Dream Big: Saving the US economy
Now that Obama has gotten his federal aid / bailout package passed the House and is now headed for the Senate it makes me wonder if it will actually work. Sure there are provisions for building schools, roads, upgrading housing as well as provisions for decreasing our dependence on foreign oil. But, there is a big problem in my opinion. There is no far reaching goal. What America needs are some goals that seem impossible along with ones that are easily achievable.
What I'd like to see are large scale forward-thinking projects that can put all Americans to work now and secure our future as a leader. These are a few off the top of my head I'd like to see:
- Creating and updating the United States infrastructure. Start by repairing and fixing the interstates while making provisions for high-speed rail to connect major cities.
- Laying fiber-optics for broadband to all the US. For as large and as powerful as the US is, we have a far lower penetration of broadband than many other nations. Sure some of it is due to the fact the US is a large nation, but that shouldn't stop us. Lets prepare the nation for the next generation of technologies, copper wire is outdated.
- A manned mission to Mars. There are numerous obstacles to send people to Mars but we've already shown that we can put people on the Moon. Lets show the world that American ingenuity can put people on Mars safely. And bring them back as well.
Sure, these projects sound impossible, but that is what they said about flying, putting people on the moon and even gaining our independence. We are the land where dreams can come true and we, as Americans, need to prove it again.
So what do you, my readers (if any) think? Am I completely off my rocker, sane, or somewhere in-between?
Musings on Unions
You might not have ever heard of Checker Motors. They used to make the Taxis until 1982 at which point they turned into a parts supplier for the Big 3 in Detroit. They've been soldiering along pressing out body panels until recently (of course you knew this part was coming) when the economy began to hit the Big 3 hard it hit Checker Motors just as hard. Then add in the unions clamoring for a new contract. Well, labor costs and material costs have caught up with them and they are filing for Chapter 11. An interesting aspect of their filing was this (from Autoblog):
Escalating raw material prices and dwindling sales for their customers' products were cited as the main reasons for the filing, but another big reason was labor costs. It's reported that a deal with unionized labor couldn't be reached even after a year of negotiations.
Which leads me to wonder, at what point (if any) did the workers say or think: "Unions, lets make some consessions since having a job with less perks is better than no job at all." ?
The Most 50 Loathsome People in America in 2008
I rarely write about politics because no one is ever happy about it - even in humor. However, this article was interesting enough in which they rant and rave about people they dislike in the political arena. I don't know if I totally agree with all the picks, but hey it comes from a satircal website so take it for what it is worth. 
A company doing something right
Normally, when a company is sold, the owners take all the money and leave their employees with the company and an uncertain future. Peer Bearing Co., a ball bearing manufacturer, 40 miles north of Chicago did it differently, they took the money they made on the sale and gave 5 figure bonuses to the employees.
AIG still giving cash bonuses..
Color me surprised... not. As if AIG wasn't in enough trouble given their current predicament, this surfaces:
...the insurer that said yesterday it scrapped bonuses for top executives after a U.S. bailout, will still pay 130 managers “cash awards” to stay with the firm, including $3 million to retirement services chief Jay Wintrob.
Now a company that is drowning in red ink and was thrown money by Congress (who should have tied some strings to the money) is wasting it like they did the rest of their cash. Am I surprised? Not really. Congress and the rest of the government should have stopped and thought about what they were doing instead of being all Chicken Little and throwing the money into a hole.
Something to think about
"We had a bad banking situation. Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people's funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans. ... It was the government's job to straighten out this situation and do it as quickly as possible, and the job is being performed."
FDR, March 1933