Atlanta Chicks Tweetup

This will be a great event!!! Cant wait to finally meet the awesome Atlanta ladies I’ve been chatting with on Twitter!

Atlanta Chicks Tweetup

Shared via AddThis

The Great Fall

This comment, posted by Martin of New York, was in repsonse to Bob Herbert’s May 9th article on the fall of the US Economy. Martin has articluated beautifully exactly what I also feel and so i felt it was worth sharing here.

“The American economy had a great fall like Humpty Dumpty. The problem is that all of Obama’s horses and all of Obama’s men, like Geithner and Summers are trying to put the economy back together again, but I fear that they will have the same fate as their counter parts in the nursery rhyme. Economists who said that the stimulus was too small are going to be proven correct. The social safety net for citizens in America in times of crises is minuscule, stingy and insufficient, when compared to those in Europe and Scandinavia.

In addition, when you compare the cost and availability of higher education to the masses in those parts of the world as compared to ours, it is enough to make one’s blood boil. The problem is that most citizens don’t take the time to investigate these facts and fall prey to the Republican baloney about socialism. The poor and the middle class have been political orphans in America for decades. The Bush administration orchestrated a social revolution in America by transferring massive amounts of wealth to the upper classes. America would have been turned into an oligarchy except for the fact that Wall Street got drunk on greed because the economic circuit breakers were removed in their unregulated world, and the whole thing blew up in their faces.

Obama had said that crises presented new opportunities for change. However, his response to the banking crises was another massive transfer of taxpayer wealth to the same class that caused the crises, after having already benefited from the social revolution engineered by Bush and Cheney. The social safety net in America is reserved for its bankers, while the rest of us wait for left overs. This is the opposite of what happens in other parts of the world. Failed banks should have been nationalized until they were healthy enough again to be re-privatized. The main thrust of the economic recovery should have been geared to mitigate the massive job losses that we now see and will continue to live under.

From what I have observed, Obama is not much of an agent of change. He appears to want to put our economic Humpty Dunpty back together again just as it was, with maybe the erection of a larger ledge on the wall so it won’t fall over again. The welfare of the bankers came first, the welfare of the poor and middle class second. This is not change I can believe in. It is more of the same. The extended unemployment benefits, and the retraining programs now offered are scraps thrown to a dog at the dinner table when compared to those in Europe and Scandinavia. That is why Obama was rebuked by those countries when he requested that they initiate a stimulus plan in their own land. He should try practicing what he preaches in America, before he lectures Europeans on their responsibility towards their citizens.

As long as America puts the needs of Wall Street and bankers above those of the middle class and the poor, we will continue to decline as a nation and as a people. Wall Street values have made us a beggar and debtor nation whose main manufacturing bases centers around the production and sale of weapons. This is not something to be proud of.

I believe that if we put the needs of ordinary citizens first and bankers second, we would make wiser decisions about our economy, health and education systems, energy and foreign policy. We would also not use jails as our main instrument in dealing with our social problems. Greed is not a good social motivator, and wealth should be a consequence of societal planning that is based upon the common good. Americans should ask themselves why our neighbor Canada has not had an economic meltdown like us.

I think Obama is missing a real opportunity to bring foundational change to America. If he caves on a single payer health care option, I will know that he was not really serious about his campaign rhetoric. Imagine a society that made decisions based upon the common good for the majority of its citizens. What a novel idea. There once was a nation like that. It was called America.”

Obama and the Autos

I was reading an article in the NYTimes discussing how Obama has not much knowledge of the auto industry and I thought, yes that is true. The article went on to focus on the fact that he is being most closely advised on this issue by Geithner and Summers, two Wall Street corrupt cronies. I am extremely concerned about these two being attached to Obama’s hip. And so, apparently was the man whose comments to the article I am posting below:

For eighteen months I supported the election of President Obama. Seeing him as a postiive leader and elated that we had come to the point of being color blind in an election. I cut off communciation with three sets of first cousins who I chastised for their ignorant and racist intolerance.

