Thanks Lee Iacocca

I am taking a tip from US automakers and asking my gentle readers for a substantial financial incentive to keep writing this Blog. Whatever you can spare will be fine, but keep in mind it must be enough to keep me in the style to which I have become accustomed, or I'll have to shut the ol' "Conversation" down. I know it will require some sacrifice on your part but these are tough economic times and those Japanese school girls with their fancy blog capable phones are really putting a squeeze on the blog market. Come on now have you seen them type on those things; it's like a whole new martial art. Qwertyjitsu or something. I don't really believe that I should be held responsible for the costs it takes me to do business on this blog. Actually I'm starting to get a little steamed because you really shouldn't have driven me to this extreme. But I'm willing to let it all go if you just cross my palm.


So seriously let's see if this makes any sense. The Automakers went to their buddy his Dimwittedness and asked for incentives to make more fuel efficient vehicles. I guess being able to compete with Toyota and Honda is not incentive enough. This is the same group who have fought tooth and nail any attempt at meaningful change in the CAFE standards over the last millenium or so. Now they want you and me to pay for the privelege of being able to buy higher efficiency vehicles from them. Because, let's make no mistake, federal incentives means you and me. This is almost as brilliant as the farm subsidies you and I pay to incent farmers not to grow crops in order to keep the price of things like wheat high so that we can pay more for a loaf of bread.

The worst type of conservatives object to welfare for starving children and battered women, but when a poor downtrodden corporate billionaire down on his luck strolls by they can't get their checkbook out fast enough. If you want to save the government some money don't cut the $12,000 a year we give to the Mississippi widow, bet rid of the $1,000,000,000,000 we give as corporate welfare. I hate to break it to you neo-cons out there. You do not have the right to guaranteed profits. You're so fond of the free market, prove it. Let GM figure out how to make money all on their own. The marketplace changed and they were too lazy to keep up with consumer demand. It was much easier to take short term profits rather than retool for the new millenium.

Now you might say, "but there are so many jobs involved here." I feel for those folks. In fact, if we had a real social security network not just a pension for the elderly we would be able to ease these folks through this transition. If 10 people abuse the system for every 20 it truly helps I can live with that. Many Americans are proud and industrious people. They'll be back on their feet soon enough, working for a company that isn't a relic of the post enlightenment industrial revolution.

I'd much rather my money go to people who don't need it than corporations that don't. If a company goes under that's their problem not mine. They should have done business better.