Self Immolation: Because You Care

I was reading about GM and solvency and it occurred to me: If consumers don't trust GM to honor warranties and contracts if they go bankrupt, why doesn't the government just guarantee them instead of throwing $17 billion at a failing giant? That would be a more specific and practical way to go about supporting GM, if that is indeed a sound idea.

I'm not sure it is though, and I keep hearing horror stories about auto parts. So many auto parts outlets would surely go out of business if GM failed because GM parts are such a cornerstone of their sales! This is what I read. This is silly: People wouldn't stop buying cars and therefore needing parts; other companies would move in and take over GM's share of the market, and the auto parts outlets would sell parts for those brands instead of the GM brand. Did we all eat bad peanuts that damaged the sections of our brains attached to reason? Or did we all move to huts located under power lines after the housing market collapsed? Maybe we're just not thinking enough about the information we're presented.

Why doesn't the UAW understand that it doesn't produce anything? No union produces anything; they are supported by union dues and Democratic handshakes, and because they don't do anything else they will fall on any sword to "protect" workers. In this case, according to Newsweek, GM pays employees an average of $71 an hour compared to $46 for Toyota. The pension and health care payouts to current retirees are astronomical - think of the future retirees and those on the cusp as similar to those who will be drawing social security, and you can see why huge future entitlements are such a problem. We can no longer afford them and must CUT THINGS. Raise the retirement age; people are living longer these days. The UAW should realize that the employees of GM are entirely dependent on the success of GM, and so is the UAW for their union dues. Auto companies fail, workers stop paying dues...well, this is elementary to anyone but the UAW. Everyone gets a little less, but everyone survives. The UAW seems to think that everyone who retires gets to go to laborer heaven by divine right.

Now let's talk about responsibility, as I was involved in a discussion about American responsibility as it relates to the drug war. I was presented with the notion that Americans are incredibly irresponsible and gluttonous and all the rest. My first response was that we are certainly free to be gluttonous. We clearly have the money and the resources, although I think most of us find gluttony disgusting and personally damaging.

But this continued to bug me. Why? Because this notion suggests that we have failed at something and can't change the policy that has failed so thoroughly (the drug war) simply because we can't handle legal drugs to due some sort of undefined irresponsibility. If we are so irresponsible, why do we work more hours and are more productive than any country on the planet? Yes, we beat Japan. Why do we STILL export more goods than any country on the planet? Yes, we beat China. It's mind boggling to me how much we focus on our failures to the point that the sky is always falling, and then when we have real problems that could be solved practically and MUST BE SOLVED for us to continue as a successful country we fall back on how awful everyone is and just give up. What the hell does that have to do with American ideals of hard work and the primacy of free society?



Adam Shepard, Scratch Beginnings:

"I am frustrated with the whining and complaining. Frustrated with the materialistic individualism that seems to be shaping every 13-year-old to be the next teen diva. Frustrated with the lethargy and lack of drive. Frustrated at always hearing how it “used to be” when people talk about the good ol' days in the same breath as their perceived demise of America.

I am really, really frustrated with the poor attitudes that seem to have swept over my peer group. Frustrated with hearing “I don’t have” rather than “Let’s see what I can do with what I do have.” So, I have decided to demonstrate that it doesn't have to be that way. Here’s my premise:

I am going to start – almost literally from scratch - with one 8' x 10' tarp, a sleeping bag, an empty gym bag, $25, and the clothes on my back. Via train, I will be dropped at a random place somewhere in the southeastern United States that is not in my home state of North Carolina. I have 365 days to become free of the realities of homelessness and become a “regular” member of society. After one year, for my project to be considered successful, I have to possess an operable automobile, live in a furnished apartment (alone or with a roommate), have $2500 in cash, and, most importantly, I have to be in a position in which I can continue to improve my circumstances by either going to school or starting my own business."

Support this man: This is a young citizen who gets it. Not to kill the suspense, but he was successful in his venture. Of course it's hard to find a publisher for your book when you aren't whining about the falling sky and how Americans are destined to fail miserably, but I choose to believe what I always have: We are better than the sum of our parts and no problem is too big. WWII proved that, the civil rights movement proved that, hell - the last election proved that. I will be buying Adam Shepard's book to support him and to read about how he accomplished something that so many people forgot was possible, or worse, took for granted: Success, starting with nearly nothing, in the United States. What a novel concept.