Back from the Southwest

Alright folks, I'm back from Vegas and Phoenix. I must say, I miss the weather. When I left Detroit, it was snowing; when I got back to Detroit it was snowing...booo! What up to the 12th D Ques! I had a great time cracking jokes, watching sports and hanging out. There's no place like home.

Since then, the auto execs have been splayed out in front of Congress like a hustler photo shoot; O.J. goes to jail; and the job report turns uglier than a late night hook-up after the drinks wear off. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted just typing this out. I want to stop and take a breath, but I'm resilient because I'm an American. *flag waving.

The auto execs finally made a decent case to Congress. I hope all of this results in bringing them back to profitability. As a resident of Detroit, I especially hope that jobs remain in this region. Simply because I was worried about getting robbed before this crisis - the violence has only gotten worse. Anyway, I would prefer to focus on the profitability aspect.

I have a cure for this. Instead of appointing a "Car Czar" or House oversight committee, why doesn't Congress enact tariffs on foreign automobiles like they do ours? If not that, then we should make them ship vehicles here, like we have to do in Japan. If not that, we need to make the market share ratios equitable. Did you know that the number one automaker only sells about 10,000 vehicles in to Japan, annually? How does that make sense? Especially when we know that the Japanese LOVE American made automobiles. Anyway, we should also offer a tax credit to any American that buys American. Why this is a novel idea is beyond me, but Americans - as ridiculous as this sounds - need to be enticed to come back to American products. For the first time in years, the top-selling American mid-size cars have better quality ratings than their Japanese counterparts, so don't give me that "American cars suck" b.s. I dare you to go to www.autos.yahoo.com/newcars/reliability/results.html and compare the Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Malibu to the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.

Surprised? Well, don't be. If you've been paying any attention, at all, to what has been going on in Congress the past couple of weeks, you would know that for the past few years the American automakers have been making quality a top priority. I know, it can be tough to go back to something that has lost your trust. It's as if your girlfriend has cheated on you repeatedly, goes to sex addiction therapy, then comes back asking for forgiveness. I get it; it's not so easy to just say you love her again. If you go back to her, your boys may laugh at you, call you a punk, and maybe you think your new chick fits you better. The only problem is, if you keep dating this new chick your house may get robbed and your taxes will certainly go up. So go ahead, and get back in to bed with your ex. I promise, it'll hurt less than you think.

So, O.J.'s going to jail. The sentence sounds harsh, but the man was facing life and could eventually get as little as six - or even probation. O.J. wins again. How he does it, I'll never know. Anyway, I'm sick of any news O.J. related so I'm going to just leave this one alone.

Lastly, the jobs market shrank by 533,000 jobs. Yes it's true, over a half million jobs were lost in one month. We're back to 1974 levels of job losses, and the outlook is even more bleak. Economists (who would never get anything wrong *wink) say that December is going to be even worse - even worse! We lost 20,000 jobs in one day, yet people are dying over Nintendo Wiis. Does any of that sound odd to you?

I was also noticing that I haven't seen a Career Builder, Monster, or Ladders comemrcial in weeks. It's so bad out there, the job search companies aren't advertising when they know at least a half million people will be looking for a new job! In my estimation, this is the succession of events. We have a housing bubble burst, spurred on by sub-prime loans and people buying homes they can't afford. That causes the banks to go under, becuase they sell derivatives of those bad loans at historic losses. Then, the stock market goes to hell as people start jumping ship because they see the tumult coming. At the same time credit dries up, so people can't make purchases. The automotive industry, housing industry, and retail take huge hits as a result. We've already discussed the problems of the auto industry but that irony is only just beginning. The housing industry that caused this recession is now in decline again, with more than 10% of all homeowners in default or delinquency. That means that regular folks (not sub-primers) are now in as bad a shape as risky borrowers. Today I'm hearing states are going broke. No, not states of mind or states of affairs, but actual STATES!!!! After all of this, I can't even go on Career builder and find a new job.

On a lighter note, Jon Forte is getting out of jail. Yes. Jon Forte of Fugees fame is coming home. Maybe he can talk Lauryn Hill down from crazy, and they they can make an album.