something the unions agree to themselves and that is what the GOP Senators are holding out for and I must say, holding out quite effectively.

To agree to a temporary bailout by granting the few billion dollars to the Detroit 3, would enable them to survive till the new Obama Congress was seated and the new, Democratic majority Congress would give the unions (supposedly) all that they want and this, in my mind, would be a disaster and only prolong the inevitable by keeping companies that are no longer viable, on life support with taxpayer dollars.

I applaud the forward thinking and the firm grasp of what is needed to bring the Detroit auto companies into long term viability by these Senators. I am not so delusional to think that they don’t have some selfish reasons for doing so but hey, what they are doing is correct in my book and in the best interest of this country.

This issue has caused many heated debates between my wife and I as well as other family members. I do not deny that unions were needed at a point in our history. I do not deny that unions created our middle class which led to widespread prosperity in this country. The well paid workers spread their money around to many supporting services and enterprises. Many say that allowing these manufacturers to close will spread the pain throughout the country.

But unionism got out of hand. Corruption was rampant. Organized crime moved in (remember Hoffa and the like). Union demands became preposterous but their ability to blackmail the auto companies with damaging strikes left the companies with no alternative but to give in.

Now the companies are no longer able to compete having the dead weight of union benefits around their necks choking them to death.

It all boils down to this; if Detroit auto companies are to survive and continue to employ thousands of people, the UAW has to die. The GOP Senators know this and anybody with half a brain knows it but cannot admit it for political or personal reasons. The GOP Senators are doing the dirty job that needs to be done to save the Detroit auto companies and the workers they employ and with that the countless other companies and their workers that depend on the auto companies for their livelihood.

This is not rocket science; the road is clear. We just need the balls to do what is right.

Another option for the auto companies?

Obviously, I have been glued to the TV and reading all the newsprint about the auto bailout issue; it means so much for the state of Michigan as well as the nation. I have been adamant about allowing the auto companies to declare bankruptcy and restructure. I still believe that course of action offers the best strategy if the companies are to come out lean and mean to take on global competition.

But a few reports have surfaced examining the effects of a pre-packaged and controlled bankruptcy as opposed to a Congressional / Federal loan type bailout.

When a company enters protective bankruptcy, it relies on a “debtor-in-possession” financing to fund its operations during the bankruptcy process. In today’s economic climate, obtaining that operational financing is next to impossible; the government is the last lender willing or able to lend to a company in bankruptcy.

A company unable to find “debtor-in-possession” financing would be forced into liquidation to pay off its debts. At this stage, all efforts or hopes of restructuring disappear.

So, if the government did not bail out the auto companies but was willing to be a lender to a “debtor-in-possession” company, the amount of money needed for such a loan would be a lot greater than what the auto companies are asking for in a “bridge” loan.

Chrysler, in this morning’s paper, said if they declared bankruptcy, 29 plants would immediately close, 53,000 jobs would end immediately and $7 billion in bills to suppliers would go unpaid probably forcing the suppliers into bankruptcy.

Some would argue that this kind of talk is just scare tactics and that if a “pre-packaged” bankruptcy plan was carefully devised, all this suffering could be controlled and they are probably right. The size of the “debtor-in-possession” loan would unfortunately still be enormous when compared to a restructuring on the run through “bridge” loans.

My only problem with this scenario and I thing Congress shares my fears, is that the auto companies will take the money but fail to perform the restructuring that is absolutely needed to emerge in good, competitive health. For example, I don’t think the unions will agree to disappear and they do need to disappear. Will the government agree to take over all the billions in pension costs that the auto companies need to shed; under bankruptcy, this would be automatic.

I know Congress is talking tough and so is the lame duck White House. There is talk of an “auto czar” that would have extraordinary powers to order the auto companies around. All this talk of control by the government has me shaking my head knowing how efficient our government is in handling big jobs; does Katrina ring a bell?

If bankruptcy is too expensive then we need a legal contract between the auto companies and the government as to what steps need to be absolutely taken to restructure the auto companies. Once the money has been repaid to the taxpayer, the auto companies would then regain their freedom and go back to being capitalist entities but for now, I guess we play a socialist game.

Playing with socialism is against all my economic principles but since I have nothing historic to go by, we will all have to use logic and good common sense to get us through this ordeal.

I will say that the corruption of capitalistic principles by Wall Street pigs and the allowing of this corruption by Congressional myopic pigs need to be seriously addressed during our struggles to get out of this mess caused by clearly identified individuals and companies.

We owe it to future generations to institute laws and regulations that will guard the integrity and smooth operation of out tried and true, proven capitalistic system. I agree that capitalism is based on a free market system unencumbered by governmental interference but when individuals and institutions undermine the free market by manipulating it in such a manner that it is no longer truly free, rules and regulations must be imposed.

