Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Sidetrack

Thanks for stopping by. I will be publishing at this site for the next several weeks.  The reasons are clear to me.  I have only so much time to write about current events in  health care  and financial and global economic world events.   I've been doing some research on the history of post world war II global economics which I would like to share with all of you, especially Baby Boomers and beyond.  American and World history have taken a back seat in public schools

so that no child will be left behind. Reading, Riting, and  rythmitic  (the three Rs) that were essentials prior to no child left behind are the focus of annual examinations for elementary school and middle school as well as high school young people.  With the feds stepping in to mandate federal subsidies the states must produce increasing test score results, or else....Any teacher or administrator with a hair brain knows full well that their students had better improve their scores, which do not reflect true learning or the ability to comprehend  information.

Our federal government is now immersed in post election rhetoric, transition planning, minimizing terrorist threats,a global as well as United States financial crisis, and probably many things that are not on the radar.

We have heard a number of causes of the turmoil. Most sources tell us it was the subprime mortgage debacle which led to this crisis.  This is a visible scapegoat, but in the overall scheme of things this portion of the financial market is miniscule.  The rapidly falling dominoes

 

of the investment banks, which has still not completely evolved is more than a hint that there have been much more hidden fundamental weaknesses in our system. For some time we have run on empty fumes and the engine has finally coughed it's last, begging for an overhaul, not just a filling of the tank, which will be burned even faster by an engine that has leaky valves, worn out bearings, a leaky cooling system, and a nearly defunct transmission.  A healthy financial system would tolerate and absorb this blip, if one cylinder misfired now and then.

So all these experts are not really expert or we have been lied to by more than a few people, acting in their own self-interest.

The automobile industry in the U.S. has been dysfunctional for many years  It has had more than 25 years to re-tool and begin building more efficient and better engineered vehicles.  The Japanese and Germans have been at this for over 30 years. The U.S.. automakers have dragged their feet, waiting only until government regulations, timetables, and mandates become the law until they move forward.  This has been a fundamental disregard for the welfare of the buying public.  The very public that Detroit wants to 'bail them out'.

There are many jobs at stake...The UAW wishes to operate like it was 1950 with guarrantees that few Americans enjoy.  The automobile industry is bankrupt, buoyed by a recent bailout that is short lived.  Most of the public feel the giants should be dealt with accordingly with  the current financial mechanism of bankruptcy which work well for other industries allowing old business models to fail , evaporate and be replaced with new models.

Painful as this may seem in the long run  this will be a more viable means of insuring a healthy automobile industry for America.  We can no longer continue in our present mode.  Our current auto industry needs to be deconstructed and remodelled with new owners, management, and workers better led for the benefit of all of us.

Automobiles will always be in high demand in the United States and the global economy.  Our present system is non competitive even in the United States. 

Yes this will cause huge unemployment which must be dealt with to mitigate real pain, economic losses for auto workers.  But this  fundamental re-powering of our success engine will more effectively result in a solution that will be enduring.

 

No comments: