Happy Monday, folks, I do hope you all had a good weekend! Welcome to another installment of Manufacturing Monday! Now things are looking bad out there, as many of you probably already know. We start out with more dire jobs news at GM. Turning to some good news, it seems economic forces that made us “costly” has now turned the tables of sorts, with ironically the biggest pusher of China, Wal-mart (or is it Walmart? I’ve seen this store both ways.) forcing suppliers to look domestically. Lastly, we got Honda moving more work to North America. But first, as is par for the course, we get to the latest economic info related to manufacturing. So without further adieu…
October 2008 archive
Oct 20 2008
Manufacturing Monday: Week of 10.20.08
Oct 20 2008
Little Judy, Happy at Last
I’m sure most of you remember Judy Miller. You know, the New York Times reporter who carried water for the Republicans in the lead-up to the Iraq War? The good friend of the criminal Scooter Libby, who sent her cute little notes about aspens turning color in the fall?
Well now Judy has found a home that suits her to a “T”! I’m so happy for her.
Judy is joining Fox News!
Miller will be an on-air analyst and will write for Fox’s Web site. “She has a very impressive resume,” says Senior Vice President John Moody. “We’ve all had stories that didn’t come out exactly as we had hoped. It’s certainly something she’s going to be associated with for all time, and there’s not much anyone can do about that, but we want to make use of the tremendous expertise she brings on a lot of other issues. . . . She has explained herself and she has nothing to apologize for.”
Yes, there have been so many reporters who have helped turn the country towards war with a sovereign nation that did not attack us.
Judy Miller and Fox News: A Perfect Fit.
Oct 20 2008
Idiots Made Me Rich
Via RawStory yesterday, one hedge fund manager’s story about the roots and causes of the current financial crisis, and his long term prescription for what it will take fix to the economy:
Retiring hedge fund manager: Idiots made me rich
Sunday October 19, 2008
“May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established,” wrote a multimillionaire retiring in his 30s in an open letter to those “stupid enough” to make him rich, which condemns the practices that did so and the system whose injustices he struggled with to get to where he is. Furthermore, he’s leaving the business, content to “sit on the sidelines” and wait to see how the markets play out through the crisis, noting that “sitting and waiting” helped the subprime crash prove profitable.
“Today,” Lahde Capital Management’s Andrew Lahde wrote on Friday, “I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.”
“I was in this game for the money,” he continued. “The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government.
“All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.”
Oct 20 2008
When the chickens get privatized,
it’s vultures that come home to roost.
The subprime mortgage crisis isn’t over. Neither is the global credit freeze it sparked. The stock market crash that followed hasn’t hit bottom yet either. But the main thing to worry about now, and for a long time to come, is the depression we are rolling and tumbling into.
The media has started reporting on one increasingly visible aspect of the depression: the budget crunch facing states and municipalities, and the resulting cutbacks in public services. News stories have detailed the end of the shuttle program Phoenix, AZ ran to take seniors grocery shopping, Mayor Daley’s elimination of 2250 Chicago city jobs–900 by layoffs, warnings of unsalted roads in rural Wisconsin this winter, and on and on. And it’s early days yet.
The service cuts I want to highlight today are a little different. Let me direct your attention briefly to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which serves 1.5 million rail and bus passengers every day. Yep, even in auto-centric L.A., a lot of folks, especially poor folks, can’t make it without public transportation.
Intro
Terry Matsamuto, the MTA’s chief financial officer is predicting massive service cuts soon. It seems that like many local governments around the country, L.A. County went for the okey-doke. They sold much of their system to private investors in “lease-back” deals. Companies like Wells Fargo and Philip Morris bought the rail system, 1000 buses and parking and maintenance facilities. The Tranist Authority gets a one shot injection of needed cash, the financiers get a steady annual cash flow bled out of the system.
The rail cars and locomotives of the Metrolink commuter rail system were also sold, and guess who financed and insured these deals?
American International Group.
Yep, AIG. And when AIG started going into cardiac arrest, their credit ratings were revised downwards before the Fed even applied the paddles.
The lower credit ratings triggered a clause in the lease-back agreements that require the MTA to either find a new firm to guarantee the deals or reimburse investors for their down payments and lost tax benefits, a scenario that could cost the transit agency between $100 million and $300 million.
For one thing, forget about finding a replacement lender–credit is still frozen, static. Second, once other clauses in the deal kick in, the MTA could be on the hook for $1.8 billion this year, more than half its total annual budget.
All those investors have to be made good somehow. So the service cuts commence.
I can’t wait to see what L.A.’s Bus Riders Union does about this…
Cross-posted from Fire on The Mountain.
