– #A Claim of Resonable Accusations on Executive Irresponsibility –
When you hire a nanny, the question you ask yourself is, 'What's best for my precious child?' And do you really want someone who feels that your motive in life is to minimize the amount you spend on your child? (Janet Yellen)
The appearance of a new ruling class reflects capitalism’s political coming of age and with it a new corporate aspiration, not just to exert political influence but to absorb and incorporate the political and transform it, tacitly abandoning the idea of commonality. It is not unusual to encounter the term The imperial CEO applied to business executives. In its most powerful forms the corporation is no longer describable solely by economic criteria (such as market share, profitability). The meaning of economics has expanded to include objects of exploitation hitherto considered outside the pursuit of profits. Capitalism has transformed itself, from a system of activities analyzable through economic categories to one that has adopted political character and the qualities of a new constitutional blend devoid of democratic substance. (Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision)
Dear Executive Status Seekers[1] and Wastemakers[2] of the Board!
Thanks for reading Cal Caleido’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
How’re things going for y‘all?
Could be better.
Okay, well, nevermind.
Here’s an ExecutiveCoffee Break Theatre’s treat for you as follows.
What worries me is, that one episode of our history, the industrial revolution in Great Britain was very similar to our current situation. Back then, wages stagnated for nine decades. Living standards fell while technology advanced. (Documentary: Artificial Intelligence - Race of the Superpowers, ZDFInfo, 2019)
[Caleidosco.Pic 03]
Our car factory covers almost 180,000 square metres. In the 1970s, 7,500 workers got decent wages and benefits and could send their kids to college, just like middle-class families should. Today, due to automation, there are maybe 700 workers still employed. That's a dramatic change. Automation destroys lots of jobs. No idea, how the cars are going to buy sandwiches. They definitely don't pay taxes and that inhibits the infrastructure. That's why, soon, sheriffs, cops, firefighters won't be any longer here. Robots don't pay taxes. (Documentary: Artificial Intelligence - Race of the Superpowers, ZDFInfo, 2019)
[Caleidosco.Pic 04]
This was once the hall of a local trade union. Due to falling memberships, it is now used differently. Today, it serves as a food bank for the needy. Despite economic growth, the unemployment rate here is around 6 percent and the poverty rate exceeds 30 percent. (Documentary: Artificial Intelligence - Race of the Superpowers, ZDFInfo, 2019)
[Caleidosco.Pic 05]
The average annual income in Saginaw amounts to about $16,000. Many double-income families live here. One income is too low to support a family. In the past, my father worked at the plant and my mother took care of us kids at home. We had enough to eat and got our opportunities. But those days are gone! (Documentary: Artificial Intelligence - Race of the Superpowers, ZDFInfo, 2019)
[Caleidosco.Pic 06]
This curve shows, what has been happening in America since World War II. This line represents productivity having increased sharply over time. Formerly, a rise in incomes used to coincide with inclining productivity. But here you can see, how significantly the income curve suddenly diverges. It’s no longer in synchrony with the productivity curve. (Documentary: Artificial Intelligence - Race of the Superpowers, ZDFInfo, 2019)
[Caleidosco.Pic 07]
With the introduction of automation, workers are laid off or paid less for low-skilled jobs. In America, we have a strong manufacturing industry. But you can rarely see large numbers of people there. Many operations are automated. In the payroll section, there are still one or two people working on computers. There are still people, but only a few, due to automation and technological progress. We are faced with the pivotal question, what the next generation will do. I'm pretty sure, there won't be a wealthy middle-class, that earns its money with routine work any longer quite soon. (Documentary: Artificial Intelligence - Race of the Superpowers, ZDFInfo, 2019)
Do the Executive Boards and CEOs of Apex Corporations wish to impact Economies any other but pursuing large-scale Waste of Natural Resources[4], Income Dumping, Lay-Offs, Plant Closures here, Groundbreaking Ceremonies of Factories elsewhere, inevitably starting the same Game all over again from there and so forth?
Doesn't such monocapitalist[5] phenomenology of an Imperial CEO[6] compare to Saharan Locusts, suggesting kindred spirits. Whereas these executive Human Beings are less numerous, though introducing the same extent of devastation in the long-haul.
Do the Consortium's Members of The Executive's Magic of a Life Achievement reveal their mortal beings' true colours in the mere sense of bluntly relieving themselves of Labour (cost) while having low-skilled Workers on Tap[7], Machinery and Digitisation substitute for qualified Flesh N Blood, time and effort, dedication and commitment, recognition and reward, pay and perspective – security[8]?
No workers, no issues – right?
Has any CEO ever managed running ... sorry ... ruining a company single-handedly?!
If we adopt pessimism as a creed, and with it accept the implication that life in general being an evil should be put an end to, then there is no ethical warrant for these actions by which life is maintained: the whole question drops. But if we adopt either the optimist view or the meliorist view -- if we say that life on the whole brings more pleasure than pain; or that it is on the way to become such that it will yield more pleasure than pain; then these actions by which life is maintained are justified, and there results a warrant for the freedom to perform them. Those who hold that life is valuable, hold, by implication, that men ought not to be prevented from caring on life-sustaining activities. In other words, if it is said to be "right" that they should carry them on, then, by permutation, we get the assertion that they "have a right" to carry them on. Clearly the conception of "natural rights" originates in recognition of the truth that if life is justifiable, there must be a justification for the performance of acts essential to its preservation; and, therefore, a justification for those liberties and claims which make such acts possible. (Herbert Spencer, Man Versus State)
Does their minimally exceptional executive Skill lie in saddling the State – and thus Taxpayers – with costs of compulsory redundancies, either abandoning them to petty Offence, organised Crime or early Retirement, if not natural fluctuation by means of natural or unnatural Death?
