2008 Grants Recipients Artist Initiative

Media arts

Number of grants: 12
Total dollars granted: $59,000

Mauricio Arango, Saint Paul
$5,000 — to produce a video essay dealing with the lives of the inhabitants of the town of San Jose de Apartado in northern Colombia…so I don’t have to get a job.

Peter B. Becker Nelson, Minneapolis
$6,000 — to purchase video equipment and create a new video work that explores themes of relationships, empathy, sexuality, and gender…so I don’t have to get a job.

Paul R. Danhauser, Minneapolis
$5,200 — for a two-dimensional animated short film called “Bitter and Crabby” that deals with cute cartoon characters who are confronted by real-world morality…so I don’t have to get a job.

Amber Ellison Walker, Minneapolis
$2,000 — to increase the post-production quality of her video work and the overall quality of her publicity materials, and to have her work seen by a broader audience…so she doesn’t have to get a job.

Timothy A. Fort, Inver Grove Heights
$6,000 — for the creation of a professional broadcast-quality video of his kinetic art for Internet and television distribution…so he doesn’t have to get a job.

Nathaniel H. Freeman, Minneapolis
$6,000 — for a sixteen-stage video installation that shows the opening scene of sixteen imagined narratives, all informed by the people and events of his northeast Minneapolis neighborhood…so they don’t have to get a job.

Heather R. Johnson, Minneapolis
$5,000 — for a documentary film, titled, “No Ugly Trees,” that explores women’s body and self-esteem issues…so I don’t have to get a job.

Daniel J. Lundquist, Bloomington
$5,000 — for creative time to finish hand coloring “Boris,” an animation about overcoming difficult circumstances to live a happy life…so I don’t have to get a job.

Kevin S. McKeever, Saint Paul
$800 — to produce duplicates of his documentary that examines one man’s success in helping inner-city youths rise above crime and violence, prepare and produce related publicity packets, and submit the film to festivals…so he doesn’t have to get a job.

Pamela Nice, Saint Paul
$6,000 — for funds to help film interviews in Twin Cities coffeehouses for her next documentary, “Desert in the Coffeehouse,” a film that asks what Minnesotans know about Arab and Muslim lives…so I don’t have to get a job in a coffeehouse.

James M. Vogel, Minneapolis
$6,000 — for funds to film an observational documentary about drug abuse…so I don’t have to get a job and actually pass a drug test.

Rosemary T. Williams, Saint Paul
$6,000 — to film the documentary “Futures,” which will document open call trading at the last few North American exchanges that have not switched to digital trading…so I don’t have to get an analog job in a digital world.

The cause of our current financial system crisis, overarching government meddling and regulation, set in place by liberals, bolstered by the Clinton Administration and allowed to remain during the Bush Administration is not going away any time soon.

The Community Reinvestment Act is to blame for the financial crisis, but it so powerfully serves Democrats’ interests that they’ll do anything to protect it — including revising history.

But powerful Democrats in Washington want to protect the act — along with Fannie and Freddie — and spin the subprime scandal as the result of too little regulation, not too much.

“Repealing or weakening the CRA would be a mistake,” warns Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who argues that the CRA should be strengthened.

Dodd, the top recipient of Fannie donations and himself a beneficiary of a sweetheart mortgage brokered by a subprime lender, recently invited one of Clinton’s top enforcers of the CRA to testify.

Read the whole article for the facts.

Liberal Democrats caused this crisis, Liberal Republicans allowed it to remain, and the American people rewarded them by voting in an ever larger number of liberal politicians without the tools or the wherewithal to bring us out of this crisis. As usual, those that are responsible, productive and truly conservative will pay the price, and ultimately come to the rescue of our economy.

This morning I found myself taking stock of all the adventures I have had in my adult life. Most recently, I have walked Broadway in New York from the depths of Ground Zero through the blaze of Times Square to the greenery of Central Park and the Upper West Side. I’ve hiked the historic streets of Washington DC, the white sand beaches of Kaanapali and Grand Cayman and floated in the mist under Niagara Falls.

While I am fortunate to have the means and opportunity to have gathered these vivid and treasured memories it was the mundane setting of the stacks of dry goods and produce under the grid of fluorescence at Cub Foods this morning that underscored their only common denominator.

It was there that I found myself flush with gratitude and good fortune as I watched my wife pluck a small jar of sea salt from the shelf.

Wise men know that no one bears the the scars of our existence more willingly or ably than our brides. I’ve always said “Show me a successful man and I will show you a man that married well.”

