Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Having been busy with work, the holiday season, and getting ready to move on to the next chapter of my life, I haven't had a too much time to post.

But during these cold winter nights, I think about those feeling despair, struggling to make it, and alone with no family. To those I offer a prayer for God's peace and blessing, that they may have hope and find support during this holiday season.

I end with the hope that everyone is able to experience the love all around us...

Senate Republicans want a Depression

I continue to be amazed at the idiocy of Senate Republicans. How eager they are to stand on principle and bloviate in front of reporters and television on why they couldn't in consciousness vote for the Auto Bailout.

First we need to recognize that we are NOT talking about a bailout. What we are talking about is a LOAN of significant amount to the Auto Industry, not just free money. This has already been done in 1980 when the US Government provided a loan to Chrysler, which enabled Lee Ioccoca to turn Chrysler around with the introduction of the K Car and the mini-van. With the revival of Chrysler, and the investments made, they were able to repay the loan back to the US Government with interest.

Secondly, while there are many problems within the Auto Industry brought about by poor decision making, lack of vision and strategy, and poor brand management, we need to recognize that part of the sudden downfall of the Big 3 has been due to the poor economic environment and market forces that created a perfect storm in an industry unable to react quickly.

The idea that the Auto Industry can react to market forces with lightening speed is ridiculous. We are talking about a heavy manufacturing industry that produces durable goods, you can not change production lines and factories with a switch of a lever. Moreover, what's even more idiotic is the idea that the auto industry can operate as a bankrupt company with restructuring as many opponents to the bailout loan are suggesting. Unlike the Airline Industry, the auto industry produces a durable good that most consumers keep for on average 7 to 10 years. An Airline ticket is a cheap service that is quickly consumed on a single use. Studies have been conducted, and it is clear that consumers will NOT take the risk to purchase a vehicle from a company that has been bankrupt.

While it's recognized that many changes need to come about in terms of the strategy, brand management, and operations within the Auto Industry, it's also clear that in order to bring these changes about, the Big 3 need capital to restructure.

What the Senate Republicans did by failing to provide the Big 3 with this loan is light a match that could implode the American Economy, resulting in the next Depression, because of their irrational dislike of Unions.

The idea that it is Unions that are at the heart of the problems of the auto industry and failure for resolution on the bailout loan is completely ludicrous. The only ones to blame are the peopel who voted against it - pure and simple. The UAW had made significant concessions; understanding that their whole future and industry was at stake. Furthermore, this constant lie being reported by the media and Congress on the idea of the $70/hour wage that American Union Autoworkers make is so blatantly false and irresponsible.

The Union Auto Workers do NOT make that much per hour, otherwise we would certainly be seeing a much better economy! Union Auto makers make on average $28/hour. The $70/hour that continues to be falsely bandied about is a COST to the company NOT THE WAGE! What the Auto Industry has done is totaled the entire COST wages + benefits for all current workers, IN ADDITION to ALL retired workers, and divided by ONLY current workers. As a result, not only are we reporting a false number to the American Public, but the American public and the Media are too stupid to understand the difference between wage and cost. Wage being the take home pay, and the cost being a more expansive number to a company. If this is the new standard for reporting income, should we change the federal income tax code to reflect this new definition?

Furthermore, when will we stop demonizing unions? It is because of unions that we have safer work places, child labor laws, and equitable pay. Do unions also have their problems? Sure, but let's not forget the good that they also bring. I would argue just as fiercely that the myth that "unions are the reason for the downfall of business" is just as ridiculous a generalization as the myth that "big business is just out to screw the worker".

Let's be clear, if the auto industry fails, we are talking an impact of potentially up to 3 million jobs and a reduction of $150.7 BILLION dollars in Personal Income within one year. This is a significant impact to the economy. This will have a huge multiplier effect on consumption and demand for goods and services. Think of the impact of the loss in income on other durable goods such as homes, appliances, clothing, and electronics. Outside of direct personal income, the failure of the Auto Industry would also impact their suppliers and vendors, who would in turn see a contracting of their business.

