Bailout the Automobile Industry… please… now?

There always comes a time for bluntness in dire situations; now is one of those times. If we don’t save the economy soon, we’re going to need another New Deal. The automobile industry is in shambles, and bailing out is the best option, i.e. regulation.

If the auto industry doesn’t pick up, there is a very large possibility that millions of jobs could be lost, and this alone could lead to something worse than the Great Depression. Automobile production provides one of our main exports. Its failure could even severely halt the growth of the GDP. We need the auto industry to pick up. An increase of jobs is the best solution for this crisis.

Bailing out the industry directly follows the concept behind bottom up economics: a successful economy depends on the workers. Keynesian economics seems to the best option, which calls for government spending in economic crises such as the one we’re in now. We definitely have the capacity to produce jobs, but government has been relying on income tax cuts to answer all economic issues, while the national debt creeps past $10 trillion.

We’ve had eight bailouts in this year alone. A bailout essentially means that money is injected into a corporation or bank to stimulate it into producing jobs. In fact, this wouldn’t be the first time an automobile industry was bailed out if it occurred. In 1979, Chrysler Company needed to be bailed out to avoid bankruptcy. They ended up fine. So it’s not as if government has no expectations or no idea as to what will occur.

Hopefully, government will lean towards a bailout, but without anything, not only will the industry collapse, but so will the economy in its entirety.

Hey Obama… What Do We Do Now?

Really, there’s not much to say as of now, because Obama isn’t president yet. However, here’s just a simply worded opinion on the current decisions the president-elect has made, will made, and probably most importantly, what we must be most concerned about.

At the moment, we technically have two presidents: President Bush and President-elect Obama. Has Obama done much? With his daily economic conferences has come four straight days of increases in the DOW Jones. Coincidence, possibly, but confidence in the markets is probably the best reasoning.

In terms of his cabinet, the rumors have been spreading like wildfire. Will Hillary Clinton become Secretary of State? It is one heck of a bold move if he chooses to appoint her. However, the most important question has been whom he will appoint as his economic advisors. Right now, the biggest move he’s made has been in choosing Larry Somers as the new head of the National Economic Council, formed under President Clinton.

Still, it can be argued that the challenges the president-elect is facing is much more difficult than any other from past presidents from at least thirty years ago. The recession the United States has entered really does come second to the Great Depression. If we don’t bring confidence back to the markets, it will be 1929 all over again.

“I’m very optimistic about the future with Obama as president,” says Tyler Diamond of Lynbrook High School, “Although there are many big problems that face the United States, Obama has started out in the right direction by naming many good people as advisors and members of cabinet. I expect other countries to start respecting the United States again as they have in the past, and I am hopeful Obama’s initiatives will improve the economy.”

The one major concern for the president-elect is, for lack of better words, a “revolution of racism.” The chances of an assassination of Obama are, without a doubt, much higher than any other president. That’s what happens when the confinements of history are broken. It was Lincoln and slavery, then Kennedy and the Cold War, not to mention a Civil Rights movement.

Of course, the economy is not the only problem we’re facing. Global warming and recently even terrorism is back on the rise, and our global status seems to have withered with Bush’s presidency. Obama faces serious problems at hand in the Oval Office, and has even said he does not expect the economic crisis to suddenly cease by his first stem. We must wait until January 20^th before we make any major predictions. History seems to be taking a turn for the worst, but for now, patience seems to be the best answer.

Simple Contest

Simple… but hard. Here it is:

Give me one REALLY good reason why I should like John McCain.

It can’t be regarding:

1) His maverick-ness (Voting with the current President around 97% these past two years shows no maverick)

2) His military or POW experience (It doesn’t qualify you as president)

3) His choice of Sarah Palin (’nuff said)

It should be solely based on issues. Why is privatizing Social Security so wonderful? Why should Roe v. Wade get overturned and we deny a women’s choice? Why should we continue to avoid Universal Health Care (Although neither McCain or Obama has established a mandate to my knowledge)? What is it?????

The prize: I convince all of my friends/acquaintances to either support or vote McCain. They’re pretty much all democrat now.