Sayings & expectations live on and on

We have to act NOW!

If we don't act, the markets will crash!

Too big to fail.

Can't let Wall Street go under.

Have to do something.

We can't let them fail.

We have to help the poor home buyers.

Have to bail-out Detroit.

Obama will save us.

Obama is the new JFK, FDR, and Lincoln.

 

OK you have seen all the above panic and mania statements that have brought us to the point where we are now. All of them are now seen to be totally ridiculous and/or just plain silly.

 

We in the USA have lost our way, and the rest of the world is laughing at us as we become a nation of screaming, teeny-boppers or groupies ("girly-men" as AS put it) chasing one possible solution after another.

 

Remember when Hank Paulson and the Bush-43 White House told us that had to act now, do this now, allocate the $700 Billion USD now or the markets will crash and companies will go out of business. Well guess what? We gave them $700 Billion USD and have promised over $2.5 Trillion USD more, and the markets have crashed and companies have gone out of business.

 

These are supposedly the best and brightest from Yale, Princeton, Harvard, MIT, and Oxford. Am I to be impressed by their results? Am I to be "tingling" with excitement over the election of an inexperienced, untried, untested first term Senator from Illinois?

 

I am saying that the next 4-8 years is going to be a nightmare when all the expectations come home to roust, and BHO has to pay off his supporters from the far-left.

 

The problem with sayings and expectations is that in a world of 7/24 media, they will never be forgotten. They will be back to be thrown in the face of those that said them and a pile of CROW is going to be served up for their enjoyment.

 

BHO picks an almost Clinton dream team cabinet

So the BHO cabinet is finally set and what a gallery of rogues or saviors depending on your perspective. So let's take BHO at his word: "CHANGE"

 

We have almost ALL of the cabinet-levels members from the Clinton White House.

 

• Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel
• State: Hillary Clinton
• Treasury: Tim Geithner
• Attorneys General:
• Commerce: Bill Richardson
• Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano
• Health & Human Services: Tom Daschle

 

What does this say about BHO's promise of change? I am guessing that if BHO keeps Gates at DOD, the left wing blogs are going to go nuts! You couldn't have a more Clinton-leaning cabinet than the one that BHO is nominating. Why did Hillary need to win the White House? Her dream team is in there, and do you think that they are going to be loyal to BHO or HC?

 

BHO had better make sure there isn't a "shadow government." Could Bill Clinton be the "shadow president?"

 

BHO's picks show that he isn't very creative or thinks much out of the box. BHO promised change, change, and more change, and he nominated almost a complete roster of ex-Clintonites.

 

However, the people of New York should be very happy, she is out of their hair. Now if they could only get Charlie "Chaplin" Schumer to leave NY as well, but that's too much to hope for, I would guess.

 

So now BHO could probably say, "Change I promised to get elected, but don't really plan to offer."

 

 

When does life begin? The crucial question.

As to the issue of conception while it may seem that it is an impossible task to define this medically, legally or religiously, it really is not from the standpoint of the abortion debate.

 

Medically, there is no evidence that a new life begins at conception or the point of fertilization. I know this hard for anti-abortionists to accept, but its the facts. I am not saying that an ovum (a fertilized egg) is not a potential human, but then an egg or sperm is also a potential human under the right conditions (fertilization).

 

The reason for taking this perspective is that without evidence of when life begins religion of all kinds need to be left at the door since not everyone is a person of faith and trying to force this issue will only create the kind of insurmountable barriers to agreements that have epitomized this social debate. People of faith should apply their beliefs to the education and propagation of their beliefs to potential recipients of abortions. Said another way, it is impossible to legislate morals. It is a political solution that cuts both ways.

 

There is also no religious evidence or statement of Biblical law that says life begins at conception. The best that the Bible offers is that it clearly states that "life is in the blood...", or that God "breathed the breath of life" into Adam.