It is part of capitalism to gamble by investing in an enterprise that may or may not succeed but it is another thing to gamble by placing bets that an enterprise will fail and then doing your darnedest to make sure it fails and therefore you win your bet. That does not belong in a capitalist economic system that runs a country; that kind of behavior belongs in Las Vegas, played under gambling regulations.

More on that as things develop…

Departing Bush must be told how he hurt the country!

I watch ABC News with Charles Gibson so I was interested to see his interview with the departing President Bush and his wife.

I don’t know what I expected to hear, probably the same bull shit he has been spitting out the last eight years.

It was interesting thought to here his answer to Gibson’s question about “if he wanted any do-overs”. He unhesitatingly said that his biggest regret was the intelligence failure in Iraq. He was not saying that he shouldn’t have started the Iraq War because the reasons for the war that he so adamantly proclaimed, proved to be false, but, in my opinion, he was saying “too bad the intelligence did not eventually support my claims for going to war”.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a recent interview, also regretted the intelligence failure in Iraq – coincidence? Are they trying to apologize for starting a needless war but blame all of it on faulty intelligence as if they were tricked into starting the war? I think they are laying the groundwork to somehow exonerate Bush from killing all those Americans and all those non-Americans for absolutely NOTHING.

The New York Times commented on the Gibson interview in a piece called “The Deluder in Chief” and in one paragraph said that “It was skin crawling to here him tell Mr. Gibson that the thing he will really miss when he leaves office is no longer going to see the families of slain soldiers, because they made him feel better about the war”.

We all know now and history will record that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld planned to attack Iraq way before 9-11-2001 no matter what the intelligence showed. How can he live with the fact that he killed all those people just to satisfy something he thought was his god given duty to do; establish Democracy in the Islamic world by any means necessary?

I have rampaged in these pages about this maniac Bush and his equally delusional supporters; many my friends. I cannot just let this go. He must be hounded to his dying day for what he has done and his name must and will live in infamy forever.

LESSONS FROM THE FIRST GREAT DEPRESSION

We had a Great Depression in the 1930s and now we are headed into the Great Depression II. Many are reading about the first great depression to hopefully glean some insight about what to do and what not to do. I have sent away for the book on the subject everyone is talking about: THE FORGOTTEN MAN: A NEW HISTORY OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION by Amity Shlaes.

The two depressions really cannot be compared apples to apples; there are many differences but some things remain valid for both.

The new Obama administration is moving in this January and everyone expects wonders to happen. Obama has already issued a plan to put millions to work fixing the nation’s infrastructure, schools, etc. Sounds very similar to what FDR (Roosevelt) did when he took over the government reins during the Great Depression.

We now know that most everything FDR did to get the nation out of depression really did not work and only the onset of WWII did.

Some of the things that were done in the 30’s that we now know PROLONGGED the Great Depression included the impeding of international trade through high import duties; designed to protect domestic industry but did nothing of the sort.

Obama ran with the support of labor and they now want to be repaid. The problem is the way they want to get repaid is through the impeding of free international trade through protection laws that make it difficult if not impossible to trade with countries that do not recognize labor laws similar to U.S. labor laws and pay their people what American Labor considers adequate wages. In a nut shell, they want to repeat the mistake made during the first Great Depression.

Obama did not appear that he was stupid enough to do Labor’s bidding even if he did make some veiled promises to Labor during his campaign. He has appointed moderate and intelligent economists to positions of power that one hopes, know the lessons of history and will not repeat them.

One good example is Labor’s call to repeal NAFTA which is exactly what I am talking about.

Another mistake in the 1930s was the promotion of labor unions through laws that favored labor against management. This led to companies that could no longer operate profitably and just closed their doors. The same is about to occur here with the infamous FREE LABOR CHOICE LAW which will stop “secret ballot voting” by employees as to whether they want a union to represent them or not. Now, union bullies will openly solicit signatures FOR unionization and just like in those 1930 gangster flicks, kick the shit out of those that refuse to sign.

These are just two (2) big mistakes made during the first depression that appear to be on their way to being repeated in the second depression.

Keep your fingers crossed that Obama has balls of steel to do what is right…

AUTO BAILOUT ABSURDITIES!

The auto bailout issue has entered into the realm of absurdity. It appears Congress will allow the auto companies to borrow from the $25 Billion fund originally voted in to help the auto companies re-tool their factories to produce more fuel efficient autos. Nancy Pelosi said the money would be repaid back into the fund.

This is the absurdity. The auto companies are not selling any cars so they cannot make any money. The loans they so desperately need are for what; to keep operating? If you are not selling any product, why do you have to keep operating?

How are you going to pay back these loans if you are not making any money and don’t know when you will start to make money.

