Lisa and John

Sept 27 2013

Lisa and John have what we're told it takes to succeed. They're smart, they're college educated, they're hard workers. They're pleasant and attractive. They excelled in school. They've been together for a couple of years and expect their relationship to last. They worked through college and are consequently older than other recent graduates. They're ready to start their adult lives. And they can't find work. They represent a generation that feels cheated – they've discovered the American Dream is a lie.

I haven't used their real names or pictures so they could speak freely. 

“I've been out of school since December,” John said.

“I've been out of school since May,” Lisa said. “I've had two interviews before I graduated and three since I've graduated and no luck. In school I focused on interior design, both contract and residential. The interviews I got were residential and one was showroom. But there are about five computers it turns out I should know and I don't know. And that's preventing me from getting a job. So I have to figure out how to learn them.”

On her own dime and her own time, despite her degree?

“I have to see if I can download a trial version on my computer so I can get acquainted with them without spending the $500 these computer programs cost, see if I can figure it out on my own.”

Lisa's not the typical design school graduate. She's already been working in the field.

“I have three years of design experience, which is more than any of my classmates had. I graduated top of the class but there's not a lot out there for me. Everyone told me I was going to have a job without a problem, but I know there's no jobs out there. With all the design graduates coming into the field, I'm not surprised that there's slim pickings. I didn't know it would be as hard as it is and that there'd just be nothing out there.”

John and Lisa have been living in an apartment behind John's dad's house. Their situation has deteriorated to the point where they can't pay rent and they have to move back home.

“I'm working part time in a furniture store,” Lisa said. She laughed but it's clearly not funny. “For ten dollars an hour.”

John was recently hired by an Internet startup, also as a contract employee at ten dollars an hour.

“Prior to that I was finishing up my degree at night and working at a sports network on a part time basis. They call it a project employee – it's thirty hours a week, twelve dollars an hour. I was an editor so what I wrote went directly to six million subscribers nationwide. It was a position with a fixed duration and I knew the end was coming. My job ended in April of 2013, so in December 2012 I started sending out applications. I tried to send out five a week, ten a week. Between December 2012 and April 2013 I would say I'd sent out two hundred job applications, at least, to various places nationwide. Out of those two hundred applications I got one phone interview and one in-person interview. Finally in mid-August I applied at an Internet startup in New York. They hired me at ten dollars an hour for up to forty hours a week. After a week and a half they had promoted me to manager. After another half a week they decided that the position they'd promoted me to had to be based in New York City, which I couldn't afford to do. It had the promise of a reasonable salary in the future and some stock options in this new company, and it didn't work out so I'm back to square one.”

So how many hours a day does he spend looking for work?

“Probably three or four. But here's the thing – there are only so many jobs boards and so many jobs. Weekend days in particular are very slow for Craigslist, Indeed, Monster, whatever. You see a lot of the same jobs over and over. I've got experience that you'd think would help with sports teams, colleges, leagues, and I peruse those, too, but nothing. Before we met you today, I was on the computer for about an hour while my girlfriend was getting ready. I'll probably look some more tonight.”

I wondered if their friends are having similar struggles to find work.

“A lot of my girlfriends are still in school,” Lisa said. “They went back for their Masters. One of my friends is working in New York City, killing herself for no money, but she's able to live there with her boyfriend.”

“One of my friends was an accounting major and went for his MBA,” John said. “He ended up getting fired from his accounting job because he didn't really know how to do the job. This was a kid with a 3.9 GPA in college. You have to wonder how well the accounting program at our school prepared him for the real world.”

I speculated that both of them would probably prefer to start their own businesses at this point, as the job market isn't opening at all.

“You kind of become fed up with everything. Maybe if you take matters into your own hands you'll do better than trying to rely on other people. You've definitely thought of that,” Lisa said to John. “For me, as far as residential design goes, that's the only way to really do design work. You can find clients who are willing to spend money more easily than you can find businesses willing to spend money by hiring someone. One of the firms I interviewed with have cut their employees in half since the economic crisis started. Business has started to come back but they're not hiring new people. They're just having the people they have take on the extra work. I'm thinking maybe if I can find clients willing to spend money, that's the way to start. But that's tough as well because it seems like in the past couple of weeks spending has just stopped – no jobs posting the past few weeks, nothing really new to apply for since mid-August. I don't know if it's the government shutdown talk but the entire industry has just seemed to slow down.”

John has an idea for a business startup, but he's hit a different kind of wall. He has no capital.

“Good luck walking into a bank and asking for $500 thousand in seed money with $100 thousand in student debt hanging over your head and no work history to speak of. I have no illusions about it. That's life. You can't be self reliant because you can't get started being self reliant.”

John continued, “It is my opinion that a college education these days is the biggest scam in this country.”

“It's the most fiscally irresponsible thing you can do at this point, at our age,” Lisa agreed.

“Unless your parents can pay for it,” John continued, “you're crippling yourself for at least two decades. That's what I'm looking at, regardless of whether I get a job or not. Unless I magically get a job that pays six figures, there's no reasonable way I can expect to pay this down, so any idea I have to start out on my own just isn't feasible. Unless you get some kind of angel investor, and then it's like 'Okay, hope you know somebody.' “

“One of my other friends ended up leaving college,” John said. “He's managing a Domino's Pizza, making almost fifty thousand dollars a year. He's paying off his student loan and will completely debt free in the next three to four years. He makes more than most teachers in this country who have five times the education he does. It's not for everybody. I mean, I need my brain to be engaged. But he doesn't care what kind of work he does and once he's debt free he'll be able to do pretty much whatever he wants.”