Traveling from Florida to Grant Park for the victory celebration was my greatest moment in eight long years. I spent over three hours speaking to a man and his mother who had traveled from Scotland to witness this historic moment. I did not know until the end of the evening that he was a journalist at one of thier most noted newpapers. He wrote in his article that a 61 year old man who traveled from Florida got down on his knees and cried for joy as the election resutls were final.

I am a social worker by training, with an empahsis on organizational development and have been a business consultant for many years. Being raised and spending most of my life in Detroit, I have strongly rooted sentiments for the auto industry. Watching the lack of quality and obsolence of vehicles in the 70’s and 80’s, I marvel at the engineering and quality that is prevasive in the US auto’s today. I test drove many SUV’s over a year ago and purchased a Suburban, over many other high end foreign models. The value, safety and quality was what determined my choice. This is the same vehicle that our President and most top Washington folks are carted around in.

My deep understanding of business is that you use management by planning, not management by results….you do A and you get B…you do not do A..then you get C…the boot. I have written to Obama on several occassions since the termination of Wagoner and the edicts to turn things around in 30-60 days. I have suggested that if he is such a voracious reader that he gets a copy of Four Days With Dr. Deming…the first two thirds of this book is my business bible. I had the opprotunity of taking a close circuit course from Dr. Deming in 1992 and learned from this busines guru a philosophy of what business should be about. It is about careful plannig. It was what Deming taught Japan about. It is not about instilling fear to bring about change.

Now I am preplexed each time I see Obama on TV. I have become acutely aware that there is group think by those that surround him, just as there was in the Bay of Pigs Crisis with Kennedy to support our commander in chief, just as we did in what was one of our major political blunders in modern times.

The auto industry had made mistakes, but were turning things around. You do not bring about chagne by forcing a company to reinvent itself over night when the major part of the problem was that people were not buying cars, because the credit institutions and lines had just gone defunct. The mantra of the country was to get rid of the heads of the auto industry who flew in corporate jets….they did so as it made the best use of their time and allowed them to work while traveling. Obama should have supported them and the unions and realized that we cannot afford to let our industrial base go bankrupt. How do we justify taking awasy pay, dental and vision benefits while our president parades around a puppy that costs $1,500 dollars? This was after he had stated they would get a rescue dog.

This country should have made it more popular to get the same pay and benefits for the workers in our Southern states who are working for lower wages and benefits…the playing field should be equal. Instead we are destroying our industrial base and the middle class. In his book,This Noble Land: My promise for Amretica, the late James Mishner wrote that we must narrow the gap between the haves and have nots if we are to survive as a community. I do not see breaking the backs of our orgainzed labor as a step in the right direction. If Hoffa were alive he would have unionized the workers in the South.

The repercussions of what Obama has and is about to do to the auto indutry will be viewed later as the nemesis of his presidency. In a press conference that was held a few weeks into his term, a reporter asked him if he was being viewed at times by his race and he responded that was true for his first day in office and from that day on only on his actions and deeds. I agree completly and look forwrd 2012. In the interim Carl and Sandy Levin along wiht Governor Granholm, should be right at the front of a March on Washington by organized labor that will show the world that this government has errored in their lack of support and has put their reputation for establishing a no tolerance approach to buinsess that should have had relentless support. You do not bail out banks and insurance companies that deliberaltey stole from us and then throw out the workers of this country.

Alan Barnes
Highland, Michigan

— Alan Barnes, Higland, Michigan

This man has said exactly, in a very thoughtful way, all the things I feel about the autos, the administration, and their handling of this issue. Thank you, Alan Barnes.

Follow me on Twitter

A Discussion on Geo-Targeting

A Discussion on Geo-Targeting

Posted using ShareThis

What is happening to America?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/business/30auto.html

Why is so much beating of the auto industries going on? We will spend trillions on the banks, just giving it to them and not demanding any kind of management change or restructuring.

