Bailing out the auto industry

America’s automobile industry is suffering, along with the rest of our economy. Few of us are shedding tears over it. Those that are crying bailout depend on the auto industry for their livelihood.

Auto sales are at their lowest in 25 years. Chrysler sales are down 35%, General Motors sales are down 45%, Ford posted a loss of $3 billion in its latest report. They are all asking the federal government for a $25 billion bailout. This is in addition to the $25 billion already granted them just last quarter.

Let’s get past the question of whether or not the federal government should bail out all of the hard working middle class Americans who are suffering from the result of corporate greed and mismanagement and take a close look at what caused this problem and what we can do to turn it around.

The auto industry has a long history of sleeping with big oil and believe that since they are considered the manufacturing backbone of our economy that they should receive special benefit of a bailout anytime industry leaders decisions backfire on them.

In a free enterprise system, there are winners and there are losers. Winners keep themselves abreast of the latest technologies and consumer trends and adapt their products to keep up with the market. This is simple economic strategy and every successful business owner knows this rule inside and out. The American auto manufacturers have not followed this rule. They have repeatedly lost sales to far superior foreign products all the while knowing they had the ability to change their methodology to match or exceed their competitors products. They simply did not keep up with the competition. They lobbied the federal government to pass laws so that their products did not have to meet strict emissions standards even while foreign manufacturers were beating those standards. They did not take it upon themselves to make their product financially attractive enough to American consumers.

Why should they be bailed out when their own behavior has put them in this position? They ignored the writing on the wall when people began buying more fuel efficient foreign vehicles and instead of reinvesting in retooling to produce lighter-weight, more fuel-efficient vehicles continued to build the largest ‘land-yachts’ in the world.

Another major problem adding to the auto industry woes is the rising cost of doing business in America. Both the federal government and the union should share the blame for this. Runaway insurance costs, the increasing tax burden, wages and inflation have made it more attractive for many industries to move their operations overseas to healthier financial environments where they realized greater profits due to not having to pay such high overhead.

The American auto industry relied too heavily on the old sentimental loyalty of Americans to “buy American” and it backfired on them.

Now the auto industry is using American jobs as the reason they should be bailed out. They are probably correct in assuming that if this industry goes under the loss of tax revenue generated from automobile sales, the loss of income tax generated by workers and the loss of payments into social security will cripple this economy even further. The America economy will suffer far greater damage than we can imagine.

Some people compare bailing this industry out with bailing out the bankers and Wall Street CEO’s and they don’t want to see it. This industry differs in that it directly affects hundreds of thousands of jobs, each contributing to a tax base that drives this economy.

What can be done to help the economy and the auto industry in the long run depends on the cooperation of the federal government and the auto industry.

Government should rewrite its laws to allow, and force, auto manufacturers to produce competitive products.

Any foreign country that sells a car here should be required to manufacture it here, this will create jobs here and will help keep some of the money here in this country instead of shipping it overseas.

Create an international standard for fuel efficiency, gas emissions, and alternative means of power to help us get away from fossil fuels and force the auto industry to adhere to these standards.

Any car manufacturer that wants to ship vehicles to the U.S. should pay higher tariffs making less attractive for them to do so.

In fact, raising tariffs on everything that comes into this country would help other American industries as well. America has become the dumping ground of cheap products made overseas and this needs to stop. Americans used to feel a certain pride in making quality American products. There is no pride in sending our money overseas for product that should be made here.

Ideally, these changes will entice all industry to bring their manufacturing back to America and re-employ Americans.

Let’s face it, Americans are not loyal to American products, we are loyal to getting the best product for our money. It will always be this way.

World’s most sophisticated bomber taken out by nature

The U.S. Air Force B-2 Stealth Bomber that crashed in February of this year was caused by moisture in sensors. This just goes to show that no matter how sophisticated man’s technological prowess becomes, nature will always have the upper hand.

In the investigative report, Major General Floyd L. Carpenter states that the crash probably could have been avoided if knowledge of a technique to evaporate the moisture had been disseminated throughout the B-2 program. He is saying that someone had learned a technique to prevent this mishap and that learned ability was not passed on to other pilots. Why?

The military is supposed to work as a team of one. Meaning everyone knows everything that everyone else knows. That’s my estimation of what a ‘team of one’ means.

$1.4 billion dollars is hell of a lot of money to crash into the ground because preventive information was not passed on to that pilot.

Again, the U.S. Air Force fails in its responsibilities.