Are they angry?

“Furious. Absolutely furious,” John said. “Because you're told your entire life, 'Go get that college degree and you'll be set up for the rest of your life.'”

“You'll be living the American Dream,” Lisa added. “And here we are.”

“It's a farce,” John concluded.

I wondered if they'd considered getting involved in politics or policy, to try to change a broken system.

“I was hoping when Obama got elected that things would get better,” Lisa said. “But I've so lost hope. I don't think one person can change it. I don't think it's a person in office, I think it's the entire system and I don't know how it can be fixed.”

“I would love to get involved in politics,” John said. “I've applied for jobs with policymakers. But again, how many applications can you send and how many non-responses can you get? And even if I could get a job working on policy, if it only pays twenty thousand a year I can't afford to live. I'm 26 years old and I've never actually had my own apartment away from a parent. Money is simultaneously the best and worst thing every conceived by man. It's great if you have it and it ruins your life if you don't.”

How far do they think they could go if they could just get started?

John looked thoughtful. “When I was in school I read this paper, sort of a socio-economic experiment. They went into a rural school, a suburban school and an urban school and asked the kids 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'” The answers were an indication of how much support they were getting at home, their confidence, their self-esteem, the effect of their environment. The inner city kids wanted to be a subway driver or something like that. The suburban kids wanted to be CEO of their own companies, a movie star, something like that. In the inner city it's either 'I want to be a star athlete and if not that, I just want to be able to pay the bills because my parents can't.' I'm from suburbia and I have those high aspirations, but I think those urban kids were more spot on, honestly. Their aspirations are way more realistic than anything I have. Do I believe that I could be a high powered CEO or President of the United States? Absolutely. Do I believe realistically that it's ever going to happen? Absolutely not.”

“That's the hardest part of this situation,” Lisa said. “You have to reconcile what you dreamt of when you were growing up to what can actually happen. It's hard not to get depressed by it. You have to completely re-evaluate the trajectory of your life, what you thought it was going to be, because it's not.”

Do their parents and other Baby Boomers understand?

“My mother showed me her tax information from when she was twenty,” said Lisa. “I was twenty, too, at the time and making three times what she was making while I was in school. She had a brand new car, no credit card debt, no student loan. She was fully self-supportive on six thousand dollars a year. I was making eighteen, but I was living at home, I could not even afford car repairs. With inflation and student loan debt, it's a completely different world. I try to talk to my dad about it and he doesn't get it.”

“He's helpful at least,” John added.

“Yes, but he just can't grasp what this reality is like for us.”

Simplistic thinking is this generation's enemy.

“I think the biggest misconception among the older generation is that we just have to get a job,” John said.

“Yeah, you're not working hard enough, stop whining,” Lisa said.

“It's just not that easy,” John continued. “I've applied to probably five hundred jobs in the past ten months. The number of actual interviews, traditional job interviews, I can count on one hand. I've had one job offer. And that blew up after two weeks. It's not a matter of working hard, not wanting it enough. I want to be doing more. I'm 26 years old. My parents had full time jobs and were married by the time they were 26 years old. It's a hard thing for me to stomach because I want that and I can't have that.”

It's a Desert in the Political Center

Bravo. Well said. So why do we settle for this?

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/the-unraveling-of-government/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120928

The UK Is Burning

I have been listening to the news from the UK and it is both terrifying and heartbreaking.  It is also ominous.

Terrifying because the thought of gangs of angry, destructive people roaming the cities in packs, destroying everything in their path, is one that makes me feel particularly powerless.  How do you reason with a pack?

Heartbreaking because the "authorities" whose authority is being rejected are reacting like disapproving parents.  I actually heard one government spokesman say, "If they'll go home and behave we'll talk to them."  Behave?  Up until now, they have.  And no one talks to them.  That's not how the game is played.  Power talks to dissent when it can no longer ignore it.

Heartbreaking because there has to be a reason this is happening.  People don't just suddenly explode into violence.  They burn, slowly and steadily, for a long time.  They simmer.  If the heat isn't turned down, they boil.  And at some point, they boil over or blow up.

I don't condone violence.  I don't argue that there's anything justified about the destruction, the looting, the theft.  But I know there has got to be a REASON.  I found a Londoner's blog today that offers a damned good guess at what's happening.  Everyday people have nothing to lose and that is dangerous.


Meet Penny Red.  And pay attention.  Don't think this is a strictly UK phenomenon, you great embarrassments in Washington.

Panic in the Streets

Iran Human Rights Advocates: Obama's Doing It Right

I spoke this morning with Hadi Ghaemi. He's the director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, headquartered in NYC. He's currently in Paris with Roxana Saberi, whose insights into Iran's attempts to shut down information coming out of the country are particularly apropos in the wake of the upheaval following last week's election.

My first question was simple - did you, at least, see this coming?

Ghaemi said he didn't. No one did, most importantly, he says, not even the Iranian government. He thinks the protesters have surprised even themselves since the election, and created the beginnings of a movement toward real change in Iran by the strength of their outrage.

