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156 Comments
http://blog.indecision2008.com/2008/12/12/the-daily-show-hall-oates-sing-for-alan-colmes/
A Dog’s Purpose? (from a 6-year-old).
Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.
I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.
As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from th e experience.
The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker ’s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.
The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s Death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.
Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ”I know why.”
Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try and live.
He said,’ People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?”
The Six-year-old continued,’ Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”
Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
Take naps.
Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
When you’re happy, dance around and wag yo ur entire body.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you’re not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.
ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!
He forgot about the rolling in dead skunks part.
Those inspirational chain emails are usually fake and make me want to hurl. If the story was real, then yeah it’d be sweet, but someone’s always gotta add some ‘words to live by’ at the end. Give me a break and join us in the real world.
5 months. My prediction for how long it will be before the City of Wichita figures out that building an arena, waterwalk and airport are all unnecessary and unaffordable when people are losing jobs. This will happen after elections as the current Council Members like to spend and leave the mess for the new guys. The same as Bush has left a mess for Obama.
Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during exams were quite
humorous……
A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his
patients (predominately male) before or after their colonoscopies:
1. ‘Take it easy, Doc. You’re boldly going where no man has gone before!
2. ‘Find Amelia Earhart yet?’
3. ‘Can you hear me NOW?’
4. ‘Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?’
5. ‘You know, in Arkansas , we’re now legally married.’
6. ‘Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?’
7. ‘You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out…’
8. ‘Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!’
9. ‘If your hand doesn’t fit, you must quit!’
10. ‘Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.’
11. ‘You used to be an executive at Enron, didn’t you?’
12. ‘God, now I know why I am not gay.’
13. ‘How far up did you go? I now have a sore throat.’
And the best one of all..
14. ‘Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?
Roger that on #12.
Has to be the most uncomfortable feeling there is in regards to typical exams.
A bankruptcy filing by General Motors Corp. or Chrysler LLC might send the U.S. economy into chaos within weeks if it led to a shutdown at the companies.
Industry experts and economists say the automakers would close plants, fire tens of thousands of workers and cut production. That would cause many of their suppliers to collapse, triggering more job losses, straining the cities and states where the car and parts companies operate, as well as federal safety-net programs.
It would also deliver another psychological blow to consumers and a major shock to Main Street following the crises on Wall Street.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5SW2DEGhtzU&refer=home
________________________________________________
Unless Bush pulls a rabbit out of his hat (and he just might), it looks like the auto bailout is dead for this year.
A majority of Americans are against a bailout, but I wonder how we’re going to feel about losing another 2-3 million jobs during the current financial crisis.
Dear Political Momma,
You have finally written something that has made me very sad for you.
Joyce and I are in Jackson, Missouri. We have three Bearded Collies and a Miniature Schnauzer with us.
We have come here for a four day herding clinic with old friends, new friends and one of the best herding clinicians in the country. We eat breakfast and plan the day together, work our dogs all day and go out to eat together. At lunch each day we go to a little restaurant called the ‘Pie Bird’ where you have to clean yor plate before the little old lady that owns the place will let you have a piece of the best pie you’ll ever find anywhere.
Dogs! Dogs bring old friends together. Dogs give us a reason to get out of town and enjoy life. Dogs! Bring me joy.
Got to go work my dogs now, I feel really sad for you.
XXX
Posted December 13, 2008 at 7:57 am
A majority of Americans are against a bailout, but I wonder how we’re going to feel about losing another 2-3 million jobs during the current financial crisis.
—————————-
How is giving auto makers 14 billion dollars who are 250 billion in debt going to solve anything?
#
Regular
Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:02 am | Permalink
—————————-
How is giving auto makers 14 billion dollars who are 250 billion in debt going to solve anything?
________________________________________________
How is putting 2-3 million people out of work going to solve anything?
#
XXX
Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:04 am | Permalink
#
Regular
Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:02 am | Permalink
—————————-
How is giving auto makers 14 billion dollars who are 250 billion in debt going to solve anything?
________________________________________________
How is putting 2-3 million people out of work going to solve anything?
——————————–
The auto makers will choose or not to declare bankruptcy. There will be cutbacks for sure, but this horror story promoted by the unions is pure propaganda.
The big three have lucrative overseas manufacture and government contracts all over. They have big name contracts with trucking companies and delivery companies like Fed-X and UPS for their fleet.
This 2-3 million loss of employment is an exaggerated number.
Under bankruptcy, the auto makers will be force to re-organize and make changes that make sense instead of rolling in mass inefficiencies.
And, it will be about time that corporate auto makers pull their head out of their ass.
I don’t suppose any of you know that during a typical colonoscopy, the patient is sedated and remembers nothing afterwards.
I can’t think of a better reason to be for the Automobile Industry bailout than “Regular” is against it.
Dust off your old Hoover campaign button, “Regular.”
beber
Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:13 am | Permalink
I don’t suppose any of you know that during a typical colonoscopy, the patient is sedated and remembers nothing afterward.
————————————
I haven’t been sedated ever during my exams.
And I feel abdominal pain for weeks after.
I hate that test.
“Regular” shares –
“I haven’t been sedated ever during my exams.
And I feel abdominal pain for weeks after.”
I’m astounded it doesn’t give you a headache.
#
Monkeyhawk
Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:20 am | Permalink
“Regular” shares –
“I haven’t been sedated ever during my exams.
And I feel abdominal pain for weeks after.”
I’m astounded it doesn’t give you a headache.
————————–
Actually no…
However, from my days of following a Veterinarian around, he should me a trick that is used post surgery.
This was done on a pig that had been under anesthesia and had not started breathing while recovering. The Vet stuck his finger up the pig’s ass and the pig took a big gulp of air and starting breathing.
So yeah, I guess there is a connection by stimulus in some regards. (gross out shivers)
#
Regular
Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:09 am | Permalink
Under bankruptcy, the auto makers will be force to re-organize and make changes that make sense instead of rolling in mass inefficiencies.
And, it will be about time that corporate auto makers pull their head out of their ass.
______________________________________________
Under normal circumstances that might be valid, but under Chapter 11, viability depends on banks making interim loans to keep the companies afloat. Under current conditions, that seems unlikely.
You question the 2-3 million jobs number? What number would you like to use? How many lost jobs is “OK”?
I notice you didn’t miss the opportunity to slam the union. High paid union jobs are bad, but obscene management salaries and outrageous bonuses at a time when the auto companies are losing money is just fine?
