Bailouts and the Auto Industry

Decisions made for short-term profits, but which have great risk for the long-term future of the company. When that risk hits later on, its the taxpayers that are told that we have to bear the costs.

Sound familiar? It should, because its pretty much the shape of American 'free-market' capitalism these days.

And just like everything else we've seen, such bailouts can only work in the short term and are destined for long-term failure.

Lets take a brief look back at the American auto industry. In recent years, they've made their profits, such as they were, from selling big gas-guzzling SUV's. Lots of people tried to point out the flaws in this. They had awful fuel economy. This meant we imported more oil, which meant the balance of payments deficits for our country got worse. Also, by burning such huge amounts of fuel, they were awful for the environment and contributed to global warming.

But the big three American auto companies didn't care. They were looking at the short term profits quarter by quarter, and this is where they were making their money. So, they kept churning out more and more SUVs.

The people who were talking about Peak Oil were pointing out the problems with this. They'd always predicted that as we started to reach the peak zone, and its a long gentle curve, not like the peak of a triangle, that what you would see would be strong oscillations in the price of oil. It would go up sharply as people started to panic of oil running out and speculators moved into the market. It could just as easily drop quickly when people adjusted to the high prices and economies went into recession and demand drops.

So, the first time this happens, when the price of gas spikes up to $4 a gallon in the US and the economy starts to tank, the big three auto companies take a big hit. Even thought they should have seen this day coming, they weren't ready for it. At least not in the terms that you'd expect in a free market business. Toyota is selling their Hybrid Prius' as fast as they can make them, and none of the big three American companies have a product that can compete.

In a competitive free market, this is how these companies would be expected to compete. To be looking ahead and making sure that they have products that would be attractive to potential customers. Businesses that fail to do that would go out of business.

So, now we all about how a collapse in the auto industry would be a disaster. We are told that we can't let them fail. Sound familiar? We were told the same about the wall street giants a couple of months ago. But now, lets ask this question. Did the big three auto-companies count on this all along? Perhaps they did think that they were ready for the future. Its just that in early 21st century America, the smart way to be ready for the future is not to pay engineers to develop attractive products, but instead to make large political contributions. That way, when times get rough, the politicians bought with those contributions will act to bail out your company.

Here's the really ironic part of this. Just exactly who is going to bail out the big three is left vague in our corporate media. Its not even directly referred to as the government very often. And there's this bizarre discussion in parts of the news as to whether the money should come from TARP funds or from last year's energy bill.

But the key thing to know is that the person who will be bailing out the auto industry is you. Its your money as taxpayers that they want. Or, perhaps its more accurate to look at your children and grand children and know that they are the ones expected to bail out these companies. Because we don't have the money today to do this, so its more money we have to borrow. Its more debt we have to incur. Your children and grand children will be paying it off for a long time to come.

There's one group of people to whom this must sound quite strange. Funny how you don't see them on the corporate TV channels. I'm referring to the American workers who've been laid off by these same big-three auto companies. The big-three auto companies were perfectly willing to tell these tax payers to go get stuff when they thought that moving their jobs overseas would make a few more dollars of profit on the corporate bottom line. And now they have to come back to these same tax payers and ask them for the money to save the stock price of their companies.

Nope, you don't see too many interviews with laid-off auto workers asking how they feel about their tax dollars about to be given to the same auto companies that told them they were no longer neccessary.

The problem is that America is deep in debt. At all levels ... personal debt, corporate debt, government debt. At some levels, we've reached the point where we can't borrow any more. The values of our homes have fallen, so we can't borrow against that any more. Credit cards are maxed out. Our jobs are either disappearing or in danger. Corporations can't borrow anymore either. So, the one credit card that hasn't been maxed out yet is government debt. Right now everyone is trying to pay their monthly bills off that credit card.

In terms of personal finance, we'd all understand what that means. If our finances are in such a bad shape that we have to be paying our monthly bills off of the one last credit card that isn't maxed out, any sensible person would know that a crash is at hand. But, that little bit of wisdom never makes it onto the corporate TV news. There we just hear about how we just have to give another $25 billion away to one more group of business people who made bad decisions that let to short term profits but a long term crash.

