d Blog

Welcome to d blog, also known as Dan's rant. The content herein is essentially comprised of miscellaneous ramblings and random thoughts on the nature of contemporary existence.

"They Are Not Just Cars"

Please don't kid a kidder! The Rich Get Richer. Don't kid yourself Republicans stand for that policy.

The Federal Survey of Consumer Finances, a report on the assets and liabilities of American households was released recently. The bottom line is that there has been basically no wealth creation at all since the turn of the millennium: the net worth of the average American household, adjusted for inflation, is lower now than it was in 2001. Actually the indication is that actual income has been in decline since the beginning of the Reagan Era. The report should be labeled the Failure of Trickle down and Bush.

This should come as no surprise. For most of the last decade America was a nation of borrowers and spenders, not savers. The personal savings rate dropped precipitously and household debt grew much faster than personal income. We actually lost real income as well, so why should we have expected our net worth to go up?

Certain companies and even entire industries were lulled into complacency as well.

Until very recently average Americans believed that they too were getting richer (poor fools), because they received statements saying that their houses and stock portfolios were appreciating faster than their debts were growing.If the belief that Americans could count on capital gains forever sounds naïve, please remember how many influential sources such as the rightist Wall Street Journal, Forbes and National Review, pushed that belief, and poked fun at those who worried about low savings and high debt.

Eventually reality hit, and it turns out that the worriers had been right all along. The surge in asset values had been an illusion, but the surge in debt had been all very, very real.

So now we’re in trouble, deep, deep trouble. All of us except the very wealthy who are using this cycle to grow their own wealth, as they planned to all along.

None of this mitigates our responsibility for the mess we are in now. We as individuals bear responsibility as do corporate managers. Detroit's managers are no exception.

The beloved American auto industry is in serious trouble. To be sure, they did it to themselves, but the fact remains that Americans love affair with Detroit Iron transcends any definition of transportation.

Immortalized in song and film certain cars have achieved iconic status being forever positioned in our psyche's as milestones marking the salient moments of our lives. Memories are made of this! Loyalty and Automobiles provide insights that form the very definition of branding, both positive and negative. There are FORD families and there are GM families.

It seems as if we have finally come to the end of an era. Personally I never thought I'd live to see it but it is no longer true that "what's good for General Motors is good for the country." Quite the opposite in fact. Car companies are multi-national businesses, owing no loyalty to any particular nation. Businesses owe loyalty to shareholders. Although that may change that's the way it is now.

If our current National goal is to prop up American citizens with jobs and income why are we giving Billions to companies that are proudly proclaiming the tens of thousands of employees that they plan to do away with? Mass firings make GM deserving of government bailouts?

Am I missing something?

Shouldn't we support companies that maintain or even increase jobs for Americans? Whatever name the company goes by whether it be Toyota, Nissan or General Motors if we as taxpayers support companies that are laying off employees at historically unprecedented levels are we doing anything other than just supporting executives and shareholders?

I may actually be missing something here, but I was under the impression that the purpose of the stimulus was jobs and economic restoration! I don't see how propping up corporate executives and private shareholders does anything other than keep the wealth in the hands of a protected few?

It's time to wake up and smell the coffee, time to grow up and leave childish things behind. It's far from fun but it must be done.

And what of poetry? The poetry of the back seat. The poetry of double the double nickel. The poetry of power braking and smokin' the wheels. The poetry of $30 bucks to the next light.

It may not be the day the music died but it sure feels like it. It's hard to get out of bed. It's hard to live. Gravity has increased and the air is thicker and harder to breathe.

It's the end of an era alright!

+add a comment