Lets save Detroit

I know, last week I bashed the Detroit bailout... I have the right to change my mind and so do you dear friends. Let me preface that I do not think writing Detroit a check for 25 billion is the answer, it's not.

The check: The request for a windfall of money is not the answer on many levels and does not address some core fundamental issues (lets not even address their poor business practices or the fact that we have been in need of a "green" car since the countries first gas crisis in the 70's; with all the smart people here we could have fast, powerful and green cars - the big 3 just decided not to...) sorry or the rant and back to the blog/plan: and those issues are - 1. inventory; 2. dealers; 3. production of new cars

1. If we write a check to each of the big three, how does it help them get rid of their bloated inventory? It doesn't.... They still have to sell cars in an economic climate that many have compared to the Great Depression. How will a 25 billion dollar bailout help any of the big 3 sell cars - it can't and it won't!

2. The dealers, who have been left out in the cold... During the big 3's congressional testimony none could confirm how the 25 billion dollar bailout would help car dealers across the nation. So, the big 3 will get money but the dealers sitting on bloated inventory will not be helped... This solution does not help on a macro or micro level...

3. New car production - in a bad economy with no car sales how will the 25 billion help out at the plants? No! You can't keep making cars without having any buyers - supply and demand does not work that way, simple science...

My solution:

I can't in good conscious sit on the side lines, bash the big 3 and not give them an alternative option. Here it is - use the 25 billion and buy up all of the big 3's inventory from the dealers and direct from the big 3 (those automobiles that are already built). The government can take these new cars and give them out to federal and state agencies. Our hard working government agencies get new cars, they are happy! This of course begs the question, what about all of their old cars? Two options: 1. hold auctions at key locations selling off the gently used cars at rock bottom prices; 2. give the cars away to countries that need more automobiles. It is the season of giving....

My solution helps the big 3 get cash rich; the bloated inventory is eliminated and unlike the 25 billion dollar bailout the automobile dealers, your neighbors, receive a share as well... No more blank checks with payback plans - we still need to deal with "inventory" created and my solution does this... President Obama, I am awaiting your call....

And yet another problem solved here at rewashed news....

Demoted to little g....

Where do I begin???? I am really at a loss....

Wait, I remember. When I was younger, 15 to 18 years ago my dad told me about a theory that he had. Everyone, when they turn 18, should get a one free kill card. Kind of dark but the principle behind it was that everyone would be nicer - you are not going to randomly flip a person off or even cut them off.... road rage, car chase or you could get killed (the person you neglected to be nice to had a "free kill card"). Of course in a free country this principle relies more on fear then on accepting and letting go of person's freedom to express themselves...

That written, if Thailand, freedom of express is not openly accepted by some - the most notable being Major-general Khattiya Sawasdipol (say that one time fast, five times would be impossible - trust my I tried, hence the blog is running late today, well that and Starbucks was slow again this morning... come on kids, 9 registers and one person making great java drinks - even I can see the problem). So back to the general - this little dash of romance (he has to be little, no one regular size is this angry - only little people and big people that lift too much metal, errr weights) threatened to bomb anti-government protesters and drop snakes on them from helicopters... Really general (you get a little g buddy)? Snakes from a chopper? He had to have seen this in some 3rd rate action movie with JCVD (that is for you Alice and Ken - thanks for watching it with me... FYI, a good film - don't let anyone tell you different) where JCVD, in order to beat the bad guys flies over in a chopper and drops deadly snakes on them... Trust me, that movie is out there and little g has seen it...

But that is not the news party people... Nope that good news is, little g, our snake dropping general has a new job, little g has been reassigned as an aerobics teacher! Amazing. I may be a new fan of Thia government - this would be like making Dick Chaney the next Richard Simmons... (side note prayer - God, I know you can hear my words and you know my heart... Please make Dicky C, shotgun shooter, the next Richard Simmons.... Please. Oh and even though it is a sin - don't know what sin but has to be a sin, probably in the Old Testament - please make him wear the short shorts.... Just saying, some sins are funny... Thanks for your time).

Little g was somewhat of an anti communist hero for the Thia people and now after his crazy rants of snake death drops and bombing protesters will have a new role as a military instructor promoting public fitness at marketplaces. Not even behind the walls of a military base, oh no... Marketplaces... Amazing. I can see it now - I am at the Farmers Market in LA getting some locally grown veggies and fruit (keeping it green and local - sorry Ralphs and Vons but I have to support my local guy - plus the guy who can stop time on the hit show Hero's told me that if I buy local my eco footprint is much smaller... He is a hero, I have to believe him) and there is Dicky C in his short shorts dancing to the oldies, showing a bit too much leg... All I can wonder, where is he hiding the shotgun???

Rambo-esque anti-communist fighters... A generation lost.

Can you hear me now? No, I am just too old...

I love technology - especially the tech that was built just to disrupt society... In the past I have worked with some people to create fun disrupting technologies but nothing as cool as what I learned about this weekend while chatting with a friend over some cold frosty beverages.... Mosquito ring tones, only kids can hear them.

These days kids have the full spectrum of communication at their hands - email, facebook, myspace, cell phones with packages that allow them to text, update their facebook and lets not forget the other add ons like ringtones....

Of course with all of this technology at kids fingertips come rules - like when you can and can't use your phone... Of course one of the rules is that you can't text or use your phone while you are in class at school, so not cool. After all kids are not at school to learn they are there to socialize and be a forced victim in the sociological experiment we call life... Of course if you get the chance you should probably know the answer to - "train A is leaving NY at 12am going 32.784 miles per hour with an average head wind of 12 mph while train Z is leaving Las Vegas at 4pm (the train operator was out too late at the craps table and got a late start) going 57 mph (has to make up for the late start) with an average tail wind of 14 mph - the trains are on the same track, where will they meet?" In my line of work that question comes up daily if not hourly and I use that same equation to balance my check book...

Anyway, disrupting technologies, there is a new ringtone out that only kids can hear. The purpose, so they can communicate via text, during school hours. The pitch is so high that only certain ages can hear the tone.... From a recent news report on NPR, "At issue is a text-message ringtone that emits the same pitch as the Mosquito. Using it, students can learn about a new message while they're in class — where they're not supposed to be using their cellphones. Most of their teachers can't hear the alert."

Very cool, unless I am a guest speaker at that class and then totally uncool - from now on I will be asking that when I speak kids keep their hands up like they are asking a question. If they have a question they just need to drop their hands - problem solved... Take that Mosquito ringtone - what? Nothing! Better start working on a text message that involves blinking or nostril flexing...

Happy Monday -