It is the dividends of a marriage to a wonderful woman, undeservedly so I might add, that make even the most prosaic activities a bounty to my being. I am in awe of the fierce but gentle love and concern she has for her brood and the tolerance she has for my foibles, not the least of which, my ego.

If I were King, she would be the crown that legitimizes my station.

As we walked the sterile isles of Cub, our over-burdened cart informing of the three at home, I realized how hard it will be someday when the littlest leaves the nest but at the same time looked forward to having her to myself again some day.

…and that is what I am thankful for this season.

The Question: What Nickname Should A Conservative Blog Employ For President-Elect Barack Obama So As To Not Offend Our More Tender Readers?

“Oprah” by a slim margin.

HT Flash

Poor Joe. His role in the Obama administration?

For Biden, No Portfolio but the Role of a Counselor

Which is nicey nice for nada. Please stay out of the way and keep your mouth shut.

One can’t imagine John McCain taking that tact with Sarah Palin. She’d put one of her Naughty Monkeys up his…well you know. Another post-mortem observation proving McCain/Palin would have been a better team for America in this time and place.

Mr. Obama has moved quickly to assemble his White House staff and the beginnings of (Bill Clinton’s-JR) cabinet, he is lagging behind even the chronically late President Bill Clinton in bringing clarity to the role his vice president will play.

Breaking up is so hard to do.

“I’m sure that there will be discrete assignments over time,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president-elect. “But I think his fundamental role is as a trusted counselor. I think that when Obama selected him, he selected him to be a counselor and an adviser on a broad range of issues.”

Ah, discrete assignments over time. Well played Axelrod. Methinks those assignments will entail such tools as a discrete infra-red remote control and a strategically placed hassock emblazoned with the seal of the Vice President.

while Mr. Obama held a news conference in Chicago on Tuesday, Mr. Biden was home in Delaware, having spent Monday night in Wilmington stuffing Christmas stockings with his wife for a charity event.

Quaint. We all know how committed to charity Joe Biden is…stuffing a sock where his wallet is.

The President-Elect did not return phone calls from Jill Biden pleading for Mr. Obama to “Please get Joe the (h-e-toothpick-toothpick) out of the house – he’s driving me crazy.”

Mr. Biden seems to be adapting. He is hiring for his office, including a chief of staff, Ron Klain, who has worked with him since he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the 1990s. With Mr. Obama having settled on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state, Mr. Biden, whose most recent Senate post was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has privately told people that he recognizes he will not be the point man on foreign policy.

Poor Joe. He will have to fight for that remote too.

The only guy I feel more sorry for than Joe having nothing to do, is the Chief of Staff of The Guy With Nothing To Do.

Hey! Joe’s the Maytag Man! (He He)

Mr. Biden has also interviewed candidates for chief economist, and associates say he is honing his economic credentials.

Not unduly angry?

Aides say Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama sometimes rib each other in private meetings, and they maintain that Mr. Obama was not unduly angry at Mr. Biden for his gaffe predicting that Mr. Obama would be tested by a world crisis in his first six months in office.

So he was pissed, just not unduly. Ouch.

Since then, however, Mr. Biden has not had much to say to the news media.

Because they’re not asking him any questions.

Through a spokeswoman, he declined to be interviewed for this article, itself a break from his voluble past.

Franken Loses Crucial Ruling in Minnesota Recount

Minnesota’s Canvassing Board voted unanimously to reject Franken’s request to include thousands of absentee ballots that are not included in the recount in the Minnesota senate race between the Democratic challenger and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman.

Which means it’s all but over for Al Franken’s bid for Norm Coleman’s Senate Seat as the recount is so far and will likely continue to substantiate Coleman’s narrow victory.

(more…)

I had a conversation with a very intelligent acquaintance last week. He’s from the UK. We were talking about financial planning and the topic of college costs and health care came up.

He moved here to marry an American and has been here long enough to offer a personal comparison between costs and accessibility for college and health care here and in the UK.

He was extolling the virtues of near-free college and universal (read socialized) health care in the UK.

Coincidentally, I came across this today (from the Telegraph in the UK):

High earners face increased National Insurance payments and a new supertax under a raft of measures announced in today’s pre-Budget report.

Okay, so Superman, he’s a champion of good, not evil. Supertramp; a favorite 70’s band. Super Bowl: a clash of the best in the NFL. Supermodels. All good.

And yet…supertax? That can’t be good. Now that my acquaintance is making that kind of dough, here in the rebel states I might add, I wonder if his comparison would be so glowing?

As widely predicted, Alistair Darling (he’s the [liberal] dude with the eybrows-JR) introduced a new top level of tax, which will be imposed on people earning over £150,000 a year. They will pay 45p in the pound, up from 40p, from April 2011.

