A Few Thoughts on GM

A couple of random thoughts about GM:

-- I'd feel a lot more comfortable with the Obama/Bush "strategy" of taking shares in exchange for bailout money, for GM & the banks, if there was a set timetable for the government to orderly dispose of the assets. For instance, the U.S. now holds 60% of GM. I would love it if the Administration announced that commencing January, 2010, we will be auctioning off 1% per month. That amount shouldn't shake the market; it gives us a better timetable for withdrawal from GM than we have from Iraq; and it would make it clear that Obama is not doing this to create a socialist society, but rather only as a needed short-term stop gap.

--This should have been done in the Fall, some $50 billion ago.

--I have no remorse for the retired GM workers. The ones who worked there in the '70's and '80's were the cause of this, with rapacious contracts and terrible work ethic. I remember sitting in my dorm room, in 1976, discussing GM with my roommate (his Dad owned a Chevy dealership)--and the topic then was the miserably built and designed cars. People used to take it as fact that you didn't want a car that came off the line on Monday (hangover day) or Friday (getaway day). This is simply a matter of reaping what was sown years ago, when people like me simply could not find a vehicle made by GM that was...satisfying.

--The first new car my wife & I bought was a Chevy Chevette. But we moved on, basically because for less money we were able to buy Japanese cars that were made better. Period. About 7 years ago I looked for a middle-age crisis car--I wound up with a Saab convertible after looking at every..single..American dealership. Nothing was made as well, nor designed as well. The last two years I've been driving a Prius--and I love it. Why don't American companies have similar cars? (And, except for the engine, mine was made right here. American workers can do the job-- is it our engineers who are lacking? Or is it some kind of Midwestern still-living-in-the 1950's nonsense that is keeping GM from designing cars most Americans will buy?

--I'll believe the Volt when I see it.

This is the Best?

Really? Really?!?

This is the best we as a nation can do?

Joe Biden- revealing state secrets this weekend, adding to his thousand other "gaffes." But, oh, how, cute the media treats him. Chuckle, chuckle, there goes Crazy Joe. (As opposed to the rip jobs done on Palin, Quayle, etc.)

Nancy Pelosi--who told six stories in 4 minutes --and, by the way, the people who should be most outraged are the liberals who thought she was protecting their interests all these years. As for her position (her 4th, I think) that she couldn't do anything about waterboarding in 2002--hey, hasn't she been Speaker since 2006? Are you telling me, if she was really troubled by the interrogation methods, instead of on a junta-like political retribution attack, that she couldn't have put a stop to them 3 years ago? Or at least ordered hearings then?

Barney Frank.

Harry Reid.

Any of the half-dozen or so people in Obama's cabinet who didn't pay their taxes.

These are the men and women who snuck in under Obama's skirt while we allowed him to waltz into office.

Our best and brightest? Really?

Get What We Pay For

News that the co-pilot of that crashed flight out of Buffalo was earning less than what a CVS clerk with 2 years experience earns is troubling. The calls from liberal circles is for re-regulation, wage scales, etc.

The problem is, we are getting what we deserve--in so many ways, so many places.

I'm not saying those poor people on that flight deserved to die. What I am saying is that the airlines are left with no choice but to cut service, slash maintenance, hire as cheaply as they can-- resulting in, predictably, poor service, long delays when planes are taken out of service on an emergency basis, and, well, incompetent personnel.

Who is forcing them into these choices?

We are.

The American consumer.

We have gotten to the place in this country where all we care about is price. Consumers should be making informed choices taking into account a whole host of factors--price among them. But we have stopped doing that.

Our short-sightedness has lead to airlines stripping down their industry because people base their traveling decision solely on the price of the ticket-- an extra $40? No way!

We base our clothing and sundry purchases solely on price-- in a throw-away society, who cares if the shirt is well made? Probably only going to wear it a few times anyway. Do we care if our clothes are made in China by slave labor? Not if it means a dress shirt for $14. American industries close? Screw 'em. I want a $99 color TV.

Our towns are devastated in hidden ways by the Walmarts and Home Depots of the world. We lose our businesses, our community leaders, our volunteers when store after store closes. But, hey, I can get a wrench for $3 less! Will it last? Who knows? Who cares? They're so cheap, I'll buy another! Do I care that the guy running the local hardware store sponsors Little League teams and particpates at the local senior center and hires local kids to work summers and actually knows his product line? Nope.

I don't have the answer. I'd like to wrap this situation up into my theory that the Boomers, no doubt the most selfish generation in American history, have continued to rip through our culture, debasing it in every way--and that the Walmart-ing of America is just another example of their me-me-me disdain and disregard of all things, well, American.

Is government control The Answer? Any time I even start to be lulled by that siren call, I look at my TV and see Pelosi & Reid and Frank, and, for that matter, Boehner and W, and FEMA and the SEC and...well, you get the point. These people can't run what's on their plate now--how can we possibly think for a second that they could really run an entire economy. That has never worked, anywhere, ever-- and it won't save us now.

