Fleecing the Lambs
Savior like a shepherd lead us,
much we need thy tender care;
in they pleasant pastures feed us,
for our use they folds prepare
--Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us, Hymn
We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us
--Communist worker's saying
Money, the very "coin" of ordinary interaction,
is [hence] of all thingsthe least understood and --
perhaps with sex -- the object of greatest unreasoning fantasy;
and like sex it simultaneously fascinates, puzzles and repels
--F. A. Hayek
Never spend your money before you have earned it
--Thomas Jefferson
_______________
much we need thy tender care;
in they pleasant pastures feed us,
for our use they folds prepare
--Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us, Hymn
We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us
--Communist worker's saying
Money, the very "coin" of ordinary interaction,
is [hence] of all thingsthe least understood and --
perhaps with sex -- the object of greatest unreasoning fantasy;
and like sex it simultaneously fascinates, puzzles and repels
--F. A. Hayek
Never spend your money before you have earned it
--Thomas Jefferson
_______________
As usual, The Onion gets it right in a must-see here: In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole? Openmarket.org asks if Lada factories were as bad as Detroit's Big Three (Beyond Bailouts.) Answer: no one beats Detroit for profligacy and irresponsibility. Where's My Bailout gives a sense of the scope of the problem.
Ranger is not related to T. Boone Pickins but would still like to weigh in on the energy situation that defines America today. He will analogize current approaches to energy policy to the conduct in the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©).
Just as the PWOT is unsustainable and based upon faulty propositions so is our energy policy. The false premise is that private enterprise will allow the nation to achieve energy independence at the current levels of current energy consumption. However, if America is to approach energy independence, the program must be national in scope and actuality, i.e., nationalized.
Private enterprise cannot achieve comprehensive coordinated programs. As with our banking system, entrepreneurs seek to privatize profit, while nationalizing responsibility.
All the Sarah Palin fans are ready to call "socialism" and paint Ranger as a Pinko. Well, maybe, but what was the Manhattan Project? Communism, or was it democratic because the objective was weapons development? Surely such operational constructs could be applied to beneficial programs.
Why bail out GM if they have not learned to be competitive in the world market and build fuel-efficient cars these past 30+ years? Everyone says they want a Free Market, but the downside of that is, you sink or swim by the marketplace demand created for your product.
Rewarding incompetence is Ranger's definition of Communism.
Ranger is not related to T. Boone Pickins but would still like to weigh in on the energy situation that defines America today. He will analogize current approaches to energy policy to the conduct in the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©).
Just as the PWOT is unsustainable and based upon faulty propositions so is our energy policy. The false premise is that private enterprise will allow the nation to achieve energy independence at the current levels of current energy consumption. However, if America is to approach energy independence, the program must be national in scope and actuality, i.e., nationalized.
Private enterprise cannot achieve comprehensive coordinated programs. As with our banking system, entrepreneurs seek to privatize profit, while nationalizing responsibility.
All the Sarah Palin fans are ready to call "socialism" and paint Ranger as a Pinko. Well, maybe, but what was the Manhattan Project? Communism, or was it democratic because the objective was weapons development? Surely such operational constructs could be applied to beneficial programs.
Why bail out GM if they have not learned to be competitive in the world market and build fuel-efficient cars these past 30+ years? Everyone says they want a Free Market, but the downside of that is, you sink or swim by the marketplace demand created for your product.
Rewarding incompetence is Ranger's definition of Communism.
Labels: bailouts are communistic, lada is better than GM, no bailouts in free market, should the government stop dumping money into a giant hole, the onion
posted by rangeragainstwar at 6:20 AM
7 Comments:
the saturday before the election i was a guest at a "upper crust" open house out here in my little spot of green in the desert. i heard many hard core republicans bandying about the charges of socialism and communism.
i pointed out that the project which made our desert blossom and turned it into one of the biggest agricultural miracles in the history of mankind was socialism. the canals were dug by the government. the utility which controls the water and power was formed and owned by the residents.
fucking socialism.
MB,
We're destined to be the turds in the punchbowl.
ALL THE FUCKING WAY!
jim
Actually, General Motors *is* competitive in the world market. It's only in the U.S. market that they're not competitive, and a lot of that has to do with the U.S. business environment e.g. shareholder lawsuits that force companies to think only short-term rather than long-term, and takeover threats if a company thinks long-term rather than short-term.
As for Chrysler, they were under German management for 8 years. I don't notice that they're doing any better than GM. In fact, they're doing worse than GM -- GM at least has small cars to sell, even if they're imported from GM's Daewoo subsidiary. So blaming "Detroit" management is nonsense. The Germans couldn't do any better than the Americans at running a U.S. automaker. Which leads me to believe that it's something other than management that is the problem here, given that it doesn't seem to matter whether it's American management or German management. Thus my comments on the U.S. business environment, which rewards short-term thinking and punishes long-term thinking...
- Badtux the Observant Penguin
Badtux,
It's not product and design decisions alone; the industry has overvalued its labor force.
"GM, Ford and Chrysle compensate their workers 52.5% more than the market (assuming Toyota wages and benefits are market), 54% more than management and professional workers, 132% more than the average manufacturing wage, and 157% more than the average compensation of all American workers." See DoL stats here --
http://seekingalpha.com/article/105061-should-we-really-bail-out-the-big-three-automakers-with-73-20-per-hour-labor
As someone who works on autos daily, I think its time for General Motors to pack it up. Forty years of bad cars is enough. Back some years ago, the company had a problem. The V-8 engines in its large sedans tended to come adrift on right-hand turns. When the engine flopped over, it disconnected the vacuum line to brake booster and jammed the throttle open. Sort of scary, especially for the older folks who bought these vehicles out of some misplaced confidence in the company. The General responded with a recall. Bring the car to a dealer and he would tie the engine down with a chain, free of charge. Of course, if you wanted decent motor mounts, that was a bit expensive.
Fuck 'em.
Paul,
Easy fix-just don't turn right.!
My Saturn gave good service but it was a basic simple car.One good point for GM is that any shadetree mechanic can usually work on them.
Those were the good old days when cars didn't have computers built in. My new car even talks to me. jim
Badtux,
Maybe you're right. But why are GM/Ford/Chrysler needing their bacon pulled out of the fire? Surely this is indicative of fuck up-edness.
Post a Comment
<< Home