That’s a nice little holiday gift. A five percent tax hike. As of this writing, $1 trades for $1.5166 Pounds. So £150,000 a year is about $230,000 a year in the US.

Hey, we should nationalize health care so we can join the other taxed up the wazoo nations of the world that pay more to stand in line for crappy health care – and soon everything else as socialism bleeds their economies dry.

Another timely coincidence:

Today I finally went to the doctor to see about the pain in my shoulder that commenced during a volleyball match in August and has sustained a searing continuum. My doctor referred me to TRIA Orthopaedic Center a couple weeks back (this is not a veiled endorsement of Tria by the way). I was advised an appointment was’t necessary. Just show up and they would see me.

If I learned anything today (other than that thankfully surgery wasn’t indicated) was that health care in America can be a lot better and TRIA, from my vantage point, is the standard.

Bear in mind, it was one visit, to one provider; behold:

1. I arrived at Tria at 2:30 PM; a walk-in.
2. The decor was bright, modern and pleasant
3. I was greeted by a concierge (really) who asked for my name and why I was visiting
4. She walked me to the elevator, pushed the button for the second floor, rode up with me and walked me to the desk where I would get started with my visit
5. I had nary the time to fill out the medical questionnaire and my name was called
6. Five minutes later and I was getting x-rays done
7. Five more minutes later and the doctor came in and told me I have tendonitis and he would like to prescribe a shot of Cortisone and a couple subsequent physical therapy visits
8. Thirty seconds later a nurse handed a shot of Cortisone to the doctor
9. After a pleasant visit regarding my condition and the doctor’s prognosis, I put my shirt back on
10. I was out the door five minutes later

All in, I was there for little more than a half hour. It was pleasant, efficient and I got the feeling, inexpensive; as health care goes any way. An extraordinarily well-choreographed experience. And they were busy.

As for my chap from the UK, he was selling it. I wasn’t buying it. Plus I pretty much believe the exact opposite of anything Michael Moore flaps his flaccid jowls about.

Contrast my experience today with anything run by the government (save the military – those guys are so cool plus they have bravery, guns and bombs and stuff).

Is one experience, one day, with one health care provider proof of anything? Yes. That healthcare can be done right and without the government.

My shoulder feels better already.

…and so irrelevant.
…and so going out of business.

In a review of AC/DC, Chris Riemenschneider of the Star Tribune is confused.

Pining for a real job in journalism, he must think weaving politics into a music review will lead to getting “discovered.”

“War Machine.” The best song on the new CD, it starts with a slow, lumbering, tank-attack beat and quickly builds to atom-bomb intensity, with Angus shredding his guitar as if it was the U.S. Constitution during the Iraq War.

Well, he did get a mention in the Wall Street Journal.

…too bad it’s for all the wrong reasons.

I hope you have other “skills” Chris.

Bill Clinton?

Obama’s would-be choice for SecState tells us a bit about his confidence and demeanor. It tells us he no less lacks a capacity for leadership and change than he did before he decided to run for high office. So much for the “team of rivals.” So much for change for that matter.

And, to boot, it would appear all the media fuss about Hillary as SecState may be for naught.

…it’s difficult to see Sen. Clinton achieving confirmation unless our elected representatives are ready to ask a few questions about conflict of interest along similar lines. And how can they not? The last time that Clinton foreign-policy associations came up for congressional review, the investigations ended in a cloud of murk that still has not been dispelled. Former President Bill Clinton has recently and rather disingenuously offered to submit his own foundation to scrutiny…, but the real problem is otherwise. Both President and Sen. Clinton, while in office, made it obvious to foreign powers that they and their relatives were wide open to suggestions from lobbyists and middlemen.

Ah, but is that enough in this soon-to-be rarified era of Liberal lunacy control of the White House and The Hill?

In matters of foreign policy, it has been proved time and again, the Clintons are devoted to no interest other than their own. A president absolutely has to know of his chief foreign-policy executive that he or she has no other agenda than the one he has set. Who can say with a straight face that this is true of a woman whose personal ambition is without limit; whose second loyalty is to an impeached and disbarred and discredited former president; and who is ready at any moment, and on government time, to take a wheedling call from either of her bulbous brothers? This is also the unscrupulous female who until recently was willing to play the race card on President-elect Obama and (in spite of her own complete want of any foreign-policy qualifications) to ridicule him for lacking what she only knew about by way of sordid backstairs dealing.

Read the whole article and behold a laundry list of why Hillary Clinton should not be in public office let alone representing us to the world.

Last week in the process of renewing a business credit line, my bank checked my credit as a matter of course.