 

Now a simple solution is to take an event during the gestation process upon which people of faith and humanism can agree upon that life is definitely present in the fetal process. I believe that this point is the instant of a fetal heart beat. Once a heart beat can be detected, all rights and protection of the political process should be afforded the potential citizen.

 

Due to current medical technologies and services, a woman can determine her pregnancy status well before the 6-8 weeks event horizon of when a fetal heart beat can be detected. So using the event of fetal heart detection can be the point beyond which an abortion is not allowed unless the mother's life is in imminent danger from the continued pregnancy process. In this case, I don't believe that one life, the mother's, is more or less important than the potential human baby. However, the mother's life must be verifiably in jeopardy before an abortion should be considered.

 

I do not believe that abortions should be upon request or for any reason at any time as many of the pro-abortionists believe it should. Remember, in California, people have been convicted of double homicide for murdering a pregnant mother. This should pretty much settle this issue.

 

Abortion vs Right to choose. Which is the right issue?

The abortion controversy is a prime example of how the proponents have tried to win their argument by framing the question as a "women's choice" issue and not the real one of abortion. They do this by getting everyone to focus on the right of women to control their own bodies, to allow a woman to have the right to choose the medical procedures impacting their own bodies, etc. Who could be against these rights when they are framed in this manner.

 

So the begin with, you have to understand that the abortion issue is just that: abortion. It is NOT about a woman's right to choose since a woman's right to choose is if she gets pregnant in the first place.

 

Now before you jump down my throat, let's set aside the red herring that pro-abortionists like to throw out: "what about cases of rape and incest?" OK. Let's take this red herring and put it in the refrigerator for now and we will deal with it once we understand the true issue of abortion. In other words, it is never wise to make policy based on outlying cases. I am not trying to be insensitive, just logical. Rape and incest cases account for less than 1/10 of 1% of the life births in the USA according to the CDC, Atlanta, GA.

 

So the real question is NOT a women's right to choose, but a woman's right to an abortion. The right question to frame the debate is:

 

Do you believe in a woman's right to an abortion?

 

This changes the entire debate from one of a woman's choice to one of a right to an abortion. This is the proper framing of the question since a woman's right to choose is whether to get pregnant in the first place. Discounting rape or incest which I promise we will deal with next, every woman knows who she got pregnant. If she doesn't then she was either raped or the victim of incest. There are not other alternatives. Think about it before you get angry. If a woman doesn't know how one gets pregnant then she is either too young (rape), too mentally-challenged (rape of mentally incapacitated), or she was an incest victim where power and position come into play.

 

In those cases, the issue to conception, pregnancy and birth need different debates, but for the rest of the pregnancies the woman knows that if she has sex, protected or unprotected, she is taking the chance of getting pregnant. That is her choice! The choice to have sex in the first place. Unless one believes in asexual reproduction in humans, a woman can be fairly assured that if she does not have sexual intercourse, she can not get pregnant.

 

We have laws and have prosecuted many man for going beyond a woman's notice of "NO" when it comes to intercourse. Men today know that a woman can say "NO" right up to the point of ejaculation and he has to stop. So let's at least be intellectually honest about a woman's right to choose. It is the right to have sex or not. It is the right to control the access to and/or use of her body that defines the real question.

 

The abortion issue is NOT about choice, but about the right of woman to terminate a life that just happens to be inside her. This then comes down to a point of conception which is dealt with soon. However, don't just accept the debate framed to give the abortionist's an advantage.

 

Framing the debate is half the point

A favorite tactic of those wanting to control the debate on an issue try to form the question in a way that favors their outcome. For example, for those fighting against spousal abuse, a good way to frame the question towards someone suspected of spousal abuse is to ask: "Have you stopped beating your wife?"

 

This is an example of a landlocked debate since the answer of either positive or negative convicts the responder in his/her own words. So to prevent such a trap, one must look at how the question up for debate is formed.