CommonDreams Refugees

The comments on the post below have told me a couple of things.

1) There are actually people who read this site. At least occaisionally. Wow!
2) Anyone who is critical of Obama and the Democrats is being booted off of the CommonDreams website.

The latter makes me thing that people need a place to gather and discuss. Its better if we gather together and stay in touch. While the forums at CommonDreams used to be a place to do this, it seems apparent that the new Democratic censorship is going to make this hard to do there.

I don't know if this site is the place to do that. But, I'm willing to help where I can. CD refugees are welcome to comment here. I'd also be willing to open up the posting privlidges here to allow others to write here if they are interested.

And one thing that could certainly be done is if CommonDreams refugees want to post links or email to stay in touch, this thread could be a place to do that.

But, I'm also thinking maybe its time for a new site. I might try to get something started. Maybe have links to articles on other sites, but with the ability to comment freely on that site. So, for instance it could have a link to an interesting article on CommonDreams, but then it could also allow a free and uncensored discussion of that article.

If anyone is interested, leave a comment below. Not only about my ideas, but with your own.

A new era of Democratic censorship

Its amazing how if you scratch a Democrat, under the fake out outer covering, they act just like a Republican. I dared to post some comments on the CommonDreams site that tried to point out that everything might not be as rosy as the Obamabots are saying it is in the glow of their victory. They tended to point out that Obama still supported the wars, was pushing the wall street bailout, and generally hadn't really promised anything 'progressive' during the campaign. And that he won the campaign with record amounts of corporate money in his accounts, topping the amounts Bush had run on.

Do that on a Democratic site like Common Dreams, and that gets you blocked and banned these days. The Democrats are as intolerant of dissent as the Republicans. That's going to be one of the interesting things to watch in the coming months, as all the 'progressives' start to wake up to that fact. Especially since the Democrats and Obama won't be enacting a progressive agenda and won't be following a 'progressive' foreign policy. When the true progressives start to raise their voices. When they try to do exactly what the Democrats said during the campaign that they should do and try to 'hold the Democrats feet to the fire.', when that colides with the little fact that the Democrats are as intolerent of dissent as the Republicans, then it will start to get interesting.

Conformity

"Conformity is one of the nihilistic temptations of rebellion which dominate a large part of our intellectual history. It demonstrates how the rebel who takes to action is tempted to succumb, if he forgets his origins, to the most absolute conformity. And so explains the twentieth century."

-- Albert Camus

Self Evident Truths

Just because these words should always be said on this day. And the corporate media will stop at just acknowledging the right of the pursuit of happiness.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends,
it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new government,
laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form,
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Prudence, indeed,
will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;
and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sufferable,
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism,
it is their right,
it is their duty,
to throw off such government,
and to provide new guards for their future security."

-- The Declaration of Independence

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!

Celebrate your independence!

Just one little thing. Call the holiday by its real name. Don't call it 'the fourth of July'. That's a day on a calendar. Big deal. By that one would thing that some day was just picked randomly from the calendar and chosen to be a day of bread and circuses for the people. Celebrate 'the 22nd of July'. Whoo-Hoo, lets shoot off some fire works.

No, the holiday is "Independence Day". Just saying that has a certain power to it. Say 'Happy Independence Day' to someone and you both reminding them that they are independent and congratulating them on it.

So, be a rebel from the corporate marketing, call the holiday by its real name. Happy "Independence Day" America!

Celebrate George Carlin!

go to a search engine and type 'george carlin video'. Or go to video site and just search on 'george carlin'. Sit back and enjoy the results!

Or, here's a list of what I've found ....

