Quick Shots

No Third Time

It's really spooky thinking that the Detroit 3 might go down, but it's a distinct possibility. After all, at the end of this month there's going to be a reckoning with GM, and I can't imagine the US government forking over more cash to keep them afloat, having done so in December and subsequently in February. They're most likely not going to hand over the money in March. Which means GM will likely go into receivership. As with the major financial institutions going down, they will be hard-pressed to sell off the still functioning assets as there are likely no buyers.

If GM goes down, they're saying 160,000 will hit the streets looking for a new job. The GM collapse in turn will start a chain reaction where a significant number of suppliers will go under as well, and clearly this will adversely affect Chrysler and Ford. It is entirely possible that by the end of this month, there won't be a General Motors any more. Lord only knows what this will do to Holden in Australia or Isuzu in Japan. It's a total freak out.

Unlike with banks, the auto industry is a case in point where the government can't easily buy the shares to rescue these firms. Indeed, it's also the case in point that it would be the worst kind of industry to nationalise in the sense that government agencies and their oversight will be ill-equipped to resuscitate these companies. In any case we're headed for a thud with GM.

I'm No Class Warrior But...

It's a little laughable when the ultra-rich complain that Obama is turning America into a Socialist state. For a start, the Scandinavia countries are largely Socialist, and they've done all right for themselves under it. It's not the worst place to live, they're prosperous and they drive nice Euro cars. To have a Socialist state is not the worst thing to have. A military junta dictatorship like some African nation or a Theocracy like Iran would be much worse.

Even if the Obama administration' nationalised' all the ailing banks, chances are it won't move America closer to the Scandinavian States. It is highly doubtful that the Obama administration will rejig the tax system back to the crippling progressive tax regimes prior to Ronald Reagan. So not only are they overstating their case, they're fretting about something that likely won't manifest.

In any case, the super-wealthy *can*afford to be taxed a little harder to redistribute wealth to more people. After all, they've been allowed to become super-wealthy by cutting back on real wages for the Middle classes and working classes since 1980. It's just that the pendulum was due to swing back. It most certainly isn't an assault on the nation to tax the super-wealthy. But I guess we all bleat when it's our hip pockets so it's not like I don't understand their frustration; but these people could get a little empathy going because the rest of us have been feeling what they're just beginning to feel for that last 20-odd years.

The beauty of rhetoric of course is that if you shout the lie long enough and carry on like there's a major threat to the statehood of America, you might convince some radicals with guns. It's a shame really, and by that I mean, the likes of Rush Limbaugh ought to be ashamed of themselves. They've got more than most but they still don't want to put something back into society unless it's a tax-deductible charity.

Really, there's nothing more disgusting than the super-wealthy complaining about having to pay tax. The party is over, so pay up the bill and shut the hell up!

G-20 Meetings Are For...

There's a rumor going around that the G-20 summit meets are not about more stimulus packages and concerted efforts to revive the economy but rather, how to coordinate security forces in a time of mass riots and potential revolutionary fervor.People are gonna march and riot. They already are in Ireland and Iceland, the Baltic States and Hungary.

If you've been wondering why the heck China might want to spill out its foreign currency to save the world economy, the answer might lie in the possibility that a total global economic collapse would send China back to 1980, which is a bit like being sent back to 1920 for us, and there will be revolutionary fervor to topple the Chinese Communist regime for not living up to its name. I guess that means you reap what you sow, but sometimes it's good to spread the fertiliser. :)