 

To my point, the questions this blog is going to deal with that fall into this attempt by the proponents to shape the debate are:

 

• The abortion issue
• The gay marriage issue
• The auto industry bail-out issue
• The BHO presidency support issue

 

These very important questions have all been shaped by their proponents to paint anyone that opposes the issue into a corner to be either controlling, intolerate, unsympathetic, or racist. The primary way to confront these issues is to ensure that the question is not framed so that if your disagree, your position is already weakened.

 

The next 4 posts will deal with each of the fore mentioned issues and how to respond to proponents of these issues and reframe the questions to a more open, fair perspective that allows both sides to make their points without giving one side an unfair advantage due to the manner in which the debate is presented.

 

Let's begin.

 

How the market discounts future events - like BHO

Someone asked me how I could put all these market actions at the feet of BHO and his SMDC before they have even taken office?

 

Well, the stock market is a discounter of future events, in other words, it does not look back it looks forward and tries to determine where the economy will be 3-12 months from now. People don't invest for the past, they invest for the future so when someone buys a stock (goes long, we say) and then another and then another, we have a surplus of buyers over sellers and the price goes up as more buyers have to "pay up" for the stock to get sellers to give up their stock. It's that simple.

 

So what happens when the market falls? The reverse happens. Investors believe that their investments are going to be worse less tomorrow, next week, next month so they sell their positions ("close") to someone that thinks they are wrong. However, in a market crash like what we are experiencing these days, sellers largely outnumber buyers so the laws of supply and demand take over, and sellers have to lower their asking price (the offer) to get buyers to take a risk that the market will not materially continue down or else they will soon become sellers as well (a bull squeeze or trap).

 

So what does this market crash since BHO's victory 2 weeks ago mean? It's very simple: the market (all the investors rolled into one large, bio-economic mass) are discounting that he is not going to be able to solve the problems of this economy, and in fact, they believe that he is going to make it worse with his hand-outs, bail-outs, tax hikes, and generally socialistic ideas and agenda.

 

Thus, investors are taking their money out of the US markets and putting them in cash so that they get taxed at a lower capital gains rate that BHO promised he would "raise on the rich". Well, who are the only people that have large stock portfolios with lots of recent capital gains to protect? THE RICH!!!!!!

 

The market is simply doing what it has always done is prepare for the future 3-12 month from now. They are saying that its not going to be a pretty picture for investing in the USA so, "Asta la vista, baby!"

 

The market will find support wallow around for the next 6-7 months and then slowly begin to recover. Remember, those that are getting out of the market in droves are not going to be coaxed back into the market until they have assessed the damages and have licked their wounds. The public will take some time before they begin to recommit their retirement money to the market.

 

So, can BHO be responsible for this market crash? Yes, but only because of his talk and promises. If he follows through, its priced into the market, as we say. If he moves to the center (which I don't think he will) given that he is really, really smart (wicked smart) as many think he is, he will understand that by doing what he promised will only produce what Obamamanites are saying, "He is the new FDR", and give us the 2nd Great Depression.

 

Many believe we can't go into a Great Depression, but with all the liquidity being thrown around and interest rates near zero, we could something worse: hyper-deflation followed by hyper-inflation. The worst of all financial whipsaws! The proverbial 1-2 punch back to back.

Today's market action Nov. 20, 2008

The market action today was almost predictable from the crap going on in Washington DC. Is it any clearer that investors are seeing that anyone with a hand out is getting a handout?

 

And when that doesn't work due to the Bush-43 administration still in the White House, like the Big-3 auto makers and its dump cousin, the UAW, say, "OK, we will wait for the BHO administration since we know we will get something then."

 

It is the dawn of a new age in the USA as we pass from the anneals of history as the last remaining superpower into a socialistic, big government, 80% tax rate 3rd world European-style has-been!

