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The Daily Dose/November 21, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
Notes from around the Human Experience...Angela Gheorghiu is the Column Four Foto!
MARGE, GET IN HERE, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS: We simply can't be the only ones who found the leaders of Chrysler, General Motors and Ford chat with Congress funny. Like bullies on the playground, United States Congressmen - each one a paragon of virtue and fiscal responsibility - were chastising the Big Three leaders for flying to Washington in their company's jets.
This is rich. The legislative body responsible for deficit spending 31 of the past 34 years criticizing corporate executives about the fiscal responsibility of flying into Washington on private jets.
The Congressmen, of course, did have a point. It did look silly for the chairmen of companies who are appearing before Congress with their hats in their hands looking for some of our money to fly in on a private jet. And for them to insist perks such as these, as well as salaries in the tens of millions of dollars would still be appropriate for leaders of companies who would be on the federal dole wasn't the brightest thing they've done.
An Opposing Viewpoint By A More Or Less Responsible Spokesman: Had the chairmen actually flown in commercially, though, there is little doubt that - Congress being Congress - they would have been reamed for their obvious public relations ploy. There was no way they could win. Congress was of a mind to ruffle their feathers and they did.
Also, consider this: executives of that magnitude do not travel alone. For them to travel commercially would have required seats for another executive or two, plus staff, plus an executive protection detail. It would be foolhardy for an executive of a company that size to travel alone on a commercial airline. Plus, as insulated from the real world as corporate titans are, they probably would have missed their flight.
Meanwhile, Here's A Thought: Hey Congress, while you're waiting for the Big Three to deliver the business plans you've demanded, why don't you work on a business plan to get this country out from under the $11 trillion debt you are partly responsible for?
As we have noted on past occasions, we are not our your financial gurus here, but our research into the matters leads us to believe this country cannot go more much more than a couple of generations before our national debt destroys this country. We cannot continue to spend more than we take in, and we have to stop pretty darn soon or sometime around 2040 or so this country will have a financial collapse that will make the current recession seem like boom times.
Uh, Could We Get Back On Message Here: There is bi-partisan support for allowing the government to share in any profits the Big Three might make following a government cash infusion.
Oh, Jesus H: Oh baby, that is not what this country needs, the government sharing in the profits of private business. If the government wants to lend the auto industry our money - and we are not entirely sure whether this is a good or a bad idea - then it had better tack on some stipulations. There should be limits on executive pay and dividends and there should be enough stipulations so that the Big Three would be obliged to think long and hard about whether they really wanted our money.
But sharing in their profits should not be one of them! This country is already heading towards socialism to a degree that would make Thomas Jefferson's head spin. We provide our aged with retirement income and medical care. We provide benefits to our poor. We provide, no, actually we mandate, government education for our kids. The only way kids can get out of going to government schools is if their parents provide an alternative education, which itself must be government approved. More and more the past few generations we have become a people who look increasingly to the government to solve our problems, when, often times, government interference is the last thing we need.
WE THE PEOPLE: On this date, in 1789, North Carolina becomes the 12th state to ratify the US Constitution.
We Will Regret This When Men At Work Gets A Recording Contract: History's first device for the recording and playing back of sound was introduced on this date in 1877 when Thomas Edison unveils the phonograph. The invention stemmed from Edison's desire to play back recorded telegraph messages. In Edison's phonograph a sheet of tinfoil was wrapped around a grooved cylinder, and the sound was recorded as indentations into the foil. To show that we all have our talents and that certain people were meant to do certain things, further research into the operation of this very primative recording device confused us and went way above our heads.
I Could've Sworn It Was Around Here Somewhere: On this date, in 1973, the existence of an 18-and-a-half minute gap in a White House tape recording relating to Watergate. That tape is now the property of the National Archives, which keeps it in a climate controlled vault in case future generations are able to recover what's missing.
Uh-Oh: On this date, in 1980, fire breaks out at what is then the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. (It is now Bally's Hotel and Casino). The fire starts on the second floor and spread throughout the building, killing 87 and injuring over 600.
Thought For The Day: I was always afraid of things that worked the first time. - Thomas Edison, on his phonograph invention.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The first NCAA football champions were crowned in 1973, when Louisiana Tech won the Division II title, and Wittenberg won the D-III championship. What was then known as the I-AA playoffs didn't start until 1978.
Today's Stumper: The number of US patents Thomas Edison received is closer to what number: 500, 1,000 or 2,000? - Answer next time!
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