Regular, Find another provider! Conscious sedation (you’re able to turn over if it’s requested…, but are sedated) is the norm for these procedures, and paid for by insurance. The worst part of a colonoscopy is the day before!
XXX
Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:29 am
Under normal circumstances that might be valid, but under Chapter 11, viability depends on banks making interim loans to keep the companies afloat. Under current conditions, that seems unlikely.
You question the 2-3 million jobs number? What number would you like to use? How many lost jobs is “OK”?
I notice you didn’t miss the opportunity to slam the union. High paid union jobs are bad, but obscene management salaries and outrageous bonuses at a time when the auto companies are losing money is just fine?
——————————
I agree with the executive salary being overblown and unjustified.
However, in any company the biggest expense is employee salary and benefits. I don’t know the figures, but I’m sure it’s no different in the auto industry.
Reg is just lying again, Ms. Inks. He’ll have personal experience of anything mentioned on this blog. He’s a serial fibber — Reg, is your real name Rollie?
#
beber
Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:38 am | Permalink
Reg is just lying again, Ms. Inks. He’ll have personal experience of anything mentioned on this blog. He’s a serial fibber — Reg, is your real name Rollie?
———————-
What? About colonoscopy (spelling?)
I don’t think so bub.
Am I the only non idiot in Wichita? The writing here is by morons.
Yes, The_Eagle! Everyone here is a moron and some are even worse! You probably wouldn’t find anyone worthy of your time and skills at communication.
The country is going to hell in a handbasket and we’re going to discuss sticking stuff up our a$$es? God, what a group.
“XXX” laments –
“The country is going to hell in a handbasket and we’re going to discuss sticking stuff up our a$$es? God, what a group.”
Don’t knock “Regular’s” hobby.
“Am I the only non idiot in Wichita? The writing here is by morons.” The_Eagle
——
The_Eagle,
Did you just finish a book or training course about how to win friends and influence people? Your opening caveat seems an interesting way to begin a blogging experience.
Good morning, XXX!
But it’s true; most of the writing including much of my own is moronic. Did he expect a debate? Haw, haw, haw.
Or was he looking for literary value?
GOOOOOODDDD MMMOOOORRRRNIIINNNNGGGGG……
FELLOW MORONS !!
Literary value?
You’d find more in Hustler Magazine.
I write poems. Poorly written ones, of course.
Good morning, lindaiks55!
“How is putting 2-3 million people out of work going to solve anything?”
Artificially propping up an industry will never work long term. The industry must eventually be both needed and profitable on their own.
A reorganization can do just that, a bailout simply prolongs the inevitable downfall and costs all the more.
‘The_Eagle’ Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:41 am |
“Am I the only non idiot in Wichita? The writing here is by morons.”
Of course he is correct in questioning the mental competence of many of the posters found here. Though he could have expressed it in better terms, leading me to think he may fit in quite well.
We Blog reminds me of the diverse collection of people in a psychiatric support group setting I studied years ago in a WSU psychology class.
#
Boxlock20
Posted December 13, 2008 at 9:09 am | Permalink
Artificially propping up an industry will never work long term. The industry must eventually be both needed and profitable on their own.
A reorganization can do just that, a bailout simply prolongs the inevitable downfall and costs all the more.
_________________________________________________
Yet we committed 700 billion to propping up the financial sector. And as I said earlier, reorganization depends on banks furnishing interim financing in the short term.
Is busting the union worth the job loses we’ll see if we let the auto industry fail? What will it cost to bail out the auto industry compared to the costs of unemployment, lost taxes and revenues, and the personal toll a failure will cause?
XXX,
I certainly appreciate your point and your questions. I think the difference is that the financial institutions have already corrected their act. Meaning the irresponsible leading has ceased, in fact the pendulum as swung to far the other way with credit now hard to obtain.
I do not feel the auto industry will ‘go away’. They will simply reorganize under court supervision and more or less start fresh. Contracts can then be renegotiated in line with what is survivable.
The UAW is rejecting any concessions at this point and I think that is arrogant to expect the taxpayer to support them with that attitude. No one is guaranteeing your or my health insurance or retirement and wages.
“Boxlock20″ proclaims –
“…propping up an industry will never work long term. “
Tell that to Toyota.
The Japanese government funded the entire research and development for the Prius power plant, batteries, etc.
Did everyone read this piece on the editorial page of this morning’s Eagle? Although the author uses Eisenhower’s advice as what the Republican Party should do in the future, this sounds like a blueprint from President Obama of what we will see in his presidency.
————–
DAVID A. NICHOLS: HEED EISENHOWER’S MODEL FOR REBUILDING GOP
http://www.kansas.com/205/story/629874.html
Quote o’ the Day
Morgan Johnson, UAW President in Shreveport on junior Senator David Vitter (R-LA), who’s become a point man on killing the automaker bailout (from the Times-Picayune) …
“I don’t know what Sen. Vitter has against GM or the United Auto Workers or the entire domestic auto industry; whatever it is, whatever he thinks we’ve done, it’s time for him to forgive us, just like Sen. Vitter has asked the citizens of Louisiana to forgive him, ” said Johnson, president of Local 2166. Otherwise, Johnson said of Vitter, it would appear, “He’d rather pay a prostitute than pay auto workers.”
Another comment about that op-ed piece, “HEED EISENHOWER’S MODEL FOR REBUILDING GOP.” Perhaps good governance can’t be easily defined by a political philosophy! Or, maybe it’s just further proof of how far from good governance the Republican Party has come.
“tax cut for everyone making less than $xxxx dollars per year”. Sound like a recent campaign promise? Not quite…was a line from season 7 of West Wing television series made by the Jimmy Smits character.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said at a press conference, declaring “the auto industry around the world is in peril.”
-Except of of course the Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, Acura and BMW (am I missing any?) non-union plants in the U.S.
re: the Eisenhower column
All good stuff, but I can’t think of anyone with an R after their name who measures up to Ike. Leadership starts at the top, and I don’t see any wise, compassionate GOP leaders out there. Maybe I’m wrong, but none of the list of GOP candidates in the last primary inspire much confidence, and certainly no leadership.
Dennis
“Mr_Kia” –
Of course all Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, Acura and BMW outside the United States are union shops. The CONs have made US labor patsies.
Monkey, that is a totally different thing I feel.
Toyota is successful, very much so, and if what you say is true about the financing of research for new technology, and I’m not saying it isn’t I just am not taking the time to look, then that is different than simply bailing out a failing industry.
The big three haven’t even set clear goals except for “give us the money”.
Money spent to develop new technology is more akin to spending money with NASA for technological development because the money NASA spends goes to private firms for development and manufacture.
With the auto bailout it is money spent just to prop them up.
“HEED EISENHOWER’S MODEL FOR REBUILDING GOP”
Heh! That’s not going to happen. In fact, the Republican party, particularly southern Republicans, are busily driving nails in the Republican party coffin. They’re ready to kill off the American auto industry to help foreign-owned auto plants in their home states. And they’re playing Russian Roulette with the economy in the process.
Make no mistake. If the auto industry goes under, Americans will blame Republicans for the chaos this causes in our economy. That should be good for keeping Republicans out of power for about the next generation.
We’re looking at a hard recession at least. If Republicans don’t knock off their BS, we may see a depression. Say what you will, but in the eyes of the American public, Republicans own the current economic mess. People remember things like that when they go to the polls.
And by the way Hank, Political Mama wasn’t denigrating dogs, she was complaining about the sloppy sentimental crud that floats around the internet that we all get.
Ain’t nuthin’ wrong with dogs, as you know they bring a joy of unquestioning life to all around them…even if they are occasionally a little careless about where they do their business.
Dennis
XXX
Posted December 13, 2008 at 10:15 am
Make no mistake. If the auto industry goes under, Americans will blame Republicans for the chaos this causes in our economy. That should be good for keeping Republicans out of power for about the next generation.
==========================
Sure why not…
I’m sure the MSM will be good accomplices in the re-write of history.
Of course, the Democratic party has never done anything wrong.
Monkeyhawk
Posted December 13, 2008 at 10:15 am | Permalink
“Mr_Kia” –
Of course all Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, Acura and BMW outside the United States are union shops. The CONs have made US labor patsies.
————————————————–
They’re also the only one’s not crying for a handout.
Speaking of dogs, my daughter’s yellow lab very sick this morning, he’s an old guy who has had a long and love filled life. He is the best dog ever. Once when my grandson was 2 yrs old, he got out of the house and the fenced yard and wandered the neighbothood while his dad slept, Zac never left his side until a neighbor found him and he was safely back home. We will miss him terribly and it’s sad that he’s probably departing so close to Xmas…my grandkids will be so devastated.
Ford is not asking for anything. Please keep that in mind when you talk about the traditional U.S. auto industry.
I’m sorry to hear about your grand kids trusty friend, Mary! Sounds like it will be difficult for all of you.
beber
Posted December 13, 2008 at 10:56 am | Permalink
Ford is not asking for anything. Please keep that in mind when you talk about the traditional U.S. auto industry.
—————————————————-
Good point.
Of the two cars we own one is a Ford, the other a Toyota.
I am sorry to hear that Mary.
Consider letting the little ones be there for their friend when it is time for …mercy. It is educational in the way that it reminds one to be there even at the most difficult of times.
But don’t PUSH it. I wouldn’t force that experience on anyone.
The Republican party is trying to KILL a union.
They don’t CARE about the jobs, the people, the country, or the consequences.
They have been on a quarter century crusade to crush labor and devalue work. They want one, last killing swing at it before they are out of power permanently.
All detailed in the written works of Thomas Frank.
The UPSHOT is? They are gonna bury their own party VERY deep IF they are successful.
Even Dick Cheney knows, if the Amercian auto industry goes down, the Republican party is marginalized for the rest of our lives.
And some people wonder why it is that I SO hate mainstream Republicans.
Just look at the hurt they are working so hard to accomplish. All to further the goal of making working people seen as a worthless thing to be used and mistreated.
No one at GM cared the last 20 years and this is why it will fail soon. Everyone at GM seemed to live for the moment. Quick profit to facilitate at the moment getting a big bonus and then leave the problem for the next guy. From the President of GM (Roger Smith in the early 1980’s) took care of himself to the workers who did not take pride and did not give a hoot if a car they were building had a warranty issue as the dealership would fix it. They also thought that if they built it, we would buy it. They build very few cars people really want. When they run a special and exclude a certain car (Dodge’s current SRT Challenger for example) they have built the only vehicle anyone really wants so they don’t give big rebates on them.
“Speaking of dogs, my daughter’s yellow lab very sick this morning, he’s an old guy who has had a long and love filled life. He is the best dog ever. Once when my grandson was 2 yrs old, he got out of the house and the fenced yard and wandered the neighbothood while his dad slept, Zac never left his side until a neighbor found him and he was safely back home. We will miss him terribly and it’s sad that he’s probably departing so close to Xmas…my grandkids will be so devastated.” — M.C.
I can save you fifty bucks.
hey bj…haven’t you been wailing for months and months about how the Republican party exists only to protect big business and doesn’t care about anyone else?
Now..they are not falling all over themselves to help VERY big business, and you are complaining about that as well.
You really don’t have a reason to bitch about Republicans, do you? You will just complain about everything they say and do….the Republican party could cure cancer, and you would find something to bitch about that as well.
Your partisan blinders keep you from seeing reality.
the financial institutions have already corrected their act.
a ha ha ha ha (breath) ha ha ha ha hee hee ha ha (breath) hee hee hee ha hee ha ha
Thanks! You’ve brightened my Saturday!
Is a “depression” a long “recession”, or is there some qualitative difference? Thanks.
Pre,
I think it goes like this:
white collar bail-out = good
blue collar bail-out = BAD
One moer Steven —
UNION LOAN — Never!!
http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081212.wdecloet1213/BNStory/robColumnsBlogs/home
60% of Americans are against the auto bailout. I reluctantly think that we have to do it. But it sounds like there have to be union concessions to allow the companies to be competitive, or they will be right back with their hand out in a couple of years.
Global competition is economic reality.
#
Chas
Posted December 13, 2008 at 12:19 pm | Permalink
One moer Steven —
UNION LOAN — Never!!
=================
There was a bail out for the auto workers union, it was for the car manufacturers.
So, there is no blue collar to it.
“So, there is no blue collar to it.”
___________
Now we have the official word, those factory workers for the big three are not “blue collar”.
How could ever get by without this fountain of facts?
#
StevenEDavis
Posted December 13, 2008 at 12:26 pm | Permalink
“So, there is no blue collar to it.”
___________
Now we have the official word, those factory workers for the big three are not “blue collar”.
How could ever get by without this fountain of facts?
———————–
Banking industry workers like tellers and clerks weren’t bailed out either, it was the financial structuring of the banks.
No cash flow for the banks, no credit for companies or individuals.
No credit means business close shop.
One source. Sounds like if we looked at twenty sources we could find that same number of definitions.
——
There is an old joke among economists that states:
A recession is when your neighbor loses his job.
A depression is when you lose your job.
The difference between the two terms is not very well understood for one simple reason: There is not a universally agreed upon definition. If you ask 100 different economists to define the terms recession and depression, you would get at least 100 different answers. I will try to summarize both terms and explain the differences between them in a way that almost all economists could agree with.
more at:
http://economics.about.com/cs/businesscycles/a/depressions.htm
#
Regular
Posted December 13, 2008 at 10:22 am | Permalink
Sure why not…
I’m sure the MSM will be good accomplices in the re-write of history.
Of course, the Democratic party has never done anything wrong.
________________________________________________
Of course the Democrats have done some things that were wrong, but it’s all a matter of scale. The Dems don’t seem to sink to the level of Republicans who seem ok with standing by and watching the economy go down the tubes to satisfy their own petty political goals.
It’s ok if we lose a few million jobs, just as long as we can put the knife in the back of the unions.
Let me be clear; I don’t like the idea of a bailout either, but I think that’s a lesser evil than having the economy fail. The union doesn’t work in a vacuum. Management is just as much to blame…maybe more so. They make the decisions.
You’re either stoned or fear mongering.
No way millions of jobs are lost by the auto makers financial woes.
Re-organization. Similar to what the airlines have been through.
Toyota is cutting back on plant operating schedules also.
That was funny about the financial markets mess being cleaned up! If that were true the auto industry would be in much better shape, and businesses wouldn’t be shutting their doors because credit lines they’ve held for decades are being denied.
I the The Eagle must’ve been referring to the cons posts.
Mr_Kia
Posted December 13, 2008 at 12:48 pm | Permalink
You’re either stoned or fear mongering.
No way millions of jobs are lost by the auto makers financial woes.
________________________________________________
Hope you’re right, Kia, but I’m betting my scenario is more accurate. You and yours better hope Republican perfidity doesn’t cause the auto industry to go under. That would truly make the term “Republican” a curse word.
“Management is just as much to blame…maybe more so.”
Management is ENTIRELY to blame.
IF the union negotiated pay and benefits are not sustainable going forward, it is the fault of management for not having more foresight and focusing on short term profit instead of long term viability.
“No way millions of jobs are lost by the auto makers financial woes.”
Just how many non union, non auto related jobs do you suppose are dependent on those union wages?
How many people does your party want to hurt just so you can put the UAW to the sword?
Why do the AGW deniers believe the garbage spread by Republicans Inhofe and Morano?
‘Scientist: ‘Our conclusions were misinterpreted’ by Inhofe’
CO2 — but not the sun — ‘is significantly correlated’ with temperature since 1850
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/12/12/115159/13
Also see this link from above page,
‘Nothing new under the sun
New study finds sun’s contribution to recent warming is ‘negligible’‘
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/9/30/132948/738
The cost of an inefficient U.S. Auto Industry – union gouging and low productivity
These are the 12 “foreign,” or so-called transplant, producers making cars across America’s South and Midwest. Toyota, BMW, Kia and others now make 54% of the cars Americans buy. The internationals also employ some 113,000 Americans, compared with 239,000 at U.S.-owned carmakers, and several times that number indirectly.
no two million union workers here XXX
The cost of Union benefits
Consider labor costs. Take-home wages at the U.S. car makers average $28.42 an hour, according to the Center for Automotive Research. That’s on par with $26 at Toyota, $24 at Honda and $21 at Hyundai. But include benefits, and the picture changes. Hourly labor costs are $44.20 on average for the non-Detroit producers, in line with most manufacturing jobs, but are $73.21 for Detroit.
So it costs 29 dollars an hour for U.S. Workers to make an automobile
source figures:
The Wall Stree Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122809320261867867.html
So with half the workers in American based plants and $29.00 an hour less in costs, the foreign plants make 54 percent of cars Americans buy.
Does any one not wonder why greedy unions are responsible for their own demise?
So with half the workers in American based plants and $29.00 an hour less in costs, the foreign plants make 54 percent of cars Americans buy.
should read as:
So with half the workers in American based plants of foreign companies and $29.00 an hour less in costs, the foreign plants make 54 percent of cars Americans buy.
So it costs 29 dollars an hour for U.S. Workers to make an automobile
should read:
So it costs 29 dollars more an hour for U.S. Workers to make an automobile than it does their American based foreign/non-Detroit auto makers.
Hey Jimmuh?
Those union workers pay taxes on what they make.
Those taxes fill your gravy boat while you get paid to sit on your butt and stick it to people who work for a living. Bite the hand that feeds you?
The Wall Street Journal, a Murdoch newspaper, joins Fox News as an unreliable news source. The portion of a car’s cost that is due to labor is about ten percent for cars that are shipped here from overseas, for cars that are made by foreign manufacturers in the USA and for cars made by union employees in the United States. The only cost significantly higher in the U.S. is pension costs, and that is caused by being in operation much longer, thus producing more pensioners. The Japanese have a slight advantage in hours taken to assemble a car, 17 hours vs. 20. You have to remember the cheaper labor is, the more labor is used, which wipes out lower per-hour labor cost advantages.
Mary?
This is for you and your family.
http://www.petloss.com/poems/maingrp/rainbowb.htm
You also have to remember there is no real way to compare labor costs in the u.s. with labor costs in other countries due to tax differences, health care policies, and pension policies, just as there is no way (without months of study) to compare taxes paid in the U.S. by companies, and taxes paid overseas.
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/12/claims-about-autoworker-salaries-are-misleading/
Regular
Posted December 13, 2008 at 1:41 pm | Permalink
no two million union workers here XXX
_________________________________________________
You’re right, but then I never said 2 million UNION jobs. Do you dispute that there other non-union jobs that are dependent on the auto industry? Do you really believe that a lot of non-union jobs won’t go down the tubes if the industry fails?
