I have some half-finished posts started over the past few weeks. I've got some photos collected to show you places I've been going. But I've been lazy. Now I'm in week two of just sleeping, reading, not working and not posting. I got this fab silk nightgown and cashmere robe for Christmas so may never even get dressed again. All I have to offer is this nice holiday version of the Wind Wakers tune, which apparently is a video game that has something to do with the Legend of Zelda. I know nothing about video games, but can see that this version is performed by some guy with a spit curl hair cut kinda like Peter Petrelli on season one of Heroes. I do know all about season one of Heroes because SugarPieHoneyBunch got a new Blu-ray dvd player so now we get instant Netflix and plan to catch up on all of the tv series that we didn't pay attention to but now are an important part of popular culture. Like Heroes and Weeds and Mad Men.
It's another weekend, another week of bad news. In the Reuters photo above, a mother and child walk past burned out cars in Greece, where street riots continued all week after police killed a 15-year-old during demonstrations against job losses, wage cuts, and pension reforms. 20% of Greeks live in poverty. On Friday, demonstrations spread to France, Spain, Germany and Denmark.
Here at home, the Republicans blocked the economic package that would at least delay a major auto layoff, demanding that autoworkers first make economic concessions. The global stock market fell. The White House Treasury said it will step in. “A precipitous collapse of this industry would have a severe impact on our economy and it would be irresponsible to further weaken and destabilise our economy at this time,” said Dana Perino, White House spokeswoman. The global market rose again.
Gwen Ifill asked, "so how did this happen and where do we go from here?" At least she asked the right question. I found the best analysis of what went wrong and why Detroit matters on the BBC UK news site.
What a lot of junk talk in the air. Some suggest U.S. auto workers should be willing to lower incomes to be more comparable to the incomes of Japanese auto workers. Or maybe comparable to the incomes of auto workers in the south. Some professors are grumbling that lower educated workers seem to be making more than highly educated academics.
I've been a professor. Professors work a lot harder than most people believe. Sometimes they have to grade papers while trying to watch Sunday football. But professor salaries are based on 9 or 10-month contracts and they make more if the take work during summer semesters. Even professors make more in the unionized north than in the south.
And did you know that the "hourly compensation" numbers being tossed around are not hourly wages? They are hourly production costs that include all wages, shift differentials, overtime, benefits, pension plans, health insurance, and payroll taxes. The $70-75 an hour number being tossed around includes all of those costs to current employees plus "legacy costs" - payments made to retired autoworkers who have pensions and health benefits.
In reality, unionized American auto workers make more like $14-35 an hour, have health insurance, and pensions. A series of negotiations over past decades have held back pay raises in return for protected benefits. In the 2007 contract, new hires start at $14 an hour. Employees with seniority make $28. In the 1980's autoworkers were asked to make a "shared sacrifice" for the sake of the American economy. They did. Recently Ford executives explained that executives are no longer expected to share the sacrifice. The current high salaries for Detroit auto executives are calculated on the basis of global profits from plants like the newUS auto factories in Mexico. Hey, I have an idea - let's save the economy by lowering all of our salaries to be more competitive with Mexican workers.
Anyone else notice how quickly the tv talking heads' indignation at the Big 3 execs arriving in their private jets was shifted to indignation at the idea that American factory workers should make a decent living?
I say, wrongly accused.
somebody wrote me a nasty letter but they didn't sign their name i think i know who wrote it well i recognize that hand its getting warm oh so warm so warm on a winters day
im reading backwards on this page hoping to defend me if the devil comes ive been wrongly accused ive been wrongly accused Wrongly Accused, by Otis Taylor
Okay, this morning we got dressed by noon. Any minute now we'll head out and start Christmas shopping. After yesterday's contemplative musings on the holidays and the economy, it's time to shop.
Here's a bit of inspiration to prepare for traipsing about the town.
If little Brain Storm can do it, so can we!
Now make a list. And check it twice. Avoid the distracting bits of junk. No shopping for yourself along the way. Keep your focus on the goal and your eyes on the prize. So, we're definitely going to Wake Up Little Suzie and the National Gallery and maybe the Smithsonian and the National Building Museum. And if they don't complete the job, it's on to the Torpedo Factory.
Sing that title to the tune of Deck the Halls. Because now I'm daydreaming about the holiday season. Thanksgiving last weekend was great. Drive drive drive (layover at the Somerset Hampton Inn) drive drive to Pittsburgh. We spent a warm and cozy day with family and honorary family. We marched in the crock pot parade past my sister's traditional upside down Thanksgiving tree (more about that some time) and then lined those crock babies up on her buffet next to the grand turkey platter. We saw Spamalot at the Benedum, then had dinner on the Mount with a table by the window and a gorgeous view of the Golden Triangle. Then a Sunday drive drive drive drive drive (eat at the goofy Breezewood Gateway) drive drive back to D.C.
This weekend should be spent joyfully buying Christmas gifts. But honestly, this giving and getting of stuff lost its luster for me when I learned that there may be no Santa Claus. No workshop in the North Pole, no busy elves, no flying reindeer orbiting the earth on their way to my house. Then the department store windows filled with mechanical moving dolls in holiday settings gradually disappeared as I grew up. Now it's just shopping lists, malls, parking lots, and wallets. Where's the magic?
So instead I've been reading online news and views. Uh oh. re re re re
It's official. We've been in a recession for one year now. The fundamentals of our economy are not exactly sound. We've cut interest rates, bailed out Wall Street, kinda sorta half-nationalized some banks, and will probably need to do something big for industries like auto. Why? Well, failure in the auto industry would likely result in "one to three million jobs lost, perhaps permanently, at the worst possible moment." So says Paul Krugman in a Huffington Post interview.
de de de re
This isn't official, but maybe the year-old recession is moving aside for a full-on depression. Krugman has been saying no. But when HP asks if recent weeks are changing his opinion, he answers, "Yes -- the numbers on the real economy, stuff like retail sales, industrial production, imports, exports, have been coming in even worse than I expected. So right now it looks as if the economy is really falling off a cliff. This makes me less sure than I was that even strong support measures will pull us out of the dive."
Half a million people were laid off in November. Expect more next week, then a break because no one wants to lay people off on the week before Christmas. But just how bad is half a million in one month? Here it is on the scale of recent big one-month layoffs, created from the Dec 5 Business Week.
Worst month in the 1990-91 recession: 306,000 Worst month in the 2001 recession: 325,000 May 1980, worst month in the 1908-82 recession: 431,000 November 2008: 533,000 December 1974, worst in the 1973-75 recession: 602,000
But this article in the same issue of Business Week says Friday's bad news about the layoffs produced a good day on the stock market. Apparently, layoffs are often at their worst just before a recession ends. And stock buyers figure that more people hurt by layoffs will mean more support for stronger government action to bolster the economy. Maybe 533,000 will be our worst month in this re de. Maybe we won't lose those one million auto jobs.
Which makes me wonder how our current 6.7% unemployment rate compares to other redepressions. According to this Dec 3 article in Fortune the peak of a redepression is generally worse than this.
November 2008: 6.7% Peak of the 1973-75 recession: 9% Peak of the 1981-82 recession: 10.8% Peak of the Great Depression of 1930-1932: 25%
Which makes me wonder what was behind the other redepressions?
Great Depression of 1930-1939: complete banking collapse without insurance 1973-75 recession: oil crisis 1981-82 recession: deliberately high interest rates used to control inflation 1990-91 recession: collapse of junk bond market, savings and loan crisis 2008-?? recession: collapse of housing market, mortgage and credit crisis And what's the difference between a re and a de?
Well, apparently economic downturns were always called depressions until the big one came along. So it was named The Great. Ever since, we call these things recessions because they aren't nearly that bad. And most believe The Great can't happen again because we've got Federal Deposit Insurance (FDIC) and we learned not to let banking just collapse. Okay, we did let the federal banking regulations slide stupidly, but maybe we'll put them back now. We might let the auto industry collapse, or maybe just see what happens if we lose one or two of the big three. But hey, now we've got Social Security and a safety net for the unemployed. Okay, we let that safety net slide too while we argued about who was and was not deserving of safety. But maybe we'll put some of that back now. Maybe we'll try nationalized Freddie, Fanny and a nationalized auto industry.
Surely there are still animated window displays somewhere... OMG look at Macy's in New York. It's actually creepy and depressing.
Or don't look at Macy's. Let's just go where they still do it right.
Thank you, Canada.
I'll buy gifts tomorrow. Maybe I can search youtube for more window displays and then shop online. Amazon.com is looking rather festive with cute candy canes decorating their banner. But first, I'll go to Wake Up Little Suzie, our wonderful neighborhood gift shop. If I can't find something for everyone there, I'll head downtown to the museum shops. I'll buy a street corner Christmas tree. Maybe a wreath and some holly, too. I'll bring the ornaments up from our storage unit in the parking garage. It is good to deck the halls.
I feel so blessed to have... no, no, wait. If there is a God, I don't think that s/he spends time making sure that I am supplied with great electronics.
As a result of 50+ years of good choices, good fortune, good karma and hard work I get to spend weekend mornings in my wireless city condo, next to my loving husband, cozy in our robes, macBooks in our laps. No, no, wait. If I have great computer stuff and you have a dumb Dell, I don't mean that you aren't making good choices and don't have good karma and aren't working hard enough.
Nevermind. The kitties are snoring nearby, coffee is at hand, our cd-less invisible music collection is flowing through our magical wireless rooms and nothing interrupts our serene internet browsing of the blogs except when we say to each other, "this is great I'll send you the link." Which all brings me to this new discovery. 2008 Best Canadian Blogs
You very likely do other things with your life and don't have time to check out all of the nominees, so I'll make this easy by sharing my own picks from the only categories that I care about. Best Canadian Sports blog - FoodCourtLunch. I'm linking you straight to General Tao's The Year in Sports. Great video and funny barstool banter in the comments between General Tao, Chief Wahoo, Weed Against Speed, and Lars. Best Canadian Activity Blog - Yarn Harlot. In my dream of being a more productive person living a better life, I knit, purl and crochet instead of type, read and browse. Stephanie is just amazing. The socks, the philosophy, the explanation of the Canadian system of government, and the inspirational Knitters Without Borders. Best Canadian Cultural/Entertainment Blog - Mike's Bloggity Blog. Huh. Canadians have their own tv shows and stuff but they also watch ER. That's all sort of interesting. But I'm linking you straight to the nominee for Best Canadian Blog Post - The Comb-over Revolution.
Best Canadian Feminist Blog - Anti-Choice is Anti-Awesome. This daily life blog comes from a 24-year-old coordinator of volunteers at one of Canada's Morgentaler Clinics. Dr. Morgentaler is an 85-year-old holocaust survivor who performed abortions in Canada when they were illegal, was repeatedly charged-acquitted-charged (add in some "pro-life" death threats and clinic bombings) until Canadian law changed. In 2008 he was named to the Order of Canada in recognition of his work for women's health care and humanitarianism. Carry on, next generation of volunteers. Best Canadian Photo/Art Blog - Animal Effigy. Photos by Dani, animal effigist and ceramic duck owner.
Best Canadian Humor Blog - Useless Advice from Useless Men. Not sure what to do about computer engineer friends who may be ninjas with mystical powers and may be mad at you? Then you should be reading this Q&A a day from the advice columnist who at lease once signed off with "any more useless and I'd be a cat." I love uselessness. Especially on Saturdays.
The rest of the categories didn't grab me. There is a political category, but even the Canadian knitting bloggers are writing about Stephen Harper right now. I noticed that there is no category for best food blog. Positively un-American and I consider our Canadian brothers and sisters to be fellow North Americans. So I'll just remind everyone about Canadian Dreena Burton's Viva Le Vegan blog. Maybe the 2009 Canadian blog awards will help me find less famous foodies.
Canadian or American, it looks like hard times ahead for bloggers that no karma or hard work can prevent. Fortunately, President Elect Obama seems to understand that investment in social infrastructure is essential if we are to hold our economy together. I am looking forward to a nation of wireless cities, beginning here in our great capitol district. I think we will survive if I can just hold onto my MacBook Air, iphone, apple TV, and a decent headset. But I am counting on free wireless when our condo converts to a homeless shelter.
Uh-oh, it's past noon. Damn. The coffee pot is empty and we're out of Cheerios. I guess I'll go see what's new on my blogline feeds.
So after Comicon I signed up for the Dharma Wants You recruitment game thing, but then wasn't really interested in the alternate reality game (that's ARG to those of you into this kind of thing) so I forgot all about it. Now I'm interested again, because I got this special email inviting me to use my special password to see the sneak preview of season 5!!!
In a November 25th video posted on Dark UFO Carlton and Cuse blamed the demise of the game on the economy. I guess they couldn't pay the mortgage or stock dropped or something. But all's well, because they promised to send special content to us recruits. Woo-hoo!! If you think I'm sharing my password here, with just anybody, you are so wrong.
I went straight to the Dharma Wants You site and downloaded my dossier. My test scores were pretty crappy. 100 for honesty and integrity. 0 for everything else, perhaps because I didn't bother to take the rest of the tests. I've been assigned as a cook.
A little disappointing. But even worse, I visited the abc site and I saw that the same sneak preview video is posted right there for all Losties to enjoy with no Dharma recruit password required! Also, of course, on youtube. Here it is.
Dang. I thought I was so special and all. It's off to the kitchen for me, where I plan to cook with great honesty and integrity.
