Quote of the day--on a higher minimum age

And to Wal-mart and every other fast food restaurant and retail store out there that's paying this sub-standard wage:

The smart, symbiotic relationship that used to be America

"For most of the last century, the basic bargain at the heart of the American economy was that employers paid their workers enough to buy what American employers were selling. That basic bargain created a virtuous cycle of higher living standards, more jobs, and better wages. Back in 1914, Henry Ford announced he was paying workers on his Model T assembly line $5 a day – three times what the typical factory employee earned at the time. The Wall Street Journal termed his action “an economic crime.” But Ford knew it was a cunning business move. The higher wage turned Ford’s auto workers into customers who could afford to buy Model T’s. In two years Ford’s profits more than doubled. That was then. Now, Ford Motor Company is paying its new hires half what it paid new employees a few years ago. The basic bargain is over – not only at Ford but all over the American economy. A basic bargain was once at the heart of the American economy. It recognized that average workers are also consumers and that their paychecks keep the economy going. We can’t have a healthy economy until that bargain is restored." --Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, writer, columnist. Link: http://robertreich.org/post/13469691304

Who's zoomin' who?

Okay, word today of a couple of things.

One, we keep hearing how the Republicans in the Senate are going to keep pushing for "concessions" on the bill to bail out the car companies.

The first thing that comes to mind is that this is what those pussy Democrats in both houses of Congress should have done when Hank Paulson and the White House came screaming out for 700 billion dollars, of all things, to help save the banks.

What hooey.

If ever we could have had concessions, it was then.

How about lose the company jets, Citigroup?

How about put in a maximum still-obscene multi-million dollar salary range for the executives?

How about losing the "credit swap" tool?

How about jettisoning "hedge funds", eventually but absolutely, since they just weaken our financial system and are, as I've said, a virtual "bet on a bet", since they're conjecturing on the position of where stocks are headed in the future?

There were all kinds of things that Congress could--and should--have demanded, since they supposedly wanted and badly needed tax money--and lots of it--to save their hides?

Pussies.

As I quoted my friend Bryce, "Republicans are evil; Democrats are retarded."

(No offense to the retarded).

Anyway, who's kidding whom here or, as Aretha Franklin so aptly put it: "Who's zoomin' who?"

Does ANYONE really think the Repugs are going to let the auto industry go bankrupt?

They'd better not.

There would be between 2 to 3+ million additional people AUTOMATICALLY out of work and on the street.

You don't think there wouldn't be some "revolution goin' on"?

Besides, they don't want that on their tombstone.

They're already so far down on the US public's popularity list, it'd be curtains, for sure.

It kills me that they're pushing so far and so hard on this.

It also gets me that people like Richard Shelby, a Southerner who has some foreign auto manufacturers in his backyard, ladies and gentlemen, would be allowed to weigh in on this.

He should absolutely recuse himself from this.

As hard as it is to believe, even though he's an American, and a representative of at least some Americans here in the States, that he'd tempt the fate of ruining both this industry and, possibly, the country, by letting this whole industry fail.

I'm no big fan of the American auto industry but hey, jobs are jobs, and we need 'em all right now.

Just now, even the White House has come out, pushing the Repug Party to accept this 14 billion dollar "loan"--or whatever you want to call it--for the Big 3 car makers.

Hey, what's a few more billion dollars to this President, right? He hasn't met money he hasn't wanted to spend yet.

Anyway, let's get over this whole "you gotta' give more concessions", crap, Senators.

The country's in a heck of a mess and, regrettably, this is something that needs to happen.

How far is this going?

And where do we say "stop!"?

Lehman Brothers' situation keeps getting worse and worse. They're going to start selling off portions of the company.

All well and good, right?

But I heard on the radio this morning (NPR, of course), that the government may have to go in and bail them out.

Sound familiar?

It seems we keep going through this again and again lately.

This on top of taking over 11 failed banks this year, so far, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Bear Stearns.

So next is Lehman Brothers?

Sure glad we're a capitalistic system, aren't you?

In the same radio story, it told of both former car giants Ford and GM going to the Feds to ask for "low interest loans", to get them through their rough spots--which they created, of course.

Holy cow.

Where does it stop?

At what point are we either going to say "enough!" or just give up and admit we're a socialistic country?

If we're going to do socialism and the government is going to own business, let's have them buy the health care and energy systems (oil, in particular) and call it a day.

THAT we'd benefit from.

But not cars--not the auto industry.

What kind of system are we running here, exactly?

News flash: we can't afford all of this.