The Bets

I've got two bets going this year with my Bangladeshi co-worker: 1) that none of the domestic autos (the big three) will have declared bankruptcy by Jan 1, 2010, and 2) that the Dow will be at or below 10,000 on July 1, 2009.

Loser buys lunch on each bet. Not a happy-meal or a-la-carte Taco Bell, but a lunch of the winner's choosing. It could potentially be expensive...but that's not our point. We want the bragging rights of being correct.

I personally thought at the beginning of the year, and still think, that our government would never allow GM, Chrysler, or Ford to fail. We've been pumping billions into those black holes and I don't see our government changing course and somehow deciding not to extend more billions to their aid. Look...GM lost over $100,000 per minute last quarter. Doesn't fucking matter. My opinion is that our Democratic leadership will prevent their failures at any cost. And our Republican leadership, too.

There's something all-American about car building. We started it, we developed it, we became masters of it, but more importantly, our nation's entire collection of dreams, hopes, and aspirations revolve around multiple car ownership. Car building defines America. Without it, we lose something of our own identities, and our government representatives and senators know this. They are as car-dependent as any of you; in fact, more so...a third of them are chauffeured around in American built luxury vehicles and all of them likely vacation about in uber-expensive American shuttle craft.

This is why I don't see us allowing any of them to fail. A nation accustomed to filling their homes with cheap imported shit shouldn't be forced to fill their driveways with imported shit. I think we will find a way to keep them all on life-support, at any cost to you or me.

And that cost! Tens of billions? Wa-hey! I get to pay a substantial tax premium to support an industry that can't make a saleable product, with labor costs a third higher than anywhere else and that funds unsustainable and unrealistic retirement programs negotiated by unyielding labor unions. Thank god I live in America and not Soviet-era Estonia! At least now I can say that I am funding the continuation of free enterprise instead of socialistic mandates.

Timothy says we can't let AIG fail just like Ben says we can't let GM fail. Does it give you any consolation that they too feel "angry" over this whole situation? It should. A heptillion dollars, plus or minus, thrown at an American instiution, the Detroit car industry...you should feel boastful and proud for having done your part to support our American ethos of private, perpetual motorization for all.