Ghaemi says from a human rights point of view, neither of the candidates were a welcome choice - but there was a third candidate, Mehdi Karoubi, who had promised important human rights reform. According to blogs claiming to have official figures leaked by the Interior Ministry, Karoubi came in second to Mir-Hossein Mousavi...with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a distant third.

Ghaemi now describes the people of Iran as waiting to find their way...he believes a movement has been born. He doesn't expect Mousavi to continue as its leader, but he equates what's happening to the creation of the women's movement, the student movement, the labor movement. Now that they've discovered their power, he thinks they'll next start planning how to flex their previously undetected muscle. He says things may grow quiet for a while - but he believes that doesn't mean this is over. Just how bloody the confrontation is depends, he says, on the Iranian government's response.

How about the flack America's president is taking for his response to the bloodshed in Tehran? "America's response so far is absolutely correct," Ghaemi says. He points out that the US has absolutely no relationship with Iran - no trade, no diplomatic relations, political relations - and the US has no leverage. There is nothing the United States can do in a practical way, and inserting itself into the events on any level other than moral grounds is unrealistic and unproductive.

Listen to the full interview here: http://tinyurl.com/nrqmbd

Today We Are All Iranians - Guest Post

I cannot say it better.


A poem from Iran and Political Packrat's thoughts.

Sayonara, GM - What Now?

Do we, as Michael Moore wrote this morning, now own 60% of General Motors? As shareholders, do we get a vote in its future?


http://michaelmoore.com/

I'm lining up squarely behind Moore - and no, it's no kneejerk reaction but a position I held before he articulated it so well.

We do not need another car company. Cars are the past. We've used and abused something that should have been an alternative to mass transit, not a replacement for it. This country needs to build for the future.

We used to cross the country by rail. Our fixation with the car ended that - now we just ship goods that way. Amtrak barely survived the past couple of decades and it's still far too expensive to be a realistic alternative to cars. That's got to change. Add more options, create competition and that price goes down.

Light rail and bullet trains can be built that are easier on the environment. And now we have the factories to build them.

Mr. President, retool those factories. Use the GM workers, workers whose future is currently so bleak, to build trains. Use unemployed construction workers to lay more track. Create a new infrastructure for the new millenium, a millenium that, so far, has been sucking out the last drop of blood from the prior one.

Instead of throwing money at corporations, invest in research to create the next generation of sustainable transportation. Retrain those workers. Perhaps even, (revolutionary thought) retrain truckers, whose industry was hit in the solar plexus by the fluctuation in gas prices, to maintain and operate those new trains. Reduce truck traffic, offer truckers a reliable new career, reduce pollution.

Propping up corporations which have no intention of retooling or revamping, which should be allowed to fail - which deserve to fail and which will ultimately fail because they are based upon an non-sustainable business model, is a waste of our money.

Spend it on our future.

Again, Mr President?

I just received another request for a contribution to help the president push through his health care reforms. Please don't get me wrong - I like the guy. I'm delighted that he's president. I do not believe he's doing anything worse than any other presidential hopeful would have done in the face of this recession - and I think he's better. At least he seems like he's making a sincere effort and means well. That's better than I can say for the past eight years, when it was all about power grabbing more power. (Don't even bother, Republican apologists. Your sudden concern for Democracy is too little too late and the GOP track record has more holes in it than my mom's old noodle drainer.)

But why do I have to pay to get legislators to listen to my president? Why do I have to become part of the lobbying machinery? This isn't the way it's supposed to work. We elect our representatives, they ask our opinion and they vote. That's what we're told. But the lobbyists are louder. They offer much bigger incentives to their buddies. And it works. Look how badly the attempt to cap the credit card interest rates got clobbered. Do you really think anyone thought that interest rates should go above 15%? But you can't afford to tick off really powerful friends.

So instead of asking for my money, Mr. Obama, why don't you fix the system? You're president now and you've still got the wind beneath you. Squash the lobbying industry and then see how your efforts at reform go.

I'd like to help you, but I'm strapped. I didn't get the bailout that the banks got.

Mr. President : You STILL Want Me To Donate?

I like our new president. I voted for him. I want him to succeed, if his goals are the ones he pledged during his campaign. But the latest email from his media guru, David Plouffe, leaves me cold. Here is his discussion of opponents of the president's agenda who say they want him to fail.

It makes you wonder whether they see the same thing we do.

Advocates for the status quo are calling for President Obama to fail while millions of families struggle. They're playing the same old political games and offering the same failed policies at a time of crisis.

In the coming days, opponents will do everything they can to destroy the President's proposed budget, a bold plan to help fix our broken economy and healthcare system and finally make energy and education the priority we all know they must be.

The change we need won't come without a fight -- no meaningful change ever does. Just like in the campaign, Barack Obama can't win without you by his side. Town by town, block by block, this grassroots movement is organizing and uniting Americans behind the President's plan.

But to finish what we started, we need resources.

Will you join the fight? Help reach 10,000 donors before Monday, April 13th -- make a donation of $25 or more today to help President Obama turn this country around.

Donate $25 or more by April 13th

Excuse me? Did you just ask me to donate so my president can lobby Congress? Read on.