Wagoner has done many things for GM…North America was always last to fix because he needed the capital from China, Middle East and European markets (which have been GREAT for GM) to finance this. It just all came to a head in October…

I consider myself a democratic socialist and if this administration wants to get involved with companies receiving BAILOUTS so be it. But GM and Chrysler are receiving LOANS…this is very different. And if the administration wanted Wagoner’s resignation, why didnt they call for it earlier, instead of letting them come to DC with their plan and then blasting them AGAIN!? Dont they know this hurts the company’s image and the stock price (which ALL GM retirees are depending on in their stock options, etc)

And really, what is the point of all this highly visible bashing? Auto-workers DO NOT (contrary to popular belief) make TONS of money and their benefits are being cut little by little every hour it seems. Trust me, I grew up a child of autoworkers…its not a nice, pretty glamorous job, theres not tons of potential for job growth, even with college degrees, at least not from the time my parents started…

Why does everyone HATE the auto industry so much? The cars over the last 15 years are just as good as the foreign competitors, its the people in the USA who have owned froeign cars that lambast the US cars, even though it has been decades since they even test-drove one. Let’s see how you like it when the auto-workers and their 70k after 30 years stop being able to eat at your restaurants, shop at your stores, use your services, see your movies, etc…you will be the next ones out of a job if GM goes into bankruptcy, trust me.

These workers have supported their communities for decades…who do you think supports local businesses? People in the middle class…70k is middle class and we need people to work hard and make this amount of money to support our local economies. Stop fooling yourselves…

 My parents hard work there is the only reason I got to go to college and even then, they didnt make enough to pay for it all, I have loans… Stop treating the auto industry like we created this mess, we did not!!! We are victims of it!!!

AIG the Bonus Freaks

Yes, I’m as mad about this as everyone else. It’s truly beyond ridiculous that we have to apy for this lavish, outrageous excess while we are all struggling.

I suppose I am most disappointed in our new President though. He is talking the talk but he isn’t even CLOSE to walking the walk with these insane bonuses. I don’t expect much out of Pelosi and Reid, but I do from Obama and this just makes me feel sad. I wasn’t a huge participant in all the hype around him, he is after all just a man, but I was ready for a strong Democratic leader to get us away from the Bush disasters.

Is anyone else disappointed too? I know everyone is outraged over the bonus-issue. What can we do about this I would really like to see a massive worker revolution in this country…a way for us to come out and demand standards and wages that increase by more than just inflation so we can increase our wealth in the middle and working classes, too.

Everyone is alive on these blogs, but I am thinking its about time to take the streets. I am young, have never lived through massive protests of any kind…how would we do this? I think us young people are ready, but we need a lil help!

The Layoffs we dont see…

Article in the NYTimes today about unannounced layoffs and the WARN act… Companies are laying white-collar workers off in smaller numbers so they can do say without giving them notice. We as workers have no rights left in this country anymore. I think all this is appalling. Companies are using this as an excuse to cut workers, reduce pay, benefits, retirement, etc. and they wont ever bring it back once the recession is over. And yes, I am SICK of helping companies that arent hiring Americans anymore.

The unemployment figure in this country is a JOKE. You mean to tell me that we were losing over 600,000 jobs per week in Feb, but somehow we only lost 690,000 for the whole month? Where did we create those other jobs? yeah right, those other people are probably no longer collecting unemployment. And what about the part time workers and the ultimate small businesses…the self-employed. they are never counted if they are out of work. Our unemployment rate has got to be at about 20% at least.

These companies are snakes…how do they think they are going to survive if Americans can no longer buy their stuff? you think those “middle class” workers in China and India will buy the cars, computers, ipods, etc? Hate to break it to you, but the media is stretching it a bit…the middle class in those countries is still insanely small (1 or 2%) and most arent able to buy the stuff.

Thats one of the reasons automakers pay their workers more (even the foreign ones that come here do this) so that their workers can actually buy the things they make. If this fails to be the case in this country, ie. we all work at Wal-Mart for $8 an hour, this country as we know it is finished and we are headed for third world status.

I’m ready for a worker revolution. How can we do it?

HR-676

I support HR-676…a full extension of Medicare to cover ALL American citizens. Check out the details, as proposed by Rep. Conyers of Michigan, here:

http://conyers.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.Home&Issue_id=063b74a4-19b9-b4b1-126b-f67f60e05f8c

I will be back to discuss more details on this soon.

