SCOOT UPDATE 2 & COMMENTS ON OHO'S MASS TRANSIT

SCOOT REPAIR UPDATE

Well, the Scoot, the LX got its tire replaced on Saturday, 08/29/09. Mike Kookoothe had moved servicing from his home back to the corner of Sylvania and McCord.

I personally took the wheel/tire assembly off the scoot (starting Friday evening with the removal of the muffler (the first step in the process followed with breaking the troque on the wheel's nut)). Then in the morning I backed the car out the garage and parked it out front. Set up a work area in the garage and took the wheel/tire assembly off the scoot.

I put and the new tire in the car -on top of the folded down seat; and headed for Mike's house (I didn't know he'd changed servicing from his home to his old sales site). Got there and his wife informed me where he was. I arrived there about 9:15.

Mike, again, was surprised (as he was last year when I had to replace a rear stoot tire) to see me sans scoot with the wheel/tire assembly. But he went right to it. I watched (and I helped when I could) as he went through the arduous mount/remount process.

I learned a lot and believed I could do this - maybe even with less ardor than Mike (if I got the right tools - real tire irons and small bead breaker).

Mike did have a portable bead breaker that did that part of the job in a snap, but to get the tire off he used two BFS's (Big F#*#!NG Screwdrivers). He kind of marred the wheel up using them, but the BFS's and lots of sweat and strong arming did the job. Then came getting the bead to pop back in place - lots of effort here too - but in 30 minutes and it finally made that audible pop. After that the tire aired up just fine - though he had no tire pressure gage and when I got home I found it to be about 55 lbs - 15 higher than the standard. I easliy adjusted that, of course.

BUT the scoot's back on the road - though I couldn't ride today - heavy rain this morning with thunder - conditions in which I will not ride.

So I took the bus (TARTA) this morning, but ended up 15 minutes late to work due to waking too late.

MASS TRANSIT IN OHIO

And speaking of mass transit - found a report from "Policy Matters Ohio on mass transit in Ohio. I read a summary and full report, released in March of this year (2009) and was shocked an angered.

Here's a quote from it:

"Ohio needs walkable, transit-oriented communities, with good transit options within and between cities—including light rail, more efficient bus service, bicycle lanes, and inter-city and regional rail—all linked together to make riding transit a convenient and affordable alternative to driving a car. Offering well-developed multi-modal transportation system will give Ohioans choice among roads, bikeways, heavy and light rail and pedestrian paths. Over half of U.S. households currently lack ready access to public transportation, which could take them off congested streets and highways. According to the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of labor, environmental, community, and business groups, for which Policy Matters is the Ohio partner, the number of miles driven by Americans in passenger vehicles grew three times faster than the U.S. population since 1980. "

Just makes me shake my head as I've been saying this since Katrina struck four years ago and even before I discovered Howard Kunstler about three years ago.

And so here the U.S. is fooling around trying to keep cars on the road with President Obama's "Cash for Clunkers" program - which is really hurting the nation. I'm glad it stopped . . . as it was such a waste of resources.

Ohioans, it looks like, just don't want to give up on the Car Culture - a sinking ship I'd say - that may even require a big world war to keep it going if the US keeps going where it's going.

OHIO WAKE-UP - MOVE TO MASS TRANSIT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

Report on Mass Transit (in PDF) here:


http://www.policymattersohio.org/OhiosCommuters.htm

http://www.policymattersohio.org/pdf/OhiosCommuters2009_03.pdf

MY SCOOT - AN UPDATE TOO

Last time I wrote here about my Vespa I noted that Vespa Toledo had gone out of business effective 12/23/2008.

Well . . . not quite. Mike does run the business out his house on Flamingo in Toledo now. He's kept his promise to keep servicing his customers. He'll even sell ya a scoot right from Vespa.

I've taken advantage of his servicing a couple of times this year: once for an oil change in April and one emergency call over a 'no-run' scoot. That latter was significant.

The LX, about almost two months ago, on fine early July morning - just stopped running after I went over some rather tough railroad tracks on Monroe near Douglas. I'm mean it sputtered and stalled and then all lights when dark. I got it off the road into a nearby parking lot and - nothing happened when I turned the key over and over - no power. Had to walk it half a mile (or more) to work.

Well, I had ol' Mike's Cell number. I called him mid-morning only to catch him somewhere's east of here (he's a retired Ford engineer). He sounded a little irriated that I'd call him, but he came to my work place to check it out. I checked it before he got here - including a peek at the fuses (which what I suspected was the prob. but they looked fine). Mike got here in mid-afternoon and did the same and saw what I didn't - a burned out fuse. He ran and got some; installed one and the LX fired up fine. I paid for the fuses and he left.

This happened again about the first Sunday in August: I hit a hard rut on a side street and darn didn't the same thing happen. Well, I had fuses this time. I installed one (these are the ones under the battery cover) and the LX fired up. I now take it easy when I approach RR tracks and do my best to swerve around ruts.

But now I have another problem: my rear tire, only installed in September of last year with just about 2500 miles on it picked up and was puncutered by a nail on 08/10. I know what that means: new tire.

However, I contacted Mike and he offered order one, but suggested I try to get one myself at 'Scootworks. com'. Had to go to Competition Accessories (Compacc.com) to get one as Scootworks was out of stock. Ordered on 8/14 - 2 day delivery promised. Got it in on 8/20 - 2 days late. Paid $77.00.

Well I contacted Mike when I ordered and asked if Saturday, 8/22 would be okay. He advised 'fine' I contacted him on 8/20 to advise I had the tire and wanted to firm up the time I'd show up at his house. He wrote back that the weekend was booked up and advised trying it next Saturday. We have an appointment for 8/29.

Now this disconerts me some as it'll be more than 2 weeks since the incident before I can get this fixed. I won't garage the LX until then - my intent is to get away from the car culture as far as I can - so I gotta do what I gotta do an put up with what I have to put up with. I know I'm bucking a strong tide too.

So, I'm patchin' and pumpin it (bought a manual foot pump - acutally had to buy a second - the first I worked to death - it was a off brand knock-off Walmart cheapie for $10 - got a Schwinn pump for the same price at Meijers - I'll see if it lasts) to get along.

But I do have to admit - I'm looking at getting tire irons and bead breaking tools and am watching YouTube videos on tire changes for motorcyles. I already have a motorcycle jack to take the wheel/tire assembly off - which I did last year.

Well, no one around here has such tools - I'd have to get 'em off the Net and that'd be another 2 weeks or so. So, I'll let Mike remove the old and mount the new as I don't want to go a month like this.

But I think I may have relagate him to oil changes. Ya see I didn't think this 'servicing my customers out of my house' was gonna go on for long - at least for me. I believe he may want out of servicing Vespas or (more likely) maybe away from me as I've been a real burr on his butt from the first day I got on the LX in July of 2007. And besides with Vespa dealerships spread 50 - 70 miles apart (deliberately by Piaggio I understand) it's better if I learn to 'do' my own scoot.