We know that Washington won't change overnight. It'll take time, commitment, and money, but this grassroots movement can make change a reality -- affordable health care, a clean energy economy, and quality education for all. We know we are asking a lot from you -- but the stakes couldn't be higher.

It's why we worked so hard to elect President Obama, and he's counting on us to follow through. Today, you can make a difference.

Jo Ann from Charlotte, NC, has joined thousands of other supporters this week to support this movement and reject the same old politics:

I am a sixty-two year old woman on disability. I followed the election closely and did what I could to get Obama elected. Since he was inaugurated, I have watched in awe to see how much has already been accomplished. I live in Charlotte, NC where the unemployment rates are double digits and going up. My youngest son was out of work for 8 months because the company he worked for went out of business. So many workers and families are losing jobs and homes. There's so much more to be done, but this budget has to be passed and the programs have to be put into practice before things start to recover. That's why I support President Obama and his plans.


Americans like Jo Ann deserve better than the kind of divisive politics we've seen year after year. They deserve a truthful debate about real issues and a budget that will turn this economy around so that they can turn their lives around.

We need to seize this crucial moment to help pass this budget and invest in the one thing that can make President Obama's promises of change a reality -- the movement you built.

Before the Monday deadline, help reach our goal of 10,000 donors to strengthen this movement. Make a donation of $25 or more today:

It's a finely crafted letter, designed to pull at the heartstrings of the loyal recipients, the people who helped Barack Obama get elected. We certainly don't want him to face unreasoning opposition to his progressive programs. Do we?

Maybe we do. Maybe the whole point of our so-called democracy is to elect a leader, then allow the opposition to get in his way as much as possible so as to ensure that
his programs are thoroughly discussed, examined and vetted. I know we're in a financial emergency and I know that FDR pushed through reams of legislation during the Depression in a frantic effort to staunch the economy's bleeding. But did he go back to his supporters and ask for more money to do it?

This feels all wrong to me. And I wrote back to Plouffe and said so. I told him that this is my president. I pay my taxes. His job is now to work with Congress to get the programs passed that he promised in his campaign. Asking voters for money to lobby Congress is inappropriate.

I support our president, but I won't support him blindly. I think he is making some mistakes, especially in not immediately rolling back Bush-era orders that undermine our Constitutional rights. I think he's a charismatic leader in an uncertain time, and that can easily lead to abuses of power.

I read the Bilderberger conspiracy theories and realize there is probably an element of truth there - global politics and business are inextricably entwined and it's one big club - why wouldn't they meet and set an agenda? President Obama probably couldn't have been elected without support from corporations. And don't call them Corporate America anymore - there is no such thing. Any corporation with clout is multi-national now.

I am still delighted that we were spared a McCain presidency. But I cannot entirely trust this president who promised so much but seems to be pulling back into a more centrist position. Blind worship is for sheep. I will support our president when I believe he is right and I will speak out when I believe he is wrong.

Allowing the DNC to solicit money from voters struggling in a recession is wrong.

Stalling the Eviction

Those of us scrambling to make those mortgage payments every month are waiting to see just what the new foreclosure prevention plan means to us. In the meantime, here's a neat trick to slow down those deputies with the eviction notice:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29241628

Demand the original paperwork. Really. This whole fiasco is such a mess that if a homeowner demands to see the original mortgage, it often shuts down the entire foreclosure process indefinitely. Chances are the bank that's trying to toss you out isn't the one that originally loaned you the money.

Our mortgage has changed hands so many times we can't even keep track. It took a conversation with our mortgage servicer (that's the company we pay every month) to discover that it doesn't own our mortgage - and any discussion of renegotiating terms with them is impossible until we've missed more than two payments. We're dealing with Fannie Mae - who knew?

If you own a home, do you know who actually holds your mortgage?

Why I Love Rachel Maddow

I'm no groupie. I'm not a gay activist. I hate television and I hate myself when I sit in front of it, mindlessly flipping around.

But I love Rachel Maddow and an hour with her makes me feel pretty damned good about our chances.

Rachel, if you have somehow missed her, is the snarky host of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show. She's got a radio show on Air America. She's the smart ass kid you wanted on your softball team, and she's all grown up and poking holes in political stupidity - no matter what side of the aisle it's on.

Ignore what MSNBC's done to make her acceptable to mainstream America - turned a shortstop into a glamor girl with flappy eyelashes. Listen to her.

She's intelligent, she backs up her opinions with fact, and she cares. When she's outraged, she doesn't mince any words. But she never descends into shrill rants. Take a note, Fox News. Aw, let's be even handed here - Keith Olbermann might want to borrow a page from his protege as well.

Last night, Rachel discussed the stimulus.

She devoted her show to debunking what she called "bull pucky" arguments against the stimulus plan, and arguing against the compromises that were made to get it past the GOP objections.

She gave facts and figures showing that tax cuts don't stimulate the economy nearly as well as infrastructure spending and funding food stamps. And she was clearly outraged that common sense gets shouted down by partisan fighting. She cited studies I've heard before but she gave them a national voice, and she said what I've been thinking myself. If Congress can't shut up, grow up and get to work bailing out this boat, it's time to toss them overboard.

And I'm predicting when this time passes, when history looks back, Rachel Maddow, along with Jon Stewart, are going to prove to be two of the most important voices for this era.









http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/

Now That's Journalism!