U.S. Air Force fails in its responsibilities

As an insight into the systemic thinking of the military mind, the general said that the report was forwarded to commanding officers to determine whether any disciplinary measures are required. Disciplinary Measures. The report was not presented in such a positive light as to what can be learned for the safety of future pilots and equipment, but whether or not someone should be punished for this accident. This negative thinking reinforces the command-and-control thinking that runs rampant in the military as well as in politics. We need to move in a more positive direction away from the fear-of-punishment-as-incentive. I am certain that the two pilots of that aircraft on February 23, 2008 were not intending on destroying that bomber. And their training was very extensive and thorough. To be under the threat of punishment for negligence resulting in the destruction of this piece of equipment is ludicrous.

However, something needs to be done to disseminate information on how the crash could have been prevented. Now that would be positive, forward thinking.

In this day of lightning-fast-gossip of the antics of some debutante why can’t information as critically important as preventing the uncontrollable behavior of a $1.4 billion aircraft be quickly spread to everyone concerned?

Oh, as an after thought, Carpenter said procedures and policies are now in place to guard against similar crashes. It is unfortunate that we had to lose one of our nation’s most technologically advanced and expensive bombers before everyone became privy to how the accident could have been prevented.

For a video of the actual crash click here. The video two B2’s taking off. It is the second aircraft, about 1:50 minutes into the video that crashes.

Please, take your job seriously

Nuclear submarine crew faked inspection records!?!?

Great! People in charge of a nuclear reactor inspection deem it too bothersome to actually inspect the reactor. Once again, the safety and welfare of fellow humans is not enough for someone to actually do their job. Click here for details of another, recent, example of job carelessness, this time involving nuclear weapons. How many more times will one of these ‘lackadaisical’ acts (a ‘whimsical’ term that a military officer used to describe the criminal act of dereliction of duty) be tolerated before one of the most devastating accidents imaginable happens and countless Americans lose their lives?

The worst case scenario is easy to imagine if you think about it long enough. Clue: it is a nuclear reactor!! But, these guys did not trouble themselves to think any further than beyond their own possible punishment for not doing their job. Perhaps they do realize what could happen if a nuclear accident occurred. Maybe they realize they could very likely be dead as the result of a missed inspection. But they were too deeply concerned with covering their own asses.

Does anyone know when a leak might happen? Does anyone know when something could wrong resulting in a nuclear meltdown? The answer to these questions of course is no!

But these guys were convinced enough that it could not, indeed, would not happen on their shift. Then they had the low moral and ethical character to forge the inspection record instead of informing someone that the reactor was not inspected just in the ‘off chance’ that something was wrong.

Once again it is more important to cover your own ass and to hell with everyone else. Why is this becoming business as usual?

What would happen if everyone just decided that since a nuclear accident has never happened we don’t ever have to perform another inspection? How would that be? Then we could all go about our own personal business of pleasuring ourselves and not have to be bothered with the time-consuming, unnecessary, busy-work of a job.

These individuals who did not perform their integral function as a part of this crew and then forged these records have basically said they don’t give a damn about the safety of this equipment or its crew.

They were responsible for the safety of 166 enlisted personnel and 13 officers on board that $900 million submarine. They were responsible for the environment that a nuclear meltdown would have damaged, possibly irreversibly, for countless years, plus any other ancillary damage that only a nuclear accident would have effected.

But, hey, nothing happened, right? Why take it so hard and demand punishment? Because, no one does know when something will go wrong.

No one should say “well, nothing did happen, so lighten up.” This attitude completely negates the importance of people doing their #*$&%^* job!

How many times is this self-centered, lazy lack of attention to detail going to continue before a serious accident does happen? Rhetorical question, because, by the way, no on can predict that either. But these guys decided their own personal time was too important to do their job.

The Navy will probably just give them a slap on the wrist, thereby telling the next crew that these inspections are not really that serious and that dereliction of duty falls within acceptable ‘guidelines’. After all, we are just human, right? We all make mistakes.

Now, let’s take the nuclear reactor out of the equation and look at everyday life. Police officers recently did not look for two possible victims of an automobile crash and the father of one of the victims found his dead son’s body hours later, at the scene. This is a case of someone not doing his job.

There are instances like these everyday, surely not as life threatening or as dramatic as a nuclear meltdown, but when you are put out or inconvenienced because someone does not do their job does it matter to you? Of course it does.

Shirking your responsibility causes businesses to lose money which eventually costs the consumers money. Putting your job off onto someone else can lead to death and/or serious injury. This stuff is real.