What we probably need is a cultural shift--a shift to self-respect, to self-control, to accountablilty. And what are the chances of that?

Odd Day

It was just brought to my attention that today is Odd Day-- 5/7/09--and that Odd Days, where the dates are consecutive, happen only 6 times a century (01/03/05, 03/05/07, etc.).

Reminded me of an incident with my younger daughter--one of the first that gave us fair warning of the type of individual we were growing.

She must have been, I don't know, 3 or 4-- whatever the appropriate age is for kids to count.

Me: "Hey, Ali, can you count by twos?"
Her: "Sure, Dad!"
Me: "Let me hear it."
Her: "1, 3, 5, 7, 9..."

Who in the world counts by twos using the odd numbers?

It was a sign. I should have been better prepared for what came later, and, for that matter, what continues to come.

Odd Day, indeed.

Any Openings?

One of our local Democratic County legislators was arrested today on charges he failed to report, and pay taxes on, $226,000 of secret income he allegedly received from a contractor. The same legislator has had tax problems in the past.

Figure there is a Cabinet post left for him in the Obama Administration?

Jack Kemp, RIP

My GOP is going through some tough times-- not unlike the Dems did in the 1980's when Jack Kemp helped lead the Reagan Revolution. I have always been, and always will be a huge Jack Kemp fan. A decent, good, optimistic, upbeat, can-do man--full of big ideas and an effervescent enthusiasm in the delivery of those ideas.

Our party moved away from him, to the Bush family and the Southern Christians, and hence we have the problems of today. Long before it was fashionable, Kemp preached that the GOP should be the party of the working person--and he especially fought to bring a message of hope and individual accomplishment to minorities. He felt that conservative ideas--like school choice-- benefited poor and working families better in the long run than the socialist programs of the liberals. He was truly a big-tent Republican.

Our party chose, instead, to follow Bush and Rove, and pander to narrow-minded, one-issue target groups--and thus we have lost the Northeast, and in a time when more people now live in cities than anywhere else, we have lost metropolis'. Good for W--terrible for our party.

Kemp preached a different gospel--one where we help each other, regardless of race, creed, etc., because in helping others we make America stronger. Again and again I heard him say we need everyone on the team to be prepared and play well for the team to win--against businesses from other countries.

Kemp's vision of America included low and fair taxes; empowerment zones; individual freedom; and a commitment to helping others. It was a compelling vision--and our party would do well to revisit Jack Kemp's stands as we restructure the party.

From Jack Kemp:

There are no limits to our future if we don't put limits on our people.

There really has not been a strong Republican message to either the poor or the African American community at large.

Pro football gave me a good perspective. When I entered the political arena, I had already been booed, cheered, cut, sold, traded, and hung in effigy.

When people lack jobs, opportunity, and ownership of property they have little or no stake in their communities.

There is a kind of victory in good work, no matter how humble.

Every time in this century we've lowered the tax rates across the board, on employment, on saving, investment and risk-taking in this economy, revenues went up, not down.

Notary Public Enemy

My writing here has been a bit spotty. Some of that has to do with "news fatigue". Some of it with work being hectic, as I try to shoot the rapids of this recession.

And a good deal of it has been because of other writing I have been doing.

Thus far, in the last year or so, I have had 12 poems published--with 3 more accepted.

And now, my novel, Notary Public Enemy, has been accepted for publication!

Diversion Press, a new, small publisher in Tennessee, is going to publish my murder-mystery novel.

Peter De Stio is a fallen star litigator settling uneasily into a quiet life, one that no longer includes alcohol, marriage, family, or his partnership in a premiere law firm, when he is accused of a multimillion dollar bank fraud and murder. He can't account for his notary stamp and signature on forged deeds, and their relationship to the fraud that occurred while he was in the throes of an all-out alcohol-induced free fall.

Peter's old law school buddy, Joel Levine, has given him an office at his firm, an expense account, and a few newly employed "students", including a pretty, former Bronx assistant D.A., to train for Joel's firm. Thrust into the bank fraud and murder investigations, and wondering if the law is the right career for him, Peter dodges a disbarment proceeding, a civil suit, and a brutal beating with a crowbar to defend himself against the charges.

Though his instincts are to weather the crisis alone, he is forced to rely on others to help clear his name. It is through a network of young lawyers, a private investigator, old friends, satisfied clients and twin toddler nephews that Peter follows the trails left by the true conspirators to find the truth about who he is, and his path to redemption.

No date yet for launch--but I'll keep you all in the loop!

Happy Easter!

New York's New Stadia

The new Yankee Stadium and the Met's new CitiField are set to open.

Soon the new Giant/Jet stadium will replace the perfectly-good Giant Stadium in Jersey.

Taxpayer money and guarantees abound. Ticket prices have skyrocketed, meaning most taxpayers will no longer be able to afford to go--but that is merely supply and demand at work-- New York has about 20 million people in our "fan radius". We have two baseball teams and two football teams. At 10 million potential fans per team, we have the largest fan base, by far, of any major sports league city.

That said, two points about these stadia.

Phil Mushnick pointed out in a withering article in the NY Post, that the Roman Coliseum, built 2,000 years ago, had no obstructed seats.

Both of the new baseball stadia will have seats from which you can't see the whole field!

What Phil didn't mention was this: the Roman Coliseum had a retractable canvas awning that covered the top to shield patrons, sitting on white marble, from the glaring Roman sun. And it was designed to catch the breeze to cool fans--a form of early day air conditioning.

In other words, the Coliseum had a retractable roof. And provisions for fan comfort!

2,000 years later, here in New York, we will have baseball teams playing games in cold, wet April and May, and, hopefully, frigid late October/November, and football teams playing in miserable December, in the open air.

Three new stadia in New York.

Not one with a roof!

Meaning no SuperBowl. Meaning more 4 hour rain delays as baseball teams, heedless of fan comfort, try to jam in sold-out games without resorting to double-headers.

How ridiculous is that?

U.S. Civilian Corps.

Dan, in a comment to my post on Fargo, warned of creeping forced volunteerism by the Obama Administration.

This got me thinking of a conversation I had with my good friend Bruce, where I disputed that FDR's policies, in any way, ended the Depression. And it wasn't the massive spending for the War that did it either.

The Depression ended, or at least the unemployment caused by the Depression ended, when we took tens of millions of men out of the civilian workforce and gave them government jobs--with the Army, Navy, Marines and Army Air Corp.

So what about now? One way to take 3 million people out of the workforce, while simultaneously creating a huge force to build houses for the homeless, clean up parks and roadways, tutor failing children, man affordable day care centers, help at nursing homes and hospitals, run soup kitchens, coach kids' sports--and on, and on, is this-- "draft" every 18-22 year old in America for a year of Civilian Corps. Service.

Pay 'em a thousand a month. House them like an Army. Train them and use them to free up other local government assets, or do jobs we don't have the manpower or money to do.

Benefits?

It would make our kids grow up--too many are horribly immature upon college graduation.

It would pull newcomers out of the market, thus opening up jobs for people who have mortgages, bills, etc.

It could help kids become part of the larger American fabric, just like Army service does.

It could help ease government budget woes--and personal ones (for instance, free day care).

It could provide some useful training for those in specialties or without direction.

Cost? It you say $30,000 per for salary, housing, training, supervision, etc., we're talking $90 billion, or less than one-third of what we've spent on AIG.

Just a thought.

Police Outrage in Dallas

I would venture a guess that I support cops in about 98% of the controversies that hit the papers.

A few years ago, for example, my respect for Bruce Springsteen plummeted when he recorded that despicable, wholly biased, "41 Shots". I was at the Garden the night they recorded the song and I was one of many who sat silent. Springsteen made his money off of being the favorite of blue collar working Americans--and then has shoved it in their face in pursuit of a diseased liberal agenda.

That said, the cop who prevented the Houston Texan's running back Ryan Moats from seeing his dying mother-in-law should be fired--and it's too bad we don't publicly humiliate people anymore, like with the stocks or on a rail, because he deserves at least that, if not worse.

Check out this idiot. I can't tell whether race was involved, but I can tell you this is a person who shouldn't have any power or authority at all, over anyone or any thing. As did the police chief, I give the Moats' family huge credit for handling the situation much better than most of us would have.

Fargo Flood

I know this is a bit off the beaten track, but watching the coverage of the efforts to stave off flooding in Fargo, as the Red River rises to 41 feet, I was struck by two things:

First, there was a video of hundreds of people shoveling sand into sand bags. The reporter called the work "grueling". Sand was dumped in huge piles on the floor of an arena or stadium--then people were shoveling sand into white bags--and then hauling them, by hand, up and onto pickup trucks for transport to the river.

Why?

I cannot believe there isn't some kind of automatic-bag-filler available, together with engine-powered devices to lift the bags onto (and off of) the pickups. The process would have to be quicker, more efficient, and safer.

Sure, no town can be expected to buy and maintain that kind of equipment on the odd chance it might someday need it. But isn't that what FEMA should be doing? Wouldn't it make sense for FEMA to own and maintain that type of emergency equipment that could be airlifted in as needed?

And my second thought, as the reporter said the mayor had called for an additional 2,000 volunteers, was this--I've said it before, and I'll say it again-- I think we should have a standing, civilian, emergency corps to provide massive help in situations like floods, hurricanes. tornado-aftermaths, wild fires. A huge team of specialists who can help provide emergency manpower before and during a crisis, and help restore electricity and services in the immediate aftermath.

