12voltman59
Dec 15, 2008, 11:41 AM
WARNING--I REPEAT WARNING----MAJOR RAMBLE ALERT---PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!
Ramblin" Part 1:
Holy shit---you almost hate to open the paper, turn on the radio or TV anymore----it just seems that the shit train keeps on dumping it all over the place!!
Now we have word over the weekend that financial bigshot Bernie Madoff--who has run some big money funds and for a time was president of the NASDAQ stock exchange, so the man had a good rep, ran one major financial scam that ripped a load of folks off!!!
He was running a Ponzi scheme and his "victims" include some very prominent people---like a charity of Steven Spielberg, the owners of the New York Mets and Philadephia Eagles pro sports teams, some US Senators, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and a whole host of rich folks from Palm Beach.
I hate to say it--that I somehow get a bit of pleasure from seeing some of the uber elite take it in the ass--at least the pain of the current economic situation is going to be somewhat an equal opportunity deal.
The big problem with it though---it shows that those who run our financial institutions--like FEC Chairman Christopher Cox are either incredibly incompetent or they don't have any problem with their rich cronies being able to raid the treasury and stick it to the rest of us!!!
It really seems that things are really out of whack---and my God---you do have to wonder---what the hell else is next??
Now--there is talking in the financial pages that in other areas of finance that were seemingly OK---they have their own forms of "credit derivative swaps" and such that are going to bring about an entirely new series of financial shocks!!
Well---I don't know when this is all going to end--I am beginning to think--it is all so totally fucked up----sorry for the profanity--that maybe we might as well scuttle our entire financial system and start all over again---if we could be sure the same people that got us in this current predicament aren't in there to get theirs---some people need to go do some serious hard prison time--like Bernie Maddoff.
Rambling' Part 2:
I do hope that the Bush Administration comes through with a bridge loan to keep GM and Chrysler up and running through the down times we are in----I do agree--the management of the auto companies need to change the way they do things---they have been actually in the past few years---and sure--the labor unions need to make concessions--they are too!!
It does piss me off that in the final minutes of the Senate considering the auto bailout plan----a group of Senators held out that the UAW had to take a major pay cut----something they have been doing for years and are going to do in 2010 when the new contracts come into effect--those Senators made the car companies jump through all kinds of hoops--but they didn't demand the same sort of things for the big wigs of Wall Street--they were able to use the money they received as part of their bailout to pay dividends to shareholders and to pay out management bonuses!!!
Do I sniff out a major double standard here???
I know it is a popular sport to talk about how the American car companies have fucked up in many ways--and that they need to reform---that is all true---but right now--the problems they are experiencing is the same thing that every other car manufacturer from every other nation on earth is experiencing---- those companies are recieving "bailouts" from their respective countries!! This current situation has to do with the liquidity crunch---it has nothing to do with the cars that they offer and all that other crap the senators like Richard Shelby of Alabama kept squawking about!!!
I can tell ya folks----if the US car companies fail----especially now in this economy---not only will we see the loss of the direct jobs of those employed by the auto makers---you will see the first, second and third tier suppliers go down as well and that will affect not only the American companies--but the others who make cars in the US as well--and even reach around the world since the auto parts supply system is "vertically integrated" as they say-the interconnectedness of that industry reaches all over the world and it could take down many foreign manufacturers as well.
The direct number of jobs lost will total one out of every 10 jobs in the US and when you take in the multiplier effect of the loss of the auto makers and along the rest of the economy--some estimates put the number of total jobs lost will be as high as 5 or 6 of EVERY JOB IN THE US--that would translate to an unemployment rate of between 10 and 15 percent according to what reports you read!!!
THINK Of That FOLKS!!!! That is not as bad as the unemployement rate the nation experienced in the "Great Depression" of the 20s, 30s and 40s-(it was around 25% then)--but it would be the highest rate we have experienced since then--and while there is no set definition of what is a "depression" as they have for a "recession"--I don't know about you---but an unemployment rate of 10 percent or better sure is not good news. (that number has to do with the way the goverment gathers and reports the unemployment data--it is not exactly a direct number of jobs--more of a statistical compiliation or estimation really.)
I don't care what your job is or where ya live in the US---if the US car companies go down---it will be like that tsunami that sweep through the Indian Ocean area a few years ago----it will wreak havoc of epic proportions--and hardly anyone will emerge unscathed!!!!