I was listening to a bankruptcy expert on Fox News a little while ago (yes, I watch Fox News). She said:
1. Banks are not lending money to businesses that are in bankruptcy. That’s a must in chapter 11 reorganization.
2. Due to changes in bankruptcy laws in 2005, it’s going to be much more difficult for the auto industry than it was for the airlines, who went bankrupt pre 2005. The rule changes that the credit card industry got their Republican friends to pass are now coming back to bite us.
Regular,
Do you think the failure of the Big Three will affect only those in the unions who build the cars? That seems to be the number you keep bring up. Each job lost affects many, many others, not just the job loser. Just as layoffs in Wichita’s aircraft industry hurts the economy here, imagine how many will be affected if the U.S. auto manufacturers go under?
Too bad there was no SEC regualtion for the past 8 yrs., much of the current pain could’ve been avoided if the admin’s agencies had done what they were chartered to do:
“SEC officials stress that it was Madoff’s separate and secretive investment-adviser business that was used to perpetrate the alleged scheme, and that examinations of the securities operations wouldn’t necessarily have detected irregularities. The hedge fund business didn’t register with the SEC until September 2006.
“If the SEC didn’t come in and inspect (the Madoff hedge fund), then they have a hell of a lot to answer for,” said James Cox, a Duke University law professor and securities law expert.
We can sit here and argue all we like about the appropriateness of UAW wages and benefits but it all gets distilled down in the end to the fact the auto manufactures are going broke, and the costs of wages, benefits and pensions are causing it more than any other reason.
There is no benefit in pouring good money (our’s as taxpayers) after bad (the excessive wages, benefits and pensions) thrown to UAW workers. It must and it will stop, or at least toward a correction, or they will be back in a few months looking for another handout.
When the suppliers are hit with bankruptcy write offs, they themselves will be the next for bankruptcy court.
Funny how repubs detest bankruptcy for citizens, but think it is the action of choice when it comes to labor.
BTW, labor and retirees add only 10% to the cost of the vehicle, so I’m going to go out on a limb here, and state that labor is far from the biggest factor in the cost of a vehicle.
#
Phantom
Posted December 13, 2008 at 3:05 pm | Permalink
When the suppliers are hit with bankruptcy write offs, they themselves will be the next for bankruptcy court.
Funny how repubs detest bankruptcy for citizens, but think it is the action of choice when it comes to labor.
BTW, labor and retirees add only 10% to the cost of the vehicle, so I’m going to go out on a limb here, and state that labor is far from the biggest factor in the cost of a vehicle.
————————–
Bankruptcy for companies is better than that for citizens in that they can re-organize in a number of ways. Not an accountant, but the options are much more attractive than personal bankruptcy.
Again, it’s not auto union labor. It’s the companies that provide the jobs, the labor are fluid assets and can be liquidated like excess inventory.
Cruel perhaps, but that’s the way business is.
The_Eagle,
If you just joined the blog today, you at least found an interesting topic for the posters to argue over–the auto industry.
I’m fairly new to the blogosphere; there are have lots of more idiotic subjects posted so stick around awhile and see if you can’t find some of them to be a bit entertaining.
To be fair, once in awhile there is a good “back and forth” about the various points people offer on a subject which can be educational.
“Do you think the failure of the Big Three will affect only those in the unions who build the cars?”
They don’t care Rox.
Human misery is mother’s milk to the cons.
I’m glad they are at least honest (most of them ) about it. The Republican party is gonna go back into irrelevance where it belongs.
“Again, it’s not auto union labor. It’s the companies that provide the jobs, the labor are fluid assets and can be liquidated like excess inventory.
Cruel perhaps, but that’s the way business is.”
THAT is exactly what is wrong with America. Devaluing people and their labor as mere resources. It will have a price for the greedy.
BlueJay
Posted December 13, 2008 at 3:41 pm | Permalink
“Do you think the failure of the Big Three will affect only those in the unions who build the cars?”
They don’t care Rox.
———————————
Of course we care.
However, we are not into wildly exaggerated claims of two to three million job losses because of situation X.
Duh Libs always promote some sort of irrational arm flailing when it comes to their claims. Most of them are Henny Penny folklore.
Boxlock20 posted December 13, 2008 at 3:03 pm
. . . it all gets distilled down in the end to the fact the auto manufactures are going broke, and the costs of wages, benefits and pensions are causing it more than any other reason.
————————–
Really? A factor that’s only about 10% of the cost of the vehicle is the main cause of Detroit’s problem? Prove it.
What about having too many models, too many white-collar employees, not offering good high-mpg vehicles, and relying on profits from gas-guzzling SUV’s?
Regular posted December 13, 2008 at 3:58 pm
However, we are not into wildly exaggerated claims of two to three million job losses because of situation X.
Duh Libs always promote some sort of irrational arm flailing when it comes to their claims. Most of them are Henny Penny folklore.
—————————
Regular is an expert on all issues — jobs, climate science, the New Orleans levees, etc. /sarcasm OFF
http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/12/04/if-auto-industry-goes-bankrupt-millions-of-us-jobs-will-be-lost/
colonoscopies
“We can sit here and argue all we like about the appropriateness of UAW wages and benefits but it all gets distilled down in the end to the fact the auto manufactures are going broke, and the costs of wages, benefits and pensions are causing it more than any other reason.”
The cause, dipshit, is poor car sales. Gawd. People aren’t buying cars because they are broke. They are broke because they have been borrowing for years against their assets and future incomes. High gas prices finished them off.
LOL!
LOL! was re colonoscopies.
During the $4 a gallon gas prices, GM was running ads bragging about how many of their models got 30 mpg or better mileage.
The “catch” was that mileage was highway only — deceptive advertising.
The big 3 failed miserably to offer what people wanted, cars that were well built and fuel efficient.
They could have put out another Pinto and I’m sure it would have sold like hotcakes. Stop pretending that it was anything other than their own greed and the oil company greed. This overblown supply demand crap is bs. Demand didn’t nosedive with the economy and it sure didn’t skyrocket all the years Bush was in the White House.
Mary, I’m so sorry about your dog. I know how painful that really is.
For those interested in astronomy, the almost full moon will be rising over the horizon at about 6:21 PM this evening, Saturday, 12/13/08. Technically, the Full moon was yesterday on Friday. This Full moon is said to be something special … the Moon is a little closer to the Earth due to its eliptical orbit. Some say this makes it look a little larger and brighter.
Personally I think there are other factors in the Moons appearance such as moisture/dust in the lower atmosphere that can enlarge its appearance.
In any event, I suggest you go outside about 6:30 PM this evening and look at the East-North-East horizon for the now waning Moon to rise. Depending on clouds, it might be an interesting sight.
Another interesting fact. Last night when the Moon was 100% full, it rose in the East at almost precisely the moment when the Sun set in the west. That’s what makes it full.
Tonight, already, the Full moon will rise almost an hour after the Sun sets, so the Moon is now about 97% Full and waning a little more every day.
What people wanted until a year or two ago was SUVs and pickup trucks so the big three built them, and built trucks at least better than the Jap manufactures. The top rated SUV right now is the Vu. When gas prices went up they didn’t want them so much anymore, and the overseas headquartered car makers held a better deck of cards. If they had money now, they’d be buying trucks and SUVs. Ideology P.M. and Pox, has nothing to do with it.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20081202/ANA05/812029986/1078
Fit that into your ideology. Honda and Toyota are tanking too. Wouldn’t you like to have a Sabaru dealership?
white collar bail-out = good with no oversight
blue collar bail-out = BAD to be held under a magnifying glass
What did the financial crisis benefiters have to do to get the money? Not a whole helluva lot.
What are the auto industry execs having to do to get much, much less money? Submit a detailed plan.
Now tell me that it has all been fair.
The thing is, you may not be hit indirectly if the auto industry fails, but in the longrun, you’ll be paying, too. Everybody eventually does during a depression, and that’s exactly what we’re on the verge of.
Pay now or pay later.
Given that this is an open thread and all, does anyone know how long Bruce Springsteen (The Boss) worked in the blue collar world?
As a hint, he worked for a landscaping company.
The problem with forcing the companies into chpt. 11, is that virtually all experts, excluding a handful of Southern Repub. Senators, say that going into chpt. 11 will certainly mean an almost immediate slide into Chpt. 7 (if I have my chapters right, liquidation). There will not be an American auto manuf. going concern.
If absolving earned retirements an pensions are a good idea, the bankrupt U.S. govt. should practice what it preaches and nullify all S.S. military, and govt. pensions.
Presto, No more S.S. problems, and maybe a govt. that is financially ‘viable’.
I don’t know that I got an answer to the depression vs. recession question. When FDR took over in 1932, the unemployment rate was 25%.
Fortunately, we are a long way away from those devastating numbers. But, I would like to give GWBush an early retirement just to be on the safe side.
I like Springsteen, he hasn’t forgotten his roots.
Ya know what?
I think the cons are dragging their feet so the big three will fail AFTER bush is out of office. THEN they will try to make it Obama’s fault.
The aid for the big three needs to come SOON if it is gonna help.
My mom is looking for a car right now but is afraid to buy American for fear the company won’t be there. The failure of the big three is beginning to be a self fulfilling prophecy by feedback loop.
The only thing worse for the country than repubs. not getting what they want, is when they get what they want!
Don’t be so sure, Mr. Davis. They didn’t calculate unemployment the same way in those days as now.
It’s been reported that the workers could work for free, and it would not have an impact on their current situation.
If absolving earned retirements an pensions are a good idea, the bankrupt U.S. govt. should practice what it preaches and nullify all S.S. military, and govt. pensions.
Presto, No more S.S. problems, and maybe a govt. that is financially ‘viable’
* * * * *
The above is why the mess keeps getting messier. To do what is needed in regard to the debt and deficit amounts to a very messy political suicide.
their- the companies.
beber
Posted December 13, 2008 at 7:01 pm | Permalink
Don’t be so sure, Mr. Davis. They didn’t calculate unemployment the same way in those days as now.
* * * * *
How did they do it back then?
Phantom
Posted December 13, 2008 at 6:58 pm | Permalink
I like Springsteen, he hasn’t forgotten his roots
* * * * *
I like him too. And, I don’t buy the premise that being a rocker is getting your money for nothing… But, Bruce worked two weeks for a landscaping company before he was able to support himself as a musician. Not much in the way personal roots, if you ask me.
Difference between airlines re-org. and auto industry, is airlines customers weren’t purchasing a good manufactured by the airlines, only a service, and one which has stringent maintenance req. for their aircraft.
Clear case of apples and oranges comparison.
And $50 billion US taxpayer dollars flushed down the rat hole that is Iraq’s laughable and failed reconstruction effort…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/world/middleeast/14reconstruct.html?hp\
$50,000,000,000
The EPI report linked here explains the problems a bankruptcy would cause, the “re-spending” jobs, etc.
‘If Auto Industry Goes Bankrupt, Millions of U.S. Jobs Will Be Lost‘
http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/12/04/if-auto-industry-goes-bankrupt-millions-of-us-jobs-will-be-lost/
They actually counted unemployed people as unemployed, Mr. Davis.
And its not just manufacturing jobs either…. grocery stores, insurance companies, real estate agencies, big box stores, auto repair shops, all kinds of jobs/businesses will be effected by an automaker bankruptcy situation….
looks like Bush and Paulson want to help out on the LOANS (stop calling it a bailout – TERRIBLY DISHONEST TO DO THAT!!)
“DavidB” reminds –
“$50 billion US taxpayer dollars flushed down the rat hole that is Iraq’s laughable and failed reconstruction effort…
…
$50,000,000,000″
Yeahbut…
Americans got to kill thousands of thousands of brown people with that money! At you tell me it wasn’t worth it?!
Why do you hate America?
Here’s an auto-industry recovery plan that’ll get the Republic Party senators on board:
“Every afternoon at 5 pm local time, every General Motors dealer in America shall drive a Hummer, Chevy Suburban, or comparable vehicle over the head and/or torso of someone who looks even vaguely Mezkin, Ay-rab, or uppity.”
McConnell, DeMint, Vitter, Shelby, et al would carry the bill.
Part of the unspoken agenda of the Republic Party’s anti-UAW agenda is its relatively high percentage of minority members. CONs know the power of organized labor. Just like the organized Civil Rights movement (and the organized Barack Obama campaign, for that matter), a lot of powerless people working together become more important than a plutocracy and its minions (Angry White Males).