 

How was that for a long list of adjectives and adverbs. ;-)

 

Anyway, "let not your heart be troubled..." I believe that things will work out the way they are suppose to work out, just not the way we would like them to do so. Remember, the Creator put laws in place when the Universe was designed, and when we violate those laws, we have to pay the consequences.

 

A great philosopher said once,

 

       "Greed is the mother of want, the father of despair."  (IBNanouk, that's me)

 

We can't do what we did for the last 30 years beginning with the CRA in 1977, the forcing of rules to change proper underwriting, the manipulation of the free-market by the government, the printing of money to monetize the debt, and bail-out everyone who supported our power run to Washington without having to pay the check when it comes due.

 

Today, the waiter brought the check, and boy, did people check out!

 

Arrogance of the Big-3 and UAW

The UAW arrogance in the form of its President, Ron Gettelfinger, said that its not the union and its members fault that the Big-3 are in trouble that they should not have to take wage and salary reductions to get the bail-out from Washington.

 

He even went as far as to say he hoped that the Big-3 could hold out until the BHO administration came to Washington since the Bush-43 administration isn't interested in helping Detroit out of this problem.

 

I CAN'T BELIEVE THE CAHONES OF THESE PEOPLE!!

 

It sounds like they deserve the money and they need it to pay their non-competitive salaries and benefit packages. Google the auto industry problems coming from the union contracts if you want the details. They are all over the Internet.

 

Capitalism says companies fail because of either two reasons:

       Bad decisions by management

       Bad products and services

 

Public money should not prop up companies that find themselves in these situations. Let them go and let the remains be purchased and utilized by someone that can make it work. It's not impossible as other car companies have shown.

 

"Change we Need" is taking a hit with appointments

Why do people who voted for BHO believe that they got "change we need", "change we can trust", "change we can believe?"

 

BHO continues to nominate ex-Clintonites to his cabinet so much that it the main talk around the beltway. How can BHO profess to be for change when its the same-o-same-o when it comes to his new cabinet and top lieutenants. I have telling liberals/Democrats all during the election that BHO is not change, but just bigger liberalism that is gripping the nation to the point where the markets not happy and capital is high-tailing it out of town ahead of all the taxes that BHO has promised he will "sock it to" the rich.

 

Now Detroit and its unions have arrogantly told Congress that they either pay up or we cause you tons of problems. The Republicans going out of business are standing tight (now they do it) and the Democrats are saying they don't have the votes in the lame duck session, but just wait until after January 20, 2009. Rep. Barney Frank (MA-D) basically told the Big-3 CEOs who flew in on their private jets to beg for public money that after January things will be different.

 

Read this to mean that the SMDC will open the public coffers to pay for their supporters including the unions for the auto industry, educational industry, governmental workers, etc. This means that they will either pay for these bail-out by printing money or raising taxes.

 

The die appears to be cast. BHO is going to send the country into a deeper, longer, and more severe recession with his policies and those of his Congressional henchmen.

 

Stand by, its only going to get worse.

 

When a bail-out is NOT a bail-out!

When is a bail-out not a bail-out? When it called everything else but a bail-out.

 

Washington DC and its friends, I mean those that are coming "hat in hand" for money from the public trough are trying desperately to call this flood of government money, YOUR MONEY, anything but a bail-out. For example:

 

Henry Paulson on September 19, 2008 now refers to the $700 Billion USD bail-out ESA 2008 as a "Troubled Asset Relief Program."

 

Robert Nardelli, CEO of Chrysler, on November 19, 2008 called the $25 Billion USD he and his other two "compadres" from the failed Motor City want from the government a "Working Capital Bridge."

 

These 3 CEOs that flew into Washington, DC on their private jets have threatened law makers that if they are allowed to fail then 3 million jobs will go with them, ancillary industries like parts, and resources will fail as well, but don't touch the union job contracts!

 

What absolute arrogance!

 

Senator Harry Reid (NV-D) will put the vote off until the new SMDC comes into office after Jan. 20, 2009 when they do have the votes. Read this to mean that when we, the SMDC, take over, we can do what ever we want and you Republicans can't do a damn thing to stop us.

 

You think you have seen the markets slide today, wait until the inmates begin to run the asylum after January 20, 2009. I feel a real big ITYO (I told you so) coming in January.

 

 

The Generation of "Bread & Circus" has arrived

The USA is now completely divided without any hope for a reversal due to the split being felt along several fault lines. Unlike schisms in the past, these splits are along both the age, faith, cultural, and self-determination lines.

 

The baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965 were the last generation to be taught somewhat of a work ethic, self-responsibility, and self-determination. The X-generation born from 1965-1988 was the beginning of the entitlement generation where the baby-boomer parents were so busy with their own careers that many of them did not instill a work-ethic or self-discipline into their children. How do I know this? Personal experience.

 

I have been a small business owner for over 20 years, and I have had to hire and fire several youngsters who simply didn't understand that you have to show up for work, do your job and help your company contribute to the bottom line over and above what it costs to pay their salary and benefits.

 

They were never taught this! They think that money grows on trees. They don't understand that a company takes a risk in providing a product or service, hires employees that don't take a risk, and hope that the productivity of the employees is above what it costs to keep them employed. These kids are what I call the "MTV Generation."

 

Doesn't money just come in when you open your doors? Don't customers just come in with all kinds of money to buy your products and services? Don't I deserve more money even though I have no idea if I am helping the company to make a profit? What's profit anyway?

 

This generation has lost its sense of self-worth, self-determination, and self-reliance. They don't know that they are suppose to work hard, save, and increase one's value to their employer. They believe that employers are there to support them regardless if they cost more than they make for the company.

 

It's going to be the generation of "Bread & Circus," and the USA will follow the Roman Republic into the anneals of history as a country that lost its way and become too bloated, too soft, and too weak to survive. The Romans thought that they were invincible, but they forgot about the "enemy within."

 

Ask yourself: "Did I teach my children to be self-reliant, self-disciplined, and self-controlled, or did my kids learn their work philosophy from the public schools and TV?" If it is the former, your kids will be part of the "B&C" crowd, if not, then my hat is off to you.

 

Called the market action on the nose BHO effect

The markets sold off to the 804 on the SP 500 and closed < 8000 (into the 7000) for the first time since 2003. Please see my Nov 15th blog post ("Outlook for the markets this week") for the call last week.

Come back for more sound calls and indications where the market goes next. Remember, when everyone is calling the bottom, it ain't it.

Why are the markets in a rout? I call it the BHO/SMDC effect. As it becomes clear that BHO and his SMDC are going to be able to do anything they want without fear of Republican intervention, the smart capital is pulling their investments from the US equities and moving it into cash and overseas.

This is what happens when you say the magic words: "Share the wealth." Well if it keeps going, there will not be much wealth to share.

CA Supreme Court weighs backlash if it kills Prop 8

As the California mess over Proposition 8 heats up with the radical liberals now saying that they want the California Supreme Court overturn the will of the California people for the 2nd time, but then they risk the fate of former California Supreme Court Chief Justice Bird who in 1986 was impeached and removed for blocking another will of the people proposition on the death penalty in California.

This fate is now lost on the current sitting California Supreme Court Justices. There is nothing more ignominious then to end one's legal and jurist career in a recall/impeachment action; however, I believe that the Justices will again act to overturn the California will of the people due to the rabid pressure being put on them by everyone from the current Governor who is masquerading as a Republican and the current California Attorneys General, former Governor Jerry Brown.

The left coast state is such a juxtaposition of odd liberalities and conservatism. California allows medical marijuana while voting twice to protect the definition of marriage to be between 1 man and 1 woman. Go figure. Should be an interesting fall and spring.

The auto makers bail-out analogy story. Good Read!

