Pimp My Ride: Presidential Task Force On The Auto Industry

What if Chrysler and GM built a car and no one wanted to buy it? What if our federal government employees charged with overseeing their return to competitiveness refused to own it? Would you feel comfortable loaning them money as a part of a bailout?

The Big "O" formed a task force, Presidential Task Force On the Auto Industry, to tackle the process of monitoring Chrysler and GM and determining if they can get more of your money to stay in business. The task force will be co-chaired by Timothy "TurboTax" Geithner and Lawrence Summers, the White House National Economic Council Director. There are 6 other members on this task force along with 10 senior policy aides. There are two openings on the committee but they have not been named as they would be the secretaries of Labor and Commerce, who have not been appointed by the Big "O" yet. Initially the Big "O" promised that he would appoint a Car Czar to oversee the auto industry but that was scrapped in favor of a committee. You see Democrats believe in Mob Rule. Let's get a group of experts together and vote on how to run a company.

According to the Detroit News, both of these gentlemen own foreign automobiles. Geithner, a 2008 Acura TSX and Summers a 1995 Mazda Protege. Of the entire group, two do not own an automobile and only two own American models. Now you wonder why the automobile industry is in such dire straits. Americans always vote with their wallets. We want value, reliability and great looks in our cars. Yet Detroit automakers continue to lag behind their Japanese counterparts in providing these things. I am not saying that American automobiles are far less reliable but their is a perceived unreliability that goes back over 25 years on American cars.

Our Democratic controlled congress would have all corporate CEO's make a maximum wage of $500K but overlook the fact that the people chartered with oversight of bailout money to GM and Chrysler be allowed to own foreign vehicles. Because Obama believes in fairness then make these overseers divest themselves of their foreign automobile and buy a new Dodge Challenger or a Chevrolet Malibu. C'mon, its only fair. They get to tell Chrysler and GM how much and what they need to do but they don't support buying American. For them to drive foreign automobiles to work daily would be the same as a Coke employee bringing a Pepsi Cola to drink during their lunch break. I am not opposed to Americans owning foreign cars as this is a free market place, I am just putting the hypocrisy back at the Obama administration and the Democrats who think that they should always tell others what to do with their money.

Both Chrysler and General Motors presented their business plans to the White House as part of the terms of the agreement from December. Chrysler's plan consists of 177 pages (mostly fluff) little in the way of planing and GM's plan has a total of 117 pages which will include focusing on its core brands, GMC, Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet. The Task Force on Auto Industry will have until the end of March to review and decide whether to grant further government aid to these failing behemoths or to structure a controlled bankruptcy filing.

Will these automakers survive? Not if they are not allowed to fail. They must fail in order to fix their cost structure and focus on efficient manufacturing and assembly of cars that Americans want to buy. Failure is an option and should be explored.

Car selling should be simple. Make what people want to buy. Price it where people are willing to pay(successful market research and branding). If they buy it make more of it and make improvements to it. If they don't buy it stop making it and mark it down to liquidate immediately. Automakers sometimes stay with a model too long before discontinuing it. I like what Detroit used to make. Maybe I will see more of these on the street really soon!



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It's Just A Game Folks!

Will someone please remind these "students" that basketball is just a game. There was no need for this all out brawl. The disturbing part is that early on you can see several young "ladies" enter into the fracas.

This fight broke out after a foul. It later spilled over into the stands with some spectators.




The Alabama High School Athletic Association acted swiftly and decisively. The final out come is that both teams forfeited the game and were eliminated from the playoffs. I am not sorry for either team. Someone could have been severely hurt or even killed.

The Boogey Man is Coming, It's Friday the 13th

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear..." President Barack Obama inauguration address.

President Barack Obama's inaugural speech included choosing hope over fear. Yet every time he addresses the American people he tries his best to scare us. It reminds me of when as a kid, my parents would say that if I did not behave Santa Claus would not bring me any toys. Scare the people into following your directions. Since I have already wrote about Hope, here is your dose of Fear.

The Boogey Man

He tells us that we are entering "the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression." Yet the facts do no bear this out. The unemployment rate during the 1981-82 recession reached 10.8% versus the 7.6% that Mr. Obama inherited. During the Depression unemployment peaked at 23.6%. A far cry from where it is today. Inflation was at 13.5% at the beginning of the Reagan years yet you come in with an average from 2008 of 3.5%. Prime interest rates at the end of Carter's presidency stood at 20.5% while that same measure was 3.25% at the end of 2008. So if this is the most profound economic emergency then did he miss the early '80's that was caused by Jimmy Carter. Oooooh! The Boogey Man is Here! Maybe that was when he was toking on the Chronic.

Reagan pulled this country out of the doldrums by cutting taxes and reducing spending not by claiming that the Boogey Man was coming.

Here is more Hope Over Fear from Mr. Obama's op-ed piece in the Washington Post.

Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people will lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, then this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

It is the responsibility of the President to present to the American people the state of affairs of the country in a Presidential manner. Not scaring the "bejeezus" out of us, but by instilling calm leadership. Let us know what the problems are and how you propose to fix them instead of bringing on the fear of the Boogey Man. I guess it goes along with the long list of campaign promises broken already i.e. no lobbyists, 5 days before signing any bill, transparency in government with even more to come because of over promising and under delivering. Hope Over Fear!

Unlike Henrietta Hughes, I am asking only two things of the President. That is to stop campaigning because "you won" and to lead like a President should without bringing up the Boogey Man.

It's Friday the 13th

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Where is The Outrage?

Congratulations to Stump the Sussex spaniel: Best of Show Winner.

In protesting the 133rd Annual Westminster Dog Show, members of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, donned Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods to pass out pamphlets titled "The KKK and AKC: BFF?". This was done in plan view of the public and in front of the Madison Square Garden. PETA attempts to draw the comparison between the KKK and the AKC, American Kennel Club, for wanting "pure bloodlines" and a desire to create a master race.

Where was the Reverend Al Sharpton and his legions of protestors? Did Jesse Jackson not get an email of a Klan rally in New York? Where were the Black New Yorkers who so often jump on any chance to cry racism against anyone who dares to insult a Black man? Well, you were insulted by PETA in their satirical attempt compare the two groups on creating pure bloodlines. They compared suffering at the hands of the KKK to that of a dog being bred to create what Darwin would call "artifical selection." Some reports indicated that most onlookers were more puzzled than offended.

Here is an excerpt from the pamphlet:
Like the Klan, dog breeders who subscribe to the AKC standards are all about the sanctity of "pure bloodlines." So what if beagles have epileptic seizures, Dalmatians are deaf, and pugs can barely breathe because of how they are purposely bred to look a certain way? Looks are everything

As my memory serves me, I don't ever recall a single instance where the AKC hung a Black man from a tree, drug him behind their car, or beat him to death all because he was Black. I have yet to hear of a story of terrorism perpetrated by the AKC on Blacks.

So where is the outrage and the protest of PETA?

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Watch this!
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"Hope Is Not A Strategy....

...nor is it a goal."

I recall several years ago I was giving a quarterly presentation in front of my colleagues, Regional Manager, Regional V.P. and Division President on my business plan for my branch. Things were going well until I received a challenging question on my estimated sales growth. I begin the answer with "I hope to be able to..." then it went down hill. These words resonate with me until this very day from my Regional V.P. "Hope is not a strategy and definitely should not be your goal." I spent the next 30 minutes defending every aspect of my quarterly business review while my colleagues grimaced and some snickered(better you than me). I survived and learned a valuable lesson and so did they. Never use Hope as part of an answer. Yet we have allowed ourselves to believe that Hope is the panacea for our ailing economy.

Americans voted for Hope on November 4, 2008. And Hope is what everyone keeps talking about when it comes to our economy. Here is how Barack Obama defined Hope during a campaign stop in New Hampshire last January; “Hope is not blind optimism. Hope is not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside of us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that there is something greater inside of us.” That was then this is now!

I waited patiently for Timothy Geithner to bring forth his plan to spend the balance of the TARP funds in Hope of shoring up our financial institutions. Yet I am still waiting. He detailed a plan of still planning. I watched his boss, President Obama, tell us on Monday evening that "my Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, will present to you on tomorrow the plan..." Geithner did say that it would be costly, "This strategy will cost money, it will involve risk and it will take time." We Hope that all of this works!

Attacking the financial collapse on three fronts:

1.) Working to restart the flow of credit. I don't hear a detailed plan in this. Must be Hope.
2.) Removing bad debt from the books of troubled banks. He did give greater details on this front.
3.) Providing assistance for ordinary Americans and small businesses. I'll wait for the plan.

Hoping for the best is the same as not having a strategy. It is dangerous if you do not take into consideration that the worst could happen and act from that standpoint. The Obama administration along with our congressional leaders are not acting rationally. We are in for a tough and long haul. It is going to cost trillions to put this Hope into action.

The final stimulus package that will go to the president will be about $790 billion. It will include lots of spending that should be part of the normal budgetary process but because Obama believes he has to do something now it got rushed to completion. Yes, something had to be done but why did it have to be done so quickly without much thought and oversight? Why was Kruella D'Pelosi given so much latitude with which to comprise such a bill? Why did the entire Republican delegation vote against it in the House? Why did all but 3 Republicans not vote for it in the Senate? Mr. Obama insists that he has to do something. But things done in haste always end up with waste. Since I have no idea what the compromise package is I will reserve criticism until it is presented. But remember that if you borrow from the economy then put it back as spending you haven't added anything except debt. But remember this: Hope is not a strategy!

Yet the American people hold out for Hope! Its what keeps some us going each day.

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