New Home Sales Rise

Hey, this is cool and everything but I don't see where employment is growing as well. All this tells me is that the housing prices have returned to the point where everyone can afford them. As much as I hate to see the market value of my house, (omg) falling prices do help to ensure that everyone can partake in the "American Dream" of owning your own home.

Just a thought.

Obama's Health Care Plan

There are some legitimate reasons for discussing universal health care for the citizens of the US, but can we fix the freakin' economy first, Prez? Anyone who has a job is half-worried they are going to lose it, and anyone who does not have a job is too busy scrambling to find one to think about UHC for the rest of the country.

Plus, it will undoubtedly add to our tax burden which should give anyone pause before jumping on the bandwagon. In addition, I always get worried when politicians try to ram anything down our throats before we have a chance to openly discuss (think Patriot Act) it. Makes me think the slippery SOBs are working their hidden agendas... And lets face it, there are ALWAYS hidden agendas.

So it is nice to see that Congress is pushing back on Obama's plan. Get the economy pumping again, then we will be in a much better mood to discuss such sweeping changes.

A Tale of Two Car Manufactures

As I have mentioned before, I am not a Japanese car basher, and I have a hard time determining an "American" car, so reading that Toyota is no longer profitable in North America is not a good sign. There is a Toyota Tech Center in Ann Arbor, MI, a stone's throw from Detroit, which employs Michigan residents, as well as manufacturing sites and dealerships throughout the US all giving employment to Americans so their financial troubles will hit home. Hopefully, Toyota will not pull out of their North American operations. Not only will this be an economic hit for the various communities, but a public relations nightmare for Toyota.

On the other hand, it is nice to see Ford has top billing in quality, beating out both their cross-town rivals and Toyota, Honda, BMW, etc. Nice work, now see if you can capitalize on it, would ya?

At least my Ford stock may be worth something after all....

Some Good News

A group of leading economists state that the recession is easing, but not over. I guess that is great news if you happen to live in the other 49 other states in the US, but somehow I do not see it "easing" in good old Detroit for quite some time.

Plus, my Tigers dropped 3 straight to the Yankees so it still sucks living here!

However, I will believe the recession is easing when I see it....

Great Unemployment Article

If you get a chance, read this article on white-collar unemployment in Michigan. The woman in the article's experiences eerily echo my own. The only difference is she had an inkling that her job was on the chopping block, and I had absolutely no idea mine was.

In fact, I was on the phone at 6:30 in the evening with the recruiter I worked with, finalizing the offer details on the person I was hiring for my Louisiana position. I was let go the next morning with next to nothing in severance, and no vacation pay since my last day was right before Christmas! Nice, huh?

But, I am one of the fortunate ones. I have some breathing room, and after my 70th (or so) resume sent out (with almost no responses, but what do you expect I live in Michigan,) I have decided to change course and work on my own.

I will let you know how my decision turns out. If it sucks, you will know because DTE will shut off my electricity and I will no longer be able to update my blog...

And The Hits Just Keeping Coming Part II

Gosh, is this hard to believe or not (j/k)? Obama states that unemployment is likely to keep increasing.

I wonder if this is what he meant when he talked about "change?" Yep, the unemployment rate keeps changing (up!) and the deficit has hit a new high, and will double by the fall.

Man, I can not WAIT for another four years to see what "change" we are going to be in for...

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming!

I am not the first to notice (duh!) but this state continues to go to hell in a hand basket. I am really starting to wonder at what point to I give my now worthless house back to the mortgage company and take my chances elsewhere.

I know that things are tough all over, but it is going to take YEARS before Michigan recovers to some degree, although I honestly doubt it will ever regain what "glory" it had when I was growing up. We always said Michigan was a pretty good place to live. The weather was not as cold as Minnesota, North Dakota, etc and not as hot in the summer as the deep South. You could make a pretty good living with nothing more then a third grade education (I am not saying that the workers are dumb, just merely stating that there was no requirement for "higher education" to work the line) working in the auto plants, but that is a thing of the past.

I read somewhere that the majority of the people leaving the state are the college educated, well-rounded types who have had enough and left. Just the skill set the state will need when/if the recovery happens and the economy does diversify as it needs to if the state is ever to get back on track. The US auto industry is shrinking (I don't think it will ever die out despite GM and Chrysler's inability to turn a profit) but it will never recover to its 1970s/80s market share so the state will need people with other abilities to propel it into the future.

