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Global Markets in Review: Stock Market Outlook

Talk about 3rd Rails - if governments start dumping treasuries, or even stop buying them, the mortgage crisis is going to look like a minor blip - Obama's trillion dollar stimulus package will be DOA, as someone has to pay for it - also, the $350 billion add'l for the banks - we need this illusion to continue to support our recovery - of course, if we go down, so does the rest of the world and they know it. Hence the continued whistling past the graveyard.

Does the Auto Industry Deserve To Be Bailed Out?

Union workers are far overpaid for the work they perform - any bailout should mandate at least a 25% rollback in wages - eliminate the Jobs Bank, as inb was an example of strong-arming used by the unions to attempt to exact retribution for many years of "forced labor" - the pendulum swung way to far - remember that the worker is not the entrepreneur, he/she did not put their future on the line to start or run the company that provides their livelihood, he/she does not have a college degree, in more case, went to a some training that coulod be completed by someone of average intelligence in less than 6 months, and now earns far more than they should - I worked in factories, helping put myself through college, and I know what goes on - I did jobs that the longer time workers wouldn't or couldn't do - unions systematized and institutionalized laziness and indolence - this must be eliminated

The management should be forced to do their mea culpas - they did not do this in front on the strutting peacocks of Congress, and got their heads handed to them - deservedly so, in most cases - they should explain why they didn't use the TMS 30 years ago, when it was fully available to them - force them to take a written test on The Machine That Changed The World and Lean Manufacturing (same authors) and all books by Eli Goldratt, to see if they have truly learned anything, force them into supplier collaboration, not supplier club-oration, give them some credit for what they have done in the last 10 years - fire Waggoner, as he deserved it many years ago for sanctioning the manufacture of cars no one wanted and continuing to adhere to old, outmoded manufacturing methodologies- as was suggested above, force them all to take wage cuts and repay bonuses paid when the company was unprofitable, including those who are retired, and their trusts, if they are dead - they were truly evil

Give the car companies credit for making better cars than they did when they dug this hole they are currently in - make sure they understand that Kaizen is the only process that should drive every move they make

Force Congress to speak from some level of understanding of where the industry is today, not 10-20 years ago - make Congress control their standard rectal-cranial insertion that dominates all hearing of these types - no one can be this stupid - yes, I guess they can, as they have proven Einstein right (insanity, or in this case, gross stupidity, is doing the same thing thing over and over and expecting a different result

Give them the money, put force all these strictures on them -

Understand that bailout should be only partially repaid, as anything else will hamstring them for a decade, or longer - use common sense (not very common) to understand the facts, pointed out by many over the last month, that the impact of failure by the auto companies and their suppliers will be far greater than $25 billion or triple that, in unemployment, healthcare, etc., - if you think that people will not think many times before buying a car from a company that is in bankruptcy, even reorganization, you have serious thinking process flaws - so, they will spiral into oblivion -

You do not want to contemplate a future where our potential war machine is put into the hands of Japan, China, Korea, and Europe - if you question this, just look back at WWII - this can and will happen again - it is like thinking that the big quake will not happen in California - it may not happen today or tomorrow, but it will happen sometime, as long as their are people who do not learn for their mistake (read George Santayana) - boutique car makers, who spring up from the ruble of the auto companies, would take decades to attain the critical mass necessary to replace this capability

So, think, plan, do - don't ready, fire, aim

Does the Auto Industry Deserve To Be Bailed Out?

How can so many people be so sure that they are right, have opposing views, and each of you be wrong on one or more of your points. Stop making so many shallow comments and think about what you say. Don't allow your alligator mouths (or in this case, fingers) overload your hummingbird brains. Put a little depth into your comments.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

GM needs to remember the outcome of the Alcatel/Lucent merger. Putting two failing/bad companies together creates one bigger, worse company. GM has made some positive moves in the recent past, while Chrysler has not and has a stable of poor selling, poorly conceived, SUVs with a couple of good cars and vans. Incrementally, the cash that GM would need to pull this off is just not there. They are going so far as to try to strong arm some local pension funds into buying/re-financing their world headquarters for <half a billion dollars, while they have a negative monthly cash burn rate of $1 billion and cash stores of $20 billion. This is just not right. They have wasted time and resources just talking about this. Let Renault/Nissan buy Ford so that they survive without Gov''t intervention as the major Detroit play. That would help and give Ford viable management. Ghosn has proven he can manage, even in light of some current weakness at R/N.

The Case for Natural Gas Powered Transportation

All good points from Michael, but something that needs to be elucidated is the overall cost of driving a natural gas powered car. We need a comparison (miles per cubic foot and cost per cu ft) so that we can understand the long term implications. We do not want to chase this down a hole, only to find out that the economic and long-term problems resemble those associated with ethanol, one of the dumbest solutions ever offered up to the American people.
Why is it that we are always long on rhetoric and short on facts?? We allow the airlines to blame their problems on fuel costs, while reality shows that only 18-22% of their costs are fuel related, significant but not the implied deal-breaker.
Give people enough information to make decisions or we wind up with specious arguments with hole big enough to drive large trucks through.

Obama's Windfall Profits Proposal Is Dangerous

Pickens is pushing natural gas powered cars - It is my belief that wind is a smoke screen - However, anything that raises the viability and visibility of a good alt en source is a good thing, so even self-serving promotion can be good

Obama's Windfall Profits Proposal Is Dangerous

T Boone Pickens is trying a self-fulfilling prophesy - he is now a major player in natural gas, so he wants it to be an integral part of the alt energy solution (cars driven by it) - also, last winter, he predicted that oil would fall from its' level at that point - now that he was wrong, he is hoping everyone will forget that prediction - He resembles Michael Evans, who predicted a recession 9 quarters in a row, and was wrong each time - when called on it, he said he was going to continue to do it and, sooner or later, he would be right

Obama's Windfall Profits Proposal Is Dangerous

Money lender - I didn't confuse the two - but they both grew from a single source - don't be mislead - there goals are both the raising of the lower classes at the expense of the people who actually worked - I hate the writing style of Ayn Rand (it was almost childish in its' hero worship) but Atlas Shrugged is an accurate representation of the manifestation of my earlier premise

Obama's Windfall Profits Proposal Is Dangerous

Tim Miles - You need to look at the income statements and balance sheets of the oil companies in the time frame to which I refer, particularly 1983-1888. You did not mention whether you favored the tax breaks and subsidies, so no judgment there. They should get, in accordance with what they contribute to society, in general. When they cease that and become (as they generally have been, self-centered, the hell with everyone else, entities), they should lose these government supported handouts

Freddie - Socialism is any mindless redistribution of resources, in a Marxian way - to each according to their needs, regardless of their minuscule contribution to their or the common welfare - in other words, the Democratic party

Obama's Windfall Profits Proposal Is Dangerous

Question - why didn't anyone discuss giving the giant oil companies support when their profits plunged in the early to mid 80 and stayed relatively low throughout the 90's. For the same reason they shouldn't be taxed on excess profits today.
Second question - why hasn't anyone broken down, for the public, what these excess dollars mean. The last time I did it, Exxon's excess profits, if returned in the form of lower gas prices, would have reduced the price of gas $.05. A freaking nickle. Wake up people. If anything, force the oil companies to increase their investments in alt energy and cleaning up their plants with the excess dollars. Any dollars we secure from the oil companies would be meaningless to the US economy, but can be put to good when aggregated by the oil companies.

Dollar/Krone Relationship A Sign Of Peak Oil?

Langer needs to understand what "Peak Oil" means. It has nothing to do with price of oil, except in a derivative sense.

Solving the Energy Problem Without Nuclear

A favorite bumper sticker of mine is "More People died at Chappaquiddick than Three Mile Island". There are safe methodologies for storing nuclear waste in areas with no seismic activity occurs. The quantity of waste is a problem, but using breeder reactors, Thorium, and spending the money necessary to develop fusion reactors is far superior to burying our heads in the sand and saying it won't work because of waste is beyond stupid. Just one application would be to use nuclear power to create the temperature necessary for "in situ" processes to release the oils in shale. It is non-polluting and would be a perfect application. Solar, wind, wise biofuels (excludes food crops like corn), conservation, intelligent building, smaller houses, more efficient transportation are just part of the solution. Ignoring the potential of nuclear is an ostrich that should be killed.