The next day, “Jeff” with “American Equity” or something along those lines left me a message. He was “verifying” a recent transaction and was calling “…to assure me that the terms of my loan were the best options available to me or to make sure that I was offered the best terms available in the marketplace”….or some other malarkey.

It was pretty convincing. It sounded like someone calling on behalf of my bank. It would have to be right? My bank wouldn’t inform any other entities of my business dealings with them…right?

So I called “Jeff” back. He was a bit surprised by my accusatory tone once he informed me that he had nothing to do with my bank and where he got the information.

It turns out Jeff’s company, which has absolutely nothing to do with my bank, subscribes to a service that alerts them to credit checks of highly qualified borrowers. Within 24 hours. Name, phone number and amount borrowed are all provided for a fee.Who provides this data you ask? Is it a form of identity theft?

It turns out Experian, one of the “Big Three” credit bureaus, provides this data to other lenders when you apply for credit. Apparently, they don’t have to inform you, and if I hadn’t received “Jeff’s” cold call, I would never have known that my name, phone number, credit score and transaction information are available to anyone willing to pay a fee for it.

Cross-Sell Triggers (sm)

Daily triggering tool for expanding customer relationships.

Cross-Sell Triggers^SM, an event-based triggering tool, empowers you to deliver daily cross-sell and up-sell offers based on customer-initiated inquiries for new credit occurring within the last 24 hours.

Retain your most profitable customers

Cross-Sell Triggers allows you to respond immediately to retain customers who inquire about credit elsewhere.

Build loyalty and expand customer relationships

Respond to changing customer needs by making the right offer at the right time, thereby increasing your product-to-customer ratio.

That’s nice. I’d actually prefer a little privacy when I shop for credit.

Scumbags.

I haven’t verified this yet but apparently you can call Experian and opt out. Gee, thanks for the consideration. Thanks for taking up my time to call you, presumably wait on hold, and take back my rights to privacy.

Scumbags.

I guess I always considered the credit bureaus to be in the business of tracking and evaluating potential credit consumers. I also assumed that my credit information was not accessible without my consent.

Wrong on both counts.

Word to the wise.

…but it could be the next. Nobody really knows how deep “it” will go or how long it will last.

In the wake of a 50% drop in the stock market, comparisons to the great depression are apt to occur. Learning from history may reduce our chances of repeating it and all that.Is it possible, theoretically, that we could experience another great depression? If you believe that there is, there hasn’t been a more precipitous collection of events conspiring to repeat that chapter than we have right now.

Are we really so much smarter or better equipped than we were “back then?”

There are a lot of very smart analysts and economists debating both sides of this argument but one fact remains. There has only been one such event in America, and only a handful of major recessions. A dearth of data upon which to formulate analysis of current events.Every time we have a market crash, pessimists exhort “This time is different,” but it never is and the market has always recovered.

Recessions however are caused and measured by multiple elements, the stock market representing only one of them. To say that we aren’t witnessing the beginnings of another great depression simply because conditions are dissimilar to those the led up to the last one is sheer folly.

All this historically inaccurate nostalgia can occasionally make you want to clock somebody with one of the three volumes of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.’s history of the New Deal. The credit debacle of 2008 and the Great Depression may have similar origins: Both got going when financial crisis led to a reduction in consumer demand. But the two phenomena differ substantially. Instead of workers with 5 o’clock shadows asking, “Brother, can you spare a dime?” we have clean-shaven financial-services executives asking congressmen if they can spare $100 billion. More substantively, the economic trauma the nation suffered in the 1930s makes today’s woes look like a flesh wound.

That’s easy to say in retrospect but we’re not done yet. Unemployment hasn’t peaked. Real estate values haven’t stopped falling. Credit hasn’t started flowing. Banks haven’t stopped failing. The market hasn’t stopped falling.

A forensic analysis determines the conditions of an event but does not rule out other conditions that could have the same result.

I’m not saying that in fact we are going to experience anything like the Great Depression nor do I know anyone that does. Policymakers however can not continue to penalize the productive, facilitate bail outs, effect government takeovers of entire segments of our economy and drive deeper our national debt without fear of paying a much higher price in the future.

A price that we may not have the resources to pay. Then what?

It isn’t clear what Barack Obama intends to do to correct the course of the economy. It isn’t clear there is anything he can or should do. What is becoming clear however is that a liberal administration and a liberal congress have no intention of sidelining additional bailouts and government largess. The policies that got us into this mess will be perpetuated for at least the next four years. Like oil turning to sludge in a V8 engine, the productive and corrective forces of our free enterprise system are becoming ever more encumbered by liberal lawmakers that have no business messing with economic policy or worse, feel that they know better.