I left years ago, but came back when my wife needed to take care of her sick Mother. The state has changed, and not for the better. I gotta wonder when it will be my time to walk...

Good News/Bad News

This is a Good News/Bad News kinda thing. Glad to see the price of gas (should) drop, but it sucks 'cause the economy is still in the tank...

GM hits two million Buick sales in China

Wonder what they (GM) are doing wrong in the North American market??? It appears to me that Buick (as a class) is for the "older" generation. That same line of thought USED to be applied to Cadillac, but that brand has managed to re-invent itself with some pretty cool designs. I guess the Chinese see something I don't.

Read it here: GM hits two million Buick sales in China

Gas Prices

Does this suck or what? We are damned if we do, and damned if we don't! The global economy is still shrinking, but they are hoarding gas in anticipation of a recovery later this year. So, we took a pay cut (or got laid off) your job is on the bubble, you are trying to save money as best you can, and you still get screwed at the pump!

I am very interested in the development of electric cars, hybrids, etc (although they are not going to be the end all, be all, like most of the "experts" are saying i.e. where does an apartment dweller plug their car in???) if for no other reason then to eliminate this b.s. we have to put up with.

Read the whole story here: Oil is Plentiful, Demand Weak

New Fuel Milage Standards

I see that Obama has announced the new Federal standards for fuel mileage. I understand on one hand why it was necessary for the Federal Government to do this, since each state was insistent on their own standards, which made it difficult for the automakers to meet various requirements. Do they make all cars meet California standards (adding the respective costs to each vehicle even though other states don't require them) or???

So it makes sense that the Federal government would reach a compromise, and from what I read, it looks like a good one. However, I always get worried when the government mandates anything since it adds costs that someone may not want to pay.

Shouldn't we let the market decide what product to build? The consumer (including yours truly) has already chosen to stop purchasing large SUVs as gas prices climb skyward, so the auto manufactures responded by stepping up production of smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles.

Like the VW commercial says, "the people want..."

My Daughter as an Obama Advisor?

Wow, my daughter and I had just recently talked about this very issue, and she stated that Obama needs to change the "rules" so US companies can not ship jobs overseas. Pretty smart, I guess she is a lot like her dad!
Read more about it here: Obama seeks tax change for U.S. firms overseas

UK Government paying to trade in old cars

I know it is popular to beat up on the Detroit 3 right now, and some of it is deserving. However, you can not lay the blame for poor management decisions, labor costs, etc all at the feet of Big 3 and state categorically that if they were to design cars people want, bring their costs in line with their competitors, slash brands and so forth then all of their problems will magically disappear.

As I wrote earlier, Toyota, the darling of the press, was seeking financial assistance from the Japanese government and it looks like the European car manufactures are using similar methods to help boost their sales. Although this particular article is about the United Kingdom, if you read the article it states that several European governments, "most notably Germany"(huh? Mercedes, BMW, Audi, VW by all standards very good cars need help in these bad economic times) have initiated programs to get people buying cars again. Read the article here: Government to launch old-for new vehicle scrap scheme

I can not help but wonder if all of the bad press Detroit (most notably GM and Chrysler since Ford appears to be ahead of the game) gets is more about our lack of political power in Washington due to several factors, and less about the quality of their automobiles...

Just a thought

Worst Foreclosure Rates

With all of the bad news in Detroit/Michigan, I was very surprised to see that neither Detroit nor Michigan is on this list of the top four states/cities. I guess that serves as "good news" for those of us in the "D." However, we still have the highest unemployment in the country so take it for what it is worth!

Point Proven

Here is another fact to prove my point in my recent postings about the ex-AIG executive and the ex-GM CEO Wagoner: Wagoner leaving GM with compensation worth $23 MILLION

I sure this is taught in business school: Run your company in the ground, get millions. Oh, and in your spare time, make sure you screw over your employees so they don't have a pot to piss in.