George Carlin on white people
George Carlin on death -RIP
George Carlin on death - again
George Carlin -Wonderful Wino
George Carlin - 7 dirty words
George Carlin on Religion-1
George Carlin - pro-life is anti-woman
George Carlin - Sanctity of Life
George Carlin - Seven Words
George Carlin - Please Wake Up America
George Carlin - Education and the owners of America
George Carlin comments on 9/11 truth and NWO
George Carlin - voting
George Carlin- Religion is bullshit
George Carlin defrags the 10 Commandments
George Carlin on soft language
George Carlin on Airport Security
George Carlin on the American Dream
George Carlin on American bullshit
George Carlin - We like war
George Carlin - Bicycles
George Carlin - Flamethrowers
George Carlin - the Hippy Dippy Weatherman

Gonna miss having George around!

Community

I was over at www.johnpilger.com today. After posting the story below, I decided to go have a look at what else he might have written recently. What I found was this article, Destroying the best of Britain.

Its an article about how the British government is closing lots of local post offices. And its an article about how such local post offices have long been the center of communities. Its an article on how the people who work there help their neighbors. So, despite the fact that this is an article about a local issue in a foreign land, it got me thinking a bit about community and profit.

The theory we are constantly bombarded with here in the US is that everything should be decided by the market. That everything must justify itself by paying for itself. That whenever possible government services should be privatized, and that the government should not provide a service that would compete with what a private company can offer.

Of course, I think that's just dead wrong. There are some things that simply can not have their value determined by the marketplace. And this notion of 'community' is one of these.

We know that community is vital for a healthy life. We either know this from reading academic studies, or we know it from having experienced it. Or maybe we know it from living in the modern American city where 'community' can be so hard to find.

There would seem to be a strong value in creating and building community. It leads to less stress, or at least people to talk to and be with to help relieve the stress we get from other parts of life. It leads to a safer place to live. It leads generally to higher property values. Has anyone ever noticed that all the 'communities' that the rightwingers refer to as the "People's Republic of ___________" all have very high property values?

As such, there are some decisions that should not be taken on the pure basis of profit and loss. The local post offices described by Mr. Pilger in this article would seem to be one. The notion of putting local libraries and community centers and recreation centers in the communities is another. These provide a place for people to come together. They provide a place for a 'community' to form and grow.

As such, these sorts of services can't be judged entirely by the monetary bottom line. They provide value to the society as a whole that doesn't show up on an accountant's ledger sheet. They are therefore well worth the investment even if the accountants complain that they are losing money.

Sometimes, one gets the impression that there's been a deliberate attempt to destroy 'community' in America. Maybe its just the free market gone wild. Maybe its just collateral damage from the drive to make a buck anywhere a buck can be made. But, sometimes you get the sense its something more. That the goal is to destroy 'community' itself.

Why? Because only from collective action can we stand and defend ourselves against the corporate predators that stalk our streets. Only by standing together can we defend our rights and our livlihoods. And, its 'community' where we learn to stand together. Its 'community' that forms the bonds that let us stand together. Its 'community' that teaches us that what happens to our neighbor is important to us, so its well worth it to go stand with your neighbor when they face trouble. Because you'll damn well want someone standing with you when you face trouble.

There seems to be a goal to make us all individuals. To make us all solitary people who see the world through our TV sets or through our computer screens as individuals and not as groups. There seems to be a goal to shatter all the bonds of family and friends and neighbors that tie us to others.

When we stand alone, we fell powerless. We know ther's nothing we can do. We can't stand against a corporation that cares only for its own profit. We can't stand against a government that does not represent us. Alone, we are powerless.

So much has been destroyed that sometimes it feels like its hard to find anything like this. That just means we need to find a way to rebuild 'community'. That's harder than just joining in on something that's already there. Its too bad that we've allowed it to be so battered and torn apart. But that just means we need to do more work to build it.

But it can be hard to know exactly how. I guess just go down to the street all alone and see if you can meet someone kind. :)

Memorial Day

The holiday we celebrate as Memorial Day originated in the years immediately following the American Civil War. The American Civil War was a long, bloody and destructive affair. Like most wars it began with dreams of it being a quick and victorious war. Like with most wars, both sides thought they'd quickly vanquish their enemies. But it turned into a long four year struggle, ending with battles in Virginia that approached World War II trench warfare. It ended with waves of soldiers dying attempt to assault entrenchments at Cold Harbor, and with a long siege of the trenches at Petersberg.