We are in a depression that will go on for at least another year and maybe longer. More and more people will be unemployed and those people will only buy what they need to survive. That means many businesses will go out of business and not just auto companies. Is the government going to bailout all businesses that are no longer viable?

The latest unemployment figures scared Congress and they did not want to add auto workers to the list. Well, they will join the list anyway because there will be nothing for them to do but if you give the auto companies operating cash, they will keep paying their workers to do nothing like they have for years. If you’re going to do that for the auto workers, shouldn’t you do that for all workers in America?

Here is even a better absurdity. Chrysler is owned by a private company (CYBERUS); they are not a publicly held (stocks) company. One Senator asked Nardelli (Chrysler CEO) to ask CYBERUS for more money; after all they are the owners. Nardelli said he asked and they told him NO; so the taxpayers will loan money to a private company who’s owners refuse to lend it money?

People here in Michigan are screaming that we need to save our auto industry. Well, the Big 3 are not our auto industry, they are American auto manufacturers that are part of the U.S. auto industry. If you read the November auto sales statistics, you will have seen that ALL auto companies took a hit; people are not buying cars period, not just certain cars. ALL auto companies will suffer but it appears only the American Big 3 will die (Ford still has a chance at survival).

ALL auto companies will try to survive until demand picks up and here is the big secret that will get us out of depression: DEMAND for products and services.

More on the other side…

AUTO COMPANIES: YOU NEED TO DIE TO BE RESURRECTED

The auto bailout (loan) issue is bigger here in Michigan the start of WWII. The newspapers here have huge headlines trying to influence anyone and everyone; after all, they will die when the auto companies die because no one will be reading or paying to read, them. That is the problem; everything here in Michigan is somehow tied to the auto industry.

The hospitals have started laying off personnel expecting much fewer patients since most patients had health insurance from the Big 3; people without health insurance just don’t go to the doctor. Restaurants are already closing and so are all sorts of retail stores; everyone is scared to spend a penny IF they don’t have to.

Yes, I do understand the dire consequences of the auto companies going bankrupt BUT every one else here does not understand that the quicker they do, the sooner we all get better. Some Senators were even suggesting that they will be willing to fund the bankruptcy. If you don’t know much about that it has to do with loans that are made to the company to keep it going while they restructure. No bank will give the auto companies a loan no matter what the circumstances so the FED will have to give the money allowing the auto companies to restructure. This makes perfect sense; why is no one listening.

American people will NOT give the auto companies a loan no matter what they promise to do; they just don’t trust them or the unions. They will give them money to restructure under bankruptcy protection – just listen and go along with the plan that is realistically available and not keep trying for something that is NOT AVAILABLE.

I read that GM has a bankruptcy plan in the works and will have to use it by the end of the month. Maybe once GM makes a move, the rest will follow.

My receptionist’s husband who works for Ford taking care of their airline fleet is OBVIOUSLY now out of a job. Another employee told me her husband’s salary has been cut in half; he too does something connected with the auto companies. I understand the pain and therefore I urge action; sensible action that is realistic and that can work, just stop hoping to be bailed out of your “UNVIABLE” business model; you need to die to be resurrected.

BANKS YES, AUTO COMPANIES NO!

Back to looking at the difference between the auto company bailout through bridge loan guarantee and the financial / insurance / Wall Street bailout; Americans appear to resist helping the auto companies but say nothing about bailing out banks and the like.

One easy observation to make is that most Americans grasp what is happening with the auto companies and the reasons they are in a pickle but start talking about derivatives, default loan swaps, toxic investments, and mortgage backed financial instruments and the like and all you get are blank stares. People are not going to get mad over stuff they don’t understand, hell financial types don’t even understand some of this and that is pretty bad.

What people do understand is when their savings are in danger. Even knowing that savings are FDIC insured up to $100,000 and now double that, people lined up for miles to get their money out of banks that failed or were rumored to be failing. They will support anything and everything the government does to keep their savings safe.

People also take notice when their 401(k) drops 50% in value. This is their retirement nest egg and when they see half of it disappear into thin air, they get a little panicky. They want to yank their money out and put it under the mattress. They will support anything and everything the government does that brings back the value of their 401(k).

People know when they are having trouble paying their bills, especially their mortgage. They realize they bit off more than they can chew but they also like to think that they were encouraged to do that by people they trusted to tell them the truth. They will support anything and everything the government does to keep them out of foreclosure.

The problem here is that Joe Blow sees his government handing out billions to financial institutions but he cannot tell or understand specifically why, he can only assume that whatever the reasons the government has for spending those billions of taxpayer dollars, somehow they have something to do with him and his financial situation(s) as mentioned above.

THAT IS WHY PEOPLE DON’T BITCH ABOUT BANK BAILOUTS BUT WILL BITCH ABOUT BAILING OUT AUTO FAT CATS; they don’t benefit when auto companies are bailed out but do when banks are.