The next great depression may have been caused by a whole new set of circumstances. The last one was caused by a lack of government intervention. The next one could be caused by exactly the opposite.

When a young person takes his or her life it is of course a sad story. A life snuffed before it has begun.

When it happens with an audience, on the internet, it becomes national news.

…and a threat to the first amendment.

MIAMI (AP) — The father of a college student whose suicide was broadcast live over a webcam said Saturday he was appalled by the virtual audience that egged on his son and called for tougher regulation of Internet sites.

I can’t imagine the devastation and loss this father feels. Maybe it is the depth of that sorrow, looking for some meaning or utility for his son’s death that leaves him thinking that a law restricting the internet, or holding providers culpable could have prevented his son’s suicide.

Police found Abraham Biggs Jr. dead in his father’s bed Wednesday, 12 hours after he first declared on the website for bodybuilders that he planned to take his own life. He took a fatal drug overdose in front of an Internet audience. Although some viewers contacted the website to notify police, authorities did not reach his house in time.

“I think after this incident and probably other incidents that have occurred in the past, they all point to some kind of regulation is necessary,” Biggs said. “I think it is wrong to have this happen for hours without any action being taken from the people in charge. Where were they all the time?”

Bigg’s son suffered from bipolar disease and had previously threatened to commit suicide at least once before he took his own life.

Let’s hope lawmakers don’t leverage this type of event coupled with recent talk of resurrecting the “Fairness Doctrine” to restrict unfettered self expression and the free flow information on the internet.

That would also be a tragedy.

Democratic leaders in Congress denied the Jet-Setting Big Three CEO’s saying show us your plan before we show you the money.

The Big Three are on their own for now.

Congressional efforts to rescue Detroit’s auto makers collapsed Thursday, with lawmakers saying the industry lacked credible plans to return to profitability.

The decision came after two days in which leaders of three of America’s largest corporations pleaded for a taxpayer-financed rescue from lawmakers in front of a national television audience. The spurning of their pleas leaves in question the future of companies that have been synonymous with American industry for decades and together employ 239,000 people in the U.S. (Please see related article on Page B3.)

Democrats in Congress offered only a glimmer of hope, saying they would reconsider a rescue if General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC submit convincing turnaround plans by Dec. 2.

This is a dire, critical juncture for America’s auto makers but you have to admit, Congress asking The Big Three for a business plan laying out their plans for the money if they got it? Requesting accountability? Discerning fiscal efficiency?

That’s humor.

…and it would be funny if it wasn’t real.

Frank, Pelosi and Reid wouldn’t know a business plan if they saw one let alone offering anything in the way of analysis or assessing viability.

That would be like getting marital advice from Barney Frank. Advice on manners and professional comportment from Al Franken. Executive leadership advice from Barack Obama.

Good luck Big Three. Just copy some economics paper from your freshman year of college and show it to them. They’ll never know the difference.

The Dow broke through 8000 in earnest yesterday, moving below the “50% down” benchmark that some analysts believe is/was the line in the sand between a recession and a really really bad recession; maybe, not likely, even a depression, a term that has evaded technical definition (or at least a consensus thereof) due thankfully to its rarity.

Congress showed GM the Door. The market showed the rest of us the bird. Word is once US economic data is revised, it will show that a recession was upon us as of January. Not 2009. 2008.

Which may sound like good news if recessions still last an average of eleven months. If that were true, the market would have started to build back as another rule of thumb is that the market turns when a recession is about 55% done. As it stands, this recession could last as long as twenty four months using that rule of thumb and given the market’s failure to launch.

I get asked the question “What kind of news will it take to make the stock market go up?”

As much as I would advise investors to ignore the market right now I have to at the same time advise them that the market being on the rise will be the news. It will signal the midpoint of the recession and that the market is starting to price in an anticipated rise in earnings and profits. Problem is, we will only know this once the trend is established in earnest; it will manifest itself only in hindsight; which is to say there is no way to predict when it will happen.

The market usually tells us what will happen, not what is happening or what has happened (save a terrorist attack or some other external event).

What to do?

Hang in there. For investors with long-term time horizons of at least ten years, this market may represent a significant opportunity to buy in. Increase monthly or payroll contributions – at least temporarily – to average in lower.

Does that mean that the market is done melting? Maybe not. But it is almost certainly closer to the bottom than the top.

As Warren Buffet says, be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy.

…and buckle your seat belt.

As the saying goes “the people they’ve been waiting for” may not be the brightest bulbs on the tree.

A recent Zogby poll: they can’t even find the tree.