You can expect a knock on effect not only on the retail and service industry, but the US Government! Expect the government deficit to grow even bigger due to more payouts on unemployment and health care costs for the uninsured, along with lower tax revenues. The cost to the US government and the economy will be MUCH bigger than the $34 Billion dollars for the Auto bailout loans that were originally suggested.

We simply can not let an entire industry to disappear overnight without a plan to modernize and transition to a new industry.

There is MORE at stake than just an auto worker and auto industry. Anyone who thinks that we should just let the market forces work and let them fail, are totally shortsighted in understanding the complete impact and devastation it would have on the American Economy as a whole.

If the Auto Industry dies and the US economy spirals out of control, let's be clear, while there will be plenty to go around for blame on the mismanagement of the auto industry, the final implosion can solely be laid at the feet of the moronic and irresponsible Senate Republicans who voted against this measure, simply to assuage their ideology.

Goofus vs. Gallant

Barack Obama announced on Sunday, that he was going to appoint General Eric Shinseki as the Secretary of Veteran Affairs. This was a selection that was widely praised by all, in particular those in the military.

In the run-up to war in Iraq in early 2003, General Eric Shinseki testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee that it would take "several hundred thousand soldiers" to secure Iraq:

I would say that what's been mobilized to this point, something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers, are probably, you know, a figure that would be required. We're talking about post-hostilities control over a piece of geography that's fairly significant with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems.

Just two days later -- and exactly five years ago today -- then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, swiftly and infamously dismissed Shinseki's assessment.

Obama's transition continues to develop at a steady and competent manner:

Mr. Obama is moving more quickly to fill his administration’s top ranks than any newly elected president in modern times. He has named virtually the entire top echelon of his White House staff and nearly half of his cabinet. Just a month after his election, Mr. Obama has announced his selections for 13 of the 24 most important positions in a new administration.

By comparison, Bill Clinton had filled only one of those jobs by this point in his transition, and Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan only two. Even the elder George Bush, who had the advantage of succeeding a fellow Republican, had picked just eight a month after his election. George W. Bush, stalled by the Florida recount, had named a chief of staff at this point in 2000 but was waiting to find out if he would even become president.

Furthermore, the latest Gallup Poll has 78% of Americans approving of Obama's handling of his transition and his Cabinet picks.

John Stewart provides a humorous comparison between Bush and Obama, with a nod to the Goofus vs. Gallant comparison. For those who are old enough, this was a staple of the Highlight Magazines which taught kids between good vs poor behavior by example in a cartoon. I remembered reading these magazines at the dentists office when I was little!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - President Goofus and President Gallant

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

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A Remarkable Athlete

As my friends and family can attest, I know nothing about sports, and in particular football.

However, I read with great interest a profile that Time Magazine did on Myron Rolle, an imposing 6'2 college football player for Florida State. What make Myron so special is that not only does he have athletic talent, but he's also a gifted student.

On Nov. 22, the Seminoles' safety jetted off to Birmingham, Ala., where he sat for a final interview for the Rhodes Scholarship, generally viewed as the country's most prestigious. After learning he was one of the 32 student-athletes in the country to earn the honor — and with it, two years of study at England's vaunted Oxford University — Rolle flew to College Park, Md., joined his teammates late in the second quarter and helped Florida State to a pivotal win over the Maryland.

The part that caught my attention was his response when asked about breaking the stereotype of an academic athlete.

The focus on academics and athletics started in grade school. My parents always put a high premium on academics, and I was always good at athletics. For high school, I went to the Hun School in Princeton, N.J., which is a very challenging boarding school, where I got more practice at balancing the two.

I found it interesting that while access to good schools was important, it always starts with individual responsibility and support from parents.