Found this in my inbox this morning. I love this idea! Finally, we're using all the technology that allows us to be heard all over the world to talk to each other!

http://www.groundreport.com

Dear GroundReporters,

A week ago we launched Talk To US, a groundbreaking citizen journalism segment on TV news program Worldfocus.



Every month Talk To US asks the global community a different question about the news, and citizen journalists like you upload video responses across the globe. The best video responses are aired live as part of Worldfocus.



The first question is "What's your advice for President Barack Obama?"



Respond now by uploading your video to GroundReport.com.

We know that this is an incredible opportunity: your message could be broadcast on air to television sets across America. But we also know that this kind of great, sophisticated video takes work.



That's why for this question, the first 100 video responses will each receive a $5 USD bounty for their hard work. To qualify, you must meet the following guidelines:



1. You must live outside the United States and be a non-US citizen.

2. Your video must be 1:00 (one minute) or less in length.

3. Your video resolution must be good enough for TV.

4. You may submit multiple entries, but we will only distribute one bounty per reporter.

5. You must submit by February 15, 2009.

6. All videos published through GroundReport are automatically entered.



The deadline is soon, so get going! Login and upload your video to GroundReport today.



At worst, you'll make $5, and at best, you'll be on TV. It's a pretty good deal.



GroundReport has a history of supporting compelling citizen journalism by compensating our reporters for their hard work. We hope to see more incredible stories come from this initiative.

Hard Times Are So Much More Civilized in the UK

We still have so much to learn from the Brits. They've got the stiff upper lip, the afternoon tea, and they've got legal squatting.

According to the BBC, a bunch of art students have moved into a couple of vacant mansions at a fine address in London - Park Lane. They're holding open houses, exhibiting art and generally proving to be pretty good neighbors. Their "landlord" (are you a landlord if you don't get rent, or just a victim?) may be the Duke of Westminster, who apparently hasn't used the homes in years. They're valued at 15 million pounds. Each.

The new tenants are art students, 30 to 40 of them per building. Squatting is not illegal if you don't force your way in and you cause no criminal damage. The students say they're not crackheads, they're not wrecking the places, they're just enjoying the finest free student housing ever.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7845746.stm

So let's consider this notion. We've got an awful lot of empty homes owned by banks that can't sell them. We have an awful lot of people who are having trouble paying their bills. The lines at soup kitchens are getting longer. Utility companies report a rising number of delinquencies...and bigger ones.

What if we started letting people live in those empty houses across the US legally? What if the banks signed a deal that required they keep the places up, didn't allow the pipes to freeze, basically acted as caretakers?

Am I missing something or could this make sense?

They're Not Jumping Out of Windows, But They're Trying to Die

The stories I'd read on the failed attempts of a midwestern financial manager to fake his own death weren't terribly detailed. On the surface, they were downright funny. But there's more to the story and I'm not laughing now.

Marcus Schrenker apparently did try to fake his own death, did call in a false mayday from his single engine plane; did parachute out. But his journey nearly ended in a small tent as he tried to make his death a reality.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01152009/news/nationalnews/butchered_lam_150254.htm

There will be more of these pitiful stories - I know of two confirmed recession-motivated suicides in downstate New York so far. These are people who had it all - and now they're losing it.

Part of me sneers - they can't handle living like the rest of us? But the better part of me hurts for them - it's not just money. It's their reputation, their self-esteem, the lives they knew that they feel they're losing through their own mistakes. Money is more than currency - it's who they once were.

President Obama wants to jump start a dead economy. There may be more riding on him than we realized.

Tranmission Transition

The Big Three automakers have come back with their best deal. They drove their own vehicles to DC to present it, leaving the corporate jets behind. They want more money than they first asked for, they're willing to give up their salaries at the top, but they're going to cut thousands of jobs.

This isn't working for me.

I got an email from Michael Moore this morning and he's got a much better idea.

Accept, he says, that the car companies will go through whatever money they get and need more. It's logic. No one's going to buy cars anytime soon.

So, instead, stop making cars. Start manufacturing mass transit and electric cars. Retool and create what we're going to buy or need once we come out of this.

How do companies going broke do it? Instead of giving them money, he proposes a government takeover. Buy them. Put capable auto people in charge with marching orders to put that massive manufacturing machine to work making something that will have value in a new economy.

It's brilliant. Keep people working, keep the revenues those plants generate in taxes coming in through some carefully crafted plan - either real tax dollars or credits to state and local governments.

I wrote to the Obama transition team this morning and passed the idea along. And I can't tell you how amazing it feels to be asked what I think by a president-elect, and know he's actually having people reading the responses and making use of them.

Haven't written to the team yet? Go to change.gov
They're waiting to hear from you.

What I Learned From the Election

Now that the dust has nearly settled (we still don't know about that filibuster-proof Senate yet, do we?) I've realized I've gotten a lot of lessons from the election of 2008. And I'm a big believer in taking note of lessons learned, since if you ignore them they tend to come up over and over.

1. People are easily scared: Hillary's three ayem phone ad was, according to polls, actually effective. Obama was seen as the less-steady hand, the shaking newby who would crack under pressure. Seems pretty silly now, doesn't it? The man's proving to be a rock - and a confident one.

2. Scared people get angry: Once the fear of Obama was spread around thickly enough, people reacted with anger. Who can forget the Republican crowds screaming "terrorist!" "Kill him!" And that anger turned against John McCain when he tried to reassure them they had nothing to fear from an Obama presidency. And these were his supporters!

3. Scared people will latch onto things that make them feel safer. Conservatives clutched Just Sarah From Wausilla to their hearts. She was young, she was pretty and she was absolutely certain everything was going to be okay. Progressives held Obama equally tight. Ditto. Luckily for Just Sarah, she's not going to be held accountable for this poop soup that used to be our economy. Our president-elect, you must admit, is a brave soul. I wouldn't want to take this job on.

4. Even scared people can be won over. I have some very conservative relatives. One of them will also freely admit to being a racist. So imagine my surprise when, in a recent conversation, he told me he "didn't think too badly of Obama" anymore. "He's certainly smart," he told me, "and he seems to be sincerely trying to fix things. I wish him well and hope he can do it." Score one for the Obama Team.

5. The people in charge don't necessarily know more than I do. It's a holdover from childhood - this assumption that if you're in charge, you must know more than me. You'd think that eight years of George W. Bush would have beaten that out of me. But it took Hank Paulson to do it once and for all. The poor man is clearly in way over his head - he's trying to come up with a rescue plan without a firm handle on what might work and a mandate to take care of old pals....but don't forget to not totally alienate public opinion! Remember that old Star Trek episode where Kirk used logic to short out the bad robot? "You say you are lying, but you tell the truth..." Paulson's conflicting imperatives are forcing a series of epic flip flops and I am expecting to soon see steam coming from his ears as his circuits overheat. I believe this problem is going to take a committee - a bunch of smart people bouncing it around until they come up with a plan...not a unilateral fix that is politically expedient. Score another for the Obama Transition - the team's gelling.

6. The media is ridiculous. Yes, I know. I'm one of them. But really. It's downright embarrassing. Because cable and satellite have created a 24 hour news cycle, the news shows most resemble a bunch of old people sitting around a table hashing and rehashing the same topic as they play canasta. "Is this change or just more of the same?" "Should Obama be keeping a lower profile?" "Is Obama taking charge too soon?" "Which dog will the Obama's get?"
It's the same stuff over and over and over and there's rarely anything new. When there is, everyone pounces on it like a pack of dogs in an alley. Pretty soon it's so mangled there's nothing left but a little bone.

7. Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart rock. Jon Stewart is my favorite media watchdog. He's smart, he's willing to take on the people he likes as well as the ones he disagrees with, and he's essentially good hearted. This man brought on the tightly wound Bill O'Reilly and offered him not a tongue lashing, but a cup of cocoa and a teddy bear. It was a dig, but there was an element of sincerity. Stewart's essential warmth (remember him after 9-11) and obvious idealism make him the critic with a heart. And man, does the media need to be watched. Opinion masquerades as news everywhere now.
Maddow has a similar warmth. She may be progressive, she may be snarky, but she's human. When she says she's been waiting years for infrastructure to get sexy, you know she means it - and she's thrilled that it's happening. She's not standing on the sidelines jeering, she's emotionally in the middle of things and talking about things that she believes matter. I can't watch the news much now - it makes me twitch. But Stewart and Maddow still tell me what they're thinking most nights.

8. I Don't Know Much. I never thought I knew much...lots of people had more information and lots more opinions. I've come to realize I know very little - and any opinions I hold are subject to change as more information becomes available. I think the good thing is once you know you don't know much, you're willing to listen and learn. I'm listening.

Thanks for Your Efforts to Create a Bipartisan Coalition in This Time of Crisis

This is what I found in my email inbox today. No comment.

An urgent message from our Townhall Sponsor, The National Republican Trust PAC

Dear Townhall Reader:

D-Day has begun.

With your help and the help of almost 50,000 other Americans, we at the National Republican Trust PAC - also known as GOPtrust.com - have begun our TV assault in Georgia against Barack Obama and the left-wing Democrats who want total control over Congress.

Our new TV ad has begun to run across Georgia exposing Obama's plans.

As you know, Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss is fighting to keep his Georgia seat in GOP hands.

It is critical he does so. Chambliss will be the key Senate vote in stopping Obama's radical agenda.

But Sen. Chambliss faces an incredibly stiff challenge from his opponent Jim Martin.

Just last week Obama, Chuck Schumer and Washington Democrats poured almost $1 million into the state to defeat him.

They are bussing in thousands of "organizers" to snatch this election from the GOP.

This is why our campaign is so vitally important.

Fox News analyst Dick Morris says this election is vitally important to all of us across the country.

Morris says if Obama wins the Georgia seat, he will ram through Congress a radical agenda on taxes, guns, abortion - he can even shut down talk radio!

Dick Morris says we at the National Republican Trust PAC "are leading the fight to save Chambliss and keep Obama from getting a filibuster-proof Senate."

Dick says this won't be easy for Chambliss because the Obama camp has more money and they are experts at voter turn-out - the key to winning this race.

But Dick says we can still defeat Martin and Obama.

We need your help today to do it!

Please donate to our cause by Going Here Now

See our new TV ad exposing Obama and Martin - Go Here Now

Thank you.