Here's the analogy of why the Big-3 auto bail-out is going to backfire; in other words, what are the LOUC (law of unintentional consequences) of this bail-out?

 

The setting is a classroom. The teacher has announced the test tomorrow in math that was scheduled at the beginning of the semester. There are 12 students in the class: 3 are big bullies from old, money families that run the town, 3 are cousins of the Big-3 bullies, and then there is another student that part of their gang now of 6, the proverbial beta-male (look up the pack mentality of wolves to understand the reference), and then there a 5 non-aligned, smaller students from newer families that just moved to the town.

 

The Big-3, their cousins and enabler (that's 7) hear about the test, have heard about the test, but have decided not to worry about studying or getting ready. They are the Big-3, they have clout, they have standing, they have been around for a long time, they have family connections, they don't need to change or study since the teacher would NEVER fail them for fear of the consequences. Remember, she got her job because of their families' help and support. She owes them.

 

The 5 newer students know that they have to study, prepare, and get ready for the test since they don't have connections or family or lineage to fall back on if they don't do well on the test. They have devised ways to study better, be more creative in learning the material, gotten together to form study groups, get home at decent hours all to make sure they do well tomorrow.

 

After the teacher announces the test, the Big-3, their cousins, and enabler come running up to the teacher and complaining that they weren't told about the test, they haven't prepared, they haven't learned the material, and its too late to do anything meaningful to prepare for the test. They therefore tell the teacher that she can't have the test tomorrow or they will fail, they will not get a good grade, they will not be able to get into a good school, the town will have to pay for them to get welfare and extra mentoring. In other words, they have to get special treatment like a free 20pts on the exams tomorrow or the teacher and the town will be trouble.

 

The 5 outside students hear this and listen for the teacher's response which from the teacher's frown is saying that she understands and that she will probably give them the 20pts since she doesn't want them to fail, get a bad grade, and not get into a good school.

 

The 5 outside students then get angry and run up to the teacher and demand the same treatment or they will tell everyone in the town and they have her fired when her contract comes up for renewal. Since the teacher did not get her job by the support of the 5 students' families, she says that she can't do that since she can't give everyone a favor.

 

The test day comes, the Big-3, their cousins and enabler do poorly, the teacher adds 20pts to their test scores and they all pass until the next big test in 2 weeks. The 5 outside students get angry and quit studying, preparing, and finally some fail and are sent back a grade. The Big-3 and their companions are passed up to the next grade, and the outside students, now only 3, leave the town and move to other places where they are fairly treated taking their incomes and allowances with them. The town gets less money, has to raise taxes on those that remain in the town, and finally like Vallejo, CA, the town has to fill for bankruptcy in another year.

 

The 20pts only held off the day of reckoning for a year. The results were the same. The town failed, the old families had to go on welfare, and the 3 outside students and their families moved to other places and did much better since the students were more fairly treated.

 

This is the tale of the extra 20pt bail-out of the town called Detroit.

 

GET THE POINT????

 

Why the US Consitution limited the federal government.

Let me see if I can give you a good analogy why these bail-outs are NOT working. Forget that its the government and they can't propose themselves out of a wet paper bag, and should have stuck to the delineated authorities the US Constitution said was their only authority. Do you remember what they are? Here's a civic lesson before we go on.

 

The US Constitution in Article 1, Section 8, details 3 primary functional operations that the federal government was suppose to limit itself towards accomplishing, everything else was to fall into the states' rights as provided in the Bill of Rights, specifically the 10th amendment.

 

Those 3 functional areas are:

1. A national defense: raise & fund a proper military, call up states militia, punish crimes on high seas, declare war
2. Commerce: bankruptcy laws, establish and regulate a money system, weights & measures, postal system, prevent counterfeiting, establish copyright and patent laws
3. Administer seat of government: establish federal courts, administer federal lands

 

The 10th amendment is very clear that everything else is to be adjudicated by the states, not the federal government; however, we the citizens of the USA have let our federal government become what the founding fathers feared:

 

"not a single tyrant 3000 thousand miles away, but 3000 tyrants 1 mile away..."

We have to reign in the federal government with its exploding over $3 Trillion USD budget, or we will go the way of the Roman Republic and the Greek optimum. We will simply implode and either be reduced to an impotent 3rd-world entity or reformed into an authoritarian form of socialism or fascism.

 

Unfortunately with BHO and his now almost certain SMDC, it will probably be the former impotency with the UN as the world's sole superpower.

 

All hail the UN! Break-out the UN blue and accept its mandates. You laugh, but its on its way, folks. I will help you see that as it happens. Remember, American CAN'T BE FIXED! It's simply too late, but you all have ringside seats to its slow demise.

 

Ah, the analogy is in the next post.

Is Detroit "Too Big To Fail?" Nope! It's Time.

In every society it is necessary to "take the medicine" for past mistakes and accept the consequences of our actions or inactions. I have been getting tons of emails, but few comments since it appears that many are afraid of posting to a moderated website, but that's the way it goes.

 

The email has been very negative of my stance of letting the Big-3 auto makers fail, but what the emailers do not seem to understand is that $25, $50, or even $100 Billion USD in bail-out to Detroit is NOT going to solve the problem. It is only going to put off the day of reckoning. The model of Detroit is FAILED. The blame is too numerous to list, but I will try:

 

1. Government for not allowing management and labor to form partnerships. That's right, its the government that prevents organized labor from working with management.
2. Management in that they negotiated labor contracts that added $1000s to each car that they make to where the average hourly rate of Detroit is $75 to the US-based Toyota, NIssan, and other non-Detroit based US car makers' $48 hourly rate. Every car Detroit makes costs them $27/hour. Impossible to maintain such a business model.
3. The UAW (United Auto Workers) union that prevents Detroit from being competitive all in the name of protecting "good US jobs." In the end, it will be the UAW that kills the golden goose.
4. The Big-3 auto maker shareholders that did not DEMAND Detroit reorganize and retool for the smaller, more fuel efficient products.
5. Finally, the consumer that did not DEMAND Detroit make cars they wanted. Buy American, but buy smart American should have been the US consumers' demand of Detroit.

 

So we all have something to shoulder when it comes to Detroit's current morass, but just propping them up with more money is NOT going to solve the problem. We have to take our medicine, and the longer we forestall the day of reckoning, the worse its going to be when it finally happens.

 

Is Detroit "too big to fail" I have heard that for the airlines, the banks, Wall Street, and now the auto makers. It is just a cry of the outdated, the outmoded, the out-maneuvered, and the non-competitive companies called the Big-3 auto makers along with their very unnecessary UAW.

 

Keeping the Big-3 and the UAW alive is a classic case of "Weekend at Bernie's." Rent the movie if you don't understand the reference.

 

 

Reasons why Detroit should be let to fail

Why is letting the Big-3 auto makers go under is the best for the USA? It is the best for the following reasons:

 

1. Productivity: Detroit was financially tooled when Detroit was the only game in town, and its contracts and operations prohibit production improvements
2. Progress: the "buggy whip" industry as the turn of the last century probably had its reasons why it should not be let to go under, but the livery industry had run its course and needed to be replaced. The "old style" auto industry in the US is in the same condition.
3. De-unionization: the US had progressed beyond the need for big unions. Laws now protect the American worker and big union simply drive US companies into non-competitiveness. Name one highly unionized US industry that is competitive and healthy today.
4. Free-market protection: the term "too-big-too-fail" has now replaced innovation and competitiveness. With the ESA 2008 and the bail-out of Wall Street came the socialization of American big business.
5. Protection of manufacturing: in reality the Big-3 auto manufacturers and their unions have stalled manufacturing innovations and could kill it completely. Detroit needs to be re-born, not propped-up.