Read “Numbers Racket” in the May 2008 issue of Harper’s Magazine to see how comparing todays reported numbers with numbers reported in the past is almost meaningless.
That was kinda neat.
“Miser Brother’s Christmas” was a nod to the old classic “Year Without a Santa Clause” characters snow miser and heat miser.
George S Irving and Mickey Rooney reprised their roles as Santa and the heat miser. They are like in their late 80’s now! Doubt this new version will be the classic the original was though.
Ya know, i’m just bummed tonight. Can’t even explain why.
XXX
Posted December 13, 2008 at 8:45 am | \l “comment-483984″
The country is going to hell in a hand basket and we’re going to discuss sticking stuff up our a$$es? God, what a group.
LOL what ever it takes to get your mind off the problems with the country! You would have to admit that if someone shove a finger up your butt you would not give one thought about the economy for a moment….:>
I must have been half asleep when I posted at 3:39pm today. Obviously I didn’t proof read: “there are have lots of more idiotic subjects posted…”
What I probably meant to say was: “there have been lots more idiotic subjects posted…”
Sorry for messing up this blog’s pristine example of excellent English grammar. Yeah.
LOL!
outlander’s AGW denier wasn’t very good at predicting the election!
(Re Inhofe’s 650 deniers list)
‘Inhofe: less honest than the Discovery Institute‘
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2008/12/inhofe_less_honest_than_the_di.php
“David Deming, Associate Professor of Geosciences, University of Oklahoma. In an op-ed in the Edmond Sun he wrote
Obama is a vapid demagogue, a hollow man that despises American culture. He is ill-suited to be president of the United States. As the weeks pass, more Americans will come to this realization and elect McCain/Palin in a landslide.“
beber, no you are the dipshit, thanks for the compliment.
Most people don’t want the cars you say they want, they still want comfortable cars with room and safety about them.
The car companies can’t control the costs of steel and other materials to manufacture cars, they can wages, benefits and pensions which are out of hand for maintaining the profitability of the companies.
You can spout off all you like, the fact remains….they are broke and they better start controlling costs.
Period!!!
By the way, ‘beber the dipshit’ as he likes to call folks.
How the heck is bailing out the UAW, which is really what this is, going to help anything if people are not buying cars, and raising the national dept and taxes sure won’t help that.
“.they are broke and they better start controlling costs.”
Take a chainsaw to management. NO golden parachutes. NO dividends. IF the share holders don’t wanna stick for the long haul, the government buys out their shares at fire sale price.
Workers first. Greed should be like 7th.
Boxlock20,
Prove your claim.
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/12/open-thread-1213/#comment-484182
beber
Posted December 13, 2008 at 7:43 pm | Permalink
They actually counted unemployed people as unemployed, Mr. Davis.
* * * * *
You might explain your operational definitions Mr. Beber: Surely, you can do so…
Huh?
Sarah Palin’s church burns.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/13/palin.church/?iref=hpmostpop
What a complete idiot as usual!
BlowJay pontificates, “Take a chainsaw to management. NO golden parachutes. NO dividends. IF the share holders don’t wanna stick for the long haul, the government buys out their shares at fire sale price.”
Without the share holders there is no company numskull, they own the company not the UAW, idiot!
There is no point in a shareholder risking investment without the reward of dividends. Something I would venture to say you have no concept of, having never invested in anything, including yourself. If you think the UAW should be protected then the UAW should bail out the company, not the taxpayer. If the government takes it we become a communist country, everyone of which has FAILED miserable. But then I am convinced that is just fine with you if you think you can get someone else to support you, you slug.
You are so incredibly stupid BlowJay, I am constantly amazed.
Boxlock20 posted December 13, 2008 at 10:09 pm
How the heck is bailing out the UAW, which is really what this is . . .
————
GM and Chrysler are not the UAW.
And it prevents a cascade of bankruptcies of the parts suppliers. As XXX explained earlier, with Bloomberg link.
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/12/open-thread-1213/#comment-483955
“Without the share holders there is no company numskull”
Without the workers, there is no product.
“There is no point in a shareholder risking investment without the reward of dividends.”
Then let THEM bail out the companies.
It was short sighted greed MADE this problem.
The workers make CARS.
Management makes decisions. In this case, many bad ones over many years.
Investors make MONEY. And that is the extent of their devotion and the attendant concern they are owed.
WHEN GIANTS FALL
Shutdown of one or more U.S. automakers could eliminate up to 3.3 million U.S. jobs
http://www.epi.org/briefingpapers/227/bp227.pdf
What percent of new car price is labor cost?
“The answer is an oversimplification. It appears to consider only assembly-line labor costs. Each of the other categories, research, development, parts, advertising, marketing, and management, also have labor costs (and these categories may be far more labor-intensive than final assembly), which must be taken into account. As well, the labor costs associated with extraction, refinement, and transport of the raw materials (and transport of finished vehicles to dealers) must be considered. Finally, the labor costs of energy required for all phases of auto manufacturing, from extraction through final delivery, must be considered. The real cost of any product is the total cost of labor and materials required to produce the product, plus profit, at all stages of production.”
“domestic automakers pay $1,200 to $1,500 per car just for health care, a huge competitive difference that has to be addressed, said Laurie Harbour-Felax, managing director at Stout Risius Ross Inc., a financial and strategic advisory company.
“We’ll never be able to compete in the same situation with the Japanese because they don’t have the same issues,” said Harbour-Felax, who wrote a study that found a $2,400 profit gap per vehicle between the Detroit Three and the Japanese automakers.
Retiree costs are one reason Ford, Chrysler and GM lost a combined $15 billion last year. Although Ford and GM recently turned profits, they’re still losing money in North America.
The Detroit Three have a combined unfunded retiree health care obligation of about $90.5 billion, a staggering number that must be carried on their books and paid over the life of their employees. With far fewer retirees, the Japanese companies have much lower payments.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percent_of_new_car_price_is_labor_cost
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20134718/
Whether domestic or foreign, raw material costs are the same, as are marketing, etc., the difference is in labor, benefits, retirement and management.
Again, it is not the taxpayers responsibility to subsidize these companies and the UAW, it is up to them to be competitive….that is simply a fact, like it or not.
“There is no point in a shareholder risking investment without the reward of dividends”
I say those union jobs are important. I say that saving the companies from their management is a worthy public investment.
