I am not saying the worker should get screwed. As I point out, the investor will also get screwed, the bank will get screwed as well. The Japanese auto maker pay average of $48 hr and US auto maker pay average of $70 hr. The Japanese auto maker don’t have to deal with contract obligation like the US auto maker does. I had experienced pay cut and benefit reduction in the past to save jobs in our union in hard times. Isn’t this one of the times for the union to actually help themselves by helping the auto makers? Isn’t it better than for millions to lose their job?

The pay of US auto makers forced them to go the big car big gas guzzle route. Normal car for 20k or less have a lower profit margin and after paying dealers and overhead, it’s not profitable. The big car, truck and SUV that sell for 30k or more is where their profit came from. The high gas price all but killed them. Should they had made better cars? Yes. Can they do so and remain profitable? No. They could still do it, but not under so much dead weight. I mean, $30-40 hr with benefit is pretty dam good pay for most people, don’t you think? I never make that much from my job. I had to create wealth some other way.

Also, if you consider the weight and velocity ratio of cars, American car is safer, but lower gas mileage. I had always loved American cars and EU cars. I never liked Japanese cars. Quality of US cars had improved a lot in the last few years also.

Why, when we scream about the high price of cars, do we focus on the wages of labor? What about the salaries of management? As I recall, when Congress was debating the Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, businesses complained, letting workers take this time off would make American business even less competitive than it already is. I remember thinking, why isn’t anyone screaming, less competitive against whom? The Japanese, who already have such leave, but which is PAID, because they build better cars (read, safer with higher gas mileage) and pay their executives less in relation to their line workers?

Supply-side economics has turned the whole damn process unnaturally on its head. The idea of bailing out the financial industry and failing corporations–of cutting taxes for the wealthy rather than for the working and middle class–is just more of the same thinking that created the current situation in the first place.

I realize that’s an oversimplification, but I think there’s some fundamental truth there.

I am not sure the government should bail out the auto makers. If allowed to file chapter 11, they will be able to reorganize and renegotiate their debt, union contract(which is killing them right now, by paying 40% more than the Japanese auto makers), and bring in new investment once they emerge from it. Granted, the investors will loose, but is not like their stock worth anything. What the dems are doing is just a pay back to their union backers. Making an average of $70 hr amount to 140k a year for average GM salary, rich by BO definition!!

Also, in light of all the gloom and doom, there are some good news in your report card.

The 10 yr tsy is down below 3.2 today. It means cheaper long term mortgage for those who need to refi or buy homes(40-50% off in some markets), and lessen the foreclosure impact. It also means stronger dollar. Combine that with oil below $50, means more buying power by the average people. I was able to fill up my tank for less than $40 for the first time in many months(used to be $80). All the government need to do is to instill some confident in consumers (like the tax you mention and use the dam bailout to buy toxic asset instead of buying stocks in the banks and enrich the bankers, for crying out loud).

I guess the question now is: when does the critical mass come to awareness of this reality?

Thank you for the great info and insights. I wish I could discuss it intelligently at this point, but I seem to be experiencing a deer in the headlights moment. The disconnect that I see going on in relation to this melt down, is eerily similar to the election. I don’t get it. The wild eyed fear has lessened, anger (at all things Bush and republican) has increased but behavior (in buying habits) is unchanged. Maybe they are just waiting for the magic of the Obama presidency.

Stop the Obama Constitutional Crisis Sign the Petition : 109,490 Letters and Emails Sent So Far

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution reads: “No Person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.”

There are numerous questions as to Obama’s citizen status raising suspicion and doubt about Obama constitutional qualification to be president. To settle these questions Mr. Obama must produce proof of citizenship!

Documents that must be produced include;
(a) a certified copy of “vault” (original long version) birth certificate;
(b) certified copies of all reissued and sealed birth certificates in the names Barack Hussein Obama, Barry Soetoro, Barry Obama, Barack Dunham and Barry Dunham;
(c) a certified copy Certification of Citizenship;
(d) a certified copy Oath of Allegiance taken upon age of maturity;
(e) certified copies of admission forms for Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law School; and
(f) certified copies of any court orders or legal documents changing his name from Barry Soetoro.

It is reasonable that these documents should be produced considering that his father is Kenyan, his adoptive father is Indonesian, and his grandmother claims to have been present at his birth in Kenya. If he is a natural born citizen then producing these documents should not be any problem.

These allegations will not go away until Mr. Obama produces proof to federal authorities and the public. If he will not do so voluntarily he must be compelled by every means available. You, as an employee of The People, have sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution.

We The People are demanding you to make every effort, both public and private, to resolve this fundamental Constitutional question before 20 January.
————————

http://www.rallycongress.com/constitutional-qualification/1244/

Please take the time to think long and hard about the vote for President. The eviedence as I see it is strong proof that Obama should not be President, he can not legally be so. Until and unless he complies with the lawsuits and submits the required information and it is verified as per the lawsuits. It is hasn’t even been proven that he was vetted by the Democratic Party.

From my research, and the evidence that I have seen on Attny Bergs site, we very well could be in grave danger if Obama is made president. I am not sure we aren’t already being put in jeapordy by the amount of top secret information being given to him at this point.

Another thing you need to consider, if you or I had any association with Bill Ayers, and others that Obama has associated himself with, not to mention his family ties to terrorists in Kenya, (his cousin is up on charges for genecide in regards to terrorist actions) would we get security clearance with the FBI? I don’t think so. So how is it that he has access to all this top secret information?

Something else that you might consider, everytime it looked as if Senator McCain was closing in on Obama in the polls the stock market would gain ground, especially the days prior to and including election day the market was climbing. The day after and ever since the markets have plunged downward. This is an indication that the people are not comfortable with the future of our country with the outcome of the election.
In the past when the election was over the markets pretty much became stable, that is not the case this time. I do believe had the outcome been a McCain/Palin win, we would not be seeing the constant down turn we are seeing now.

There are people like my mom that has 1/2 to 3/4 of their retirement tied up with the stock market. When my dad died, she had no clue about the market, she still doesn’t, she thinks it will recover because it has in the past. She will not live long enough to see it come back. I tried to get her to pull out a long time ago, at least most of it but she thought it was safe because it is where dad put it, but as I explained to her he is not here to control it. If this market keeps going she will be wiped out.
How many other elderly people are in this boat? You have the ability to stop the bleeding if your vote were to go McCain/Palin because America has more faith in that ticket.

There is evidence coming out that a lot of people that voted for Obama did so for other reasons than he is best for the job. Fox News interviewed some people that voted for Obama, when asked about his policies couldn’t tell you one, when asked what they new about McCain/Palin they could tell some of the negative press, when asked what good things Obama would do, they had no answers.

There was a radio personality, Howard Stern, who had someone on his staff go to Harlem to ask people who they were voting for and most said Obama, when asked if it was by race they said no. (This was a test to see how much these people new about the candidate they were voting for.) However, when they were asked about his running mate Sarah Palin they thought she was a great choice, when asked about his policy to stay in Iraq until the job was finished and Iraq is stable, they agreed we must do that. We all know that that Sarah was Senator McCains running mate, and staying in Iraq was Senator McCains plan.

There were people interviewed after Obama rallies and leaving the polling places that were elated because they said they will never have to pay for rent/mortgages, groceries, or gasoline ever again. Did I miss something, I never heard that. Can you imagine the riots that will ensue when these people realized that is not the case. These people will be out for his hide.

I have already hear of people already refusing to pay rent because he won the election on Nov. 4, saying they no longer have to because Obama won.

Something that came out just days before the elections, was a statement from Barnie Frank, saying that when Obama gets in office, all IRA’s, 401K’s and Pensions that are still out there will be mandated to go into the Social Security Fund. If this happens you will have even more of a Riot from those who have these. This is our retirement, we worked hard to earn, and save these benefits and we are suppose to put these into a fund that these people can squander. IRA’s and 40lK’s are basically retirement savings accounts, as such we can make our children beneficiaries of these upon our death. In the SS fund they are lost to our heirs.

