In World War II, the auto industry practically shut down to build tanks and jeeps and etc.  So if the Big 3 disappear, where will we find the resources to defend ourselves should China decide they want to come over and collect on our debt?

The problem we have created is related to poor risk management.  With so few companies left in the US making cars, we lose three we lose them all.  Same is going to happen with banks.  It pretty much just did, but after the dust clears we will have fewer banks, even larger then before the collapse.  So again, we lose a few, we lose them all.  Credit cards?  MasterCard, Visa, and American Express.  We lose them, we lose them all.  Airlines?  How many are left?  What if we lost them.

To the hyper-rich, it matters not where those companies are.  They have their money in all currencies with gold and precious stones as well.  On a personal level, none of these CEOs are going to lose their positions in the financial hierarchies of the world because of how they no longer see themselves as Americans, but as citizens of the world.  Too bad they forgot to realize how their comforts are products of a wealthy society, not the society of the wealthy.   

Josh Marshall asked for a catchphrase to replace golden parachutes.  Well, I think we just need to redefine the abbreviation.  These thieves are CEO, Cashing Everything Out.  It's a vivid description of someone leaving the poker table with their winnings rather then playing the game until the end.  Joe the Plumber may not get it, but it's because he is willfully blind and is focused on how UAW members still have a chance at a pension.  He' sees the pension as the problem rather then the broken promise.  After all, there are thousands of lone workers who lost their pensions, so why is the UAW so special.  Indeed!  Answer that question honestly and maybe we will see unions growing again.

PS - How many of the CEOs are Republicans and how many are Democrats?  It might be interesting to see the proportions.  First, I would guess that it would favor Republicans enormously, and second, that there are Democrats at the top of some corporations might surprise some people.  I am sure there are some taking the money and running on both sides. 

It was always odd how the conservative Republicans warmed up to the Right-Wing Christian Faction.  How was it that a religion that preached love thy neighbor came to be so closely aligned with the party of go get your own?  What did they have in common?  Abortion is something for the religious but which business really has no concern. Why would it effect them, unless one is to consider that abortion shrinks their market by so many unborns.  Today it has become clear.  It's based on the power of faith.  Faith in things that defy reason despite all evidence to the contrary.

We are being reminded daily through the mainstream media that the Republicans still insist trickle down works and tax cuts are the only way to restore the economy.  FDR was evil and he did everything wrong.  Republicans have spent decades dismantling regulations because they are a burden on a market that will self-regulate if left alone.

After the New Deal brought this country out of the Great Depression and the deregulating activities of the Bush Administration have brought us back to a pre-FDR economy, why are we still hearing this?    Faith!  Irrational, fantasy-based, completely unfounded faith is why we hear this.  At this point, it is right up there with the literal interpretation of the Bible.  Someone who chooses to believe the world was created in seven days, people originated in the Garden of Eden, the world was flooded when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and etc., will cling to the belief deragulated capitalism works.  But what objective evidence do we have of that today?  None!  You just have to believe.    

Game on!!! While the Republicans have suffered greatly in the last election cycle they wish to go down swinging, Zom-Bushes to the last. These people are programmed to attack anything that has a whiff of liberalism and the domestic auto industry is particularly malodorous to them. Afterall, it is within the Big 3 that organized labor has it's greatest base, indeed, it is the base of the Democratic Party. So in spite of the ramifications a collapse of the industry would have to this country, they would rather see it fold then perpetuate the decent living the industry has provided millions of Americans both directly and indirectly.

Low wage workers have been intent on destroying the unions because they make too much money. Why are they not interested in higher wages for themselves? Why are they so committed to dragging the union worker down? Why the rush to poverty? What's the matter with Kansas? Fortunately this last election showed that the Zom-Bushes are waking up, for the most part. In the states that remained Red, where progressive radio in not broadcast, and the Reich noise pollution is prevalent, they still remain asleep.

This Congress has one last chance to strike a critical hit at the Democratic base, then they will recede to lick their wounds and see if they can figure out a way to return to their former glory. Newt Gingrich has returned. Palin energized the Christian faction. Talk radio's blithering bunch are all signed up with Fox News to keep the Kool-Aid flowing. The question remains who is still drinking it, why, and will the ones who woke up return to the trough?