YOU and your party would gladly see them and the economy fail. JUST so you can kill a union.
Because you are a bitter and angry and miserable little man who wants everyone just as bitter and angry and miserable as you are.
Little toady bawks probably never made a thing in his life.
Except a hasty retreat from a principled stand.
That, and money off of other people’s labor.
“The Detroit Three have a combined unfunded retiree health care obligation of about $90.5 billion, a staggering number that must be carried on their books and paid over the life of their employees”
And which their management agreed to to keep those workers at their posts and making product and them and the shareholders money.
I’m confused. Aren’t conservatives SUPPOSED to be about holding those responsible for their mistakes accountable for them?
Also?
The union took care of their own. Good on them.
This is not a worker problem. The workers make the product. They are still on the job.
This is a money problem. The monied took care of THEIR own. Now, the books don’t balance because of that. Let THEM take the hit.
Boxlock20,
Your 10:42 post does NOT prove your 3:03 pm claim.
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/12/open-thread-1213/#comment-484182
Try again. . .
And would you buy a vehicle (or any expensive product) from a company that had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy?
You and your party have yourselves on the horns of one helluva dilemma bawks.
You are a boomer. Me and my kid, we are the echo.
You and your age group took advantage of all the opportunities afforded you under rules that Democrats made.
Then, Ronnie Raygun decided to change the rules back toward the bad old days.
And with his well made beginning and 25 years of work, just about ALL of the conditions that let YOU and yours succeed have been wiped out. And of course, there is a price to pay for that.
And just as the cons intended, that price is supposed to fall on the least fortunate, the workers, the doers. While the monied clean up and get richer.
But you all fell JUST short. ANOTHER con President and another few years of con trol and you might have got it done.
But the stick didn’t float that way.
Now? It will be YOUR turn to pay.
Boxlock20,
Why is it taking you so much time to support your 3:03 pm opinion?
Also, is the UAW also the “reason” for this? (in XXX’s link)
‘GM, Chrysler Bankruptcies Would Cause Turmoil for U.S. Economy‘
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5SW2DEGhtzU&refer=home
“Honda Motor Co. said it will eliminate 119,000 vehicles from its North American production plan.”
Hank. I have just as much love and affection for dogs as you do. I could easily write a beautiful heart-wrenching story, but that doesn’t make it any-the-less false.
Don’t play the pity card on me. I just think those sappy emails are the most ridiculous things ever. Seriously, don’t people who write these things have something better to do than to think up sad stories?
I prefer to put my energy to real sad TRUE stories.
It’s like I said earlier cosmos.
They don’t care. Politically, this is a loser for them. But they can’t see that.
The cons have theirs. And they are now very much focused on how they can use that to get them more.
All those laid off workers they are wishing for, well that’s just a fresh supply of folks who will HAPPILY clean their pools or fix their cars or mow their lawns for whatever gratuity they choose to pay and be HAPPY for the “priviledge” of being exploited just so they can feed and clothe and shelter themselves and their families.
50 bil. failed reconstruction effort, Nay, 100 bil.
“New report slams U.S. reconstruction of Iraq: report
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.Sat Dec 13, 9:00 pm ET. Reuters – … . Play Video Video: Entering the Endgame ABC News . Play Video Video: Wounded War Vets Hit Slopes In Breckenridge CBS4 Denver . Play Video Video: Soldiers “Run The Rock” In Iraq CBS 11 Dallas .NEW YORK (Reuters) – An unpublished federal draft report depicts the U.S.-led reconstruction of Iraq as a $100 billion failure doomed by bureaucratic infighting, ignorance of basic elements of Iraqi society and waves of violence there, The New York Times reported in its Sunday editions.
The Pentagon issued inflated progress reports to cover up the reconstruction’s failure once the effort began to lag, according to the Times, which received copies of the document from two people who had read the draft but were not authorized to comment publicly about it.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is cited as saying, for example, that in the months after the 2003 invasion the Defense Department “kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces — the number would jump 20,000 a week! ‘We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.’”
Powell’s contention was supported by both the former ground troops commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, and L. Paul Bremer, the civilian administrator before the Iraqi government takeover in June 2004. Powell declined to comment on his quoted remarks, the Times said.
The report, “Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience,” was compiled by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, led by Stuart Bowen Jr., a Republican lawyer who visits Iraq often and maintains a staff of engineers and auditors there, the newspaper said.
It was based on some 500 interviews and more than 600 audits, inspections and investigations on which Bowen’s office has reported for years.
Bowen’s deputy, Ginger Cruz, declined to comment to the newspaper on the substance of the history, but said it would be presented on February 2 at the first hearing of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, created by Democrat-sponsored legislation.
Among the draft report’s conclusions is that some five years after its largest foreign reconstruction project since the Marshall Plan following World War II, the U.S. government still does not have the policies, technical capacity or organizational structure needed for a project even approaching this one’s scale, the newspaper said.
It found that the reconstruction effort did little more than restore what had been destroyed during the U.S. invasion and subsequent looting. And it concluded the effort had failed in part because no single agency in the U.S. government had primary responsibility for the job.
Partisan politics also figured in, as when a Republican lobbyist working for the U.S. occupation authority implored the Office of Management and Budget to fund $20 billion in new reconstruction money in August 2003.
“To delay getting our funds would be a political disaster for the President,” wrote the lobbyist, Tom Korologos. “His election will hang for a large part on show of progress in Iraq and without the funding this year, progress will grind to a halt,” the draft quoted Korologos as saying.
The Bush administration supported the request and Congress allocated the money later that year.
It’s midnight forward thinking Americans.
And another day closer to dawn.
A Modern Parable…
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.
The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing.
Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.
Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team’s management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It wascalled the “Rowing Team Quality First Program”, with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rowers.
There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to ‘equal the competition’ and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale-boosting programs and teamwork posters. The next year the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American management laid off one rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses.
The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles) so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year’s racing team was out-sourced to India .
Sadly, the End.
Here’s something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can’t make money paying American wages.
TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US . The last quarter’s results: TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses. Ford’s “leadership” are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses…
IF THIS WEREN’T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY…
And it isn’t just auto makers… it’s so many USA big companies.
Do you recognize your company here?
good night; good luck; god bless —
whatever you believe god to be!!
blessings ALL!!
and a late Happy St. Lucia’s Day!!
so mote it be!!