The Bush legacy

As I sit here tonight wanting to write about something besides politics, I cannot. On tonight’s MSNBC Chris Matthew’s show, Matthew reran videos of the many interviews that led up to and immediately followed the invasion of Iraq.
Watching them reminded me once again that I disbelieved the information coming out of the White House [...]

Merry Christmas! Let a new world begin.

Today is the celebration of Christ’s birth for the approximate 2.1 billion people on this small, blue planet who follow the Christian religion. (Christianity is the largest of all religions, exceeding number 2, Islam, by 600 million.)
On this day in the Western World, we open a horde of presents, eat vast quantities [...]

Bush still negatively changing rules affecting consumers

According to Keith Olbermann tonight, the Bush Administration continues to change agency rules that negatively affect consumers. The continuing changes, according to Olbermann, effectively take away people’s right to sue companies for malfeasance as well as reduce industry regulations that keep Americans safe. The report Olbermann refers to in his broadcast is [...]

Yesterday, the Financial Times reported on the worldwide auto industry. This article points out that virtually every government with an auto industry has stepped in or is stepping in to prop up the industry, recognizing that auto purchases have significantly slowed as a result of the worldwide credit crunch and the accompanying rapid rise [...]

Ford Dealer speaks out against Southern Senators

I found this letter as a comment on another blog and thought it so good that I had to re-post it here. Hiding it as a response was just not good enough. It needs to be read by a much wider and larger audience:
Editor:
As I watch the coverage of the fate of the [...]

The Race to the Bottom

After learning of the Senate’s failure to provide a bridge loan to the Big 3 because Senate Republicans insisted the UAW accept even lower wages, I wondered what the comparative wages were between unionized and non-union workers in the U.S.
Previous posts enumerate the concessions on wages and benefits the UAW has made as [...]

Little known or publicized facts about the Big 3

While Americans debate the benefits of a Bridge Loan to the Big 3, I suspect they are missing a couple of crucial points that need to be considered.
1) The Big 3 make all the armored vehicles used the by the military. If these companies no longer exist, those vehicles – tanks and armored [...]

Bailed out AIG gives bonuses to keep employees

Today, AIG, which received billions in tax payer dollars, announced it will be offering large bonuses to keep senior employees.
I have to wonder, with the over-abundance of highly qualified people in the job market right now, why AIG thinks it needs to offer bonuses to keep employees. Is it because the only [...]

Actual UAW wages

According to an article by David Leonhardt, published in the New York Times on December 9, 2008, the salaries and benefits for UAW workers is much less than has been reported:

The first category is simply cash payments, which is what many people imagine when they hear the word “compensation.” It includes wages, overtime and vacation [...]

Can we negotiate a reduction in Congressional salaries?

Since Republican Senators think it is acceptable to demand the reduction of UAW salaries and benefits, can we demand a reduction in Congressional salaries and benefits?
Currently, Congressional salaries are over a $100K/yr plus benefits that most of us only dream about, including a very lucrative lifetime retirement plan that covers all former [...]