After the war, people tried to make sense of the slaughter. In the north, people had to believe it was all worth it. That the ideals for which the north fought the war had been worth all the sons and brothers and fathers who were now missing or crippled. In the south, the myth of the 'Lost Cause' quickly sprang up to give meaning to their own deaths and injuries.

But, another deep feeling in the country in those early Memorial Days had to be a questioning of whether it had all been worth it. A looking at the horrendous cost of war, and questioning as to whether or not there had been another way to resolve the issues without so much death and destruction.

Today, Memorial Day has become simply a second Veterans Day. We are all told to stand and salute the soldiers and sailors and airmen who are in lands far, far away performing the Orwellian phrase of 'defending America'. What we aren't supposed to do at all is to question whether or not it is worth it? Nor even to question whether America is being defended by invading countries on the far side of the world. And certainly not ever to look at the caskets with the flags, which we no longer see, and ask whether or not this was all necessary. Nor to think about how violence always seems to beget more violence, and usually makes the original problems worse.

I can't help but to think that some of the survivors of the American Civil War must have been asking some of the same questions as they decorated the fresh graves on the first 'Decoration Days'.

-------------------
From the Libertarian Right, Sheldon Richman seems to think the holiday needs a different name.
Happy Revisionist History Day

US and S.Korea killed a 100,000 people

There is a myth that America is always on the side of the good. That some how America is special. This is often used to justify America taking horrific actions. Since the myth says America is always on the side of the good, then this is used to then try to say that people should not be critical of what America does.

Because of this, it is useful to know the true history. It is useful to know what America has actually been doing. As such, the following is offered.

"Thousands killed by US' Korean Ally"

Actually, the headline from the AP is very misleading. Pretty typical for the AP. When you read the article, you realize we are not talking about a few 'thousands'. The article estimates that we are talking about maybe the murder of a 100,000 people.

"With U.S. military officers sometimes present ... the southern army and police emptied South Korean prisons, lined up detainees and shot them in the head, dumping the bodies into hastily dug trenches. Others were thrown into abandoned mines or into the sea. Women and children were among those killed. Many victims never faced charges or trial."

We are constantly told of the horror of our enemies. We are constantly told that America is the force of good. That the actions we take are to prevent the horror of our enemies. But, stop and think about what we've done along the way ourselves. Its worth remembering the next time you hear our leaders telling us that we have to accept more horror because we are the good guys.

As I type this, the Democracy Now! newswire to the right has a headline about how the US is holding an estimated 27,000 people in overseas secret prisons. And moving them in and out of Iraqi prisons to hide them.

Where to Begin?

Where to begin? I guess just jump on the train an' start ridin'. :)

One thing I think I've learned is that when people I don't trust are attacking someone and telling me in loud voices not to listen to someone, I tend to go check them out. Maybe its an old trick I learned playing d-line in football. When someone is trying to push you in a certain direction, at the very least then dig in your heels and hold your ground. And the best thing to do is to go in exactly the opposite direction from where they are trying to push you. There's a reason they want you over there instead of you being over here.

Lately, its been the Rev. Jeremiah Wright who's in the 'news'. You see bits and pieces of what the man has said over many years chopped up and tossed at you. All with a tone of hatred. According to the corporate media, he's the man we are all supposed to hate right now. And certainly, we shouldn't be listening to what he says. We are clearly being told what to think.

Now, I don't know Rev. Wright. I've never spent more than a day or two in the Chicago area, and I don't think I've ever gotten near to meeting the man. But, my gut instinct when I see that I'm being told to hate the man is to go check him out.

What will I find? Who knows? Will I like the man, or will I find him awful? Again, who knows? Other than if you judge a man by his enemies, then I'd have to say he's already got a favorable mark in my book. He seems to have pissed off all the right people. :)

Lately, the Rev. Wright appeared on Bill Moyer's PBS show "Now". Here's a link to the video and the transcript.

Rev. Wright and Bill Moyers - Video
Rev. Wright and Bill Moyers - Transcript