Sort of a civilian National Guard, but with personnel specifically trained to handle the challenges of natural disasters-- evacuations, sandbagging, firefighting, triage, provision of emergency shelter, power, etc.

The way we are reacting to these natural crises now is simply insane.

AIG Bonuses

AIG apparently paid over $140 million in bonuses to executives in the same unit that, in good measure, caused much of this financial meltdown.

Virtually everyone, left, right and center is outraged, and with good reason.

But, as with most of this mess, the fault lies as much, or more, with our elected officials than anyone else.

The Democratic Congress, at the request first of the Republican President and then his Democratic successor, has opened the treasury and thrown, indiscriminately, billions and billions of dollars, at economic conditions, both real and perceived, without any forethought whatsoever.

We can't do anything about the bonuses now. Too late. What should have happened was before any of the several bailout installments were given to AIG, the government should have demanded reforms--just like we conservatives have been calling for with the auto makers.

Everywhere you look, at every single one of these financial debacles, we see governement failures--on both sides of the aisle. The SEC, the Fed, the Treasury. Congress forcing banks to make bad loans, banking regulators not enforcing the few regulations remaining.

This is not a housing crisis.

This is not a banking crisis.

This is not a liquidity crisis.

This is a competency crisis.

I wrote early in the campaign that I wished one of the candidates would step forward and actually enforce the laws on the books--actually manage the governement. What we have seen, on virtually every level, is a lack of intelligence, forethought, managerial skill and plain old hard work. Our food and water are not safe; our kids' toys have lead. No one is enforcing the immigration laws (this is not a debate about what the laws should be--I'm simply saying that the laws that are there aren't being enforced.) Obviously the SEC is a joke. FEMA. Need I go on?

I think the economy came to a standstill in October, waiting for Obama to come in January with some answers--not solutions, but a setting of the new rules of the game. Unfortunately, his "team" stumbled badly, and so the crisis continues.

Competency. A competent warden of the public funds would have prevented AIG's bonuses, just like it would have placed restrictions on what the TARP money could be used for.

Competency. Is there any left in the U.S.?

Is anyone doing their job?

The Bottom?

OK, this will be one of those posts that, when I look back on it, I will think, my, wasn't I smart! or jeez, how dumb could I be?

I think we've hit bottom.

I think this economy is starting to turn around--that what we needed was to get past the election cycle, get past the unrelenting doom & gloom, and to re-set the economy.

I'm a referee for forclosures here in Nassau County. I get assigned a very, very small proportion of the forclosures here, but I am, about once a month, present during the every-Tuesday forclosure sales.

Go back about 2 years ago--very few forclosures made it to sale (the mortgages were either refinanced, or the house was sold privately. The ones that did make it to auction would regularly be bid on by the business people who specialize in buying forclosed houses. On very few occassions would the bank have to eat the house--that is, actually have to take the house back because no one bid more than the outstanding balance of the mortgae, late fees, etc.

The past 6 months? Virtually every house was bought by the bank. We would go through 40-50 sales with not a single private bid. Not one.

This past Tuesday? Of the 40 or so houses on the auction block, about 6 were bid on--a few very vigourously. Which means that the pros in the room think there is now a margin between the fair market value of the homes and the purchase price.

A small sign--and maybe a false one. But for the first time in a long time there was excitement in the room.

Now today's news brings the good tidings that January retail sales were up. Surprisingly up.

And, further, jobless claims were down.

Don't get me wrong--even if we've stopped the downward spiral, there are still waves of pain to be felt, and it could be a long time before the economy starts to grow again. But many conservative economists think that the stimulus bill is unnecessary, and possibly harmful. And if we are already starting to see signs of healing, then they may very well be correct.

We Needed This Guy?!?

President Obama and Congress insisted we needed Timothy Geithner, that no one else could engender the confidence of both Wall Street & Main Street needed in this turbulent market.

In fact, we needed him so bad, they overlooked his failure to pay more than $35,000 in taxes. So instead of going to jail, Geithner got to go to the Cabinet Room.

Then, like a kid with a term paper to do, he asks for an extra day--to put the final touches on his plan to save America.

Then he unveils the plan. Which turns out to have virtually no specifics.

The TARP announcement "was a huge disappointment," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital. "There's been an incredible buildup for weeks and then they release a plan that has little in the way of details."

And how does Wall Street react to the Junior Savior's plan?

The Dow plunges 382 points (although CNN, laughably, refers to it on their site as "tumbles", the difference being, I guess, is that if the President is Republican, and the market goes down almost 5%, it's a "crash", but if he is a Democrat it's "a small correction".

Seriously. This is The Guy? This is the plan to spend $350 billion dollars, money that has been available since October?

My brother and I, drunk, came up with a better plan Saturday night.