What if firefighters decided they didn’t want to fight the raging fire at your neighbors house, or your house? Maybe they were too busy playing a video game or watching sports on TV.

How would you feel if those very same firefighters did not receive any punishment? Or those police officers who did not do their job were given a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue on the job? Would you feel safe knowing they were still out there when you called on them for help?

People who shun their responsibility put themselves ahead of everyone else, it’s the “me first” attitude that detrimentally affects everyone.

There are far too many instances where people turn from their responsibility in favor of something that is more fun to do. The more this happens the greater the chance that a disaster is going to result.

Follow up: Police leave victims behind

I just read a CNN story connected to an earlier story about police officers who left the scene of a car accident in which they failed to properly search for two survivors.

Darius Moore says he feels vindicated after listening to police dispatch recordings that he says prove his story about a car crash that killed two of his closest friends.

Fine, I would feel vindicated as well.

Moore, 17, was driving a 1994 Chevrolet Caprice early September 15 when it careened through a guardrail and into a ravine, killing 18-year-olds Brandon Smith and Dominique Green and injuring himself and 17-year-old DeAndre Anderson. None was wearing a seat belt, Moore said, and all were thrown from the car.

Moore said he and Anderson, bleeding from their injuries, pleaded with police who arrived at the crash scene that their two friends were missing. Police said Moore and Anderson told officers they may have dropped Smith and Green off before the crash.

Moore said he doesn't agree with the Lake County, Indiana, coroner's office finding that Smith and Green died instantly.

"I'm angry at police because I thought they could have found my friends, and they probably would be alive today if [police] had just done their job," he said.

"I just don't believe that they checked," Moore said. "My friend Brandon Smith's father went down there and checked and found them in five minutes, so I don't know why [police] couldn't do the same."

So far, I am in agreement with Moore on these points.

But, here’s a piece of truth that Darius Moore has to accept even if he did just gloss over it. He alone was responsible for his friends being thrown from that vehicle because he was the driver, not the police, not anyone else. He got behind the wheel of that vehicle after drinking, he alone pushed that accelerator to force that vehicle over the speed limit. The police did not do any of this.

You cannot know when a tire is going to blow but you sure as hell know it is a possibility if the tire is in poor condition. Every driver is responsible for knowing if their tires are in good shape or not.

The police have their culpability to answer for just as does Darius Moore. Mr. Moore, you have to accept your responsibility in this tragic accident in that only you could have prevented it. Do not try to push off your part in this tragedy just because the police gave some doubt as to whether or not your friends might still be alive if they had done a more thorough search.

Moore denied police claims that both surviving teens had been drinking. He said "there was no alcohol in the car."

Mr. Moore, your blood alcohol test proves you were drinking, true there may not have been any alcohol in the car, but do not try to say you were not drinking when a blood-alcohol test proves otherwise. You are underage and the fact you was drinking proves you are not above cheating, so be careful with trying to play the victim here, sir. Accept your responsibility. You want to act like an adult then by God do it completely.

Another thing, there is no way that a vehicle would roll as many times as this one did causing this much damage if you was only accelerating at the ‘mind-numbing’ speed of 30-40 miles per hour. We are not stupid. This is a bald faced lie on your part sir in a desperate attempt to take the blame off of you. Again, be a man and accept your responsibility in this.

"A lot of people tell me that it wasn't my fault, that there was nothing that I could do," said Moore, a senior at Gary's West Side High School. "I realize that it wasn't my fault, but sometimes I feel like it was -- it really wasn't -- but it's just how I feel sometimes."

This is pure BS. People, take responsibility for your actions. This is why our society is so screwed up, because people like you want to have your fun but don’t want to take responsibility when your brand of fun ends up in a tragedy. The only part of “what a lot of people” tell you is true is that there was nothing you could do once the tire blew. But you sure could have done other things that would not have set up the situation for this accident to happen.

It was your fault Mr. Moore. I am sure you did not think you was going to harm your friends but you did intentionally put your friends in harms way by driving that vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, by driving over the speed limit (I know you are not innocent of this), and by not taking better care of that car by having good, safe tires on it. All of these things puts the blame squarely on you.

Stop acting like a victim here and stand up.

Unsafe vehicles and drivers

Darius Moore, 17, of Gary Indiana, was driving while intoxicated on the night of September 15, 2007 when one of his tires blew out. He was also driving well over the speed limit.

