Save the Auto Industry

While many Americans including yours truly did not want the gov't to bail the financial world out We do need to save the auto industry.

I am sure many disagree for very valid reasons but you are wrong in the long run and here is why.

For many years now we have let many industry's and jobs go to other country's and have devastated sections of the country with little care how it affected those people or the nation as a whole. The auto industry is different in many ways. If we do not bail these guys out the direct impact on Ohio and Michigan will leave these states virtual ghost towns. It will be completely impossible to find enough jobs in those states to cover the amount of people who will be unemployed. The revenue those states would lose will cause them to collapse. There are also the dealerships, parts manufacturers, the parts sellers, repair shops that would directly feel the collapse of the U.S. auto market. Of course there also the side business's that would be affected in those towns. It maybe the local barbershop, restaurant or retail store. It would be widespread in many communities and I think would cause the U.S. a major recession if not a depression.

Then you have this. Many people have been commenting of the years about the loss of manufacturing jobs in this country. How can so easily give up on the industry that built America.
If the auto industry had never happened in the U.S. we would not be the nation we are today in terms of size, strength or power. Those are the people who retooled their machines and helped build the planes, tanks, boats and other equipment in both World Wars. Without them we would be very different today. They helped rebuild the nation after WWII buying selling cars at affordable rates and the nation expanded. They were important to us as a nation. They helped us grow. We can not just give up on them.

The other thing to remember is that only 14% of the worlds population own vehicles at this point in history. There is much room for growth, just not in the United States. If we are to be a player in the world economy then we need these guys.

As the world grows and continues to become more closely tied together do we want to become a nation of consumers and not producers. As the world continues to grow new leaders are and will emerge. The country's that will rise towards the top will be the producers. They will have the power.

We must become a nation of manufacturing again.

To save the auto industry we will have to be tough on them. They did this to themselves by being arrogant, blind and just plain stupid. The labor costs are ridiculous. Here is an example,
my father had to buy an oil hose for his GM pickup. He went to the dealer and the price was $113.00. He decided to check the price at the auto parts store and it was $38.00. Well how does Detroit expect us to pay $113.00 when you can get the part for $38.00. Yes the quality may not be the same however the price difference is asinine. There is no good justification for that difference.

Here are some of my solutions before they get any bailout money. They may be tough in the beginning but will pay off in the end.

1. Cut 60% of all staff not directly associated with production.
2. Cut 20% of all production staff.
3. A five year hiring freeze unless they increase sales by 20%.
4. Cut production so there are only 14 days worth of inventory on the auto lots.
5. All vehicles will need a 5 year 100% bumper to bumper warranty.
6. Cut model production by 50%.
7. All models must be get 35 real world miles within 5 years.
8. All cars must be some version of a hybrid within 5 years.

My two pet peeves that should be addressed are these.

1. We want set prices on your cars. Most Americans dread buying cars because we have to dicker on the price. There should set and fair pricing on vehicles. The negation of vehicle pricing leaves the majority of us with a very bad taste in our mouths.

2. Stop with all the option bullshit. There some options that should come with every vehicle. They are am/fm radios with cd's and mp3 players. All vehicles should have front, side and rear air bags where applicable. All vehicles should have ac. All vehicles should have cruise control. All vehicles should have a basic GPS. All vehicles should have blue tooth capabilities. All vehicles should have power windows, locks and seats.

Currently you pick out one or two of these options and package them together and add thousands off dollars to the price of the vehicle, then you have more options for more money.
Make these items standard.

That is enough for now.

Thank you and have a good day.

Bailout This

We it looks like we are getting the short end of this from our leaders. We are not going to give money to people with failing mortgages now. I guess that means AIG can get more before they are sold or split into several companies. Nice job Mr. Paulson

We have the auto industry, American Express and others lining up to take their share of the billions being given away. Meanwhile working Americans are losing homes, losing their retirement savings and losing faith in our leaders everyday.

If the average American continues to lose their retirement savings we will not spend more money, we will save what we can from our "disposable income" to attempt to make up for losing retirement savings. Do our leaders not get this. Most likely not. Since very few of them have any connection to the average working citizen. Remember we did not want the bailout because just like the war in Iraq we rushed into this damm thing with no plan. Big surprise that the economy is getting worse.

All these leaders say that the "credit crunch" has nothing to do with the continued slide of the stock market. Really, do they actually believe this. I know many people who have pulled out because they could not stand the lose. I suspect that many people and investment houses are doing the same thing. If this "credit crisis" never happened the stock market would be fine.

All those companies that lend money to the average person are to blame for this. They gave easy credit and high credit card limits to people who did not actually qualify for those terms and they never looked back. So I say let them fail, be bought or file bankruptcy. No more money to these dirtbags. They are the ones who caused homes prices to get so out of control. Homes may be much lower than they were when people bought them however they were never worth that much in the first place. Easy credit drove that market to such extremes.

WAKE UP PEOPLE.

Veterans Day

Why is everything open on Veterans Day? It seems to me that it is a hollow tribute to our Veterans with everything being open. What do you think?

DHL you suck

You have to feel for the folks in Wilmington, Ohio. With the 9500 jobs that are being lost because DHL is closing you have to wonder how the town will survive. The economy will thin the herd this holiday season. I suspect there will be more companies that will go under because of mounting debt. Circuit City is on the verge again. They have already let 7500 people go and now they have filed bankruptcy. They will be next to go away. I do not see how they survive.

Obama will have to have a pretty aggressive plan to fix things and it will need to be enacted very fast. I wonder what the plan will mean for the everyday working family.

American Express has now become a bank in order to survive and AIG keeps sucking more money from the bailout plan. At some point we need to stop giving AIG so much money and split the company up. THey now have recieved over 150 billion. Seems a little much in my opinion.

Time to get back to work

Well its time to get out and start taking pictures. Since I am working on a few things so maybe I can have a show some time down the road I need to have a large variety of pictures to chose from. The weather is perfect, gas is at a decent price so I need to take advantage of this.

This picture is of smelting pots from the Bura Bura Mine in Ducktown, Tenn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burra_Burra_Mine_(United_States)

The Future is Here

Watching Barack give his speech last night was a pretty amazing event. For me it was amazing that we have elected some who speaks quietly, with conviction, determination and with a lot of thought. He is very good a measuring his speech and being able to rally people to his side.

What I find appealing is that he has been able to give many Americans a renewed sense of pride. He never seems to get rattled and he has an air of confidence about him that does not seem phony. He seems to want to listen, learn and use that in how he governs us as a country.

How many times in your lifetime have you seen a politician be able to stir up passions in people like he has been able to do.

I hope that Obama will be able to achieve what he sets out to do. It is not a smooth path that he is going down. I hope that America gives him a chance as the problems we face are many and the obstacles great. It will take time to repair what has been broken and we need to give him the chance to implement his programs. He is a very thoughtful individual and he will not rush into things looking for a quick fix. So give him a chance and you will see we have made the right choice.

Thank You

I just want to say THANK YOU to my fellow Americans. We have done the right thing today and for that we should be proud as a nation. This election will speak volumes around the world.

Nasty Ads

Wow, here we are on election morning and the nasty ads from the political action groups are hitting an all time high here in Tampa. It seems a little late for this tactic.

Tonight should be very telling on where we are going as a nation.

Good start

Well my week is off to a roaring start. I locked my key in my truck last night and it is the only key I have. The other key went missing some time ago. So now I am late for work and am messing around with getting the door unlocked.

Please tell me this the only bad thing that will happen this week.

Another nail in the coffin as I work my way down the corporate ladder.

Going down Da Nile

So I hear this morning the pundits and politicians talking about the election Tuesday and I heard the Republicans say some crazy things.

The Democrats are likely to gain several Senate seats and the Republicans are rightly nervous about losing control. So this morning the Republicans are saying, in the face of these losses, that the Democrats are running the most liberal candidates ever and they will tax and spend, redistribute your income and increase our dependence on foreign oil. We as Americans are going to vote for those candidates because your right wing, fear mongering, war raging, money grabbing, take care of the rich, candidates had no spine and voted down the line with George Bush and got the United States into this mess we are in right now. So you may not like what is going to happen to your party but if you had integrity as politicians you would have listened to your constituents over the last eight years and voted against Bush every so often and maybe things would be better for your side.

The other thing they are repeatedly saying is that Sarah Palin has not been a drag on the ticket.

I assume that your saying this to save face. There will be many people who will not vote for your candidates because Sarah Palin is in no way qualified to be President of the United States. You can spin this all you want but this is the truth.