Category: fauxtons

artown rewritten using electrons. journeys into digital imaging. leaving the light, entering the electron.

The Magic Mushroom

Posted on Posted in fauxtons, K Street Y

Bankruptcy is magic. Like powders, potions of old, when companies were small and executives bold.

Consider what a bankruptcy does and how it does it. The problem a bankruptcy solves is cash flow. It solves this by government intervention. The government is asked to intervene on behalf of the company to save it from contracts it does not intend to fulfill. The effect this has is on the vendors.

In the case of the automobile industry, the Tier 1 suppliers will be hit hard. In many cases they will have to layoff immediately. Additionally, they will tear down and store, or else scrap molds, jigs and specialty tools that had been used to make the parts that were contracted. They will have to do this because they are not well capitalized. With as little as a 20% drop, they layoff in defense of shutdown. These are the people and tools that make the parts needed to repair under warranty. With their failure, there is no after market maintenance, nor much residual value in the vehicle.

It will be inspiring to see the innovation after this grand failure. Imagine what it will look like. Garages will spring up all across America. Retrofitting 2008 Chevys with 2010 Toyota hoods. Hang onto that headlight and duck tape. That’s what happened in Havana after the oil collapse in the good old Soviet Union. Now it is going to happen in America after the collapse of the good old Detroit Unions.
At last, the grand old republic gets its way. At last Reagan does away with the union.

It Is Bankrupt Time In America

Posted on Posted in econocaste, fauxtons

It is time for those free loadin retirees to stop destroying the free enterprise system with their free wheelin rv’n. So writes Mitt Romney, the son of the gun that destroyed American Motors, in todays New York Times editorial. An editorial that got Morning Joe’s Face Mat, MIca, all steamy this mornin.

He is not alone. Most of FOX, WSJ, CNBC and probably their four million viewers and subscribers agree. The unions are to blame. This is also a good time to reduce wages for labor all across America. That way we will be able to innovate our way to even greater prosperity, at least for someone. I wonder why that published two thousand dollars per car is never reviewed.

How is it that Japanese and German automobile manufacturers got the “market” correct? Not just the lower price of our workforce. In Germany, the automaker has an ally for retirement. In Japan, Germany too, the “market” requirement of fuel efficiency was never reduced. Even German trucks are more fuel efficient, hence cheaper to use, than the US counterpart. Maybe having a works council works. Maybe requiring a years severance works. Maybe unions running the training program works. Maybe our industry depended on a flawed market. They answered their consumer. Maybe that did not work. Now it is time for those lazy retirees to pony up their share. It will not be the first time that labor has had to work mandatory overtime to fix a flaw that should never have been.

The next time this happens, there won’t be any retirement fund, any health fund, any work procedure to surrender. It will happen again. Next time to the transplants, those companies using our cheap labor like a secret tax break.

I am left wondering about one final question. What happens when the large pool of managed investment represented by that over paid union workforce stops. After all, these high wage earners don’t invest on their own. They use pension funds, professional money managers. With a 20 or 30% drop in wage, what does your theory teach you they will do?

It is shutdown time in America.

On a Real note: Why is it better for this (any) industry to fail? Why is failure best? The answer is: Punishment is required. Take this as your first premise. Punishment is the key to your society. Punishment is the secret teaching. Punishment is the foundation, the footer, the bonds. This is the principle of conservation of capital. Punishment is always the pathway. Makes you wonder what potty time was like in their life huh?

Let Us Thank The Republican Governors

Posted on Posted in fauxtons

Just last week the Republican Governors met and agreed that in the interest of the country, they would hold to their conservative principals and decline any funding from the Federal Government.

On behalf of my friends, thank you for taking a stand renouncing Washington hypocracy, unwaranted taxation, usurping the strength and vitality of your State to stand on its own. Thank you.

I paraphrase here, but they also gave press interviews extolling, among other things, that they chose not to be a burden to the future, not a burden to their grandchildren, not to the country they love. The list of Republican Governors refusing to take Federal Funds is:

  1. Alabama – Gov. Riley
  2. Alaska – Gov. Palin
  3. California – Gov. Schwarzenegger
  4. Connecticut – Gov. Rell
  5. Florida – Gov. Crist
  6. Georgia – Gov. Perdue
  7. Guam – Gov. Camacho
  8. Hawaii – Gov. Lingle
  9. Idaho – Gov. Otter
  10. Indiana – Gov. Daniels
  11. Louisiana – Gov. Jindal
  12. Minnesota – Gov. Pawlenty
  13. Mississippi – Gov. Barbour
  14. Missouri – Gov. Blunt
  15. Nebraska – Gov. Heineman
  16. Nevada – Gov. Gibbons
  17. North Dakota – Gov. Hoeven
  18. Rhode Island – Gov. Carcieri
  19. South Carolina – Gov. Sanford
  20. South Dakota – Gov. Rounds
  21. Texas – Gov. Perry
  22. Utah – Gov. Huntsman
  23. Vermont – Gov. Douglas

I am confident that you will join me in holding these Fiscally Responsible Governors to their commitment.