Scott Wheeler
Executive Director

Oh, Never Mind.

At the end of September Chicken Little announced the sky was falling. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson wanted money - a lot of money - to prevent catastrophe on Wall Street. Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies, Paulson suggested. No strings, no questions, no oversight.

Congress, in one of the few times it managed to overcome its lack of a spine, said no.
No way.

But as Wall Street continued its free fall, it was clear Washington couldn't stand by and do nothing. So they passed the Troubled Asses Regulation Pogrom. TARP was given 700 billion dollars to buy up "illiquid assets"...junk, in other words, that no one wanted to get stuck with. But nothing was going to be done for homeowners across the country who were losing their homes. It would, they hoped, trickle down.

That never did work, but the country is still so enamored of Ronald Reagan that they won't admit it.

So now it's November. Wall Street is still crashing, we have a new president-elect, our outgoing president wants to stay the course, and Paulson has already spent much of the money. AIG's got to be happy - they've gotten a healthy infusion of cash. Of course they're frittering it away and giving the 24 hour news cycle fuel for another turn.

Paulson says the original strategy isn't working. We noticed. And he's already got a whole lot less money to spend than he did. Now he's going to give it to banks. Our president-elect wants an auto bailout. The guy sitting in the Oval Office until January doesn't.

I'm no fan of Detroit, but it doesn't seem like we can afford to let an industry that employs three million people go broke. They've got us over a barrel.

Have you looked at real estate ads in California lately? Look at houses for rent. Look at houses for sale. See what this really looks like. "Live in the style you're used to - for less!" promises one ad. "$200/month off NOW!" says another. "Good credit required...income of 100K verified before approval." It's an economy sliding out of control. It's worse in some places than others, but it's going to spread.

And Hank Paulson's the guy holding the money. Unfortunately, not only does he not know what he can do to help, he seems to be one of those people who won't listen to anyone else. So we'll just keep sliding until January, then hope the Obama transition team has come up with a brilliant plan to help us dig in. And if he has an idea and Congress fights him, there's going to have to be an outcry so loud that they don't dare fight us.

And Now the Analysis Begins

Our president-elect has chosen his chief of staff. Rahm Emannuel is a Washington insider. That's got the media tongue's wagging..."Is this the change he promised?"

No sooner had Obama been declared the winner than my inbox began to fill with letters from people with agendas, urging me to be sure and contact him to push for a list of changes that runs the gamut from universal health care to safer chew toys for puppies. Nancy Pelosi is already making up her to-do list and Senate Republicans are promising to stand firm and push back on anything the new president proposes.

The president of Iraq is filming an obnoxious little statement saying he's sure that our new president will be "flexible" on a timetable for withdrawal.

Give the man a little room!

I voted for Obama because I believe I can trust his judgement. His stated agenda - the economy, renewable energy, health care, foreign relations and the war in Iraq - fit with what I believe are our top issues. And the actions he proposed during his campaign sounded reasonable and appropriate.

Yes, we should pay attention. President Obama is an unknown quantity - we don't know what happens to a candidate once he's had all the security briefings and given the full picture of the reality of trying to get things done in Washington.

But I refuse to start picking apart every move he makes before he's had more than a couple of nights' sleep as the president-elect.

I intend to sit back, breathe, and watch. I am confident I will be satisfied with what I see. I have to - or the joy I felt at his victory means nothing.

It tickled me no end that the head of ICE quietly disappeared as soon as the election was over. The cockroaches are beginning to flee as the curtains are pulled back.

And I'm simply astounded by the GOP dogs turning on Sarah Palin. Do I doubt that there's truth in what they're saying? Not really. But I also think it's a perfect illustration of the dysfunctionality of the Republican machine. They can't accept that they ran a bad campaign, that they distorted their candidate until the country couldn't accept him, that they couldn't overcome the country's utter disgust with the state of the nation under the current administration. So they're going to try to blame Palin. And maybe try to be sure to torpedo any thoughts she's entertaining about running in the future.

Or wait - maybe you have to think in a more twisted fashion to understand the strategy. The leaks were made by Republican campaign workers to Fox News, their biggest apologist.

Maybe they're trying to make us feel sorry for her. "Give the woman a break - they were SO mean to her after the 2008 election!"

Governance by manipulation. A time honored Republican strategy. No thanks.

Get to work, President Obama. And let me know how I can help.

This is Democracy in Action?

Here's the latest from the polls in one liberal enclave...it'll be interesting to see how this compares to the rest of the country:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1406553

Why do we even have to be concerned about voter fraud? Don't we live in a democracy? Doesn't one person, one vote form part of the foundation of our political system? What's going on here?

I'm hearing too many stories of people who aren't going to get to vote - and not because they're not eligible or didn't register. This New York Times article discusses the problem...it isn't about voting machine glitches, fraudulent registrations or lost absentee ballots...though all of that happens as well...it's about keeping people away from the polls.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/opinion/13tue1.html

Here's a story from CNN's IReport on a guy who went to vote and discovered his registration had been lost in the mail:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-131829

And here's a book entirely devoted to the subject...