A Great Idea

I am all about people thinking creatively and outside-the-box, especially right now. We need all the creative ideas we can get about how to stimulate our economy.

I was delighted to read about such an idea in the New York Times today. Ruth Y. Goldway, a member of the United States Postal Regulatory Commission, laid out a way to use some of the stimulus money to fit all the postal vehicles to electric. Although this may not be a new idea, she expanded by saying that the customers could plug their own vehicles in at their community offices when they mail parcels, etc. Great idea!

Additionally, she correctly identified that “Green jobs — outfitting buildings, converting trucks — would be created in neighborhoods nationwide. Converting just its 142,000 standard delivery trucks would reduce gasoline consumption by up to 68 million gallons a year and save the Postal Service millions of dollars.” Saving the Postal Service money would be a wise move, since mail delivery has seen some decreases.

This is the kind of change I was thinking about. This is the kind of change I can believe in.

Stimulus, Shimulus…Do It Right

So the stimulus is in trouble. I’m not surprised in the least. There’s too much stuff in this bill in the first place. I attribute this to Democrats not being able to spend on anything for eight years, but this is not the time to cram everything in. So here are the 4 parts that I believe should be the TOTAL stimulus bill of right now.

Break the stimulus into the following parts:

1. Repairing bridges, roads, etc. throughout the country. Hire those laid-off autoworkers, hire engineers and project managers.

2. Give an enormous amount of money to green industry…solar panels, wind power and mass transportation. don’t just give enough for states to keep their existing transit systems…give them more to make the expansion they need due to increased ridership.

3. Restructure the electrical grid. Help fund and give contracts to companies like Better Place, which will send a message to Detroit that there WILL be an infrastructure in place to support the Chevy Volt and other cars when they come out. Oil will only go up.

4. Increase unemployment benefits and let the unemployed go onto Medicare for a time. Find a way to help those who are self-employed and independent contractors…many of whom are illegally paid in this fashion and suffer from extraordinarily high taxes.

This is ALL that should be in this bill. Of course, education reform and health care, etc. are important. My fear is that if we only do half of what is needed in these areas in this bill, when we try to do more, the Republicans will scream “We already spent money on these programs” and we’ll never get it done right.

Democrats, save some bargaining room. Health Care and Education should be addressed later (even in a few months, just to separate from this current bill) and if you dont spend anything on them now, you will have a better place to argue from when you need complete spending to do them right.

Also, let’s get this thing done without the Republicans. Obama needs to stand up to them more…they were not voted in. We wanted a bold, daring stimulus-and this is not it-this is a hodgepodge. It looks like a pot-luck dinner when we wanted and needed 5-star dining. We dont want more tax cuts or credits, either.

America Must Produce…a Story

“ John Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock
(MADE IN JAPAN ) for 6am .
While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA ) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG ).
He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA ),
 

designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE )

and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA )

 After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet  (MADE IN INDIA )
 

he sat down with his calculator
(MADE IN MEXICO ) to see how much he could spend today.

After setting his watch
(MADE IN TAIWAN )
 filled it with GAS
 (from Saudi Arabia )

to the radio
(MADE IN INDIA )

he got in his car
 (MADE IN GERMANY )

 and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.

 At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his
 Computer
(Made In Malaysia ),

 Joe decided to relax for a while.

 He put on his sandals  (MADE IN BRAZIL )
 
poured himself a glass of wine
 (MADE IN FRANCE )

and turned on his TV
 (MADE IN INDONESIA ),
 

and then wondered why he can’t find  a good paying job in AMERICA .”

I think we know what the point of this story is. Competition is good, but it needs to include American competition. Lets get our act together.

Election Day 2008

Wow, its finally here. Funny, I’m not as euphoric as I have imagined I’d be over the last four years. Probably because there is so much to do.  As I’ve said before, no matter what we find out tonight, Bush is done on Jan 20th (although he’s trying to do as much damage in the next few weeks as possible, big surprise)

I voted about a week and a half ago, so i wont be standing in lines today but my experience voting this year has just been amazing. In March, I voted for a woman to be the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States, Hillary Clinton. It was an absolutely amazing feeling and I was a little teary-eyed. And now, I am in Georgia, not Ohio and I got to vote for an African-America as President of the United States, Barack Obama. I’ve spent alot of time in Europe and although I enjoy their democratic socialist policies, many of these fabulously liberal nations would not be able to elect a minority as a major party nominee. Good for us, it truly is an amazing thing and is definitely the reason I love this country. Because we are all Americans and now we are showing that to the rest of the world.