83% failed to correctly answer that Obama had won his first election by getting all of his opponents removed from the ballot, and 88% did not correctly associate Obama with his statement that his energy policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry. Most (56%) were also not able to correctly answer that Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground.

Nearly three quarters (72%) of Obama voters did not correctly identify Biden as the candidate who had to quit a previous campaign for President because he was found to have plagiarized a speech, and nearly half (47%) did not know that Biden was the one who predicted Obama would be tested by a generated international crisis during his first six months as President. . . .

57% of Obama voters were unable to correctly answer that Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate.

The test was multiple choice. This goes a long way to explaining how BHO garnered such momentum in the race for the White House.

As a GM Lessee, I got a personal note from Troy Clarke, Group President of General Motors North America. I didn’t know he had my email address.

…we need your help now. Simply put, we need you to join us to let Congress know that a bridge loan to help U.S. automakers also helps strengthen the U.S. economy and preserve millions of American jobs.

Despite what you may be hearing, we are not asking Congress for a bailout but rather a loan that will be repaid. (emphasis his)

Despite our successful efforts to restructure, reduce costs and enhance liquidity, U.S. auto sales rely on access to credit, which is all but frozen through traditional channels.

Troy, that’s funny. I went to lease a Cadillac CTS and a Chrysler 300C and what they told me was that neither GM nor Chrysler will lease me a car, but banks like US Bank will. I went to Infiniti three weeks ago and they leased me a car. I tried to buy American but to no avail.

The Americans stopped leasing cars well before the credit crisis.

The consequences of the domestic auto industry collapsing would far exceed the $25 billion loan needed to bridge the current crisis. According to a recent study by the Center for Automotive Research:

• One in 10 American jobs depends on U.S. automakers
• Nearly 3 million jobs are at immediate risk
• U.S. personal income could be reduced by $150 billion
• The tax revenue lost over 3 years would be more than $156 billion

Discussions are now underway in Washington, D.C., concerning loans to support U.S. carmakers. I am asking for your support in this vital effort by contacting your state representatives.

Troy, I think it would be a great idea to contact my State Representative. I agree that we need to do something for you because our government is responsible for some of your issues. I also believe America needs to stay in the automotive manufacturing business. If for no other reason, its a matter of pride, and probably national security.

But you guys have made some really boneheaded moves over the decades and have allowed the unions to run the show. Take a lesson from Northwest Airlines. Price the jobs at what they are worth, let the strike begin, and fire the ones that don’t show up. There are plenty of good people looking for work.

If you won’t, you don’t deserve to exist, you’re not getting my business and you don’t deserve help from taxpayers.

Nonetheless, my wish would be that you get your loan, but only under the following conditions:

1. Congress suspends CAFE regulations with an eye to abolishing them completely so that you can focus on making great cars that your customers actually want. Let them buy an Aveo from Hundai. If they can make money schilling them, all the power to them.
2. The Unions will have to make a choice. Reduce pay and benefits to bring labor costs in line with the rest of the market word wide or be gone.
3. Rick’s gotta go. You need a CEO with a spine. Someone who knows how to run a chainsaw.
4. You still have too many brands. Lose Hummer and combine Pontiac and Buick or Pontiac and Chevrolet. Combine Chevy Trucks with GMC. Lose the fat. Badge engineering has to go, once and for all.
5. You have to agree never to cancel the Corvette. I want one. A new one. Some day.
6. Fix the radio in my Suburban.

Thanks for the email. I hope the wife and kids are well.

What would happen if Congress failed to bail? Preferred to defer? Adjudicated to abdicate?

A look at U.S. history suggests that even during the worst U.S. recessions, Americans have been able to turn things around. There were times when things looked so bleak that only a fool might have hoped for a brighter future. Eventually, that brighter future arrived.

Is this time different? Yes. Every time is different, but that doesn’t mean we won’t overcome this one, like the rest.

Why?

Because we can. As embattled and encumbered as the free enterprise system is by liberal policies, corruption both corporate and federal, incessant layers of useless regulation and tort abuse, America is still the world’s comeback artist. As watered down as our flavor of capitalism has become it is still the only proven system of sustained prosperity; socialists take note.

Some of my clients are disturbed by the precipitous drop in leading economic indicators such as demand for shipping, logistics and packaging. Some companies have chosen to extend holiday breaks to their employees; starting now. To their credit, I find employers are more concerned for their employees than for themselves, a quality lost on Barack Obama, who feigns concern for the working man for the sole purpose of indenturing him further to the Democratic Party, and seeks to penalize those that employ.

At the same time, these same business owners are just as certain that this too shall pass. Because it always has.

But this one’s gonna sting.

Why did things always work out in the end? Because we remembered who we were when times got tough.

Limiting Government

The U.S. has always distinguished itself relative to its major trading partners by having a higher faith in free markets and a greater respect for the limits of big government. Sure, the U.S. passed a stimulus package now and then, but it also let failure run its course and refused to resort to excessive big- government intrusions into the private sector.

I fear many Americans have no idea how deep and persistent this recession could be. Real Esate has fallen for seven consecutive quarters and may not be half done. Unemployment is on the rise. New cars, even Toyotas, are stacked three high at dealerships. The Dow (another leading indicator) is bouncing off 8000 likes it’s trying to break through.

…and we have a President-Elect and Congress hell-bent on raising taxes (on those that actually pay them), increasing government, putting failed business models on life support and spending our dollar into oblivion.

Today I read that John Kerry’s defeat was “the luckiest thing to happen to Democrats in 40 years.”

The next four years are a hot potato, now in the hands of BHO.

Barack Obama may very well be the luckiest thing to happen to Republicans since 1981. Not because Barack Obama isn’t up to the task – in all fairness its too early to tell. Rather because I’m not sure any President could survive the next four years politically, even if he/she made all the right moves. Twelve percent unemployment will have a rather deleterious effect on even the most popular President. The most likely remedy for this particular recession is exactly what Obama doesn’t have.

Time.

Americans have become increasingly dependent on the government, mostly because of the policies of liberals like Barack Obama but it is that very thing that will bring about his political demise. Americans expect the government to create jobs and facilitate “soft landings.” They have little patience and little appetite for sacrifice and thrift. Those are the hallmarks of generations past.

Ultimately our salvation will be invention, innovation and hard work, despite the worst efforts of liberals who will keep printing money until we have double-digit inflation and 16% mortgage interest rates.

We survived the Seventies – in fact a lot of great music was probably borne of the pain and suffering that marked the decade. We will survive this time too, and maybe in the process create a whole new genre of future classics in the process.

In the mean time the Obama Presidency will be marked by the worst recession since the Great Depression and unless he (and we) get a lucky break, The Great Recession of 2009-2011 will be his 9/11.

Obama has neither the tools, the people (save Paul Volcker?) nor the ideological inclination to save us or his legacy and the result will be a resurgence of conservatism. He won’t do the right thing, which may be nothing, bail-out-wise. His congress will pull all the liberal levers. He will sign. The recession will follow its course unabated. The incriminations will ensue: “Obama, it was you.”

Jimmy Carter will be proud.

…and off the hook.

Twasn’t us. Trust us. By the way, can we have some government cheese please?

Rather than admit that the UAW’s plum labor agreements and contentious negotiations have contributed to the current gloomy situation, the United Auto Workers head man says that the economic downturn is to blame for everything, and that Congress should approve loans to the auto industry, saying “We cannot afford to…see this industry collapse.” You’ve got to love that black and white logic. The current state of the economy, and in turn the automakers’ pain, are both closely related, and separate issues at the same time.

Word to the wise: update your resumes. Any government bailout will only delay the inevitable. The Big Three will become the Big Two or Big One.

…he certainly didnt’ forget he’s a liberal.

…and he certainly didn’t forget his teleprompter…but it does appear someone set it up a bit too high. Barack Obama usually likes to look down on us angry Americans, not up to us.

Another campaign speech from the Office of the President-Elect. Thanks for the reminder el Presidente’. I think we know we are in a recession. Your people caused it, remember?

He throws a $150 Billion around like we have it. Folks, best hope for another World War because that’s what it took to pull us out of the Great Depression, which was extended by the last “New Deal.”

Last night my son and I watched the Wild Phlatten Phoenix but the 4-0 shutout was not the highlight of the game.

This last election was marked by an unprecedented level of rancor, mudslinging and division. The war in Iraq was a source of much of the same until the media decided winning it was a non-event. The Coleman/Franken recount is bound to hold off the healing for at least another month.

Sitting in a packed and confined space with 18,000 Minnesotans however, it appeared there was one thing that can and did unify us all, and I found myself proud…and relieved somehow.

During a break in the action, the crowd cam picked up images of wide eyed kids, young couples huddling close and die-hard fans dressed in every from of Wild apparel.

…but when the camera caught four young soldiers, dressed in field camo, the image needed only to appear for a fraction of a second.

The crowd went wild. The camera lingered. The crowd sprung to their feet, cheering louder for those four young servants, our heroes, as loud as at any time during the game.

I was so proud, and so relieved that Minnesotans still feel this way, and seemingly unanimously, and for my son to witness it.

I am not a huge sports guy; the tickets were given to me by a client. But I can tell you that I am now a huge Wild fan fan.

I’ve often thought Denny Hecker’s empire was built on sand these past few years as he levered his automotive empire, already a survivor of one financial crisis into the Real Estate and Mortgage markets.

…talk about bad timing.

And now this…

Denny Hecker sues Chrysler’s financial arm

The ubiquitous auto dealer also is expected to file for bankruptcy for some of his businesses as soon as today.

Minnesota auto dealer Denny Hecker filed a federal lawsuit this morning against its longtime partner Chrysler Financial Services for allegedly acting in bad faith after it froze Hecker’s credit lines, affecting his rental car business, fleet sales business and 13 Hecker dealerships including one in California.

If you will allow me to ramble, consider the cascade effect manifested here.

Corrupt (and Liberal) officials at ACORN, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae simultaneously crash the markets for Credit, Homes and Equities. Congress and the Unions slowly bleed the domestic automotive industry to death.

As a result, a local billionaire goes bankrupt, likely taking local jobs and investment with him.

Thank you liberals. Your evil plan is coming together. I can’t wait to see your solution. Lemme guess: it will involve more of the same. Higher taxes, bigger government, more regulation.

The backlash that will be the Conservative Revolution can’t come quick enough.

Cheneys to host Bidens on Thursday

…are you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?

The phrase that started it all. First AIG then the rest. The Big Three are about to become U, S, and A. The UAW and the Congress killed the Big Three, now we’re going to own them.

Let’s assume that the powers in Washington — the Bush team now, the Obama team soon — deem GM too big to let fail. If so, it’s also too big to be entrusted to the same people who have led it to its current, perilous state, and who are too tied to the past to create a different future.

In return for any direct government aid, the board and the management should go. Shareholders should lose their paltry remaining equity. And a government-appointed receiver — someone hard-nosed and nonpolitical — should have broad power to revamp GM with a viable business plan and return it to a private operation as soon as possible.

That will mean tearing up existing contracts with unions, dealers and suppliers, closing some operations and selling others, and downsizing the company. After all that, the company can float new shares, with taxpayers getting some of the benefits. The same basic rules should apply to Ford and Chrysler.

So first shareholders take it in the shorts, then taxpayers.

In the Washington mind, there are two kinds of private companies. There are successful if “greedy” corporations, which can always afford to pay more taxes and tolerate more regulation. And then there are the corporate supplicants that need a handout. As the Detroit auto makers are proving, you can go from being the first to the second in the blink of an election.

For decades, Congress has never had a second thought as it imposed tighter emissions standards on GM, Ford and Chrysler, denouncing them for making evil SUVs. Yet now that the companies are bleeding cash, and may be heading for bankruptcy, suddenly the shrinking Big Three are the latest candidates for a taxpayer bailout.

…Senator Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) wants another $25 billion, this time with no strings attached.

Barack Obama implied at his Friday press conference that he too favors some kind of taxpayer rescue of Detroit, though no doubt he’d like to have President Bush’s signature on the check so he won’t have to take full political responsibility.

Why would there be a political liability for bailing out our automakers? Is it possibly because most Americans are against it? Think about that for a second. Our government is increasingly acting as if it is no longer accountable to it’s citizens.

A bailout might avoid any near-term bankruptcy filing, but it won’t address Detroit’s fundamental problems of making cars that Americans won’t buy and labor contracts that are too rich and inflexible to make them competitive.

While GM has spent billions of dollars on labor buyouts in recent years, they are still forced by federal mileage standards to churn out small cars that make little or no profit at plants organized by the United Auto Workers.

Sounds like good money after bad to me on the surface, but the government, along with the unions are culpable. This scenario is an example of the effect of overarching regulations. CAFE standards force automakers to flood the market with cheap, poorly-conceived high-mileage models to bring down the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, forcing automakers to manufacture a higher percentage of a certain model than the market demands from that particular manufacturer. This along with an inflated labor cost destroys profitability, in turn forcing Ford, GM and Chrysler to come to the government with their hands out.

The Japanese have proven that there is a stong market for small, efficient cars but since they don’t make large vehicles, which are also in demand for certain consumers, they aren’t forced to dump smaller cars on the market at a loss to meet CAFE standards.

We need to allow the Big Three to shed themselves of union extortionists and at the same allow the free market to determine how many small cars people want to buy and from whom.

Otherwise, expect the government to have to bail out (what’s left of) the domestic auto industry every few years.

Update:

Why GM can’t survive bankruptcy

Does this mean I get to keep my Suburban and not make the lease payments? Mr. President elect? Hello?