Ford CEO Mullaly said he is going to drive a hybrid to Washington this time.

The wealth during the dot-com bubble and the real-estate bubble was paper wealth . Produced artificially through hyper speculation. Many goods were consumed during these years but far too many were produced overseas (look at your list autos, furinture, televisions, computers) and purchased on credit betting on the continued expansion of the bubbles. The bubbles burst, the paper wealth is gone, and now we are left with the ious for the foreign produced goods.
Tell me was the paper wealth that Russia, Venezuela and the middle eastern countries enjoyed this summer real?

 

I'm middle aged, and my folks were talking that way when I was a kid. Thanks to that education - some would call it "brainwashing" - I never did believe in credit. If I needed something, I saved for it until I could afford to pay in full

One of my favorite books - due to almost perfectly fitting my mindset - is The Millionaire Next Door. I suggest everybody read it, perhaps a bit too late now for most folks

Amazon.com: The Millionaire Next Door: Thomas J. Stanley, William D. Danko: Books

I've always lived *well* below my means, a very simple, cheap, but satisfying lifestyle. I have zero debt, savings, etc, though the savings have been eroded by inflation and the stock market collapse. I've never had the need to be seen in the latest Escalade with bling-bling wheels, it's *such* a crock of s***

As far as the mess we're now in, I find it extremely simplistic to blame it all on a handful of us driving Toyota's or buying stuff from China. First of all, with the blessing of both Democrats and Republicans, our major corporations have raped, mugged, and generally robbed us blind. They have no problem taking advantage of overseas operations

Second, we can thank all that do-gooder Socialist "cheap" credit for getting us into this big mess. Yes, it created a bubble that resulted in sales of telecom equipment, heavy equipment, many vehicles, many poorly constructed McMansions, but funny money was used to "pay" for it

Imgine you sell a total stranger something, say an old car, and take a check. You go to the bank, and whoops, the check bounced. Imagine how you feel at that moment. That's probably how our big creditors, eg China, feel right now

 

The ironic part about all this is that the CEO of Ford was driving a Prius to Washington! Or was he? LOL!

 

When I got my first loan/mortgage, I was really bothered by the bank getting $250,000 for a $55,000 loan. I had done my homework, but this was the best I was going to get back then. So I started to work out the detailed math of where the amoritization tables got calculated. Eventually I figured out that the tables were totally optimized to maximize to return to the bank (ripoff rate) and minimize the payback rate of the payer. That's when I learned how businesses truly work .....and that corporations have always worked that way (your lack of knowledge and dicipline will be our profit).

So next, I figured out how to sabotage the amoritization schedule to invert the optimization. In simple terms, every dollar prematurely used to pay off principal reduced money to the bank by $12. Bottom line was mortgage was paid off in 4 years instead of 15...and never, ever be in debt again.

Then came the next shocker, when telling coworkers about how to best invest money (e.g. get out of debt as highest priority), I got a lot of "street" advice about how you can do better in the stock market. (Better than 12 to 1 ....I don't think so.) So while corporations pick pockets as best they can, way too many let their pockets get picked. I put some blame on corporations, but vastly more on people lacking dicipline and education for the problems that are many times self inflicted.

 

Can you provide more details to this plan please?

 

Great that you'd choose to justify their obscene behavior, instead of admitting this is just a symptom of GM's inability to make rational decisions. " ... fly every day in [a] week." ? ? ?

Time to start web confrencing, like everyone else ... real thinking outside of the box, there, eh? Sadly, such a simple decision wasn't made by GM several years ago ... THAT's the reason they are in the fix thay got their self in to ... made big dough today, and plan ZERO for tomorrow.

 

I don't know how Big 3 CEO's are commuting and taking lunch, but has anybody seen following CNN video report about Japan Air Line CEO?

YouTube - When is the last time you saw such a CEO?

Ken@Japan

 

I agree with you but who gets to buy the homes, cars etc next time?

 

That is our wall-street induced AMerican way. Remember GM stock was trading for $43/share less than a year ago. Why was that?

 

"Why was that" is the wrong question ... a distracter. The question is, "how do we get out of the mess that allows for such problems". Printing more paper money to bail out a failed auto system is tantamount to curing a heroin addict by handing him a blank check so (s)he can go get rehab.

 

I could care less how he gets to Washington. What the Pols should do is replace the top executives in the car industry, who have failed miserably in competition with the Japanese, dating back to the 1960s when they ignored Demmings and his message about quality and reliability. And they have fought every government regulation since then to make their cars safer.

The car industry has gone the way of most mature industries which are past their growth cycle. Their top management becomes conservative--a bunch of bean counters who got up the ladder by making no enemies. Not the risk takers who grew the industry when it was young. That is true for a lot of American industry these days.

Sure, the labor unions have squeezed the companies for high salaries over the years, which has made many of their workers middle class and Republican (!). But the executives are at fault for bad management--they haven't turned over enough profit to justify those healthy labor contracts. And they have lined their pockets with excessive salary/bonus packages. Remember, management always takes care of themselves first. Anybody who has been in industry knows that.

Having said that, watching Larry King last night, I get the impression the media is not giving the workers a fair shake--with their silly polls about a "bailout" (it's a loan), their emphasis on CEO extravagance (How much does Larry King make? What does he drive?), and their paying lipservice to that very vocal right wing minority which wants to commit hari-kari and destroy everything.

I find myself agreeing with Michael Moore and some wise car editors I've heard lately, who believe the government should nationalize GM, get some green-minded people to run it, and use it as a launching platform to make us oil-independent. I doubt the Dems have the balls to do it.

 

I will take a lot of heat on this put tell me what is different with the plight of GM and the plight of the US? One has a printing press and one does not.

 

I especially liked that part at the end where the translator told us "my air conditioner broke, then the car, then the hot water heater. My wife told me this is all your fault"

I'm sure that was a polite translation, perhaps you can offer some colloquial insights into what he *really* said about his wife

This only proves my point that marriage - no matter what the culture or place - is all the same.

I really can imagine the scene. It's one in the morning, there's no hot water in the house, and she's yelling at him and wagging her finger while he's fiddling with the controls.

 

The wealthy

 

It's *not* the American way. The American Way was thriftiness, and planning for the future. Ever watch the series Mad Men? That was - IMHO - the start of the *real* cancer that infected Wall Street, the corporations, and the economy.

 

A good analogy, but I think I would have phrased it like this

"Printing more money to bail out a failed auto system is tantamount to curing a heroin addict by handing him several cases of heroin and needles"

 

Its always my fault. What do you do with all of your extra time and piece of mind?

 

William Edward Demming is as American as Apple Pie. He was considered brilliant for how he was able to restructure American factories during world war two to meet the war effort

In the early 1950's, when the Allied powers were still "occupying" Japan, Deming was brought on board due to his vast experience. He first worked with the Census, then JUSE (Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers) very humbly asked Deming to provide them instruction on rebuilding their decimated industries

A humanitarian at heart, Deming refused to accept any royalties and only took modest fees. To repay Deming for his exceptional work and kindness shown towards the Japanese - at a time when many Westerners referred to the Japanese as "nips" - JUSE created the Deming Prize. The rest is history.

JUSE:Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers:The Deming Prize

In 1960, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi awarded Deming the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class. to Deming in recognition of his friendship and work to help Japanese industry

It's a shame that the Big Three all but ignored Deming, as the man and his institution had plenty to offer

The W. Edwards Deming Institute: The W. Edwards Deming Institute

So I really have no feelings for the Big Three, or most corporations here in North America. All appear infected with the same level of arrogance and entitlement