Have a Happy New Year--ya'all!!! :bigrin::bigrin:
Ramblin" Part 1:
Holy shit---you almost hate to open the paper, turn on the radio or TV anymore----it just seems that the shit train keeps on dumping it all over the place!!
Now we have word over the weekend that financial bigshot Bernie Madoff--who has run some big money funds and for a time was president of the NASDAQ stock exchange, so the man had a good rep, ran one major financial scam that ripped a load of folks off!!!
He was running a Ponzi scheme and his "victims" include some very prominent people---like a charity of Steven Spielberg, the owners of the New York Mets and Philadephia Eagles pro sports teams, some US Senators, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and a whole host of rich folks from Palm Beach.
I hate to say it--that I somehow get a bit of pleasure from seeing some of the uber elite take it in the ass--at least the pain of the current economic situation is going to be somewhat an equal opportunity deal.
The big problem with it though---it shows that those who run our financial institutions--like FEC Chairman Christopher Cox are either incredibly incompetent or they don't have any problem with their rich cronies being able to raid the treasury and stick it to the rest of us!!!
It really seems that things are really out of whack---and my God---you do have to wonder---what the hell else is next??
Now--there is talking in the financial pages that in other areas of finance that were seemingly OK---they have their own forms of "credit derivative swaps" and such that are going to bring about an entirely new series of financial shocks!!
Well---I don't know when this is all going to end--I am beginning to think--it is all so totally fucked up----sorry for the profanity--that maybe we might as well scuttle our entire financial system and start all over again---if we could be sure the same people that got us in this current predicament aren't in there to get theirs---some people need to go do some serious hard prison time--like Bernie Maddoff.
Rambling' Part 2:
I do hope that the Bush Administration comes through with a bridge loan to keep GM and Chrysler up and running through the down times we are in----I do agree--the management of the auto companies need to change the way they do things---they have been actually in the past few years---and sure--the labor unions need to make concessions--they are too!!
It does piss me off that in the final minutes of the Senate considering the auto bailout plan----a group of Senators held out that the UAW had to take a major pay cut----something they have been doing for years and are going to do in 2010 when the new contracts come into effect--those Senators made the car companies jump through all kinds of hoops--but they didn't demand the same sort of things for the big wigs of Wall Street--they were able to use the money they received as part of their bailout to pay dividends to shareholders and to pay out management bonuses!!!
Do I sniff out a major double standard here???
I know it is a popular sport to talk about how the American car companies have fucked up in many ways--and that they need to reform---that is all true---but right now--the problems they are experiencing is the same thing that every other car manufacturer from every other nation on earth is experiencing---- those companies are recieving "bailouts" from their respective countries!! This current situation has to do with the liquidity crunch---it has nothing to do with the cars that they offer and all that other crap the senators like Richard Shelby of Alabama kept squawking about!!!
I can tell ya folks----if the US car companies fail----especially now in this economy---not only will we see the loss of the direct jobs of those employed by the auto makers---you will see the first, second and third tier suppliers go down as well and that will affect not only the American companies--but the others who make cars in the US as well--and even reach around the world since the auto parts supply system is "vertically integrated" as they say-the interconnectedness of that industry reaches all over the world and it could take down many foreign manufacturers as well.
The direct number of jobs lost will total one out of every 10 jobs in the US and when you take in the multiplier effect of the loss of the auto makers and along the rest of the economy--some estimates put the number of total jobs lost will be as high as 5 or 6 of EVERY JOB IN THE US--that would translate to an unemployment rate of between 10 and 15 percent according to what reports you read!!!
THINK Of That FOLKS!!!! That is not as bad as the unemployement rate the nation experienced in the "Great Depression" of the 20s, 30s and 40s-(it was around 25% then)--but it would be the highest rate we have experienced since then--and while there is no set definition of what is a "depression" as they have for a "recession"--I don't know about you---but an unemployment rate of 10 percent or better sure is not good news. (that number has to do with the way the goverment gathers and reports the unemployment data--it is not exactly a direct number of jobs--more of a statistical compiliation or estimation really.)
I don't care what your job is or where ya live in the US---if the US car companies go down---it will be like that tsunami that sweep through the Indian Ocean area a few years ago----it will wreak havoc of epic proportions--and hardly anyone will emerge unscathed!!!!
Have a Happy New Year--ya'all!!! :bigrin::bigrin: