Swatting Flies With Sledge Hammers and 9/11

       Today President Obama announced plans to draw down the troop strength in Afghanistan.  That is nice and it may help the budget process, but the real question is why are we there to start with.  My opinion is that it is Bureaucratic Incompetence.  Had the leadership of the United States put half the thought, planning and time into retaliating for 9/11, that the hijackers did we would not be in the mess we are in.  It also could not have been used as an excuse to attack Iraq.   While getting rid of Saddam Hussein was worthwhile it was and is not justified the way they did it.  Had they done it as part of the Gulf War it would have been provoked and acceptable.  The only goal of government was to show that they could react to a situation.  The outcome was not as important as the impression "something" was being done.  Swatting at pesky flies with sledge hammers is the standard practice of the government.  A little sugar will concentrate the flies so you can get several with one smack of a fly swatter, with much less collateral damage.

     Had the government planned, imbedded spies and taken the time to learn the habits and weaknesses of the enemy one good clean strike could have taken care of the problem.  The recent killing of Bin Laden proves that it could have happened.  Knowing who you can trust in an area where no one trusts a foreigner can be a painful lesson to learn.  If we had waited two, three or even four years and then launched a successful strike it would have been cheaper. Also more effective in the long run.  Was the point to send a message?  If so be glad I was not in charge.

    If I had been in charge.  I would have taken one jet and one nuclear bomb and melted the side of a mountain.  It was in almost total wilderness.  The collateral damage would have been minimal, but it would definitely shown we meant business.  The statement would have been clear.  It might have encouraged our allies to do some of the cleanup themselves.  The message would have been clear,  We are going to get even. Deal with it."  A side effect of the Bin Laden operation is that it showed us the true sympathies of our supposed "Allies."   The question is not when but how long will it be before a nuclear weapon leak happens.  The terrorist are not really serious about terrorism.  It is to easy to build a bomb.  If they were serious they could come here.  If they started blowing up shopping malls, high school ball games and any other senseless act of violence they can dream up.  Who is going to stop them.  Almost any person can go into any store and buy the ingredients for a bomb.  All it would take is the will.  Who stopped the Columbine Massacre?  Nobody but the terrorists by committing suicide.   What about Oklahoma City?  Was McVeigh a terrorist or a psychopath.  Probably a little of both.  The point is our government feeds on our fears and tries to increase its control over our lives. 

     The war on drugs is the perfect example of incompetence in action.  I do not do drugs, other than prescription ones, but I would bet I could acquire some if I so desired in almost any city in America without to much effort or risk on my part.  The government has not put a dent in the supply of drugs.  Prohibition proved you can not legislate morality, but you can tax the heck out of it.  If they legalized it tomorrow it would destroy the drug trade, especially if you could grow your own.  There would be no money in it.  No money equals, no drug dealers.  OH!!!But if they legalize it everybody will become junkies.  Did everybody become Alcoholics when prohibition ended?  No, they did not.   I do not smoke, drink or do drugs and I am not about to start because some idiots in the government say I can.  That concept is assinine and survives only by feeding on peoples fears.  That is the governments biggest weapon.

    What proves the incompetence of the government is what is happening around America.  Many states have approved medical marijuana laws and allow the sell and growth of certain amounts of drugs.  Colorado has even created a system to inspect, set up guidelines and tax pot.  All of this in the face of Federal laws that say it is illegal to do so.  Cracking down is not the answer.  We need to take a new look at the whole drug problem and how America is dealing with it.
   President Roosevelt said, "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."  The government has been using it to control the citizens every since that time.  It is time for a third party that will take that system apart and give the power back to the people.

America's Coming Economic Collapse, A Possible Solution

      Collapse is not probable, it is inevitable.  Many people are trying to make a big deal about the economy and trying to make out like it is going to magically recover.  The housing markets recent slide tells the true story. It is not rocket science to figure out what is pushing it down.  The almost fourteen million people who are on unemployment are quickly becoming 99er's.  They are running out of the only resource that helped them keep ends together.  Simultaneously gas prices have spiked again just as they did three to four years ago.  People living on the edge have to make decisions.  When it comes down to eating, keeping the car or paying the house payment it quickly becomes a no brainer.  People are going to eat and they are going to keep their mobility.  It will not turn around till the government comes up with a job program that puts millions of people to work.  It must also help the states to pay their bills.   As people go to work they pay taxes, when they get laid off they do not pay taxes.  Something has to give. 

     Unless bold action is taken, and taken immediately America is going to slide into a major depression that makes the Great Depression look like a cakewalk.  National Debt, Jobs, Infrastructure, Health Care and Social Security all are related.  The recent tax break given to American tax payers was done by borrowing against the future.  The government cut Social Security deductions to put more in people's paychecks.  What they did not say is this will cause a shortage in Social Security funds down the road.  Peter and Paul no longer have anything to take from each other the government has taken it all.  With a national debt that equals more than $40,000 dollars for every man woman and child in America, we have a problem.  The median income in America is onlyu $34,000.  That means if half of everybody gave all they have to the government they would still be $6,000 dollars in debt.   Who is this going to fall on.  Not this generation, and not the baby boomers,  it is going to fall on our children and grandkids.

      Right now there is an opportunity for a solution.  A year or more down the road it will be to late to make a difference.  President Obama supposedly put in place a "Paygo" program that requires all new expenditures to be paid for by budget cuts or tax increases.  Yet his present budget package asks for an increase of the national debt limit by 16 % over what it is now.  It America is to maintain its credibility it has to be done, but it should be done conditionally.  It should reguire the 2013 budget to be no more than the 2012 budget and the 2014 budget should require a reduction of the same 16% that it is being raised this year.  That gives time and room to solve some of the budget problems.  One condition should be the bringing home of all American forces overseas.  All means all, and includes the ones in Germany, Japan and Korea where our troops spend billions of dollars that could be spent in the American economy. 

      A permanent tax should be assessed on gas.  This tax should be strictly for rebuilding America.  While it is a tax, it is not going to the federal or state governments who have proved to be to incompetent to do the job.  Each state will have to appoint a commission to adminster and manage the funds.   My opinion would be around $1.00 per gallon.  That money would go to the states it is collected in for infrastructure repair and renewal.  Twenty percent of that money should be dedicated to upgrading our energy infrastructure and reducing our dependence on foreign supplies.  This system should be ongoing and permanent.  Infrastructure is the backbone of America.  Without roads, bridges, dams and waterways just to name a few things, America will cease to be able to compete on the world markets.  One restriction should be placed on the tax money from the gas tax.  The state and federal budgets should not be able to access the funds.  The states and feds will benefit as they will no longer be required to budget for infrastructure.  The funds will be restricted to taxes collected.  This will in the long run help restore soundness to the system.  It should be called the America First program and as it creates jobs the economy should turn around.  It will buy time to get the rest of the budget in order.  If it is not done and quickly the consequences will be dire. 

     If America defaults on its debt it will lose the faith and trust of the whole world.  The saying will not be "Buy American,"  It will be "Buy Anything, But American." and that will hurt.  The first thing that needs to be addressed after the jobs situation which this tax takes care of is the Health Care System.  There are solutions but they require tough choices.  The problem is Americans do not like tough choices, but if they are not made now.  Tougher choices will come later and we will not be living in an America as we know it now.

2012, Or Sooner, Or Later, Whenever, Whatever, Endtime Gloom and Doom

    People seem obsessed with the endtime thing. It does not really bother me as I am pretty sure I have my eternal destiny lined out.  The media is hyping that the Judgement Day will be the 21st of May.  The Bible says no man knows the day nor the hour of the end time.  It implies that we will be able to discern we are in the time near the end, but the date is not to be known.  If it happens to be the 21st, it will be coincidence, and not accurate predicting, supposedly the one making this prediction made a similar prediction back in the 90's
     In the Bible a verse in Matthew twenty four verse seven Jesus said, " For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places." Yet it says these are just the beginnings.  The Bible has a lot to say on the matter and in Luke and Revelation it says there will be a time of tribulation like there never has been on earth and an earthquake like as has never been since the time man appeared on the earth.
    Earthquakes do seem to be a big part of the endtime scenario.  They seen to get larger and more frequent. The day of Pentecost this year would be June 2, which is forty days after Easter and the timeline at which Jesus appeared to his disciples. It definitely seems to me that we must be getting close to something. I recently pulled up the site for the U.S. Geological Survey and their chart on earthquakes and it goes back to 1970. It may be that I gave it that cut off date, but the chart shows the total number of earthquakes above 5.0 per year and it is kind of scary. There was a couple years that they got up to the 1700's in 1976 and 1977, but they usually stay in the 1300's to 1400's. However since 2004 when there were1672 it has gone steadily up. 2007 there were 2270 and in 2010 there were 2117. Buy the end of March this year we had, had 659 and if that continues you could expect 2600+ this year.  If you would like to look at the site it is easy to access at http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/other/quake 1.html and it should give a graph from 1970 forward. My studies suggest it could happen at anytime, but I would expect it by late 2017 if the Bible is consistent with past dealings that God has had with mankind.  There were at least three, five hundred year periods that had several consistent events that happened in each five hundred year period.  As the Bible says of God, I am the same yesterday, today and forever, therefore it might be expected he would deal with mankind in the same manner in this five hundred year period, if we are in one.  If we are not, just the fact that the Lord said he would return and that there would be an end to time, the circumstances are favorable.
If I get any responses, questions or comments I will go into more detail, but it is not my intent to push what I believe on those who are not interested.  Just the fact that the number of earthquakes has increased is interesting.   The Bible also says the earth will be turned upside down.  Recent news events suggest the magnetic pole is moving about forty to fifty miles per year and it has moved enough they had to change the compass heading for the Miami airports main runway.  Anybody that knows anything about magnets knows when you try to push like poles together they repell each other.  Could the increased movement of the poles be causing the core to shift thus creating the increase in earthquakes.  If that is the case then the gravitational and galactic alignment predicted for December 2012 could bring about the forces to flip the core if not the surface and the number of earthquakes would increase exponentially.  There was a planetary alignment in 1982 and leading up to it from 1975 to 1978 there was significant increase with a lull and then another increase 1982 till 1986 followed by general average increase.  The average hit a low in 1998 which is roughly the middle between the alignments or when the alignment was not an issue.  However it is building in intensity again.  During the eighties period Mt. St. Helens went off and several other volcanic episodes. Coincidence?  I do not know.  The recent volcanic activity in Iceland the south Pacific and South and Central America do raise questions and possibilities.  All we can do is wait and see what happens.  Scientist in the right fields should be able to tell us how far poles on magnets can shift before they trigger a major shift.  The laws of physics are pretty constant, but they are not my area of expertise.  Anybody reading who knows the right kind of scientist could send him a copy of this and ask him the possibilities on my being right.  Enough rambling I am curious how many people are interested in this subject.  Thanks for reading.

MONEY: Finding A House, Working Smarter, Not Harder

       How do you work smarter and not harder, make your money work  for you and stay out of debt.  The next paragraph is from an E-mail to my niece.  I think the advice could apply to anyone trying to find a home. The second part has more details on buying a piece of property at tax sale.
   

     Hi Again, Thought I explained enough in the blog, maybe I need to revue it.  Basically take the time to drive around on country roads or pay attention when you happen to be out in the country.  Your looking for houses that look like they are not being kept up, mowed or look abandoned.  Stop and ask the neighboring houses what they know about the house.  Sometimes out of state people buy farms for investments and never go visit them.  To them it is a tax thing.  Other times it belongs to a local person or farmer and they are living elsewhere for whatever reason.  Sometimes it was a family members house and they don't want anyone to live there because of the memories.  You can usually turn this type around if you mention all the hard work the person put into building it and that it is sad to let it go.  

     Anyhow once you find out who owns it, then you try to cut a deal.  Maybe you can cut yards, or feed livestock, fix fence, drive a tractor, basically try to sell it as a deal that you can work out the rent.  Make sure you pay yourself good.  Figure $15 to $20 an hour and guess what the rent would be.  If it would be like $500 a month, then you agree to work 30 to 35 hours a month. That is just six to eight hours a week to have a place to live.  The rest of the time is yours to do with as you please.  You need to also have time tp make money so you have independence. If they include the utilities give a little more.  Basically it takes being bold enough to ask.  Most will say no, but your only looking for one to say yes.  You can run a classified saying you want a place in the country and will work for rent.  Just whatever you agree to, make sure you give 120% on your end.  Make them happy and it can last a long time.  Sometimes they just need somebody to take care of it temporary till they can find a buyer for a deceased persons house. If the people like you and that you take care of the property you may be able to turn it into a nothing down contract.  Do not be pushy, but if you decide to turn it into a contract.  Make sure it is in writing. 

      I recently finished paying off a contract that was done on a handshake.  I had my receipts and tax papers, but no written contract.  When we agreed to the contract we were in our late forties and going to live forever.  Randy, my friend, moved out of the area, divorced and remarried and moved again.  Then he came down with cancer.  His wife at the time he died was very nice in honoring the contract.  The local lawyer made me produce paperwork to prove we had an agreement.  Remember it was his word and mine and he was dead.  Fortunately I had copies of all our correspondence and the fact was clear that I had agreed to pay it off, but had problems following thru because of his illness.  It was a stupid thing to do, but we did it.  We had been talking how in the old days things were done on a handshake and so we agreed to do it that way.  Let me say this, I was lucky to be dealing with reasonable people.  It could have turned out bad, very bad.  

     You can find them in town the same way.  It just takes being bold.  Just make sure they have your name and address in case they change their mind, or think of somebody who might be able to help you. Make sure they know you are not destitute, that you have a property, but you just need to get on your feet so you can fix it up.  If they let you have a garden space you can make some good money and cut your food bill.  It takes being motivated enough to pursue it and don't forget to ask the Lord to prepare your path, and open the hearts and doors.  It can work believe me.  Read Joshua 1:8 in the King James.  Who does the Lord say will make things happen.  You will, you have to get up and do it.  Hope that helps....Keep me informed how it goes.

    If nothing else you could then get a renter who can fix the house on Bates for their rent.  When they are done you can start getting some rent or move back in yourself.  As far as your house you should talk to some habitat for humanity people. Being a single mother of four can open doors.  See if they can do anything they to help you.  It is a thought.  Later, pray it works for you, Turtle

     That letter helped her get started in the right direction, but she ended up dealing with a person who ripped her off.  Another way to get a house cheap is to get one at a tax sale. Different states and local laws vary, but basically you make a bid on a property and pay any back taxes that are owed.  At the end of a year, two years in some states. The property becomes yours if the original owner fails to come forward.  That is free and clear and no liens on the property.  Some are in good condition and some are falling down.  Your job is to do the research required.  You can go to the auditor or assessors office and usually find out the name of the owner.  Then you can get on the computer or go door to door in the neighborhood and find out what you can about the home.  Try to find one with no mortgage on it.  The bank usually waits till the last minute and then exercises their lien.  The neat thing is that in most states you get back the money you paid with interest and you can usually add on a small administrative fee for your work.  The trick is to find the property that you have no competitors on and that no one is going to contest the sale with you.  If they do redeem the property your usually not out anything.  You just have to find another property at the next tax sale and start over.  If you can find a property of an old person, who is deceased, with no heirs, which is more common than you would think. My daughter bought a house and all the furniture and everything the deceased lady owned was still in the house. You may get a house for a few hundred dollars or under a thousand anyhow.  You are the one who has to do the detective work and find out the information. 

     Once you get a house, you can fix it up, move in or sell it.  Whichever is the most beneficial to you.  It is a neat way to get started in the property rental game.  You can rent properties for years and then sell them.  The rent is your income and the sales money can become your retirement fund.  My daughter usually starts a contract with a renter for an extra months rent.  They agree on a price, the interest and the term of the loan and draw up a contract.  The neat thing about doing this it that the renter is then the buyer.  Any maintenance, taxes and other upkeep become the buyers reponsibility.  If you have virtually nothing in the house and sell it for a profit at the local market value it does not take many house to generate a comfortable income.  A couple houses into it and you can hire the work done instead of doing it yourself. 

     The main thing is you need to learn how and what to look for when buying a property. How to do a good inspection or a reasonable person to do it for you.  You do not want to buy another persons headaches.  Remember I am writing this mainly for the person who is unemployed and needs a place to stay, but it can be turned into a business by about anybody who is willing to put in the effort. The down side of renting is that when something goes wrong you are the one the renter calls.  So you need to make sure you are able to meet the responsibility.  How much you can do yourself and save money depends on the local zoning board and rules.  Small towns in the country tend to be more liberal and let you do more.  However property values are also usually less and it may be harder to get renters for houses.  The trick is to make money but offer a good enough deal that people prefer to rent from you. Your renters will find you renters if you are and do.

  

  One last option which is tricky, but can get you into a home cheap is find someone who has a house they want to unload cheap.  Especially someone who just wants out of their situation.  This usually works for a person who has a job and can afford the payment, but you have to be very careful and you have to make arrangements for the payments to get to the bank or loan holder.  I have seen people get in a house this way and then get thrown out on their ear.  They were paying the person they made the deal with, but the person they made the deal with just pocketed the money and ran out on them. Being careful is the key word.  You can help yourself, but you can burn yourself also. 

  Any comments, questions and opinions are welcome and will be answered to the best of my ability. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog, I hope it helps you.

The Real Death Blow of 9/11

      America after 9/11 lashed out to get even with the perpetrators that caused the harm to America.   The leadership who lead that retaliation was not only incompetent, but also ignorant of the cost of their mindless attacks.   If America put half as much time and half as much planning into the retaliation for 9/11 as the terrorists who committed the atrocities, revenge would have been successful long ago.  That is not the case though.  America pursued its usual method of swatting flies with sledge hammers that accomplishes little, other than pissing off the flies.
      Had America taken the time researched and planned a methodical retaliation with spies and planning as thorough as the attackers.  Osama bin Laden would have woke up dead long ago.  America could have opted for the big impression and dropped a massive nuclear bomb.  It was the perfect place for such a retaliation.  It was remote, it was isolated and had minimal human occupation.  It would have sent a clear message and America could have saved billions and billions of dollars. 
      A lesser but just as effective way would have been to take the time to infiltrate al Quada. Then after having pinpointed bin Laden's exact location, without warning or any notification of foreign powers.   America could have unleashed a rain of Cruise missiles and carpet bombing that might have had a far better chance of succeeding than the method finally employed by the military.
      However the administration incharge at the time, and that is using the term            "in charge" very loosely, had other objectives that had nothing to do with the attack on 9/11.  Their focus was on a percieved threat that had nothing to do with al Qaeda and everything to do with the dollar and its relationship to the lifeblood of America, oil.
      Fidel Castro of Cuba and all the other Axis of Evil countries had started a program that threatened America far worse than al Qaeda.  They were converting their currencies to Euros and buying and selling in Euros.  Saddam Hussein was selling his oil to Europe for Euros instead of dollars.  Thanks to the UN.  This threatened the dominance of the dollar on world markets.  They can argue all the reasons they want for the Market Collapse, in 2008, but it was all triggered by the price of oil and its price against the dollar on world markets. Simply following the price of oil from 2003 to 2008 will reveal the significance of the price of gas in causing the overall collapse.
      As world markets heal and other countries start buying more oil the pressure will be put on the dollar again.  The dollar has to compete with the Euro in world oil markets.  With America's sick economy many of the speculators will tend to bail out to safer markets and it starts another run.   The combined instability in the Middle East and uncertainty of the American economy are creating uncertainty in the markets and investors are looking for safer ground.  The price of Gold is a very good indicator of how unsure the markets are.  All it will take is one good hiccup to bring down the whole house of cards.  The American people do not want to hear of bailing out nobody and especially no banks or business that profits from its incompetence.
     America's politicians keep talking and arguing about the long term cost.  It is the here and now that is the problem that has to be dealt with.  The Republicans have not got a clue how to deal with the problem.  Spending has to be cut they are sure of that and that is a good step in the right direction, but the only way to eliminate debt is to pay it down and that takes money.  Money comes from taxes. Yes, believe it or not somebody actually has to pay real money to get rid of debt.  You can not spend your war out of it.  America needs a jobs program to rebuild infrastructure,  it can be done with a real gas tax.  Nobody wants to hear a dollar a gallon, but they will like the alternative even less. America needs to get off the roller coaster and be able to tell countries that hate us to take a hike.  A gas tax is real money that is not borrowed and does not increase the national debt and most important goes straight to the states and the Fed can not touch it.  A real tax increase needs to be phased in across the board and yes those who make more need to pay more.  All the loopholes and deductions need to be eliminated and every person and corportion needs to pay their fair share.  When a company like GE makes billions and pays nothing, there is a problem and it needs fixed and it needs fixed now.  Not tomorrow, not next month or next year.  It needs to be addressed now.  Inflation is already at hand.  The government can deny it and say it does not exist, but when I check out at the grocery store or buy a tank of gas my wallet says they are full of hot air.
    They can have all the panels, studies and surveys they like.  The problem is real and needs to be addressed now.  They spent us into this mess and unfortunately the gutless jerks are the same ones who have to get America out of this abyss they have gotten the country into.  My personal feeling is that with fourteen million people unemployed and ready to fall off unemployment the slide to the bottom is imminent if not already beyond hope of stopping.
     In the Great Depression unemployment hit 25%.  The market fell 89% from its high to its low.  That would be a market level of about 1490 in this day and age.  If unemployment hits 25% the government will be severely short of money.  They can print as much as they like, but it will become like Germany in the 1930's depression era.  It would take a whole wheelbarrow of money to buy a loaf of bread.  That is when society becomes a bartering and trading system.  That is gloom and doom, but my grandparents said that is how they survived.  People in big cities are really in for hard times.  The thing that will hurt worst in this day and time is the lack of Christian values.  People will start taking what they want or need.  Back in the recession of 81 to 83 farmers around where I live had cows stolen right out of their fields at night.  We are probably not as far from that as I would like to hope.  If something is not done soon it will make the Great Depression look like a cake walk.  The only thing that will carry most people through a severe depression is being debt free.  If you are debt free you can use what you have as you need to.  So tighten your belt and hold on, it may be a wild ride.

Why An Economic Collapse is Inevitable

    With Oil price going thru the roof again.  It might make some wonder if we are headed  for another crash.  Especially with the stock market surging up and down like it is on a roller coaster.  Prior to the Subprime meltdown unemployment in America was at an annual average of 4.6 for 2006 and 2007.  In 2003 oil was about 27.69 a barrel and it moved up $37.66 in 03.  The rise kept on and in 05 and 06 the price went to over $50 a barrel.  This price rise put the people who were living at the edge of their income over an invisible ledge.  Suddenly they were faced with making decisions.  Would they eat, buy gas to go to work or pay for the house.  Their income would not do all three.  They did what most people would do.  They chose to eat and work. Speculators who had pushed the market to its limits suddenly had loans that were no longer performing as they had forecast. Panic started and banks and finance companies started trying to rein in the losses which simply caused more and more of the failures.
       As they say,  "The rest is history." The question is, "Is history about to repeat itself."  My view is yes.  With almost fourteen million people on unemployment and living on the edge, the job market growing very sluggishly and the Federal Government on the edge of Bankruptcy it is hard to have a positive attitude.
      The Politicians are dithering at best.  They want to make cuts, but are in total disagreement over what should be cut.  The Republicans want to cut off unemployment and are to stupid to realize it will just push many people over the edge.  Their argument that the government can not afford it is sound.  However the government can not afford not to either.  Republicans are also obsessed with not raising taxes.  Well the only way to get out of debt is to either pay it off, which requires money, which the government gets from taxes.  Or to cut spending, which is good as long as it does not increase the shortage of government funds.  People not working do not pay taxes.
       What is needed is a way to create jobs that does not increase the national debt.  As oil is over $100 a barrel and prices are surging the last thing anyone wants to hear is that we need a major tax increase on gas.  However if that increase goes directly to the states. The key is keeping the Feds hands off the money. It creates an instant fund to create jobs and start rebuilding infrastructure. It could be called an "Energy Independence Tax."  This is something that can be done immediately, if something is not done immediately we will be in a depression that is going to make the one in the 30's look like a cakewalk.  Yes it would be painful, but not half as painful as a depression.  It would buy time for the politicians to fix the broken system.  They keep talking about long term solutions and do not realize the problem is in the here and now.   If they try to wait for the long term solution the government will be totally bankrupt.   
      The first thing that needs to be done is freeze spending at present levels and then look for serious cuts.  How about bringing troops home from Germany, Korea and other overseas sites and bringing the expenditures to maintain those troops into the American economy.  Leaving troops in Iraq should not even be an option.  It is time for Iraq to stand up and take charge of themselves. We removed their WMD and he is dead. Their other problems they need to deal with.
      In Afghanistan we need to let the Afghans know we are the ones who helped them beat the Russians and that we left once and we are ready to do so again.  If the Afghans are half as honorable as the writer of the book "Charlie Wilson's War" implies they are.  They simply need to be told that they are being use by al Qaeda and that they have been played as pawns.  They will take care of the al Qaeda problem themselves. The Taliban are nothing but thugs and thieves and they are the Afghan peoples problem to deal with.  The Taliban are simply idiots who allowed themselves to be used. They are not a threat to America. Once they find they have been used they will turn on al Qaeda like a pack of wolves.  Then we can bring those troops home also.  That will save billions and let the world take care of its own problems for awhile.
     There are many solutions that could help, like going to a four day week.  It would save tons of energy and create jobs.  Some of my other blogs cover these ideas and believe me, while they are radical, they can be implemented and the technology is already here.
    If something is not done and the fourteen million who are getting unemployment start to loose their homes.  The housing market will go for another big slide and as people tighten their belts the markets will freeze up again and we will be headed for the bottom. In the Great Depression the market lost 89% of its value.  From its all time high the bottom today would be around 1490 points. It took three and a half years from top to bottom back then.  We are not quite that far into this one yet.  That is scary, but the sad truth is it could happen.  Back then the government pulled America through, but this time it is the government that is bankrupt.  As millions more loose their jobs the governments income will continue to slip.  They will not be able to pay their bills and if they do it will be with printed money that has no value.  Lets hope they get it together, but you better be preparing for the alternative.  The Politicians just do not get it.

Why America Is Loosing the Industry & Marketing Battle, A Layman's Point of View

      

Why America Is Loosing the Industry & Marketing Battle, A Layman's Point of View

 

      A popular movie of a few years back called “The Field of Dreams” had a key line that said, “Build it, they will come” The auto industry needs to take a hard look at that movie and realize in their case the saying is. “Build it, they will buy it.” The auto industry has lost sight of its roots. Henry Ford is supposed to have said. “They can have any color car they want. As long as it is black!” Ford’s philosophy of building cars was to build them as quickly and cheaply as possible. It is a philosophy that is still working. It is the philosophy of Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in America and Mc Donalds

      Wal-Mart is expanding around the whole world with that simple philosophy. Why am I talking about Wal-Mart when this article is about the big three? Really it is pretty simple. It is all about competition. All business is about competition and winning is about knowing how to play the game. Wal-Mart has entered the Chinese market and many others. Yet other American companies are on the verge of collapse. As a retired trucker I have delivered goods to both Wal-Mart and some of their chief competitors. There is no comparison between them and say K-Mart. I know this from my experiences. To make my point a couple quick examples will show what I am talking about.
  

   One time delivering to a distribution center for K-Mart in the Detroit area a question arose about the product on my truck. First they felt they may not want the product as they might have too much in stock already. The person in charge sent a runner to check and see if they had the product in stock. Twenty minutes later the runner came back. He told the person in charge they had x number of cases of the product. The person in charge then asked if the product was red or blue. The runner left again and after about thirty minutes came back and said they had blue. Fortunately for me, I had red, and they took my load. That killed the better part of hour.
  

    At a Wal-Mart distribution center it would have been done by radio and maybe took two to three minutes. K-Mart is a union warehouse. Wal-Mart is not a union warehouse. Is it a union problem? I do not think so. It is a management problem. Radios cost, but then again they are cost effective. Wal-Mart could improve in some areas also. I spent my years in the Army working in aerial supply. We supplied by parachute to troops in the field.  Making things happen when and how they are supposed to takes team work. Management and labor need to understand they are teammates not competitors. Good managers are into motivation and innovation. They are not into confrontation and elimination.
 

      Getting back on track the problems in the automotive industry from my perspective are mainly a management problem. Management makes the leadership decisions and labor is supposed to follow. There is one small problem with the system. Sometimes people working in the industry cannot see the forest for the trees. The focus tends to be on the problems and not on the solutions.

       Before I started hauling for the automotive industry I wondered how the automotive industry could justify selling their products for so much. However by the time I finished hauling automotive parts I wondered how they could sell them so cheap. What changed was my perspective. Originally I was on the outside. After becoming involved with the system, some of the problems were a lot easier to see.

      One of the first things I noticed was that Labor had an attitude that Management’s goal was to get rid of them.  Or at a minimum cut their paychecks and benefits. They did not see management as leaders trying to compete in a very competitive market.  Management was viewed as a threat to their personal security and well being. Management’s attitude seemed to be that labor is a cost to be controlled and eliminated if possible. However without each other nothing gets done and both will become part of the rank and file unemployed.
 

    With the history behind the automotive industry it is easy to understand some of the points of view. Yet in today’s markets the attitudes need to change.  Labor will not be the only ones without a job. It will be the whole industry and supporting industries. You can not manage or work for a company that ceases to exist. History shows us plainly that companies that do not learn to compete cease to exist. It is the nature of industry. Just as the livery stables, of the past, ceased to exist. So have many car makers. Studebaker, Packard, Hudson and American Motors are just a few examples that have disappeared in my own life time. They could not keep up with the competition. Even the makers who survived have dumped models that either were no longer competitive or did not meet changing market demands. Most people have heard of the Pinto, Vega, Chevette or Maverick just to name a few. Millions of these cars were made but when is the last time you saw one? These last cars were made to meet a market demand created by the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. They fell apart about as fast as Arab hopes of controlling the worlds oil markets.
   

   When the crisis of the moment was past attitudes and markets changed back. The demand for the pony cars and barges, my children’s nickname for cars made in the fifties and sixties, resumed. People adapted to the higher fuel prices after the embargo. American production followed what they perceived market demand to be. When another Energy Crisis hit in the late 90’s the foreign manufacturers changed their product lines. American manufacturers felt it was a glitch and that Americans would pay any price for fuel and continued to slop the market with the gas hogs they produced.
 

     Little did anyone perceive the perfect financial storm brewing just over the horizon. The fact that not one of the major manufacturers understood where the market was headed says a lot about the lack of leadership. Both the American industrial and the financial markets in general missed the boat. To say they were blindsided would be a major understatement. The blinders worn by American automotive management were as effective as the ones worn by horses before the advent of the automobile.
  

    The arrival in Washington, DC on their private jets, with their hands out, underscored the complete oblivion of management to the reality of the situation. The real sad part is that no one seemed to realize that it was too little to late. Dealerships were and still are flooded with inventory they can not move. They have no alternatives to offer the buying public. A long and perhaps terminal slump is not only possible it is inevitable. Why is it inevitable? It is because the manufacturers and the financial institutions failed to realize there is one key ingredient in the financial markets they do not understand. The leadership got sidetracked from the idea of making  automobiles. They no longer cared about making money from the manufacturing part of their industry.

   

   The financial arms of the companies were the part of the company generating the income.  They were not interested in the adage about keeping the customer happy. They were more interested in keeping them fleeced with extended terms and upside down loans. They failed to understand the little guy. They do not understand what greases the wheels of commerce. It is not big business. It is not the bottom line. It is also not slick advertising. It is demand. What they do not understand is that the little guy when it comes to protecting what he has is very conservative, regardless of how liberal of a society we live in.

     When the average little guy feels threatened he is going to hold on to what he has at all costs. So you can proclaim your rosy scenario all you want. Till the little guy feels he has room to breathe he is holding on to what he has. The wheels of commerce will not get greased. Things will slowly grind to a halt. You can talk till your blue in the face. The more you talk the tighter his grip will get. When he sees everybody getting laid off, do not tell him sunny days are just ahead. All anyone can do is wait till the little guy feels secure enough to loosen his grip.
  

   There is one other factor that the big three do not seem to get. The days of “Buy American” are over. Even some communities are buying foreign cars these days. The attitude moving the market is to buy the best value you can get for your dollar. I was always a “Buy American” person. I spent ten years overseas serving this country and was and am proud to be an American. However I also realize I live in a global market place. Some of the best stuff out there is not American. I have purchased two new cars in my lifetime. A 1992 Dodge Colt which had over 200,000 miles on it when I gave it to my niece. It got awesome mileage and was stone dependable. Many friends and family had purchased and bragged on them.  So why did I buy a 2008 Honda? For the very same reason I bought the Colt.  Good feedback and research that showed 200,000+ was the norm and not the exception. Yet I still consider myself a Ford person and my second car is a Ford. So why didn’t I buy a Ford. The people I know and trust and the research I did told me the longest lasting and most economical, hence the best value, was what I bought. Not necessarily what I wanted. I might like how I look in a tuxedo and it might make me feel good but, it is not very practical for a work outfit.
  

   So what can be done to save the American automotive industry? Well the status quo definitely is not the answer to the problem. At the start of this article I made a statement of fact. It may have sounded strange but it took working for, or with the automotive industry to say it with all honesty.  Before I hauled automotive parts I could not see how they could justify charging so much for their cars.  However after hauling parts I could not see how they can sell them so cheap. The next couple paragraphs will give people who are not familiar with the industry a little insight that may help them see what I am trying to say.

     My introduction to the automotive industry was hauling brake rotors. It would seem like a very simple part to make. That should be the case but we are dealing with the automotive industry. Therefore nothing is as simple as it should be. My experience started in Danville, Illinois. This is actually the second or third step for the rotor. It depends on how you count steps. The raw materials had to be bought to the facility where I picked up the fresh castings. Step two or three depending how you count handling the raw materials
After several hours of sitting and waiting.   It was my turn to back into the loading dock.  The parts were loaded on my truck. Once loaded I had about six hours to get the parts to the next plant or step in the process.  Which was a heat treatment plant in Lansing, Michigan.  At this point I should explain a concept created by American industry which could be amazing if it worked properly all the time. The concept is “Just in Time” delivery. I would not explain it except to understand the solution you need to know what needs to be fixed.

     Basically it is a concept that inventory should not sit around on shelves or in storage bins. The item should arrive just in time to be processed or utilized. This is based on the concept that inventory is money. Money not being utilized is money wasted. A fine concept until you start moving almost empty trucks to meet unrealistic deadlines. Suddenly you are using three, four or five trucks to do the job one truck could have done. Each truck used adds to the cost because each one costs for its use. This concept is not limited to the automotive industry unfortunately.
   

  Time to get back on track, upon arrival the parts are unloaded and sent thru a heat treating process which takes several hours. At this point the truck either returns to Danville or moves parts to the next step in processing. To keep me moving they load parts, that have already been processed, onto my truck from a previous delivery. Then I head to Dayton, Ohio to a machining plant. As the point here is to show what happens in the car building process.  I will just explain the transpotation process. In Dayton the parts are machined. The rotors then go to another plant in central Ohio where the machining process is finished. The next step is to go to a plant where parts are added to the rotors to make them ready for assembly. The process nears an end on arrival at the plant where they are mounted on a hub or axle assembly. Finally they are hauled to another plant.  There they are actually built into a hub or axle assembly. The assembled parts are hauled to an auto assembly plant. Finally all the components come together in the form of a finished car. The car is then hauled to a dealership. Each rotor may have one thousand to three thousand miles of travel by the time the process is finished and it reaches a dealership.

    Multiply this process by the multitude of parts on a car.  It could easily have over a hundred thousand miles on it before the dealer gives you the keys. So what is this whole process about? Well principally it is about busting the unions. The whole process could be done at the final assembly plant. That was how Henry Ford intended it to be. The idea of outsourcing the work was definitely not his idea. How do I know this? From studying the issue. When Ford started his company he gave up a ten per cent interest in his company to a couple brothers who ran a machine shop. For two thousand shares he received seven thousand dollars in parts and three thousand dollars in cash. The brothers who helped him get started were known as the Dodge brothers.
 

   Several years later Ford paid twelve thousand five hundred dollars a share to regain control of that ten percent of his company. Shares he originally gave up for five dollars each. The reason he wanted the control back was that he had built his own machining plant and no longer needed the service of the Dodge brothers. His goal was to cut cost doing everything in house. Of course it is not hard to guess what the Dodge bothers did with their windfall profit. One other point to note is that Ford paid his employees well enough that they would be able to purchase a car of their own. He understood the concept of marketing and what drives it. Something the present leadership has lost sight of.
 

    It is already effecting people outside the automotive industry. The scrap industry has tanked as the demand for steel and aluminum has dried up. Soda pop cans that were recycling for sixty eight cents a pound are now down to twenty cents a pound. That means the homeless person who takes his bag of cans to turn in and uses the money to buy a five dollar meal at a fast food restaurant is really hurting. Where he had to get seven pounds to eat which is about one hundred and forty cans. Now he has to get twenty five pounds of cans. What makes that worse is that the people who used to pitch their cans are now saving them.
 

   The problem is not all managements fault. Labor, unions in particular, have short comings also. In the course of my life I held two union jobs. One job in construction and the other in trucking, however my goal was to be self employed, so maybe I have a biased point of view. Fortunately I worked for two smaller union companies with good management who operated with the team concept. Most of the people I worked with had a good American work ethic. Unfortunately the ones who didn’t were usually the most active union supporters. At the construction job I watched a young worker give up an almost twenty dollar an hour job over seventy five cents. The union said he should get twenty five cents more and hour. He stood on his principals. I probably would not remember it except I lived near him and saw the suffering his wife and children went through. Everybody on the job liked the kid including the employer. It was early April and the employer told the kid he had a job all season if he wanted it, but the employer failed to pay him an extra twenty five cents and hour for three hours of running a jack hammer. The kid filed a grievance and got his seventy five cents, but he lost the job. The employer’s attitude was that labor was labor and as a laborer it did not matter what you did as long as you did it. About twenty of us with less principals worked continually till early December. Who was right?
  

  Living in close proximity to a foreign car plant and knowing many people who have worked there I understand they have their share of problems also. The foreign companies have an anti labor attitude also. However theirs could better be described as a pro company attitude. It is almost a kamikaze attitude toward winning. The congressman who noted that most of the foreign car companies are in the south and the civil war is still going on by different means was not far off the mark. Actually the foreign makers target economically depressed areas with large labor pools. The foreign companies are still at war with us, we beat them militarily but the war is being continued economically and that is the weapon they have chosen to continue the battle. Divide and conquer is one of the oldest rules of warfare. Goliath did not lose to David because he lacked the ability to defeat him. He lost because he did not appreciate the skills of his enemy. Another way of saying it is, “It is not about the size of the dog in the fight, but about the size of the fight in the dog.”
 

    Economic wars are won by beating your enemy at their own game and taking over the best markets. The absolute best market battlefield in the world is the United States. The proof that it is warfare is the present market situation. If the foreign companies wanted they could buy up the American companies for pennies on the dollar. They do not want them though for two reasons. One is their perception of the problems with the union labor and the other is they would rather put the competition out of business.
 

   So if the American automobile manufacturers want to survive they had better rethink their game. Building cars with longer tailpipes is not the solution. In France a company is building an air powered car that runs seventy miles per hour with a range of one hundred and twenty miles. It uses no fuel. The power source is compressed air. If that compressor is run buy a bank of batteries, which in turn, are charged by solar panels or windmills a true green machine would is possible.
  

    All the necessary technology is already available.   America could break its dependence on foreign oil and fight global warming at the same time.  Of course it will take a complete change in attitude of the entire American automotive industry. They will need to rethink the process from building a better product for the money and at a better price. That will take true leadership and insight and a step away from the status quo. The only question is does America have the will to win the fight. If the present attitudes remain the same maybe we will have a chance to discuss it while we are in the soup lines.

   

   A minor postscript.  Pop cans made it back up to over sixty cents a pound for a while. However as the market is hedging and the question of a double dip hangs in the air.  The price is back down to the forty three cents per pound level.  Guess I will have to get more excercise to fill my bucket and buy dinner.  Hope Congress gets off their hands and do something.  There are plenty of things they could do.  However that would require a display of common will and common sense and those things do not exist in Washington anymore.