One more thing that you should take into consideration. The popular vote that came out in Obamas favor, how much of it was due to illegal votes, voter fraud? I have never seen such nonsense be over looked by the Supreme Court, there were over 30,000 cases in just two counties alone caught before Nov 4 in Indiana, there were over 15,000 and counting in WI when the task force was pulled off the case, we know there was voter fraud in OH that the Supreme Court refused to have cleared up. If you add those numbers up over the number of counties per state, then multiply that by number of states, can you imagine just how many fraudulent votes were in the system.
The Supreme Court already made a decision to ignore our Constitutional Rights, they refused to get to the truth.

I will take it one step further, I saw a video on Fox News where (Sen.) Maxine Waters
(CA) pleading with ACORN, at an ACORN Rally, to make sure Obama wins no matter what they have to do. This adds more doubt to the credibility of the legitimacy of the new voters that voted in this election. We know there were ACORN registration problems in just about every state. Lets not forget that some of these workers were trained by Obama, and his campaign gave them a sustantial payment, purpose is questionable. Until this year I don’t ever recall hearing about this organization.

There is a lot at stake. Your decision is probably the most important one you have made to this point. Our lives, our futures, our retirement savings, our childrens futures, the security of our country, and much more are all in your hands, the vote you are about to make will shape the future of this country. If you make the wrong choice, there may not be anyway to turn it around in 4 years. An election in 4 years may be too late to reverse the damage done. Will you be able to live with yourselves if the evidence that Attorneys of the 70 lawsuits has is in fact the real truth, and you vote for him anyway. We are asking you not to ignore the peoples plea to do the right thing, protect us and our Constitution.
I would ask that you take time to read the eveidence in Bergs case at obamacrimes.com, a part of that is about the Constitution and the ramifications if the person elected to office that is not an Natural American Citizen. The part where he would not be eligiable to be Commander in Chief, that the military taking orders from him could be brought up on war crimes. There are other very important problems that would also arise.

this is an outrage i cant even find ajob as a truck driver because of a minor accident in my past records and this fraud obama is president elect whos in charge of checking backrounds for the highest office in the land this is a conspiracy to get him in evil forces are at work wake up america!

http://www.rallycongress.com/constitutional-qualification/1244/

AS WELL CONTRACT YOUR ELECTROL VOITES COLLEGES AND ASK THEN NOT DO A THING TILL Barack M H Obama shows the documents and let them no court cases are pending

(((HUGS))) to you, LD!

I love the “get it in writing” advice….not that laws, rules, promises or contracts (we did sign a contract promising our funds are secured….I’m sure Enron employees did too though! ) have ANY meaning these days.

Here is what I would recommend.
Call the administrator of the fund and find out the following:

1. Who’s credit risk are you taking by leaving your money in the fund? State of Illinois?

2. Who is administering/servicing the fund? Even if you do not have the credit risk of the administrator what happens if that entity had liquidity/solvency problems.

3. How is the money invested in the 529? Who chooses those investments?

4. While your tuition costs are fixed, are your assets properly matched against those liabilities?

I would make sure that you speak to a “professional” and get it in writing or get documentation.

Hope this helps.

LD

Neither Paulson nor Congress nor anybody in Washington or Wall St will tell you that the system has trillions in embedded losses but they do and our markets know it and are showing it by their prices.

There is the sad fact. We, the tax payers, will be bankrupted by trying to bail out the geniuses who built this financial Ponzi scheme. Yet those who benefit own congress and the new potus, so they will pretend and continue to shovel dollars to those too big to fail. No accountability. That is the problem. Too many people now realize how utterly corrupt our system has become. At it’s root, money is based on faith. Washington and Wall do not deserve our faith, and they do not have it.

reward PENNY PRTIZGER with COMMERCE SECRETARY … WTF

My thought exactly. It will be interesting to see if P. Fitzgeralds investigations will continue with so many from the “Chicago way” moving to the whitehouse.

one definition of audacity is insolence…