Extremism of the Unusual Kind

There are a number of places found in the “Land of the Free” where we find extremism of the unusual kind. For example in San Francisco you can be a card carrying pot smoker and inhale cannabis right on the streets in full public view and not be arrested by the local john arms. What started as medical marijuana is now found throughout the city. The homeless cruse the streets and public parks in groups and the gay community can be found day and night practicing their art in public places. Walking the streets and public parks of San Francisco one has to be careful not to step on a used needle or have your child pricked by one of them. It appears the general community has been worn down over the years and has accepted what is going on in their town. Sodom and Gomorrah have nothing on the city by the bay.

Then we have another kind of extremism found in the one and only “Detroit City.” Here we find a “cradle to grave mentality” that has entrenched itself deep into the soul of the community by both government and private enterprise. Loss of jobs, people fleeing, high unemployment (9.7%), violent crime 5x and property crime 2x the national average, corruption at all levels, schools in shambles (61% graduation rate), and governmental regulations are just some of the signs of the illness that stifles freedom, es·prit de corps, productivity, competition, and the free market.

As you know the “Big Three” the last time in Washington, were ridiculed for asking for $25 billion without a plan on how they were going to use it. The three CEO’s travel to Washington from Detroit could have been a public relations coup, but turned into a PR nightmare when they were asked how they traveled and they replied by saying private corporate jets. They left DC with no money and their tails between their legs. But don’t let that fool you. They are back this week driving to DC with a plan in hand and they will get your money.

Many in the Congress are beholding to the unions. The Big Three’s trip to Washington this week will strike gold in “them there halls.” Even if the $25-plus-billion only delays the inevitable, they will get the money to save the union jobs. If they fail as businesses, the finger will be pointed at management and not the union and certainly not the Congress or the Administration.

I have been to downtown Detroit a number of times and it is a disaster. Liter everywhere, potholes in the streets, vagrants and homeless on street corners and in the boarded up entrances to abandoned buildings. Walking the streets the stench of human urine permeates the air. The spirit of the city is downcast and fatalistic.

The State of Michigan has been in a serious recession for a number of years. Businesses are closing or moving out of the state to greener pastures where they are not being taxed into the ground. Michigan loses more people then it gains (25% fewer jobs since April 2007).

Government’s answer is always more taxes, more programs, and more regulations. The auto industry has sold its soul to the union in order to keep the peace. Over the years the Big Three have provided more money for hourly wages, medical and retirement benefits, and layoff benefits. They have been hamstrung by their own doing, as well as, by the government.

How about $73 per hour (It costs over $73 per hour on average to employ a union auto worker, according to University of Michigan at Flint economist Mark J. Perry) or $1,500 in legacy cost for each unit coming off of GM’s production lines (GM CEO, G. Richard Wagoner, has noted that each of his company’s vehicles produced in North America includes an average cost of $1,525 in health care benefits, and asserted that GM is the world’s largest private provider of health care benefits) or try getting 95% of your wage if you are laid-off, and what about those long vacations?

Just to give you an idea how bad things are the Wall Street Journal recently reported the following: Ford owes more than $26 billion to the UAW Trust Fund, with $6.3 billion due at the end of 2009. Ford keeps asking the UAW for payment delays-the clock is ticking for this time-bomb. As time moves on it can only get worse as the number of employees retire and the industry shrinks with less working workers.

In both examples of extremism cited above both are fatal to the people and to the society. Maybe it’s time to bite the bullet; maybe it’s time for change. Here are a few words of Solomon the Teacher, King David’s son, the wisest man in the world (935 BC) from Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 6-7, 16-17.

A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

16 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment-wickedness was there, in the place of justice-wickedness was there.
17 I said to myself, "God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed."

In Ecclesiastes 12:13 Solomon says, “Fear God and obey His commands, for this is the duty of every person.”