He'll have an exciting decision to make whether to take this opportunity to study abroad, or play in the NFL. Fortunately for Myron, he has a role model who he can look to for advice in Bill Bradley, who an addition to being a Rhodes Scholar himself, had a career in the NBA and in politics.

Sign of the times

Friday's jobless numbers reporting an additional loss of 533,000 jobs for the month of November continues to pummel the stock market, and brings great concern on the state of the economy. While the current unemployment rate is at 6.7%, the real unemployment rate is most likely much higher, as it does not take into consideration those who have simply given up looking for work.

The unemployment rate has been made less meaningful by the long-term rise in dropouts from the labor force. The simple percentage of people without jobs — including retirees, stay-at-home parents and discouraged would-be job seekers — can also be misleading, though. It has dropped in recent decades mainly because of the influx of women into the work force, not because the job market is fundamentally healthier than it used to be.

The Labor Department does publish an alternate measure of unemployment, which counts part-time workers who want full-time work, as well as anyone who has looked for work in the last year. (The official rate includes only people who told a government surveyor that they had looked in the last four weeks.)

This alternate measure rose to 12.5 percent in November. That is the highest level since the government began calculating the measure in 1994.

Perhaps the best historical measure of the job market, however, is the one set by the market itself: pay.

During the economic expansion that lasted from 2001 until December 2007, when the recession began, incomes for most households barely outpaced inflation. It was the weakest income growth in any expansion since World War II.

One person who has not, is Paul Nawrocki, who's taken to standing in the streets looking for work.

Paul Nawrocki says he's beyond the point where he cares about humiliation. That's why he weekly takes a 90-minute train ride to New York, where he walks the streets wearing a sandwich board that advertises his plight: The former toy-industry executive needs a job.

"Almost homeless," reads the sign. "Looking for employment. Very experienced operations and administration manager."

Wearing a suit and tie under the sign, Nawrocki -- who was in the toy industry 36 years before being laid off in February -- stands on Manhattan corners for hours, hoping to pass resumes to interested passers-by.

"When you're out of work and you face having nothing -- I mean, having no income -- pride doesn't mean anything," Nawrocki said. "You need to find work. I have to take care of my family."

This is just another example of the results of eight years of failed economic policies by the Bush Presidency and the Republican controlled Congress.

Republicans may excel at telling lies and using Rove Style politics to get elected, but it's pretty clear that they fail at governing. It's been demonstrated that both the Stock market and the economy performs much better under a Democratic President, as opposed to a Republican President.

President Bush's multitrillion-dollar tax cuts, which were strongly tilted toward the rich, could not prevent (and may even have contributed to) significant job losses. On the other hand, when Bill Clinton raised taxes on affluent people to balance the federal budget (while significantly expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for working poor people), unemployment declined substantially. Under Clinton's watch, 22 million jobs were created.

Prefer a broader historical comparison? In the past three decades, since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries oil price shocks of the mid-1970s and the Republican turn toward "supply side" economics, the average unemployment rate under Republican presidents has been 6.7 percent – substantially higher than the 5.5 percent average under Democratic presidents. (The official unemployment rate takes no account of people who have given up looking for work or taken substantial pay cuts to stay in the labor force.) Over an even broader time period, since the late 1940s, unemployment has averaged 4.8 percent under Democratic presidents but 6.3 percent – almost one-third higher – under Republican presidents.

Lower unemployment under Democratic presidents has contributed substantially to the real incomes of middle-class and working poor families. Job losses hurt everyone – not just those without work. In fact, every percentage point of unemployment has the effect of reducing middle-class income growth by about $300 per family per year. And the effects are long term, unlike the temporary boost in income from a stimulus check. Compounded over an eight-year period, a persistent one-point difference in unemployment is worth about $10,000 to a middle-class family. The dollar values are smaller for working poor families, but in relative terms their incomes are even more sensitive to unemployment. In contrast, income growth for affluent people is much more sensitive to inflation, which has been a perennial target of Republican economic policies.

Obama's inauguration can't come fast enough.