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11 19th, 2008| 
Running on Fumes
by Vera H-C Chan
America’s love for the automobile has not, in recent years, extended to its native automakers. Lured by sexy fuel economy and come-hither reliability, drivers have flocked to Japanese manufacturers like Honda and Toyota, which in turn have set up permanent roots in the U.S. of A.
Now Detroit’s Big Three are running on fumes, especially General Motors, and they want taxpayer help. As the Senate Banking Committee holds hearings this week on the different ways to handle yet another possible financial meltdown (especially the so-called “multiplier” effect, noted below), folks are finding themselves divided over the notion of pulling corporate giants out of an economic ditch.
One thing there’s no shortage of—opinions. After all, as the Wall Street Journal spells out harshly, the manufacturers got into “the crisis weakened by mistakes of their own doing. The Detroit Three depended for more than a decade on profits from gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles and pumped up sales with cheap credit…” However, the AP reports that the “house of cards” involves not only GM, Chrysler, and Ford, but also many auto suppliers and parts companies.
So in the Buzz, who advocates the bumpy road to financial ruin or the taxpayer repossession?
For the Bailout:
• Democratic members of Congress (including Barack Obama) and at least two Republicans, who want to impose conditions in order for the Big Three borrow from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
• In a worse-case scenario, Center for Automotive Research predicts a 2.5 million job loss if 1.5 of the Big Three’s “manufacturing capacity” went kaput.
• United Auto Workers president Ron Gettelfinger says the fault lies not in the auto makers’ problems, but in the economic stars … so now’s not the time to ask for UAW contract concessions.
Against the Bailout
• Bush administration and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would rather that Congress take from the $25 billion Energy Department loans intended for “fuel-efficient technology.”
• Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama—more importantly known as the Senate Banking Committee’s ranking member and the key to the money strings—called the fossil fuel-burning companies a collective “dinosaur.”
• The former president of Ford Europe advocates the government be “the banker of last resort” and an industry “shake-out.”
It Depends:
• The “Deal Professor” at the New York Times asks a lot of questions about who the bailout really benefits (the private equity firms that own the automakers?), how many people GM actually employs, and executive perks.
• Neil Young’s solution, which can be seen on NPR, details the involvement of something called Transition Rollers.
No takers for this idea… yet: Get Chevron or Exxon to delve into their record profits and create a Big Buddy program for the automakers.
Related:
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More: Running on Fumes
Source: us.rd.yahoo.com
Getting Your Turduckens in a Row
by Vera H-C Chan
Heads up: Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 27, which means you have less than two weeks to prepare.
If you accept the premise that the occasion is a time for celebrating family and not dysfunction, then you might be disheartened to know that cumulative searches for the occasion—from turkeys to Thanksgiving prayers—are 44% lower than the same time period last year.
Considering how fired up citizens have been about the election year, that’s not a good sign for America’s holiday. Not that the day isn’t respectably ensconced in the top 750 searches on Yahoo!. Still, the comparatively lackluster interest might show lingering election fatigue. More likely, an unstable economy may force travelers to stay homebound, away from the family hearth, and cut down on the homestead festivities. Whatever the reasons, people are especially lagging in researching “thanksgiving recipes” and “thanksgiving dish” online (though good progress is being made on “thanksgiving side dishes” and “thanksgiving recipes desserts” searches).
My fellow Americans, it’s time to buck up and jump back into the fray. Despite reports that the Thanksgiving menu may cost a wee bit more, there are red-blooded men and women out there right now (well, usually women) who’ve been to get their ducks in a row. Actually, make that turducken (+77%, past 7 days), honey-baked ham (+93%) and Butterball turkeys (+857%). (In case you mistakenly filed it away as a bad horror movie, turducken combines a turkey, duck and chicken in one triple-carnivorous delight, and understandably requires advance orders.)
As for the rest of the menu, lookups for seasonal mainstays like “sweet potato recipes,” “sweet potato pie,” “deviled egg recipe,” and “turkey stuffing” have risen in the past seven days. If that doesn’t give you inspiration, Esquire pulled out 14 recipes from the ’80s, like Jimmy Carter Plains Special Cheese Ring and Nancy Reagan’s Persimmon Pudding. (And, per Fox News, Obama homage can be paid by having a side dish of chili or pumpkin pie.)
Don’t forget the kids. Some young’uns have been working on crafts, learning about the “first thanksgiving” and its first host, Squanto. Even if you’re not hosting, you still may need to put your turkey game-face on: Someone out there is making “thanksgiving invitations” and preparing a night of prayer and songs. (Y’know, like “Over the River and Through the Wood,” and, um, lots more.)
The most compelling reason to prep for Thanksgiving now: The holiday comes late this year, and leaves only a few scant weeks to gird up for a double dose of Hanukkah (Dec. 21) and Christmas. Some holiday overachievers have jumped ahead in search of “santa tracker,” suggestions for a “christmas wish list” and “ugly christmas sweaters“—for the theme party, of course. At least maybe you can bow out of the white elephant fruitcake exchange.
Related:
Basketball Pioneer Basketball Pioneer deflation definition (A00-202) SAS Advanced Programming
More: Getting Your Turduckens in a Row
Source: us.rd.yahoo.com
