Desperation brings new antics in this crisis of ours…

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but like all things in this world, such actions, even in times of the greatest despair, should be balanced with temperance and prudence. Clearly our nation and the rest of the world has forgotten this concept.

There are two events of recent that clearly show why this is the case.

Let us first consider the ever growing hysteria surrounding the impending death knell (a death knell anyone with a pulse was aware of long before now) of the American auto industry as we currently understand it. While the hype and rhetoric of late seems to want us to believe that the “Big Three” only in recent years really hit hard times, the bottom line is that these guys were officially screwed long before they actually thought vehicles like the Cadillac Escalade had staying power and made sense.

If this was where the current situation ended, things would be bad enough but manageable. Of course, like all things American, though, this obvious crisis had to be moved up to the next level. This is evidenced by the outrage that followed when the leaders of these corporate entities had the “nerve” to fly on private jets to appear before congress. Why this stuns anyone frankly stuns me. Executives, especially of large companies use private jets; this is true for companies that succeed or fail. It is not a crime, it saves time, and let’s face it, if the company is really going to fail that quickly, it is more likely due to crap products, poor marketing, and abusive union contracts- not a private plane.

Subsequently, this past weekend brings us to the greatest of all insults the actual placement of three hybrid sport utility vehicles on an alter at a large metro church in Detroit. It is official: our society is become the butt of even the crappiest jokes in the world. If I have read correctly with these newly added features of the alter came free blessed oil anointment for auto executives and workers. (It is only a matter of time before people start selling popcorn and hot dogs out side the door at this point.)

Adding insult to injury, though, now after a Chicago employer had to make the surely difficult decision to close down and layoff countless employees the recently dismissed workers are staging a sit-in to protest their release. I have only one question: When in the hell did it become acceptable to protest getting fired? The Reverend Jessie Jackson compared these fools in denial to heroes in the way of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. I can only wonder whether he is actually serious. These people are neither heroes nor making a difference, nor stopping injustice. They are a bunch of disgruntled workers who find delusion preferable to reality. If that makes a hero, we should sign up 95% of the disgruntled fast food workforce in this nation for a national merit award.

This laid off worker sit-in is even getting attention from Congress and the head of the FDIC. Why is the FDIC (they regulate banking you know) sticking its nose in this anyway? These people couldn't even keep a lid on the ARM crisis, and getting them into labor relations makes zero sense.

The bottom line is this whole “economic crisis’ is terrible; no one disputes that. Yet our response as a nation is out of hand and not getting us to a better place. The media frenzy to cover this garbage certainly is not helping either. My closing message to you: please just pay your bills, try to stay employed, and above all else, do not go buy an Escalade. If you can manage to not screw these things up, I have faith we will all still survive.

Regards,

U.S. Grant