Do I want out of owning and riding a scooter? NO! I am intent on getting away from the 'car culture' and will go through or suffer what I must to do so, but I may have to get out and off the Vespa as necessity is forcing me to do so. I REALLY HATE going back to those arrogant bastards at Honda East in Maumee who admit they are more into the recreational vehicle business (i.e. Skidoos, ATV's, dirt bikes, Crotch Rockets and Hogs) than selling motor scooters for basic transportation - they show that they have no desire to help the Nation to get away from 'happy motoring'. So, unless I find somebody else I may have to get a scooter from them as they are the only ones who can provide some decent local (though expensive) service (and that will not happen until after I have wrung every last drop out of the Vespa - Honda East nor anyone else is likely to give me anymore than $500 trade-in value for the LX - so I want to make sure that that's what it'll be worth at the time).

However the LX has given me the impetus to do what I can for myself. It's the best way.

As for those around me - deeply steeped in the car culture - I get offers for rides in a car now or offers for fix-a-flat. I either viritually ball them out for tempting me to dump the scoot and start using a car full time again or bite my tongue so as not to say something nasty or wicked to these petit bourgeois middle class who just don't seem to want to get what's happening with our Nation. And it is they whom I hold primarily responsible for its condition - indeed I see them, the architects of suburbia, as the chief perpetrators of all our troubles. Living in a will-ful self-delusional state seems to do for them - until this all falls apart without much warning (so they'll think - as we've got warnings all around us all the time).

'Nuff for now.

I THINK I CAN . . . I THINK I CAN . . . SPEND MY WAY OUT

Just had to post this morning . . .

Noticed Obama et al. have extended Cash for Clunkers to noon today (08/25/2009). Now that's not an extension for car buyers. Nope - that's for dealers. Apparently at the witching hour yesterday (8 PM in the common lingo) so many dealers tried to enter their claims that the effectivlely caused a DDOS and froze the system.

AHHH! HA! HA! HA! HAAAAAA!

It's just Obama and his bros trying to spend us out this here recession.

Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy.

And now I've read there's gonna be cash for other clunkers too: 'frigeratrors 'n washer/dryers: they is trying to get folks to replace inefficient 'uns for energy efficient 'uns.

Good thing to do, 'xcpet - I and many other ain't got the $1,000.00 or more to drop on such things nor do many have the ablity to get loans for the same. I also hears the 'fficient 'uns really ain't so 'fficient: they 'frigerators may not cool as well and they washers - well - they uses less water, but the clothes don't come as clean. Result: folks has tah put the thang at a higher settin' and warsh fewer clothes (meanin' more loads in dah end) to git the same job done. (Might be better to use a wooden warsh tub 'n scrubboard with lye soap 'n a clothesline instead. But in that case, cute little blonde-haired blue-eyed Kayla with a B.B.S. and M.B. couldnt' hold down her job as a banker or non-proft agency head, could she?)

So, givin all that, I is standin' pat until what I has is done fer.

UPDATE - MANY MONTHS LATER

The last time I posted here was December 31, 2008. I posted a rather sarcastic comic with a couple stating they weren't going out in 2009 as it was expected to be worse than 2008.

My opinion hasn't changed . . .

Well, now we're past bank bail-outs, car industry bail-outs and car industry bankruptcies and financial wizards being caught in huge Ponzi schemes with one big cheese getting sent to jail for 150 years while the rest will get away with it. Unemployment continues to soar (16% in Toledo - and that's not counting the people who've given up) and everyone's scrambling for funds.

And now we have Cash for Clunkers -the great government program by Prez Obama that was supposed to last until November 2009 closing down today at 8 PM. It's being called a great success. Feels kind of like the general of an army who after watching his soldiers get badly mauled by the enemy in battle (and nearly losing the same) declares a victory. What a joke; what a waste of time and (more importantly) what waste of resources.

And of course who can fail to mention Obamacare - ultra-conservatives and ultra-liberals are fighting it out the succesors to the Tea Party way - seen earlier this year. While Obama and company quietly tries to slip abortion coverage and euthanasia into it. We will get it or not. Hell who knows at this point.

My statement on all this? Well as anyone who reads this Blog (and I don't think anyone does - unless you are an FBI agent or some law enforcement officials trying to ferret whether I might slip a gear and end up walking into a Micky D's with a contraband AK-47 with full banana clip and firing lever set to full automatic) then you know how I look to Howard Kunstler to express what I believe.

Here's a quote from his latest Blog (Cluster Fuck Nation 08/24/2009):

"We think we're going to build "green" skyscrapers! We're too dumb to see what a contradiction in terms this is. The architects are completely uninterested in the one thing that really is "green" - traditional urban design - and most particularly the walkable neighborhood. That's just too conventional, not special enough, lacking in star power, not enough of a statement, boring, tedious, so not cutting edge! We blather about high speed rail, but you can't even get from Cleveland to Cincinnati on a regular train - and what's more amazing, NOBODY IS REALLY INTERESTED IN MAKING THIS HAPPEN. All we really care about is finding some miracle method to keep all the cars running." (caps - mine).

Oh one final note for this entry: Hurricane Season, which started June 1st, got it's real start earlier in the month with the appearance of three (3) tropical storms at the same time: Ana, Bill and Claudette. The last surprisingly formed right in the Gulf of Mexico near Alabama's and Florida's coasts. She didn't have enough time over the warm Gulf waters to ramp up to full force. She went inland and did the equivalent of mussing up somebody's hair - though 2 or 3 people got killed. Big Bill, a Cape Verdes type, just finished his run - sideswiping the folks in Mass. and the Canadian Maritime provinces. I don't expect a lot from this season - an El Nino is off the west coast of South America and will likely suppress a lot of activity or throw it out to sea. But all it takes one big one to do it and we could be paying mucho dinero to run the family car (most of which are still clunkers (aka SUV's and Minivans - like how many John and Jane Doe's out there had access to $$$ to buy a less clunky car?)) - and there's lots of heat potential in the Gulf right now to cause that - so it's a wait and see. But what I expect is the El Nino to really be a benefit and it keep warm enough here in Toledo to enable me to ride my Vespa well into December and maybe early January.

Most people here in the US will take the suppressed hurricane season, and the unusually cool July we just had, to keep them believing that Global Warming is a fairy tale made-up by tree-huggers and liberal weather guys to scare them out of their cars and suburbia.

Mean while, the ice cap up north keeps melting and the temperature of the oceans and their levels keeps rising . . . Yes, and Nero fiddled while Rome burned too. Pity.

Will post again when I feel like it - unless the FBI gets concerned about my Micky D's reference, in which case I might simply disappear into some Government black hole where waterboarding is the main activity.

TTFN!

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2009 - GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY - YOU'RE GOING TO NEED IT!!

Thought I end the year here with an appropriate pic.  As I sit here in front of the boob tube watching G.M. trying to hawk cars, I bid everybody a Happy New Year - your're going to need it.
CHEERS!!

TOLEDO BLADE DROPS ONLINE COMMENTS

FLASH:  TOLEDO BLADE DROPS ONLINE COMMENTS

News Desk says "It's the staffing - we just don't have the staffing . . ."

Today I noticed that the online version of the Toledo Blade no longer provides a place at the end of its articles for comments by readers.

Curious, I called the Blade's News Desk and spoke with the lady that answered.  She didn't now and put me on hold to go ask.

When she came back she advised that the commentary section of the Blade's online articles has been temporarily blocked out due to recent staffing cuts at the Blade.  She added that staffing cuts affected this part of the service because there simply were not enough staff left to read/monitor the comments as they were posted.  The result, she said, was that a lot of racial/ethnic slurs and statements were appearing on the website's article commentary section. Apparently there had been a lot of complaints - probably many from paying subscribers - about this problem.

So, until the Blade can either find away to deal with that or until they can recall the laid off staff (and God knows when that will be) there will be no way to comment on the Blade's articles online except in that 'Dead Zone' they call the Forum which I gather anyone hardly  uses or reads. One can always write a letter to the Editor, but even even if one gets published often, the Blade will only publish one letter from any person once every 30 days.

Well, I knew about the Blade's layoffs and it's too bad that free lance comments are being blocked as a result of lack of staff.

I don't like racial/ethnic slurs myself, but that's par for having  freedom of speech in the country. I know there's software that can act as a partial watch dog over postings, but what exactly constitutes a 'racial/ethnic' slur can vary from person to person. I know there are definte ones out there that leave no doubt, but many folks in our age are overly sensitive and very neurotic. That can often mean that almost anything anyone says or writes will  be interpreted as a racial or ethnic slur or insult by someone. And given that level of sensitivity and neurosis of some, and the tenadancy of others (yours truly included) to use their real names when posting, it could result in a tragic FTF encounter at some point between a commenter/poster and somebody, whether in reality or perceived reality, who is offended by their comments.

But be that as it may - the fact that the Blade cannot itself monitor the situation is just more evidence to me of what's to come - just like Carty Finkbeiner's quietly ordering the salt trucks to lightly salt the roads and only run during regular business hours: it looks like that fan is either at the very edge of the shit or has begun to hit it.

(That's not backwards folks - anybody who reads this Blog already knows that I believe this whole mess is our own making: the shit (the mess) isn't going to hit the fan (us); rather, the fan is willingly going to hit the shit).

VESPA OF TOLEDO . . . A VICTIM OF THE MELTDOWN

There was still some of the warm weather left yesterday when the area reached a record temperature of 65°. That left over heat caused temperatures to hover in the mid-30's today (12/28/08) and most of the ice had disappeared off the roads.  Conditions were rideable, therefore. As I had some errands to run at two stores I decided to take the LX 150 out for ride.
But I needed to answer a question for myself that had been bugging me ever since my last ride - on 11/29/08: was Vespa of Toledo still going strong?  I had stopped by there about 1 PM on that day - thinking I could arrange for an oil change. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask - even though Mike Kookoothe, the owner and operator of VoT, closed at 3 PM on Saturdays.  However, I found the dealership closed and not a soul around.  I checked inside and saw plenty of yet to be sold Vespa's on the floor.  I figured (actually I hoped) that he'd decided to take the weekend off due to the Thanksgiving holiday which was only two days earlier.
Well, when I arrived at the dealership it was 2:30ish.  I shut-off the LX; got off and set it on its stand. It was Sunday so I didn't expect anyone to be there - and there wasn't.  I peered into the dealership's window. My heart dropped:  there was nothing there but the remnants of what was, just few months ago, a thriving business: scooter helmets and accessories still neatly placed on shelves, signs half-hazardly laying about, chairs here and there, a broom leaning up against a counter and an old used scooter, BUT not one brand new one on the floor. There was no "Closed" or "Out of Business" sign - and I did look for that.
But the indications I saw were unmistakeable and they caused me to shake my head and conclude, despite the lack of any notices, that Vespa of Toledo probably had gone bust.  I guessed that two factors in the economic meltdown caused this: tightened credit and the rapid deflation (via "Demand Destruction") of the price of oil since October causing the price of gasoline to drop from a high of $4.199 to what a what it is selling for now - from $1.499 to $1.599. 
The former would have made it hard, if not impossible, for many potential buyers to get a loan to buy a scooter; the latter - well  - for most folks around the Toledo area it was the high cost of gasoline that primaryily motivated them to even consider buying a scooter at all. It seemed likely that,  VoT  might have been able to weather one, but not both of those hits.
Later, I confirmed my surmisal, when, after I completed my errands and arrived safely home from my twelve mile ride, I called VoT and got a canned message from Mike stating that the economics of the country had caused him to permanently close Vespa of Toledo.  The message further stated that the last day of business was this past Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - only five days ago.  He further advised that within ten to twenty business days he would be in contact with his former customers, especially those under warranty, with information on how to obtain service, locally, on the machines he sold starting in May of 2007 until late this year.

It is sad to see this happen.  Mike really tried to hard to give people decently priced machines and human and humane service.   He was succeeding, and, but for what had  happened with the economy and the price of gasoline, I am sure he would have continued to sell scooters very well (see Vespa Brings New Mode of Transport to Toledo  - an article at Channel 24's website dated 04/09/2008 - only a short eight months ago).
So what options do I have?  Vespa's nearest dealers are 50 to 70 miles away from here. I've learned to do some minor servicing on my own  - removal of a tire for to take it to a place replace it, oil changes, battery changes - but major maintenance would require a dealer's/mechanic's touch.  
I have about 6,000 miles on the LX right now.  And that could make it ripe for  a major issue. I'd hate to have to find myself the owner of a useless machine because there'd be no one nearby to fix it if something failed or the scoot was damaged (like it was last summer).

I'll have to wait and see what information Mike is going to provide me with regard to local servicing of my scooter.  He did have a local mechanic who worked with him - perhaps he's the one Mike has in mind. 

Nevertheless, I still may have to consider moving away from Vespa - a good and reliable machine - if there's no one to fix major things.  Perhaps the old Yamaha Vino 125 may be in my future (my first scooter was the 2005 Vino 125 - it was replaced by the LX150 in July, 2007) - also a good and realiable machine and in some ways a little better than the Vespa  - though I'm not happy about going back to  do business with Honda East in Maumee where a scooterist, seeking service for his scoot, is treated like a step-child.
Well . . . I'll have to wait and see. . . However, I still remain convinced of the efficacy of riding a scooter in lieu of the automobile - and that should be obvious to anyone who even pays a tiny bit of attention to this blog.

To Mike Kookoothe: thanks for bringing Vespa scootering back to Toledo - at least for a while. You'll be missed.  Good luck in 2009 and may God bless you.
P.S: For any fellow Vespa owners who got their scoot from Mike - here's his phone number - if you want to hear the message yourself: 419-882-1717.   Cheers and keeping on riding!!!
My LX150 (pic taken on Thanksgiving Day, 11/27/08):  

COMMENTATORS ON REAL CHANGE . . .

No pic this time - just two articles I found on the net a couple of days ago.  Both dicuss what REAL change in this country will require.  The commentaries are so good, that I'll risk putting them in full here - with the the links of course to give full credit.  Here they are:

COMMENTARY NO. 1:

A Real Auto Bailout: Escape Your Car

(found at the Wall Street Journal, 12/22/2008)

Whether you drive a hybrid or an SUV, your car is a cash-guzzler. Families trying to save real money should consider going without.

By BRETT ARENDS

 

Last week, the auto industry finally got its bailout.

But is it time for Americans to rescue their own finances from their cars?

Families are now bracing for the mother of all recessions. They're looking for every chance to save a dollar.

Forget lattes and store-brand cereal. If you really want to see where your money is going, take a closer look at your car. Foreign or domestic, it doesn't matter. It's a cash guzzler, and it is probably costing you more than anything else except your home.

How much? First there's the actual capital cost of buying the vehicle. Obviously people can spend as little as a few thousand dollars buying an old clunker. But most spend a lot more. And that initial cost is just the start. Now add everything from gas and maintenance to insurance, registration, taxes, tolls, parking, tickets and so on.

You'll be lucky if you're spending less than about $4,000 a year. Most people will pay a lot more. If you buy the vehicle with a loan, you'll have to pay interest. If you pay cash, you have to factor in the interest you would have made on that money if you had saved it instead. That's a real cost too, and a substantial one, though most people forget about it.

In 2007, the most recent year that numbers are available, the American Automobile Association figured its members paid about $7,800 a year on average to own and maintain their cars. That figure dropped to about $6,200 for small-car owners.

The AAA's numbers were tabulated before the surge, and recent collapse, of gasoline prices. It's hard to imagine gas prices will to remain at today's panic-level $1.60 per gallon for long. But even if they do, that will only cut the AAA's figures by about $400 annually.

These are not trifling costs. Drivers are hemhorraging money. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated that in 2006 vehicles sucked down nearly 17 cents of every family dollar.

Maybe it's time for smart families to consider some really tough choices.

Life without a car may seem inconceivable. They are useful and can be fun. In most parts of America, you really can't survive without one. And they've been hammered into the culture and the national psyche.

But a lot of things are happening these days that nobody expected. Rules are changing. People need to make every dollar count.

Trading down to the cheapest car possible is one move. Dumping one vehicle from a two-car household is tougher to do, but offers real savings. Moving into a city with a downtown, and getting rid of your cars completely, can save you even more. When you factor in the savings, city real estate might actually work out in your favor.

Residents of inner-ring and upscale suburbs, as well as everyone in car-dependent cities like Dallas and Atlanta, are in the worst of all possible worlds on this. They're paying plenty for real estate – and then paying even more on top of that to run a car for each adult in the home.

Surely they'd be better off moving out to the country, where they would still need their cars but at least real estate is cheap, or into a downtown where they could lose the cars.

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. We are going to see a lot of necessity. It may lead to some interesting developments.

Write to Brett Arends at brett.arends@wsj.com

COMMENTARY NO. 2

GrinchMas - And Why

(From the Market Ticker, 12/26/2008)

20% decline in the last week according to some retail surveys?

Well, yes.

Let's look at reality here - how much crap do you really need?

How many iPODs, how many DVD players, how many bigscreen TVs?

Did you notice the attempted "upselling" this year with the BluRay discs?  Titles that had been out for months - in some cases more than a year - being peddled for $30/disc - or more?

What's that about?  Oh sure, its higher resolution (quite a bit higher, in fact) but the actual disk itself isn't that much more expensive to press than a regular DVD - and certainly not $20 more, when the same title is available in the DVD rack as an "old release" for $10!

By the way, here's a secret you won't be told by many people - if you have a HD TV (e.g. virtually anything made in the last five or more years) you can buy an "upconverting" DVD player, or get a BluRay player and use your conventional DVD media.  The player will "upconvert" the media to your TV's native resolution.

Can you tell the difference?  Yes.  I can.  Easily, on my 60" DLP set in the family room.  On my 36" in my bedroom?  Not really - unless I look really, really closely.

But will I pay fifty percent more for a "new release", or three times as much for an older release, to have that movie on BluRay as opposed to DVD?

Well, having bought a couple of BluRay discs this season (to go with the Sony 550 player - a $400 unit that some guy was unloading 1500 of - overstocks I'm sure - on eBAY, for $212) I can tell you that on my 60" widescreen the difference between BluRay and DVD is easily perceptible but there's no possible way to justify a price three times as high.

When DVDs first came out I had been a 12" LaserDisc maven for a very long time and had well north of 200 titles.  DVDs were a quantum leap forward in both video and audio quality - while there were a few LaserDiscs that had discrete surround sound, they were the exception rather than the rule, and LaserDisc's video was in fact an analog signal - so it had "dot crawl" and all the other sins of an analog signal, even though it was damn good compared to a VCR.

The compelling difference between DVD and BluRay simply isn't there.

This, unfortunately for retailers, is pretty much the entirety of the market - across segments. 

Can you name one product that is a "game changer" - that provides a quantum leap forward, and thus is truly a "must have"?

I can't. 

That's a problem, when you get down to it; all retailers are really catering to is "the quantum of more".

Now look around your house.  Look at all the junk you have in your home.  Quantify "junk" as anything that doesn't provide you with a place to sit (or lay down), a way to keep you warm, a means to prepare (or consume) food or drink and a way to keep your premises livable (you gotta wash your clothes somehow, right?)

All the trinkets, the 47 computers, the three iPODs and the cell phones.  The "new car" you bought over the last few years, for what - the "new car" smell?  Does a used car - or even a clunker - get you to work? 

Think about it - how much less would an inexpensive used car have cost you?  Liability insurance only as opposed to "full coverage", because if you wreck it you could replace it for a couple of grand in cash - no need for collision coverage, and if the transmission falls out you could junk and replace it for less than the cost of the repair!  In a couple of years you're way ahead, and even more so if you make a habit of smashing cars (since insurance gets verrry expensive for collision coverage if you wreck frequently!)

We as a nation have gotten used to deciding we want something and therefore we will have it, because the credit card hasn't been declined (yet).  When it was, we then went to the bank and pulled out our home equity, paid off the card - and charged it up again.

The entirety of our media has become focused on exactly one thing - stoking that "need for more", with Americans being literally told they're poor, destitute, and deserving of that handbag from Gucci and the brand new Lexus you must have in your driveway.

It's all a scam.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty much at saturation when it comes to "things".  I have a house, a grill, a fridge, car, dishwasher, laundry equipment and as many computers and TVs as I can reasonably use.

What's left?  Nothing, really.

The "culture of more" is how we got into this mess - the demand for "more" without first earning the money to buy it.

As this continued onward beyond reasonable limits those who "must have more" turned to stealing.  CDOs full of garbage "rated AAA" by companies who were effectively bribed (and used what they now acknowlege were computer models that assumed prices would never go down), peddled by people who knew their products were worthless (proved by the fact that in some cases they were shorting what they were selling!)  Union "bosses" who have been documented billing thousands of hours of overtime for work not performed.

Our entire economy has turned into a culture of scamming, fraud, and BS.  This morning CNBC has "news person" after news person nearly crying for people to go back to the mall and spend more money they don't have - on useless crap.

The adjustment to a "culture of what you need" is going to be jarring for many, even catastrophic for some, who simply must walk around with their noses in the air, spending at rates that are vastly beyond their ability to earn.  Indeed, in places like Manhatten where the "culture of more" has turned into fraud and theft extraordinaire, driving anyone who doesn't make $500,000 a year or more out as "too poor" to afford to live there this adjustment may even come (God willing) in the form of some long days in the graybar motel with a cellmate named "Bubba". 

But perhaps - just perhaps - we will rediscover the fact that a few simple things - a pumpkin pie baked from scratch in the oven (yes, including the crust), a bird or ham in the oven and hugs from those you love are worth a whole lot more than the newest plastic piece of crap from China.

Think about it - then tell the merchants of theft, fraud, avarice and greed that you simply won't play any more.

Tell the Paulsons of the world, who are inextricably tied to the financial scams of the last decade, to pound sand in the most effective way possible.

Spend your post-Christmas time giving your kids, spouse and/or SO a bunch of hugs, instead of at the local mall blowing yet more money you don't have.

You'll get more from it.

By Karl Denniger of the Market Ticker

-----

MY COMMENT

I have either quoted or referred to Denniger's Market Ticker several times in this Blog.  Brett Arends is new only likely to be posted this time.  Both, I have believe, have hit the  nail on the head and have written about what I continue to say: we have to change our way of life if we want the Nation to pull out  of this tailspin it's in.

Most of us from our childhood have been deeply, deeply steeped in the 'car culture' from the day our daddies drove our pregnant, in labor, mommies to the hospital to give us birth through kindgarten, grammer and high school, college, our first jobs - right down to the present day.  To own a car is part of the American Dream.  Not to have one is considered a mark of failure.  To ride the public transporation is a mark of humilation, of shame . . .

This means it's going to be hard, in fact harder than any of us can expect, for change to occur. I'm not above it either.  

Yesterday, we had very bad roads, covered with ice (Carlteon the Fink keeping the trucks off the road - as I indicated in my earlier blog on this), for a good part of the day.  I elected to drive to work, rather than bus it.  At lunch time, when I usually walk about three-tenths of mile to McDonalds, I also took the auto - as the ice was so bad that the normal five minute walk would have taken an hour.

But did I really need to do this? Do I need my twice weekly "McDonald's hit"? No.  I still haven't given up on the convenience of the automobile and fast food.  I could have packed a lunch and ate at my work place.

Further, since about the second week in December I've been riding the car to my law office job. Why?  Well, it's full darkness by the time I get home and that's coupled with an ever increasing crime rate in my neighborhood encouaged by deserted, though well lite sidewalks.  

I believed I was being set-up for robbery by somebody who lives not far from where I live.  Saw the same thing two years ago when I was robbed right at the gate at my backyard.  I decided that taking the car was the best option to avoid this - until early January when the tax-prep joints will open. They'd give me a place in which to duck should some crackhead low on dope and dough decides to make me his prey.

So, even with riding scooter and or bussing it when the weather's bad - crime's increasing - I too still remain too attached to the money guzzling automobile.  

Even riding the bus hasn't really pulled me away from it.

Why? The bus system isn't designed to run efficiently.  Despite advertisements in the local papers encouraging folks to use the bus, TARTA really isn't about getting folks out of their cars.  It's about keeping the 'car culture' alive and well. After all Toledo builds cars and car parts - not many people around here want an already deeply troubled auto industry to discourage car usage.

But staying alive and well is going to require getting away from the cars, the light trucks, the SUV's and minvans and the Hummers.

Both commentators are right about it. Life without a car may seem inconceivable (per Arends), and it's all been a scam (per Denninger). Change has to come or we're in for it and it will be much, much harder than staying where we are.

THE INEVITABLE IS APPARENT. 

Therefore, I'm going to have to redouble my efforts . . . despite the risks.

U.A.W BEGGED FOR BAILOUT . . . OWNS MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR LUXURY COMPLEX

Just saw this at CNSNews:

$27-Million UAW-Owned Country Club Includes Golf Course, Condos, Swimming Pools

Go there - or here's the synopis: while the U.A.W.'s Prez, Gettlefinger was begging, with the Big Three and then got $17.4 Billion from frightened Prez W - there was no mention of the huge luxury complex owned by the U.A.W. in at "The Black Lack Country Club and Black Lake Country Club".  This is in Onaway, Michigan.

It appalled me. Heck I can't even afford a trip to Cedar Point and these buzzards are tripping out in great surroundings.

CNSNews allowed comments.  

The one that struck was this one:

"BADDAD at 05:18 PM - December 22, 2008

PRINT THIS, most of you people leaving comments make me sick. The UAW created the middle class, brought the standard of living up for every American Citizen, provided clean & safe work places for men & women. Maybe we should go back to unsafe work places and pay scales that won't put food on the table. The real problem in this country is IMPORTS, you know it & I know it. So this Christmas, as you drive to the store in you car made in JAPAN (yes 90% of what they sell here is imported, check the sticker for once) to buy a TV or COMPUTER made in JAPAN, pick up some tennis shoes & blue jeans, maybe some underware, cloves or sweaters made in CHINA, remember that today 95% of everything you buy is imported into this country and that alone is why we are in the shape we are in. Only the people of this country can fix the problem by refusing to buy anything that isn't made here. Imagine all the jobs that would be created in this country. Happy Holidays to all and wake up before it's to late!!!"

My response was this which I submitted on 12/23/08 (not posted yet - don't know if CNSNews will allow it as they are very conservative):

No BADAD - the problem isn't imports. The problem here is the refusal to change our way of life. From the 20's to the 40's GM, using a shadow bus company, called 'National City Lines", with cold calculation deliberately destroyed the nation's mass transit system based on electric trollies. The auto execs in 1948 were caught via a congressional investigation.  They were fined and told not do it again. A slap on the wrist really - after all the Big Three had just saved the U.S. from Nazis and Japs. "See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet" was the result.  We are paying the price of that today. "The Car Culture" must end if we want to save the Nation.  This must include the end not only of the Big Three, but all the others too. Rebuilding the mass transit system from the pitiful state it is in right now needs to be a priority. Also, focus on localization will be required.  If we keep to trying to 'save' this culture and the 'me' focused way of life, God's just going to step away and let happen what will happen.

WHERE HAS ALL THE MONEY GONE . . .

Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret

from Yahoo News - 12/22/08

"WASHINGTON – It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money going?

But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it.

"We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it,'" said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. "We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to."

WHERE HAS ALL THE MONEY GONE?

(with apologies to Pete Seeger)

Oh, where has all the money gone?

Long time passing

Oh, where has all the money gone?

Long time ago

Oh, where has all the money gone?

Gone to FAT CATS every buck!

When will they ever learn? 

When will they ever learn?

MORE WORDS OF WISDOM . . .

I have already posted my oppostion to the both the bailouts -the $700 Billion one for the banks and the $17.4 Billion for the Big Three.

Why? Quite simply we threw good money after bad.  Doing so is only staving off the inevitable: the total collapse of our economy with social chaos and anarchy as a result.

One the solutions I offered was to take the $54 Billion bantered about as the real sum the Big Three needed and use it to keep the soon to be unemployed auto workers financially afloat - NOT AWASH with money. In the meantime, per Howard Kunstler, immediately begin moving away from the "Car Culture" and rebuild the mass transit system for both intra-city and inter-city travel.  

Now Mr. Karl Denniger who writes the Market Ticker Blog has offered this wisdom today, 12/20/08:

"Unless you're rooting for several million of our young people to be killed in the next World War, [we] must [do all the following]:

President Obama must not try to stop the unwind.  In fact, quite to the contrary - we must cease taking on more debt (that is, funding more bailout and "stimulus" programs) because they simply make the matter worse.  In short President Obama must force the unwind to take place by withdrawing the artificial support.  I'm well-aware that from a political popularity point of view this may well be impossible - nonetheless, if we are to avoid catastrophe it must be done as the damage now is much smaller than the damage that will occur if we don't stop the insanity.

The Fed must be told to either place back into full force and effect all leverage and reserve requirements and police them or the US Government will act to force them to do so.  This must happen right now.

Full, 100% transparency for all - including Treasury and The Fed - must occur immediately and be maintained in perpetuity.  We must not lose the confidence of those who fund our debt and to do so we must prove on an immediate and continuing basis that we have changed.