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/fund200409130633.asp

I'm not pointing fingers at one party - this garbage is going on all over the country. My cousin, who supports McCain, registered for an absentee ballot because he's disabled. The ballot never arrived. He checked with the election board in New Mexico and was told that because he'd been sent a ballot, even if he didn't get it, he couldn't go vote in person. Bottom line: he can't vote.
He's outraged.

There are stories out of West Virginia that show some machines automatically flipped votes for Obama to McCain. Their solution is to recalibrate the machines. There are other stories of machines that will cancel an Obama vote if you vote the straight ticket after casting your presidential vote. Not a rumor...confirmed on Snopes. You must vote each candidate individually to be sure your vote is counted correctly.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/straightticket.asp

It amazes me that the country seems to accept that our president stole the election in 2000, stacked the deck in his favor in 2004, has mandated new voting machines, many of which eliminate backup paper ballots, and we're placidly sitting around, wondering if maybe the person who gets the most votes this year won't win yet again.

CNN has a place where you can make noise if you think your vote isn't being counted or recorded properly.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/voter.hotline/

And Mother Jones (been keeping everyone honest for years, bless 'em) is watching and counting.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2008/11/election-fraud-map.html


Obama's campaign isn't sitting on their hands. They've got a link and a phone number to report if you have trouble voting. And right now that's our only defense - making noise if we're not allowed to vote.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/vpcreport

But it may be that this country has reached the point where we have to call in UN supervisors to guarantee a fair election. Wouldn't that just be ironic.

What's Wrong With Using Your Head?

Barack Obama's been doing the last-minute media blitz, and it's been a great opportunity to get into his head a little. All the speeches in the world won't tell you what one good interview will.

Here's what I see: He's clearly an ambitious guy - no one who wasn't would run the godawful gauntlet our election process has become. And he's organized - you can tell that from the descriptions reporters have of his staff...they can, at a moment's prodding, spill over with every fact, figure and possible remedy for every rumor of election suppression that comes up while maintaining a calm facade of optimism. As Dana Bash said on CNN, "They KNOW what's going on."

He's not a great off-the-cuff raconteur: his scripted jokes in NYC were hilarious - but his attempts to tell a joke during an interview sometimes fall a little flat. But he likes to laugh and does so easily.

He's thoughtful, he's measured in his answers and Handsome Significant Other noticed one important thing as we watched Obama speak with Rachel Maddow last night (by the way - I want HER if I ever have to put together a softball team!): Obama loves this stuff. He clearly relishes the problem-solving aspects of being president. His answers on issues are not emotional - they reflect a mind that circles a problem, checks out every angle, considers the possible results of each solution and finally settles on the one that seems to best suit the situation.

I'd bet money I'm right. All the evidence is there - his unflappable demeanor which spreads to his campaign staff ( dubbed "No Drama Obama" by the press), his choice of a campaign director who has created a noiseless engine for victory using computers and cellphones as well as good old enthusiasm, the campaign's clear attempts to stay on message and not descend into the negative campaigning hole that swallows candidates alive, Obama's constant use of reason instead of emotion to try to get his message across.

Here's a perfect example: John McCain and Sarah Palin in particular whip up the Republican crowds to a frenzy by bashing the Democratic ticket. The crowds respond with boos, shouts of 'terrorist' and 'kill him'. Palin doesn't miss a beat. McCain finally had to stop a woman as she clutched the microphone and told him that Obama was a Muslim. Flip that view...look at Obama this week as he spoke before a cheering crowd. He said McCain's name and the crowd started to boo. His response was lightning quick. He told them he didn't need them to boo...he needed them to vote. Emotions defused, rerouted, and turned into positive energy.

So the guy's smart. He's got a logical bent. Why, oh why, America, is that so threatening to some of you? The people who love Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin cheer when they call Obama 'elite'. What is elite about him? He doesn't have more money that John McCain. He doesn't have as many houses or cars as John McCain. He went to an Ivy League school, but McCain went to private boarding schools and Annapolis. That's pretty elite. McCain was a Navy brat, traveling from school to school. Obama was a kid without a father raised by his mother and grandparents.

So if Obama's background doesn't make him elite, what is it? I submit that it's his intelligence.

McCain is no dummy - I hear he's a bright guy and an avid reader. But his appeal to voters is always emotional - "my friends," he calls us as his campaign tries to either make us fearful or mistrustful of his opponent. It's a classic appeal to the emotions and when he ventures into substance, it's usually to criticize particulars of Obama's plans for health care or economic relief or foreign policy.

Obama's appeal, at first, was also purely emotional. He spoke to the hope for unity, the hope for a better country and our hopes for the future. When his campaign fell flat was when it went negative, but they seemed to figure that out and used it sparingly. (You must remember my vantage is from a state that is considered a lock for the Democrats...what people are experiencing in swing states may be very, very different).

But every emotional appeal seems delivered from a higher place - a vantage just a bit above the usual which is looking farther into the distance and taking the wider view. Obama, for instance, won't bash Republicans. Why? Because, he told Rachel Maddow, we're going to need them to help rebuild this country. He says there are many moderate Republicans who might be willing to work with Democrats so long as they're not actively pushed away. He wants to invite their participation. He's not expecting their vote - he's looking past the election to the need to work cooperatively after the election. He's the kind of guy I can see accepting a position in a McCain administration because it would be best for the country. That's putting your head before your emotions...and that's a quality I think may be the best medicine this country could get.