A Hazy Shade of Winter

We all have our faults in life. At my worst I have been called too frugal, too lazy, too immature, et cetera. I’m far from perfect and I will be the first to admit that. One thing I have always tried not to be is a man who cannot admit when he is wrong. Stubbornness is a huge problem. Regarding politics, the hubris of some politicians retards the advancement of positive ideas which can help America. I think I may have been wrong a week ago when I wrote that the government should not bail out the auto industry. After I posted that on my blog, I received several emails and one particular phone call that appear to have made me do a reversal… I flip-flopped. My bottom line came down to what is good for John Fidler is good for America. Meaning, what is good for a middle class hard working American is good for everybody. My initial thesis was that spending $50 billion of taxpayers’ money was a waste of money. My basic reason for reversing my stance is it will cost the taxpayers’ more if the big three (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) collapse. I did a bit of research on the subject. Right now General Motors has 120,000 American workers, Ford has 80,000 and Chrysler has 60,000 employees. If you take into account the Big Three’s dealerships, we are looking at another 740,000 American workers. If you add that up, we are looking at one million American jobs that are tied to the big three. That does not include the 1.6 million Americans who work at jobs that are tied to the big three (parts distributors, tires, metal, et cetera). That number is according to CNN. The Big Three is losing about a billion dollars a month. If they are not helped out, they will all go out of business by the end of 2009. The personal income of all of the Big Three employees equals $150 billion per year. (Please note that I got that statistic from General Motors website; please take with a grain of salt.) There is more grim news. About two million Americans have health insurance from the Big Three. If they go out of business, many of those families will be uninsured. Also, there would be enormous losses to the American economy with huge losses in the media, and whole towns would collapse if the Big Three were to shut down. Modern day ghost town would arise, primarily in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania that will look similar to former mining towns. Think of how much the government would have to spend in additional welfare and unemployment benefits. As I said before, I truly believe I was incorrect in saying that we should just let the auto-industry fail. We should help them out but with conditions. The Big Three are basically at the mercy of the U.S. government. We must be firm but fair with them. We must demand that they put an immediate halt to gas guzzlers and instead spend their time and money on fuel efficient hybrids and plug in cars. You can’t tell me the demand isn’t there. The waiting list for Toyota Priuses is about half a year. Toyota can’t make enough of them to satisfy America’s needs. Why don’t the American car companies have an answer to the Prius? Critics say that Americans love trucks and SUVs too much and they always will. That’s their right. There are many fuel efficient trucks and SUV’s. I have a co-worker who drives a hybrid Jeep. If I were the president I would demand that all future trucks and SUVs be hybrid. This way the people who love their big, loud, trucks can be happy because they can still drive their hogs and America would win by reducing our carbon footprint. There is much more that would need to have happen. The government on behalf of the Big Three would have to sue the United Auto Workers regarding the ridiculous pay, and retirement benefits that are bankrupting them. My bottom line is that there is a scenario that everybody can win. This is the first step for President elect Obama and his next administration. I will be watching carefully.

1. Chicken Florentine is back at Subway. In case you don’t remember, I became a bit obsessed with this delicious sub. I would say I was averaging about four a week this past Spring. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Florentine is only available for a limited time. Maybe they will continually tease me like McDonald’s does with their McRib sandwich. Damnit McDonald’s! Make it a permanent member of your menu instead of offering it once a year for a few weeks. That also goes for your shamrock shake.

2. 52,000 jobs to be cut at Citigroup. Biggest layoff since 1993 when IBM laid off 60,000. Their shares have gone from $32 - $8 in a matter of months. Just another sad day for the economy. Surprise surprise, the stock market plunges after seeing that news.

3. I am very disappointed in the Democrats in office. Not only did they not throw Joe Lieberman out of the Democrat caucus, they allowed him to remain chair of the Homeland Security committee – maybe the most powerful chair in all of the senate (minus the allocation committee). The spineless democrats, led by their idiotic leader, Harry Reid, said that we Democrats can be manipulated and walked upon without any repercussion as long as you apologize. Let me be the first to ask Senator Harry Reid, the senior Democrat from Nevada, to step down from his senate majority post as soon as possible. A recent poll of Democrats I read showed that only 15% of self-described Democrats say Harry Reid is doing a good job as Senate Majority leader.

4. It is amazing if you think about it. Just a few months ago, Sarah Palin was an unknown Governor from outside the continental United States and now she is reportedly being offered $7,000,000 for her autobiography.