GM CEO Forced Out

I don't think this is such a bad thing, GM CEO Wagoner forced out. I know a lot of people admire Rich Wagoner, but he has been with GM since 1977 and CEO in 2000. It may be time for some fresh blood that can do the hard things that need to be done (and I hope they bring in someone other then Vice Chairman and COO Henderson.) They need a fresh perspective to get their act together.

At least Bill Ford realized that he was not the guy to lead Ford during their restructuring, and might be one of the reasons why Ford is in a better position then GM. If you doubt Wagoner had to go, maybe you should check out GM's market share and stock price slide during his tenure...

AIG Executive resigns

An AIG executive resigned on the NY Times op-ed page. He has donated his entire bonus to charity. My two thoughts about this are:

1) do you think he would have resigned had he (as an AIG executive) not received as much bad press about the bonus (because he sure did not when he received so much negativity about what a horrible job he did to get the company in that bad of shape in the first place) and

2) I am glad he gave the money to SOMEBODY, but he still did not "get it." He felt he did a good enough job to receive the bonus in the first place, and only gave it up after getting beat up in the news.

I used to want to be a weather forecaster, since that was the only job you could be totally wrong at the majority of the time and still keep your position, but now I want to be a crappy executive for a horribly managed company. You can be wrong and still get a heck of a bonus!

Pitiful.

What an arrogant attitude

The condescending attitude displayed in this story is unbelievable. From comments like "a mob can be useful in driving a political movement" and the partnerships between AIG and the government must "proceed 'despite anger and outrage' over the bonuses." Plus they feel we can be "distracted by other events in the coming days."

What a bunch of crap! I don't believe that our employees in Washington 'get it." No one is helping me (or anyone I know) with a bail out. And they sure as he*l are not giving me a $1 million bonus for screwing up. This is not capitalism, where inefficiencies are driving out by market competition, but socialism where governments (again my money) prop up failing businesses because they think it might "hurt" our overall economy. There are banks and other financial institutions that did not conduct business so recklessly that are not getting handouts. They should be rewarded with a larger share of the market, and the others should be on the unemployment line.

Fire them all!

Tea Party Protest

Have any of you been reading about the Tea Party protests going on throughout the country? They do not get much coverage from the MSM (Main Stream Media i.e. CNN, ABC etc) so you have do do a little digging. Basically it is grass-roots movement protesting the current state of our political system, specifically around taxes.

They are continually staging rallies around the country, and are aiming for massive ones on April 15th. Instapundit is one of my favorite blogs, and there are quite a number of entries about the protests on this page . Scroll down and read some of the comments and links to other entries as well as checking out the signs some of the people are carrying. My two favorites are the people holding up the signs which say "you can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out," and "don't spread my wealth, spread my work ethic." Perfect.

I am starting to like the idea more and more of a massive anti-tax revolt, especially after filing my taxes this year. In addition to the $6 gazillion I have already paid, I have to send a check to the federal government for even more money. This despite doing everything I could do to reduce my taxable income. For those of you who think "well, I am getting a return this year so I am ok" I offer two suggestions: 1) Look at how much you still PAID, and 2) guess what happens when your little tax-deductions grow up and move out...

Send me my fair share of this bull sh*t bailout, and let me decide what to do with MY money! If they really want to get the economy rolling again, give the money directly to the consumers (who are the ones who EARNED it after all) and not to a corporation who screwed up in the first place.

If anyone in Michigan is interested, the Tea Party web site is Fresh Tea Daily and, this is the web site to find out your local party's web site Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party

And if any of you are wondering, I am not a member of any right-wing neo-con organization (those groups scare me almost as much as the left wing nut jobs) just a concerned American exercising his constitutional rights...

Biden's Comments about the economy

Biden states that the economy is tougher then FDR's (huh? 25% unemployment vs 10%, the majority of the people losing their homes now [at least at the onset of this recession,] should not have been able to buy them in the first place, etc) I would agree that it is bad out there (especially here in good old Detroit) but I don't think it is Great Depression bad. But my favorite part of Biden's speech is this" Congress's approval rating has DOUBLED (emphasis mine) since the Democrats are in office... because they took action.

Put down the crack pipe, Biden. Going from an approval rating of 1% to 2% (with a margin of error of 3%) is not something to cheer about. Besides, you (and the rest of Congress) pissed away a lot of my money, so it will be a LONG time before I approve of anything you people do