All three of these factors combined to create a tragedy that is repeated far too many times. A tragedy that could have been prevented and will haunt him the rest of his life. He alone is responsible for the deaths of two of his friends.

As tragic as it is for him to live with his memory forever, he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for the negligent deaths of two individuals who left grieving families behind.

His carelessness and disregard for common sense affected a lot of people in a very negative fashion.

The police verified he had been drinking by field sobriety tests. His own admission verified the tire blew out. The fact that his vehicle rolled approximately 15 times attests to the high rate of speed at which he was driving.

All three of these factors could have been prevented by him, Darius Moore.

We have all been told for far too long about the inherent dangers of drinking and driving. We have seen the pictures. Many of us know families who have suffered as a result of this social evil. There are many bodies in the cemetery who thought they could safely drink and drive. Each one of them convinced themselves that no one else knew what they were talking about concerning their drinking and driving. They each thought they were the exception to all the ridiculous talk and scare tactics to get people not to drink and drive.

Darius Moore has no good excuse for being behind the wheel of that vehicle that night.

Hopefully MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and every other group that purports to be against drunk driving will do more than just talk and see to it that this individual is put away for his crime. Some of you will say he made a terrible error in judgment. This is not good enough to let him off. Every drunk driver makes a terrible error in judgment. This is exactly what needs to be addressed.

We can no longer go soft on these individuals for their crimes because they still are not getting the message. They are not convinced of their limitations under the influence. Much more needs to be done.

Even without adding the reaction-time stifling effects of alcohol to the mix, far too many drivers think they can safely drive at excessive speeds. Sure they can get away with it as long as nothing unexpected ever happens. There are a lot of things outside of their control that can happen, like a tire blows out, a dog runs across the street, another car swerves into their path, they focus too long on that text message they just have to send while driving, the car in front of them stops suddenly because the car in front of them stopped suddenly, etc. When you are driving above the posted speed limit you drastically shorten your stopping distance and therefore your margin of safety meaning you purposefully make it impossible to react in time. The result is your vehicle swerves suddenly from the excessive brake pressure you just applied, one of your tires blows due to the excessive weight of your vehicle being exerted on it, your vehicle then rolls over, you then are seriously injured or killed along with everyone in your vehicle and anyone who is in your path.

Somewhere in the U.S. these scenarios happen on a daily basis. Why do you think it cannot happen to you?

Why doesn’t anyone else take these facts seriously? These are not just exaggerations of what could happen but probably never will. This is not just some scare tactic to get you to slow down. The fact that they have happened should be enough for every driver to use more caution on the road. When you are driving you are responsible for the safety of everyone around you, not just yourself and your passengers.

Back to the accident involving Darius Moore, as far as the tires are concerned, if they were in bad enough condition to blow out then they should have been repaired or replaced. Does anyone take the time to check the condition of their tires or any other part of their vehicle before they are forced to after they break down? Why not? Again, your safety and the safety of everyone around you depends on your vehicle being in a safe enough condition to drive.

Did Darius Moore make the decision to spend money on alcohol instead of repairing or replacing worn out tires? Of course, he will tell you it wasn’t his fault. It never is. It is always some factor out of his control. But the truth is, there was a greater chance of that tire being worn out and needing attention than just coincidence that it blew out while he was drinking and speeding.

People are not taking seriously enough the fact that each one of is responsible for the safety of everyone around us on our roadways. No one respects the fact that we alone can cut the number of traffic accidents if only we would obey traffic laws and keep our vehicles in safe working order.

I would like to feel safer on the roads I travel. I would like for my family to be safe on these roads. I do not feel safe when some fool comes rushing up behind me and tailgates because by driving the speed limit I am not moving fast enough for him.

I do not feel safe when some fool is dividing their attention between the road and a cell-phone conversation or text message that could be, should be, taken care of while parked.

I do not feel safe knowing there are fools who disregard the fact that drinking slows their reaction time and judgment and as a result I could die for it.

Parenthood

I found this on the internet, sorry about not giving credit where due, but no name was given with it.


What my mother taught me…

My mother taught me to appreciate a job well done:
“If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside – I’ve just finished cleaning!”

My mother taught me religion:
“You’d better pray that stain will come out of the carpet.”

My mother taught me about time travel:
“If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you right into the middle of next week!”

My mother taught me logic:
“Because I said so, that’s why.”

My mother taught me foresight:
“Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.”

My mother taught me irony:
“Keep laughing and I’ll give you something to cry about.”

