Eisboch wrote:
"Boater" wrote in message
...
Management, labor, and suppliers are going to have to eat some of the
weenie if they want the companies to survive. There are millions more
jobs at stake here than just those at the auto plants.

As for what Bush recommends, well, he ought to just leave town before he
does any more damage.



Hold on to your chair Harry. I don't want you to flop over.

Mrs.E. and I were discussing the economic problems this morning while having
coffee, trying to sort out what type of government led programs would serve
to point towards an eventual recovery.

I've come to realize that the current situation is unlike anything in the
past. I know it's subject to great debate, but Reagan led the country out
of Carter's mess by applying a "trickle down" philosophy that enabled big
companies to expand and grow, carrying the smaller subcontractors along with
them. For conditions at the time it worked.

Those conditions don't exist anymore. Manufacturing is gone.

I come around to recognizing that Obama is the right man for the job right
now. McCain is too unimaginative and stuck in the past to solve the
problems of 2008 and beyond.

Like the current Time cover suggests, Obama is going to have to focus on
internal infrastructure programs designed to produce jobs (even if the
particular program isn't completely necessary). It will be a "trickle-up"
approach rather than the other way around. A recovery is going to have to
include the need and reason for a business to exist, not simply the issuance
of a bunch of new contracts.

In the case of the auto industry, every one involved is going to have to
accept a new set of conditions and rewards, from management to the labor
unions. New management *is* required with a fresh, blank sheet to develop
the business model. There will still be layoffs, cuts and downsizing
required. The market simply doesn't support the combined sizes of GM, Ford
and Chrysler (although I doubt Chrysler will remain much longer).

And the consumer .... the car buyer ... needs to have a job with a secure
income in order to purchase the new car, house or other consumer related
product. Herein is the big problem that makes this situation unique.
Without manufacturing, there are no jobs. Everyone cannot be employed in
the service or entertainment sectors. Consumer spending makes up 70% of our
economy.

This country has some very serious problems and they cannot be solved by
simply turning back the clock.

I wish I knew how to help. I don't mean helping by just supporting any
particular leader or program. I mean actively *help*.

Eisboch




What would help is for those who hold white collar jobs to control their
disdain for blue collar factory workers and their desire to earn a
decent, middle-class income for themselves and their families, and along
with that income, quality health care, a safe job, and a reasonable
pension. The sad thing is that the "disdainful" are one generation from
blue collars themselves.

There's a lot of that here. I am not including you in that group.

I'd also try to figure out a way to "cap" upper echelon executive pay
and perks. It is just plain disgusting there are execs pulling down
multiples of millions of dollars a year while they lay off their
workforces. There is no need for those sorts of paychecks.

I'm hoping for a huge investment in rebuilding our
infrastructure...roads, bridges, airports, treatment plants, power
generation plants, light rail, et cetera. Nothing puts Americans back to
work faster and at better paying jobs than heavy construction and all
the ancillary industries that support it, white and blue collar.



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