Of course there is perception and then there is reality. Michiganders want people to know about the “national” ripple effect that will occur when auto companies go bankrupt and they say the nation cannot handle such a shock.

I say, there is no other choice and if done right, the shock to our economy will not be as great as they want us to believe. THERE IS NO OTHER LEGAL WAY TO TEAR UP UNION CONTRACTS AND MOVE ALL PENSION OBLIGATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT EXCEPT BY GOING THROUGH BANKRUPCY PROCEEDINGS. The sooner we all realize that, the sooner we can get on the road to recovery.

WHY NO SYMPATHY FOR THE AUTO COMPANIES IN DETROIT?

Michigan’s auto executives went before Congress begging for some money and they got the shit kicked out of them – why? Many people in Michigan are up in arms saying how can Congress give billions after billions to financial and insurance institutions without asking one question of the idiots that ran those institutions into the ground BUT badger the hell out of the auto CEOs who asked for a “loan or bridge loan” of a measly $25 billion?

It appears the whole state went ballistic about this issue judging by the newspaper columns and letters to the editor. My letter suggesting we allow the auto companies to declare bankruptcy and reorganize probably did not set all too well with my fellow Michigan residents. It also did not sit well at the Thanksgiving Dinner table.

But as with any issue, each side has reasons for their actions and their feelings but to truly understand the issue at hand one must put aside all emotion and carefully examine the facts of the matter. I can see that this discussion will take a number of blogs.

The first thing to understand about Congressmen is that they are politicians that want to keep getting re-elected and therefore they will do whatever it takes to get re-elected and that means doing what their constituents want. Obviously the people living outside of Michigan wanted their Congressman to kick the hell out of the auto CEOs and they made sure their Representative knew they were watching hence the sound bites for TV ; but why the lack of sympathy from the nation?

Here in Michigan, we are kind of naïve about how people in the rest of the country perceive us. The majority of Michigan workers are pro-union because a majority of workers in Michigan belong to a union. The rest of the country is “Right to Work” meaning no one can be forced to join a union. You may also say that the rest of the country views unionism as a form of communism and union workers as fat cats that blackmail (strike) their employers to get what they want and that’s why a janitor in a union shop makes $75 hour.

The rest of the country also see auto companies as weaklings that too easily give into union demands and therefore are responsible for their ridiculous labor costs and inability to compete with foreign auto manufacturers in the U.S. that are doing just fine at their plants down South.

They also blame the auto execs for a lack of foresight, making gas guzzlers and not investing and planning enough for fuel efficient cars. They resent people like John Dingell, a powerful Democrat from Michigan that blocked all government efforts to force the auto companies to increase the fuel efficiency of their auto fleets. Recently, the rest of the Democrats in Congress kicked his old ass out of that powerful position; something they should have done some time ago. But you can’t blame him; he was only doing what the auto companies wanted him to do and that goes for the rest of the Michigan Congressional delegation.

Obviously the people outside of Michigan don’t know the whole story but it seems, they know enough not to like what they see coming out of Detroit especially when what is coming out flies on private jets and makes millions; not your average beggar.

Next, why don’t we see the same aversion to bailing out financial institutions as we do to helping the Detroit auto companies?

CATHOLICS DEFEND GAY JESUS PLAY

Recently I wrote about a big hubbub caused by the Catholic Church’s reaction to the play “Corpus Christi” which portrayed Jesus as a gay man. I was surprised that the main objection they had to the play was that it suggested Jesus was sexually active; they did not care if it was heterosexual or homosexual. At the time, I suggested it had something to do with priestly celibacy.

This week, a Catholic letter writer, objected to her Church’s criticism of the play and said: “Christ was not a Catholic, and he is not the property of the Catholic Church”, Susan Nial, Charleston, SC.

I take those words to be profound. I will take it even further by pointing out that not only was Jesus NOT a Catholic, he was NOT even a Christian; he was born a Jew and he died a Jew. The Christian Gospels were written to somehow connect Jesus to Christianity but the bottom line is that there is absolutely NO evidence that Jesus left his Jewish faith to start a NEW religion.

Ms. Nial has every right to point out the utter arrogance of the Catholic Church to even suggest that they know anything at all about Jesus’ sexuality or for that matter, anything about Jesus’ life; the Gospels are not history books.

Susan Nial’s statement that Christ is not the property of the Catholic Church speaks volumes and it reinforces my speculation that many Catholics in America do not recognize Catholic leaders in America or in Rome, as the final authority on the “truth” about Jesus or even the Christian faith.

Reading some of the other letters on this subject I was informed that there are many gay Catholics and that they viewed the play as a form of dissent from within the Church and not an attack on the Church. That explains to me partially why Catholics that disagree with the Church on fundamental issues continue to remain observant Catholics.