Let’s get back to doing what we do best: leading the way.

A loan for Detroit?

This post is based on this article from the New York Times about a loan for a merger between GM and Chrysler: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/opinion/31fri1.html

Well, my whole family is tied up in the auto industry, indeed it enabled my parents provide the kind of life for my brother and I that they did not have.

GM does make cars that people want and the cars are an infinitely better quality than they were. GM suffers from a PERCEPTION problem. But if you notice in China-GM is the leader of pack, recognized for quality, design, comfort, performance and value. Short-sightedness has plagued most large Western companies FOREVER. our culture is based on instant gratification. Rick Wagner, however, has seen beyond some of this and his apporaches in China, Europe and the Middle East will allow him to raise the capital needed to invest in the restructuring of North American plants, cars, design, etc.

Toyota and Honda, in my opinion, have fared so well because their culture is one of much more longer term views and actions. However, Toyota jumped on board the truck and SUV bandwagon as well and they are starting to realize that being “all things to all people” can really affect your quality. Welcome to GM’s world, Toyota.

As I recall, Chrysler did VERY well with a government loan some time back. GM has proved, with the Volt, Cruz, etc., that it is serious about energy efficient automobiles. I love my Cobalt-its a great car and it was built in Lordstown, Ohio, where my mom and stepdad both work. Its a pride thing.

If we want to help companies in this country to compete globally as they must, we need to have government health care. Toyota, Honda, VW, BMW, Mercedes, Daimler, etc. do not have health care costs on their books because the governments pay for it. Until we identify some of the real, underlying reasons why our companies struggle, we will not tackle the problem.

Health Care Premiums for Women

This article is a must read!  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/us/30insure.html

Thank you, thank you New York Times and Robert Pear!!!! I am soon to be 24, have a job with a very small company and have had to take out individual care. I did so through Kaiser Permanente and am on an HMO. They sent me a PDF file with the rates for women and men and the age ranges for the monthly premiums…they werent even trying to hide the discrimination!

I am perfectly healthy with no pre-existing conditions and my monthly premium is $193 while the male premium was around $100. This is absolutely insane! So my yearly premium is around $2400 dollars, $1000 deductible, $2000 Out of pocket, $200 deductible for prescriptions, I have co-pays (which prices vary between regular and specialist doctors) and if I were to get pregnant (of which I have NO intention) I have maternity costs of $1000.

So $3600 a year (and I understand this is at most, but one visit to the hospital for a few days would definitely cost this)….this is 13% of my salary (before taxes). This is completely absurd-our taxes would not go up by anywhere close to that to have National Health Care!!!!! Also, preventative care leads to lower costs overall, but women are being discouraged from taking care of themselves. Many people dont want the “government to take care of us” but WAKE UP people! These health insurance companies arent taking care of you!!!!!

I am appalled at the cost, its not health insurance my goodness, insurance is supposed to cover you…you’re on your own with health insurance. Especially if you have any pre-existing condition, which I guess I do since I have the ability to reproduce. Last time I checked, this wasnt China and we didnt need population control. I cant think of a more effective (and not physical) way of discouraging people from having babies. Population declines are extremely dangerous for societies…look at Western Europe and Russia.

Equal premiums…(or better yet none at all and universal health care) and health insurance companies need to stop raping us!

Bush Countdown

With all the election madness, I forget how excited I am that Dubya’s reign is almost over. Here is a gadget so we can all keep track and be a little happier every day from now till January 20th 2009!

Dont forget to vote Obama/Biden Nov. 4th! (and if you’re not voting Obama, make sure you vote-we have troops overseas fighting for this country and all our rights and privileges!)

Click below and enjoy =)

Get the Bush’s Last Day Countdown Clock widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox!