Down the Rabbit Hole

The big question this week is do we save the auto industry or not? Is it the backbone of American manufacturing or is that a myth? What would happen if it were left to sink, or do you think it could become competitive again in a world market? Have we made anything as reliable as a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord? I know that I haven't even thought about buying a Ford in many years.

Democrats want to use some of the 700 billion to go to the big three automakers, and it will be the most spirited debate during the current lame duck session of Congress. The automakers want the money with no strings attached, similar to how we just gave banks money with a verbal promise to do what we ask them to do. And they didn't.

In trying to score some Brownie points this year, Goldman Sachs had the meeting of their compensation board a month early and on a Sunday. The big announcement afterwards was that they would not be giving out cash bonuses this year, saving a big chunk of the 10 billion they have already received from the Fed. Considering that their top dog got 67.5 million dollars last year, and they have roughly 30,000 employees, they would have had to ask their old buddy and ex- chairman Paulson for more bailout.

I have also decided to ask for Federal funding, to help bailout the GOMG, or Grumpy Old Man Group, which consists of a failed mortgage and lost income. I'm hoping that all I'll need is some stationary with a nifty logo to impress them; after all, federal contracts have been awarded for less credentials...

Those pesky Somalian pirates, who have been hijacking ships daily, have just taken over a Saudi supertanker, the Sirius Star. It's three times the size of an aircraft carrier, holds 20 million barrels of oil, or one quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily oil production. The information came from the US Navy, who has been escorting US ships in the area, but nobody thought that a ship that size would get into trouble. I wonder where they will try to hide it...