If only we would stop to THINK before rushing in to FIX!

“Folks! A lot of people miss those old drive-in theaters. But I say, any theater can be a drive-in, if you ram it with your HUMMER!” So, quipped Stephen Colbert in his Colbert report.

Seems to me that this is how we Americans solve our problems. Just ram in, preferably with a Hummer and you will be fine! This is exactly how I see our latest economic crisis being handled. First, Paulson convinced the Congress and the Senate to dish out $700 B of taxpayer money with no questions asked, so that he could ram it through the financial system, regardless of whether the banks wanted it or not (according to some reports) and hoped that it would solve the problem.

It didn’t.

All it did, was create a situation like the one I have seen in India before. When one goes to a temple in India, there is usually a loooooong line of beggars seated at the entrance with their palms stretched out. And you better decide upfront if you want to give alms that particular day. Because, be prepared, when you start doling it out to one person, the other beggars appear out of the woodwork and you cannot escape. So, you keep delving into your purse to find more cash until you run out of the green stuff and then and only then, will the beggars disappear.

So Paulson created a situation like that, only on a MUCH larger scale. We now need to ram more money into the system. Just what exactly the system is, no one knows. All we know is that it is NOT middle class American people.

So we do what we are best at doing: American problem solving – there is a problem, pour in cash, it will go away. We don’t blink, we don’t think, ala Sarah Palin. We just dive in and pour the cash. That’s what we are now trying to do with the Big three Detroit Auto makers. There are already reports of many more companies asking for a handout.

…While Middle class America is left seated at the temple door.

Can we stop for a moment and THINK? Can we try to identify the problem before rushing to fix it? I know, I know, the auto makers say that they wont last this month without money. But it cannot have happened in a jiffy exactly like Paulson said the financial storm happened in a jiffy.

What, exactly, are we trying to solve here? What is our major problem?
1. Is it the American auto manufacturing that we want to save?
2. Is it American jobs we are trying to save?
3. Is it both?
4. Are there not other options for creating jobs and other futuristic options for personal transportation?

For instance, I just read in Fortune magazine that Abu Dhabi is creating a completely self sufficient city in the middle of the desert. Read, “A Green city blooms in the desert” by Julia Joffe in the December 2008 Fortune magazine. The city is called “Masdar” and it will be home to 1,500 businesses, 50,000 residents, and 40,000 commuters, will use 75% less electricity and 60% less water. Personal transportation pods will be powered by lithium batteries and will replace cars.

The cost of building this city: $22B, about 2/3rds of what the Auto makers have requested Congress to pay for their initial bailout. It is estimated that they will come back for more before 2009 is out. Experts suggest it will cost the taxpayer between $75B and $125B. And we are not even sure if cars are the transportation mechanism of the future!

Wouldn’t a project like the one planned by Abu Dhabi create jobs immediately? Wouldn’t it create renewable energy, help America lead the world in urban planning and pour money where we need to be in the future? Wouldn’t it also solve our future transportation needs? Are cars the ONLY way to travel? And are the auto manufacturers predictions of car sales for the future going to hold out? Are we pouring money before stopping to take a breath?

Don’t get me wrong: I have tremendous admiration for the good men and women who represent the American public in the Congress and the Senate. I think they are doing a fantastic job, to the best of their ability. They have been tough on the Auto makers and have learned from their experience of handing Paulson money with no strings attached.

Only, if only we would stop to THINK before rushing in FIX!

Is Might really Right?

Right after Prop 8 was passed in CA, I was watching a CNN program where Larry King had assembled a group, as usual, to discuss the reaction of the people of CA. One of the guests was a prominent writer who was also gay. He was protesting the passing of Prop 8 when Larry made a remark, “But, you know, the majority of Californians have spoken – the people have spoken, they do not want Gay marriage. What do have to say to that?” To which the journalist said something that struck at the core of my beliefs. He said, “Just because a majority has spoken, it doesn’t make it right. Think about it, there was a time when the majority thought that Slavery was OK. That didn’t make it right.”

Mulling about what he had said, my thoughts went to the Great Bailout Bowl that everyone wants to dip into. The latest of the dippers are the Big Three auto companies. And their reasoning was that they either directly or indirectly employed a few million people, so they needed Govt. assistance to continue doing whatever they were doing to keep their companies afloat. When questioned in Congress about their plans for the monetary assistance they were asking, the Big three CEO’s didn’t have a clear answer. All they could say was that since they were so big, they HAD to be helped, IF NOT!

So, does Might make it Right? Does sheer numbers justify any regulation, any request, any law? What about the minority? Do their needs not matter? Just because there are fewer Gays and Lesbians, do they not have any rights? Just because the auto workers and their sidekicks are employed in droves by the auto industry, does it mean that people who earn far less and ironically, some of those who don’t even have health care, have to support the industry so that they can continue to have fancy health care and great pay packages for everyone who is and has been employed there?

What about AIG? That veritable drain? They came back again and again with their begging bowls, looking for public handout. Same argument – too big to fail.

Just what is too big to fail? Were we to frame this differently – Can we call this “Too big to survive?” Too lumbering, too large, too elephantine, too cumbersome, to be nimble?

Here’s what I think is fair: Yes, we cannot let a large industry that is the backbone of American manufacturing fail. BUT, we can and probably should, break it up into multiple smaller companies so that if one of them fail due to uninspired leadership (Let us not kid ourselves, because that is what this is – Uninspired leadership) the rest will survive.

Leadership is not about steering the ship in calm waters, it is about bringing it home in a storm.

Now we have a storm and the so-called leaders are asking for help while blaming the Gods, the devil, their father, their mother, and the economy, for their predicament.

I read a post where someone had written that it was time to combine the Big Three into the Big One. I disagree. They should now become the Small Many. And so should AIG. Time to break things up so that no ONE company can hold a gun to our heads.