 

In all failures and bankruptcies, resources of all types move from improper utilization to optimal utilization. That is the fundamental tenant of capitalism. Either we believe in capitalism or we don't. We believe that free-markets solve their problems or we don't. When you mix government intervention with free-markets, you hamstring the markets and everything breaks down.

 

Oh, you mean like now? The markets are breaking down because the government is sticking its fingers into the process, changing the rules, and making decisions that capital should make. Think about it? Would you trust your money to someone that has a vested interest in its growth and application or a disinterested third party driven by political an self-interest?

 

Right, you make the decision, and now you understand why bailing out even the Big-3 auto makers will be only worse for the future of the US auto industry. Now is the time to let them go into history and let smaller, more innovative and competitive replacements take their place.

 

However, with the Democrats in bed with the Big Unions, don't count on it. They will bail them out after January 20, 2009, and more of your tax money will go to buy off union support.

Viagra vs jobs program in Mexico

A lighter side of the news can be found in Mexico City where the Health Minister is going to begin handing out servings of Viagra and its competing work-alike male erection dysfunction remedy drugs to Mexican men over the age of 70.

 

Wow, now that's a real benevolent government, eh?

 

The US Government hands out billions to failed companies, unions, and banks while Mexico is handing out impotency treatment drugs to its over-70 male population. Why would Mexican citizens want to come to the US when they can get free ED drugs and here they only get hassles, raids, and a little work at minimum wage.

 

Goes to show you what the Mexican government thinks is important, and now you understand why we have such an illegal immigration problem in the US.

 

US Senators and Postmaster General sweetheart mortgage deals

More and more Democrats that helped to block the increased scrutiny of the now failed GSE's are coming into the public eye as even the USPS (US Postal Service) is beginning its own internal investigation about its own Postmaster General John Potter supposedly receiving a Dodd-like sweetheart deal from the failed mortgage lender, Countrywide.

 

These follow on the heels of the Democratic-headed Congress' failure to investigate their own in the persons of Senator Chris Dodd (CT-D) and Senator Kent Concord (ND-D) both heading mortgage oversight positions in the US Senate committee structures. The Congress appears does not want to know if these Senators were recipients of such sweetheart deals to keep the heat off Countrywide Financial.

 

Countrywide VIP loan officer, Robert Feinberg, says that it was his job to make sure all his VIP clients were fully aware that they were receiving preferential treatment. This is very interesting since both Dodd and Conrad were/are in positions of oversight for commercial financial institutes and thus receiving sweetheart deals, well, you draw your own conclusions on why the Democratically-held Congress does not want hearings on this matter.

 

Again, here is "Change we need", "Change we can believe in", "Change we can trust" and all that nonsense.

 

Folks, you voted for BHO and now you have to live with the same old politics and corruption. Its just now going to be from the south-side of Chicago. ;-)

 

 

Global warming a SCAM - or at least based on bad data

Global warming took a major credibility hit last weekend when it was shown that the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (that is NASA's main global warming proponent research laboratory) claimed that October 2008 was the warmest on record thereby giving what seemed more weight to the AGW (anthropogenic global warming) debate.

 

It now appears that it was due to a misrepresentation of the data from some temperature readings in Russia. The folks at NASA that put a man on the moon, and ran robots on Mars are saying that they couldn't catch the mistake since they don't have the budget for data quality control. WHAT? This must make all the wanta-be astronauts sit up and take notice.

 

The mistake was a simple repeating of September's temperature data for October thus making October appear to be the warmest in recorded history. Once the anti-AGW watchdog groups took a look at the data, it seems that the Goddard Institute quickly rescinded its announcement and acknowledged the mistake.

 

Christopher Booker of The Daily Telegraph writing on November 16, 2008 said:

 

"...they (the Goddard folks - my reference) made an astonishing discovery. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running."

There's the government for you. Can't even get something as easy as temperatures correctly, and people want them to fix the US economy???!