My mother taught me about the science of osmosis:
“Shut your mouth and eat your supper!”

My mother taught me about contortionism:
“Will you look at the dirt on the back of your neck!”

My mother taught me about stamina:
“You’ll sit there until all that spinach is finished.”

My mother taught me about weather:
“It looks as if a tornado swept through your room.”

My mother taught me how to solve physics problems:
“If I yelled because I saw a meteor coming towards you, would you listen to me then?”

My mother taught me about hypocrisy:
“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times: don’t exaggerate!!”

My mother taught me the circle of life:
“I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.”

My mother taught me about behavior modification:
“Stop acting like your father!”

My mother taught me about envy:
“There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do!”

Thanks, Mom!


Mothers are such a wonderful gift.
Sounds like such a silly, trite thing to say, doesn't it? It just seems so obvious that it doesn't need to be said.

Well, sadly, there are Mothers out the that don't take this gift seriously enough to hold the honor of being called Mother. They don't want the responsibility. I'm not saying that every woman should 'strive' to be a Mother. Not at all. Some women should never be a mother. But, unfortunately, some of those very same women are mothers.

And the same thoughts I put forth here are applied to fathers as well.

Parenthood is something that should be taken much more seriously than it is. It is a grave responsibility.

It is the very fountain from which we all learn basic societal values such as integrity, responsibility (to ourselves and to others), how to love (how to give love and how to accept love), respectability (of ourselves and of others), how to learn (to know the joy of expanding our horizons to further ourselves). Sadly, too many parents leave the bulk of learning all of these things to our school system. This in itself is being taught to our children, to put responsibility off onto someone else.

I believe that parenthood is too big of a responsibility for some people. It can be overwhelming to some. We, as a society, should be able to receive help from others in raising our children. We, as a society, should be able to step into a situation where we see a parent is struggling with a child. Perhaps someone has experience in a given situation that another parent does not and is failing terribly. There should be no stigmatism at not being able to handle 'every' situation perfectly. That is a lot of pressure.

Being a parent should not be a 'hit or miss' proposition. We do get only one chance per child to do it correctly. Something this important should not be such as crap shoot.

Overall, we are not doing a stellar job at raising our children. We are not all experts at it. Who is? Why can't we have some repository where we can go to learn from mistakes that others have made so that we can learn how to handle a given situation, or be given the best advice on how to behave in a given situation.

Wouldn't it be great to be able to take lessons, or whatever, to learn how to be a parent, how to raise a child. We could all learn what is needed to 'mold' them into being better (I mean more productive) citizens. I know this sounds too much like mind control, but isn't that what rearing children entails?

We could raise people who know of the importance of pulling our own weight, of not being a burden to others. We could all learn that when we hurt others we are truly hurting ourselves.

I for one think we could be so much better off without those 'leeches' in our society that 'live off of' the rest of us. Everyone knows who I am talking about. The criminal element who would rather steal from someone else than work for what they need to live. And those people who kill someone, often for very selfish, short-sighted reasons and then become someone the rest of us have to support.

Think of how much more productive our society would be if we did not have to support the prison system, welfare, greedy CEO's who get paid way too much, thieving people in positions of power who think it is their 'right' to take from others who depend on them. I know these human traits are just human nature and everyone says we cannot doing anything about it. But that is just a cop out.

Many of these values I would like to see more people display could be learned through a religious education. Unfortunately, the connotation of a 'religious education' leaves a bad taste in many people's mouth's, mine included. But you see, even something as 'good' and 'beneficial' as learning how to 'love thy neighbor' has even been spoiled to the point that too many of us can't bring ourselves to try to teach that to our kids.

I don't know if people think that if you go too far with religion that you are opening yourself up to others taking advantage of you. I guess there is some reality in that fear, and that is very unfortunate.

We are sinking, quickly. We are all losing faith, in ourselves, in others, and in what we know is right.

We need some 'heroes'. We need someone we can look up to. We need mentors who will not be found out to be taking advantage of us. If there is someone out there who is not just in it for themselves, I really wish they would step forward.

The 'heroes', the 'mentors', the 'leaders' we have known throughout history have all been found to have faults. After all, they were just human and we all have faults. I am willing at this point to accept some faults if the right 'hero' or 'mentor' would only show up but the frequency at which these people come along seems to be getting less and less.

It used to be that they could be found almost anywhere, a politician, perhaps a policeman or a firefighter, maybe a judge, a carpenter, or even a parent.