We must accept the contraction in our GDP that will and must occur.  In short, we must stop lying and papering over the inevitable which has done nothing but make what is to come worse. There will be massive numbers of bankruptcies, including large banks and other institutions, that will come from this.  We have no choice but to accept this reality as it is far less damaging than the alternative.

The human suffering that is and will occur will be tremendous no matter what we do.  The one place we can and should spend is on essential human needs; that is, food, shelter and clothing.  We can provide barracks-style shelter, cafeteria-style food, basic medical care and donation-based clothing for millions of Americans for a song compared to these "bailouts" and we both can and must.  Every state should have these centers established in major cities and at least one at or near its geographic center (or the closest reasonable place to it) in which all United States Citizens (but no illegal aliens) can come, reside, eat and obtain basic clothing and medical care at no cost to them.  This can be done at a cost of single-digit dollars per day per person, and we must.  This is a social imperative and we simply have to be prepared to provide it.

We can rebuild our economy, but we must do so from a stable base.  The GDP contraction that is to come must be accepted, and we can no longer fund false GDP "growth" with an ever-increasing debt load.

Our choice is to accept this now or have it forced upon us in the future, with that future date approaching at a rapid rate and the amount of damage increasing with every day we delay".

There you have it:  Mr. Kunslter's works plan - rebuild mass transit and Mr. Denniger's economics plan - stop adding to the debt by using bailouts; be transparent and while recovering make sure U.S. citizens have a place to sleep, something to wear, medical care and some place to live.

And I repeat and emphasize his final words in today's Blog:

Our choice is to accept this NOW or have it forced upon us in the future, with that future date approaching at a rapid rate and the amount of damage increasing with every day we delay.

WORRIED ABOUT HIS LEGACY . . . 'W' BAILS . . .

Well, it's news now: 'W' has bailed . . . worried about his 'Legacy'.

Yep the Big Three have been offered $17.4 Billion. If they can't come up with a business plan by March 31st - they gotta pay it back. DON'T expect to see that money ever again - you can bet on that.

Huge structural changes are demanded of them and the UAW has to pony up too - including eliminating, not just suspending, the "free money" Jobs Bank.

They'll all bite the Big One 'cause they know their man will soon be sworn in as Prez in just 22 days. They also all know he'll likely change the standards for the Bailout for the auto industry whose 'car culture' infrastructure he has made quite clear he intends to preserve. And of course, there's a special place in his heart for his buds at the U.A.W. who I'm sure will come to collect on the promises he made.

As for me - I've got my shoe in hand . . .

Try "Shock and Awe" - Hit 'W' with the Shoe Game

FOR GOD'S SAKE - DON'T ASK ME . . . DON'T TELL ME; SEE NO EVIL . . . NOR HEAR OR SPEAK IT . . .

Just a short comment this morning . . . 

After reading the headlines at "Peak Oil Breaking News"; and "the Market Ticker"; and seeing this auto bailout mess; and continuing to watch as the local yokels still don't seem to get it  - I've come to the conclusion that we've become a "Don't ask me; don't tell me" and a "Hear no evil; see no evil; speak no evil" people.

Geez - I just realized that was confirmed a few days ago.  While talking to a friend I told her her grandkids are likely to have it tough, she reacted by saying: "DON'T SPEAK EVIL OVER THEM!"

CAN'T FIND IT ON "YOUTUBE TO INBED IT - BUT HERE'S THE GRAPHIC THAT SAYS IT:

WILEY COYOTE, SUPER GENIUS

I'm sure all you fellow Baby-Boomers and early Gen-X'ers know what I mean. As for the rest - ask yo' Mama or yo' Daddy to 'xplain it to ya!!

Side note . . . did see comments on why the streets weren't being cleared properly on Tuesday - at least on the Interstate - the weather was blamed - it came in too fast to keep up with.  I can believe that one time, but not twice in a row.  I still think there's serious budget problems and nobody wants to say so out of fear of starting a general panic . . .

A SIGN OF WHAT'S TO COME?

Had an errand to run this snowy night. It was just a ride to the south end of Toledo to place seven miles distant from my home.  However, as I went out I found that  the streets had not yet been plowed or salted - at all.

This was unlike last year (or in fact for many years before) when the streets were pre-salted hours before the storm hit. Then when the snow began to fall, trucks were out salting and plowing the streets.

This was at about 7:30 PM.  I had come home via automobile at about 5 - 5:20 PM and the streets were already snow covered and trecherous then.  They were even more so at 7:30.

I drove about a little over mile in it - down to the Greenbelt Parkway.  When I saw it too was snowed covered - without even a hint of a snow plow being applied, I decided to call off the errand.  I got over to Cherry Street and carefully made my way home from there.

Budget problems causing this? A sign of what's to come?  I think yes on both accounts.  

I don't know if anyone is calling in mad as hell to the City or the local T.V. or radio stations about  the condition of the streets.  If not - perhaps a fatalistic sense of the inevitiable in these hard economics time has settled in?

Several days ago the same thing happened - though not quite as bad as tonight - the really first long lasting snow fall we'll be getting for the next wintery months. I don't recall anyone raising hell about it then either.

I remember in 1998 and 1999 we got hit hard with some bad winter storms.  Carty was at the helm as mayor then too and he got a real earful from hundreds of angry citizens mad as hell that the City failed to clear the streets quickly enough. 

Heh, I can recall Carty's response - he jumped to. And the result: snowplow drivers being interviewed on T.V. talking about their 12 hour shifts. Carty being interviewed on how Toledo was going to conqueror this.  I even remember seeing T.V. crews videoing as huge piles of snow were being dumped on to empty vacant parking lots - like the now defunct Southwyck Mall's.  

And now . . . it's like a whole new world. Well, maybe.  I'll see if the news has anything on it tomorrow as I'll have to hit the rack early if I want to shovel snow and catch the bus. But I won't be surprised if nothing is said at all . . .

One or both of my youthful neighbor boys have just finished clearing out their sidewalks and the alley's drive with mostly gasoline powered snowplows and good old snow shovels. The former, I believe, will last as long as they can run and then it'll be back to the 'strong-arm' method of clearing ice and snow like our ancestors did for centuries.

As the snow won't stop until about midnight, I won't be out until morning - before I have to catch the bus to work - to do the same. 

So, I couldn't do my errand tonight which also included one of two weekly stops at the grocery store.  I wasn't going to drive for anyone or anything, short of a matter of life and death - at least for that distance. Two or three miles I might try.  Certainly I won't drive to work in it when TARTA's buses are available - even if they only run two every hour during the morning rush.

As for the owners of four-wheel drive vehicles like Jeeps and other SUV's - they can have the laugh for now as they smuggly fly over the snow-covered streets - tailgating others whose vehicles haven't that ablity.  They'll be laughing out of the other side of their face once the Big Three fall and there's no parts available to fix those gas guzzling anachronisms.

Complaints frome me? Hell, no!  This is what I was hoping and praying for . . . no use grumbling about what I got.  It's time to begin the massive readjustment of attitude in my own life now and hope my fellow Americans are willing to do it too.

I believe this is but a tiny, tiny, tiny little dip into the bath that all of us are about to be immersed in. 

TIME TO MOVE ON . . . AND YOU ALL JUST WON'T . . .

Yesterday, 12/15/08, I read at Channel 11 that some insane dude was running around in the Detroit area damaging vehicles at  Toyota, Honda and Volkswagon dealerships and then scrawling "Buy American!" on the windshields.