Oct 20 2008
Riots Break Out in 17 Cities
November 5th, 2008
AP/UPI
Diane G, WWL National Newsgroup
Protests broke out last night and this morning after a surprising John McCain upset over frontrunner Barack Obama.
Amidst charges of dubious voter challenges, irregular counts and vote tampering, riots and demonstrations took place in several major cities including Detroit, Cleveland and Palm Beach last night and this morning.
Unconfirmed sources have reported widespread damage to property, injuries and 23 deaths.
Local Law Enforcement Agencies were supported by the deployment of National Guardsmen and the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division. In Louisiana, where the demonstrations were more widespread in smaller Parishes, Blackwater agents were also deployed to prevent violence.
Oct 20 2008
Docudharma Times Monday October 20
What Is Real America?
Its All Americans No Matter Who
Or What They Are
Barack Obama has advantage of big bucks, a big name: Colin Powell
News of the Republican’s endorsement and a record $150 million raised in a month propel the Democrat as he campaigns in GOP country.
By Mark Z. Barabak and Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 20, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Barack Obama strongly boosted his presidential prospects on Sunday, winning the coveted endorsement of former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and ringing up a staggering $150 million in contributions in a single month of fundraising.The endorsement from one of the country’s most respected statesman-soldiers enhances Obama’s credibility on national security issues, and his huge cash haul allows him to extend his crucial advantage on the television airwaves.
The Illinois senator’s showing came as he continued to drive deep into Republican territory, stumping in North Carolina, which has not backed a Democrat for president since 1976.Republican John McCain campaigned Sunday in must-win Ohio, where polls show a close race, and spent part of the day defending running mate Sarah Palin’s qualifications on national television and in a call with Jewish leaders.
Call Centers Are Fodder For India’s Pop Culture
Bollywood Movie Is Latest Manifestation
By Rama Lakshmi
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, October 20, 2008; Page A10
NEW DELHIIn a training session at a suburban call center, groups of fresh-faced Indian recruits jettison their Indian names and thick accents and practice speaking English just like the Americans do. They have hesitant conversations with imaginary American customers who complain angrily about their broken appliance or computer glitch.
The instructor writes “35 = 10” on the board, as though he is gifting the recruits with a magic mantra.
“A 35-year-old American’s brain and IQ is the same as a 10-year-old Indian’s,” he explains, and urges the agents to be patient with the callers.
USA
As Fuel Prices Fall, Will Push For Alternatives Lose Steam?
OIL SHOCK
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 20, 2008; Page A01
Just four months ago, a conference here on electric cars drew four times as many people as expected. District fire marshals ordered some of the crowd to leave, and the atmosphere was more like that of a rock concert than an energy conference. A brief film depicted an electric car owner driving off with a beautiful woman to the strains of “The Power of Love” while her original companion struggles to pay for gasoline. The audience cheered.One discordant note in the series of enthusiastic speeches came from Bill Reinert, one of the Toyota Prius designers. He cautioned that designing and ramping up production of a new car takes five years.
Oct 20 2008
Dutch POV: McCain “acts like angry neighbor”
I live in Leiden, one of the smaller big cities in The Netherland’s (NL) most heavily populated region, the Randstad. I am learning, or trying to learn/understand/speak/read the Dutch language. As it turns out, Dutch is considered by many as the second toughest language to learn… after Chinese! Holy moly.
However, I have learned one thing: politically, the Dutch are as tough as their language. It is a complex mix of parties that fosters ever-shifting coalitions among its liberal, conservative, socialist, green, and religious members.
Along that spectrum, there is, according to local papers here, a place for GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin: seems a small minority have adopted Gov. Palin as a role model for Dutch womanhood. However, most of the Nederanders I know will be stunned if Senator Barack Obama loses to Senator John McCain on 4 November 2008.
Oct 20 2008
Muse in the Morning
 Muse in the Morning |
A Transition through Poetry XXXII
Art Link Islands in the Storm
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Oct 20 2008
Homelessness 101: I moved to NYC in 3/1983
I was in my 20s (yeah, I’m old). The Reagan era was a time of rampant homelessness, as the city had not fully recovered from its 1970s bankruptcy…and then, to save money, mentally ill people were being turned out onto the streets; there were not enough beds in homeless shelters and the shelters themselves were unsafe….
These problems got shoved aside during the gentrification years after Rudy Ghouliani took office.
there’s more:
Oct 20 2008
Breaking: Young Political Majors (YPM) Arrested for Voter Registration Fraud {GOP}
First how reliable is ‘Brad Blog’, not a follower of it but have seen references to it plenty of times and have visited.
If reliable it has a Breaking Press release about this Arrest that apparently was posted only an hour ago
You can find the brief writeup here with apparently more coming.
Below I’ll place the press release: