“We have faced difficult times before, times when our economic destiny seemed to be slipping out of our hands. And at each moment, we have risen to meet the challenge, as one people united by a sense of common purpose. And I know that Americans can rise to the moment once again”

Watch the entire address at InThisEconomy.org

Lame Duck Pardons Lucky Turkey

Only 53 more days…

• U.S. Government Manual
  Everything you ever wanted to know…
• Plum Book
  Published by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Government Reform alternately after each Presidential election, lists over 7,000 Federal civil service leadership and support positions in the legislative and executive branches.
• Prune Book
  Published by the Council for Excellence in Government, serves as a resource for presidential appointees. It describes the positions appointees hold and the challenges they face.
• Who’s Who in the Federal Government, a website published by the University of Memphis, provides biographical and other information about key officials in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the Federal government.
• Nominee’s Survival Guide and its interactive companion, the Presidential Appointee Roadmap, are guides for anyone seeking a nominated position in the new administration.
• Standards of Ethical Conduct
  An Overview of the Executive Branch Ethics Program from the United States Office of Government Ethics
• Commonly Used Abbreviations and Acronyms
  A handy guide to the alphabet soup of government agency acronyms
• Government Organizational Chart
  For those who slept through high school

You can visit the official 2008-2009 Presidential Transition Resources website here.

For the past decade U.S. automakers have failed to situate themselves in a position where they are financially sound enough to weather the current economic storm.  They have turned out model after model of overpriced, gas-guzzling land yachts, which are not good for the environment, and cost more than I paid for my first home back in the mid-70s.  In fact, the loans that many consumers carry on their SUVs exceed the mortgage that I had on that house.  That is, if they can actually afford to buy, and not just lease their car.

You can add into this mix salaries paid to top executives that probably exceed the combined income of everyone on my block.  Really, does anyone contribute enough time or sweat into their job to be worth $22 million dollars a year, the 2007 income of Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally?  That comes out to $41.83 per minute, for every minute of every day of the year.  When asked by congress if he would be willing to symbolically cut his annual salary to $1, Mulally replied, “I think I’m okay where I am.”  Yeah, I’d be ok with my income if I made $20,000 overnight while I was asleep.

I know it is going to be a very black mark on the U.S. economy for these 3 giants to take the fall that they are in for.  But, don’t you think that for the most part, they have dug their own graves?

What about producing affordable, clean-running autos?  What about manufacturing vehicles that you don’t have to go into debt for a decade to buy?  What about flying coach?  What about structuring an auto manufacturing corporation that isn’t based on a business model that is about 50 years out of date?

Congress, instead of propping up these already failed dinosaurs, why not fund a new start-up company that is dedicated to producing autos that are fuel-efficient, use renewable energy sources such as bio-diesel, and are priced at a level that the average American can afford, without having to decide between their children’s college fund or the new car?  What about, instead of ensuring that Mulally won’t have to take a pay-cut, spending those billions on bailing out the average American worker that, jobless or not, is suffering right now?

In my mind, the Big 3 are getting just what they deserve.  Thank you Congress for refusing to give them what they don’t.

Learn more about the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy and the Delcaration approved by attendees at InThisEconomy.org