Yesterday, I read an letter to editor in the Toledo Blade from an upset writer who didn't like the 'bad talk' about the auto industry.  He concluded by stating "I can't imagine an America without the auto industry."

Today 12/16/08, a young lady who works for my attorney employer's associate cried out that whatever George Bush has got in mind for the auto industry he'd better reveal it now and do it. Her fiance works for a  local auto parts supply dealer.

These are all signs of  a people who just won't admit to themselves that they have to move on before it's too late . . .

Here's my response to all - yet another on the mark statment from Howard Kunstler - published on 12/15/08:

"We have to, so to speak, get to a place mentally where we can face the kinds of change that are now necessary and unavoidable. We're not there yet. It's not clear whether the elected new national leadership knows just how severe the required changes will really be. Surely the public would be shocked to grasp what's in store. Probably the worst thing we can do now would be to mount a campaign to stay where we are, lost in raptures of happy motoring and blue-light-special shopping."

FROM "RUST BELT" TO "BUST BELT"

SOME SCENES FROM THE PAST:

REALITY: AUTO BAILOUT DEAD.  IT'S "RUST BELT" TO "BUST BELT".

The automobile industry failed; the GOP members of the Senate are blaming the UAW for refusing to take wage reductions; the UAW fires right back and says the GOP Republicans scuttled it and now Prez Bush, terrified, is going to step in while Mr. O., the Pre-elect, calls out for the industry to be saved. . . .

As Colonel Potter in M*A*S*H would have said "Horse hockey!!"

Mr. O (and the rest of you out there) you've just got to get to know that: 

"The motoring era is coming to an end. Heroic investments in highway infrastructure to create jobs will be a tragic waste of our dwindling capital. The pressure for Mr. O to make these misinvestments will be enormous, perhaps insurmountable. There are probably not a thousand people (I'M ONE OF 'EM!!) in the US who agree with what I am saying -- meaning the consensus to keep the cars running at all costs overwhelms reality at the moment. Does Mr. O's (or anyone else) have concept of "change" that includes the possibility that we may have to live very differently in this society?" (from Howard Kunstler's post dated 12/01/08)

It don't look like it.  

UAW folks from Jeep were here to today where I work. It's Christmas time and they were here to donate toys for children in homeless families (whose ranks they may soon be joining). I really wanted to lay the low down on them and tell 'em they should be humping out - today, right now, building trollies and trams or laying down track or hanging wires instead of building more gas guzzling Jeeps. However, I figured it would accomplish nothing else but at the least, getting into a shouting match or at worst a fist fight - with job loss (mine) sure to follow no matter what happened.

It is such a pity watching my Homeland hanging tight on to the rails of a ship that is sinking while the rescue boat is right there - if they would but open their eyes and see it. Yeah it ain't a pretty shiney boat; and it'll need a lot of work to make 'er run, but it'll be much, much much better than holding on until there isn't anything else to hold to but the pieces of floating wreakage from the one that just went under.

WORSHIPPING AT THE ALTAR OF MO'

From the New York Times (today 12/09/08):

"DETROIT — The Sunday service at Greater Grace Temple began with the Clark Sisters song “I’m Looking for a Miracle” and included a reading of this verse from the Book of Romans: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Pentecostal Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, who shared the sanctuary’s wide altar with three gleaming sport utility vehicles, closed his sermon by leading the choir and congregants in a boisterous rendition of the gospel singer Myrna Summers’s “We’re Gonna Make It” as hundreds of worshipers who work in the automotive industry — union assemblers, executives, car salesmen — gathered six deep around the altar to have their foreheads anointed with consecrated oil . . .

While Congress debated aid to the foundering Detroit automakers Sunday, many here whose future hinges on the decision turned to prayer . . .

Outside the Corpus Christi Catholic Church, a sign beckoned passers-by inside to hear about “God’s bailout plan.” Roman Catholic churches in the Detroit area distributed a four-page letter from Cardinal Adam Maida, the archbishop, offering “some pastoral insights and suggestions about how we might prepare to celebrate Christmas this year when economic conditions are so grim.”

In the letter, Cardinal Maida acknowledged that “things in Michigan will probably never be the same” but encourages the region’s 1.3 million Catholics to maintain their faith. “At this darkest time of the year, we proclaim that Christ is our light and Christ is our hope,” he wrote.

Last week Cardinal Maida gathered 11 Detroit-area religious leaders, representing Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations, to call on Congress to approve the $34 billion in government-backed loans that the automakers have requested . . .

We’ve got to keep the faith,” said Mike Young, 47, who works for the Dana Corporation, a parts supplier, and has spent more than three months of this year on furlough. His factory, in the suburb of Auburn Hills, builds drive shafts for Chrysler, which has said it would soon run out of money without billions of dollars in aid from Congress. “But you can’t count on that,” Mr. Young said. “All my hope is in God.”

Yes all their hope is in God - the Auto God; their Fine 4 Fendered Friend; or simply - MO' . . .

So as Congress, in desperation, is about to piddle about $15 Billion away on that raging blaze called "Mo' Town", all I can do is sit here and shake my head in disgust. Why? This is all such a waste. "Mo' - He gonna die. 'n when He die He gonna takes a lot dem witt 'im": the price of worshipping an idol - a graven image of themselves . . .

Too bad . . . 'cause Mo' been usin' dem as His Ho'. They outta tell Mo' He can go down low! But . . . well see below . . .

And it kind of gives a whole new meaning to the words (not the song) "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" doesn't it?

Well, as James Howard Kunstler wrote yesterday:

"President-elect Obama has announced his intention to kick off a massive "stimulation" program when he hits the White House "running" in January. Early indications are that it will be directed at things like highway repair. If so, we will be investing long-term in infrastructure that we probably won't be using the same way in ten years. But I doubt there is any way around it."

Why?

Because . . . "[t]he American public can't conceive of living any other way except in a car-centered society . . ."

And his conclusion:

"Stimulus aimed at perpetuating mass motoring will be a tragic waste of our dwindling resources. We'd be better off aiming it at fixing the railroads (especially electrifying them), refitting our harbors with piers and warehouses in preparation to move more stuff by boats, and in repairing the electric grid. Unfortunately, our tendency will be to try to rescue the totemic touchstones of everyday life, things familiar and comfortable, regardless of whether they have a future or not . . .

Mr. Obama would be most successful if he could persuade the public how much more severe the required changes are than they currently realize, and inspire them to get with program of retrofitting American life to comply with these realities . . ."

Will he listen and do this? Nah . . . for he's afraid of offending those who worship at the Altar of Mo' who helped put him where's he's gonna be come January 20th.

And so what I can do at this point? Nothing -- but stand-by and watch as the whole-she-bang comes crashing down 'round here.

Pity . . . .

WORDS OF WISDOM: WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING . . . AND AREN'T (YET) . . .

From Howard Kunstler's Blog (11/17/08) - a statement of what we should be doing instead of trying to save the dying beast that is the automobile industry, aka the Big 3:

" . . . we have to get cracking on the revival of the railroad system in this country, if we expect to remain a united country. This is such a no-brainer that the absence of any talk about it is a prime symptom of the zombie disease that has eaten away our brains. Automobiles (the way we use them) and airplanes are utterly dependent on liquid hydrocarbon fuels, and you can be certain we'll have trouble getting them. You can run trains by other means -- electricity being state-of-the-art in those parts of the world that do it most successfully. I know that California just voted to create a high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It's an optimistic sign, but it shows more than a little techno-grandiose over-reach. High speed rail would require a mega-expensive re-do of the tracks. We need to scale our ambitions for this more realistically. California (and every other region of America) would benefit much more from normal-speed trains running every hour on the hour on tracks that already exist than from a mega-expensive, grandiose sci-fi program that might not get built for ten years. The dregs of the Big Three automakers can and should be reorganized to produce the rolling stock for a revived railroad system."

Italicized and bolded section: mine.

This says is all: put those soon to be restless refugees from the auto industy into railroading.

If we don't - all I can say is: the Cataclysm will come and it won't be a pretty sight especially in rust-belt auto industry towns, like, well like Toledo.  When GM's Powertrain and Jeep go down that'll be 10,000 people thrown out of work with a ripple effect likely to take 1/3 (at best) to 1/2 (at worst) of the rest of the working force around here down with them. That many unemployed here, pushed by desperation, will slip into very unsavory behavior just to survive and feed their families. Walking the streets in Toledo in broad daylight could become like walking in a war zone: you'd have to be armed and ready or you're history.

IT DON'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. For the love of God - let's get the railroading mass transit system, as per Mr. Kunstler's statement, going again. We can't stave off the economic disaster coming, but we can, at this moment in time, deeply buffer the horrendous effects likely to be caused when the socio-economic network we have now, based on the 'car culture', falls apart.

The doomsday clock is ticking away folks . . . we haven't much more to fritter.  Time to do what needs doing and NOW!!!

THE SPECTER OF DEFLATION IS UPON US!

Bloomberg reports that the consumer price index fell 1% - a record since record keeping started in the late 40's. It means prices are sliding and sliding fast!

Gas, for example, is done to about $1.739. Yahoo News reports that this have dropped 50% since their high in July and the price of barrel of oil is down to $54.00 per barrel.

Sounds great right! Go right ahead and gas up the fuel hog, right?!

NOT!

Here is a quote from an article written in 1999 entitled: Why We Should Fear Deflation:
(click the link to get to the whole article):

"The coming of the Great Depression, however, shifted economists' focus away from balanced fears of inflation and deflation and to the conclusion that deflation was deeply dangerous, and to be avoided at all costs. Economists' analyses of the root causes of the Great Depression were (and continue to be) widely divergent. Nevertheless, alomost every analyst of the Great Depression placed general deflation--and the chain of financial and real bankruptcies that it caused--at or near the heart of the worst macroeconomic disaster the world has ever seen."

Nobody wants to use the "D" word - but this is quite shocking. Deflation, along with the soon to fall auto industry may be an indicator that the Cataclysm (A Great Depression) which I was concerned with not long ago in this Blog, appears to be on the move toward us again.

Of course "Cataclysm" is relative - when it comes it will be the death of one way of life and yet new one will rise out out of its ashes. It's the pain of the interim that people will feel the most and care about the most 'cause job loss is likely to be very high in deflationary situation.

So, I am convinced "It" is definitely coming. What shall we do? I guess each of us will have to decide that on their own.

And maybe I should change this Blog's name to "I DON'T CARE HOW HIGH GAS PRICES GO OR HOW FAR THEY FALL!"?

After all, the price of gasoline, to a certain extent, currently seems to be our best barometer for inflation or deflation, methinks!

I'll think about it.

THE BIG 3 BEG CONGRESS FOR MONEY - NEED LIFE SUPPORT - LET 'EM DIE!

The CEO's of the Big 3 appeared before the Senate yesterday - begging for $25 Billion they say they need to survive. Today they will appear before the House for the same reason.

Most members of Congress are skeptical.  Quite a few of them believe that the damage the auto industry has suffered is self-inflicted.  Most don't want to release monies to them that was supposed to help bailout the banking system.  Mr. Paulson who enigneered the Bailout is resistent to letting any of that money got out for any other purpose.

N.W. Ohio's local gal on the spot - Marcy K. - who opposed the first Bailout probably is quietly lobbying for this one. No word has come down from her office on where she stands on this new 

Bailout (at least not the last time I checked the Web). But I'm sure she's getting an earful from many locals (esp.  from those who work at Powertrain and the Jeep Plant on Stickney and their retirees) who fear the loss of 10,000 local jobs and an Armageddon for the Toledo if Mo-Town goes down. Carty the Fink is out in Washington, along with other Rustbelt mayors, adding their voice to the clamor on Captial Hill.

I know what's at stake too - but I'm deeply against giving them anything as I said in my last post. Why?

I will say it again: warnings were given for decades to the Big 3  about selling SUV's and Big Ass Trucks and Minvans and also allowing labor agreements that were soaking the industry while at the same time dragging it down.  I'm not against Unions - as long as they really work for justice for their members.  But in this case the members got a hell of lot more than they really needed.  

Case in point: I used to walk around as a Pinkerton guard at the now closed Ford Stamping Plant in Maumee.  In in 1998 and 1999 - the years I worked there, I made about $8 per hour.  I had access to a print-out of the employees who worked there and for some reason, I don't know why, the print-out always included the current hourly rate for each man and woman.  On the average they made about $24 to $28 per hour.  Three times (and more) than I was I making and I was also working two other jobs, elsewhere, in addtion to that guard postion. I sometimes put in 60 hours a week.  I topped out at bout $40 Thousand a year then, but these folks, some who worke 80 hours per week, were well into the six figure income bracket. 

And it was hard as hell to get in there too - a lottery was conducted in which employees could submit names once per year. If the name was drawn, the person was hired on a trial basis. It was supposed to be an honest one - names drawn out of a pot by the lottery committee chairperson while blindfolded. Yet presistent rumors floated around that many of the workers unabashedly bribed members of that lottery committee with huge sums of money to ensure their wife or husband son or daughter or nephew or niece or some other relative or good friend (or one they were shacking up with) would get a place on the line.

But, even despite that chicanery, I do admit they worked hard and got lots of harressment from mangement, but most lived like little kings and queens outside of the Plant. A few had purchased working farms in the sticks and added the money made by renting the land out to farmers to their already substantial incomes; others bought 5 to 10 acres of land in the suburbia and turned them to into little feudal estates - palace-like house and moat-like pond too!  Yet even that wasn't enough - I knew one guy and his wife who both worked there who tried to solicit me to buy stuff from them they sold via Amway!  They got mad when I wouldn't buy! Others I know of who worked there lived far beyond their means and were going bankrupt while getting that fat six figure income.

Disgusting!  

Now their jobs are gone as they too were making parts for gas guzzlers - the 4x4 trucks I believe and some are hoping to restart the place with their own money.

I don't think so.  The Big 3 and the UAW got themselves into this mess and they are going down. GM's CEO says the company won't even last until the end of 2008 without a transfusion of money. I really do believe what the CEO's are saying - they will go down and not even a Chapter 11 will do a bit of good.  

It's gonna collaspse anyhow - the $25 Billion will just post-pone the inevitable. 

After the dust settles -  let's rebuild on a basis of a system not focused on on rabid consumerism, but on thriftiness and truth - one that doesn't destroy our planet - one in which we, 5% of the world's population, are not using up 25% of the world's resources.

It'll be new way of life.  It's coming folks - fighting to keep it from happening will just make the birth all the harder.