What justifies these Big Whigs's stereotype of an assumption, broadening the Customer Base while cutting back on Co-Workers, weren’t at odds with each other in the long-run?
What about Executives, enjoying themselves and each other as entrepreneurs[9], while discreetly encumbering Staff with their entrepreneurial Risk ... sorry ... Mistakes in lockstep with ensuring their Future in the Packaged Executive Neigbourhood[10] be home and dry on a Golden Parachute[11]?
Are you feeling addressed for some reason?
Ready for another Excursus accordingly?
Now, the Million ... sorry ... Billion-Dollar Question is, what could ... no ... what can the individual do on one’s own and what can individuals do on their own against such Chief Executive Lay-Off(icer)s of their companies, whose Managers head Multinationals being part of an Enterprise, in turn belonging to another Corporation incorporated into an even larger Entity?
Who is the Wizard of Oz[12] to be kicked in the ass?
This is a question, countless people may have been asking themselves in the past, without ever having tried to respond aloud publicly, subsequently putting their answer(s) into singular and plural Action called Strike[13].
In contrast, the United States of America features an exceptional Curriculum Vitae[14] of Moral Courage respectively.
As a matter of fact, the Automotive Industry’s Global History[15] and especially AmericanLegacy[16] bears several Landmarks of Strike Action, owing to the UAW[17]. Apparently, United Auto Workers have brought the Statue of Liberty’s Eye of The Tiger[18].
Who has ever been concerned with the enlightened fact, Citizens shouldn’t have been left alone in the statutory sense of having lacked The State as a supportive Partner at their side?
In fact, the rioting Jobless and Working-Poor at the Capitol Revolt[19] and their Sympathisers should’ve kicked Donald’s and all the other Executives‘ Asses on-site.
The discussion on Automation as it had emerged touching public interest in the USA dating back to the mid 1950s, primarily fleshed out the tacit, ubiquitious fear of Mass Unemployment. Since then, Mass Unemployment as a result of Rationalisation by means of Automation, Electrification, Electronisation, Computerisation and eventually Digitisation hasn’t substantiated.
Instead, the Predominance of precarious Multiple-Jobs Assignments, volatile Labour Conditions, low Wages has rather vested MassEmployment of the Working Poor broadening a prevailing Nation-Wide Lack of Social Security in the sense of Health Care, Old-Age Provision and Unemployment Insurance.
The American Government is to act on behalf and in the Interest of all American Citizens, enabling and ensuring the United States’ lasting Degree of Maximum Performance, Competitiveness and Productivity accompanied by Conditions fostering Humaneness and Peacefulness among the Actors, i.e. Employers and Employees.
Everyday life in a presumably civilised Country, must neither compare nor regress to a perverted, Public Interest in preserving persistent societal concussions!
Understanding such a view on The State‘s systemic, economic Policy as much as the according Tasks and Duties, necessitates recalling the Era of the Great Depression[20] in the late 1920s onward as well as the fatal course of the Subprime Mortgage issue[21] (2007-2010), European Debt[22] (2009-2010) and Global Financial crisis[23] (2009) as much as the Great Recession[24] (2007-2009).
By the way, comparing to the former Subprime Mortgage Market, most recently a Subprime Securitization Car Market[25], i.e. a Car Market Bubbleon Credit[26] has evolved in the United States, featuring a Consortium of Car Manufacturers and Dealers pushing Sales Statistics at whatsoever cost, time and effort on rampant price levels more than ever.
Sure, the heart is so willing[27] ... but ... oh my God, what a money pit[28]for US citizens!
How about American Long-Term Memory?
Common sense ain’t stupid!
Hence, Americans have been keeping a longer hold[29] of their cars. Not only Mike Musto[30] and Jay Leno[31] hold the answer. Especially as the Subprime Mortgage Crisis and Automotive Crisis[32] are concerned, General Motors still serves an infamous Role Model in terms pension plans[33] and affordable homes[34]having gone down the drain.
Back in the day, General Motors'[35] gradual decline had already led to massive lay-offs, marking one of the unexpected tipping points of casualties contributing to the subprime mortgage crisis' escalation.
In hindsight, GM’s long-standing stage of a gradual decline at that time should rather suggest corporate mismanagement or simply the Sleeping Executive Beauty‘s Slumber. Moreover, German subsidiary Opel[36] – once a Global Car Manufacturing Heavy Weight in its very own right – was at the brink[37] of filing for insolvency, i.e. in American terms, was on the edge of filing for chapter 11[38].
Despite voicing their Company’s Profit Warnings[39], GM’s Executives simply took advantage of a downward approach, assuming their soaring Debt and declining Rating merely suggested emitting Junk Bonds[40] to be supercompensating for their Corporation‘s Equity and Cash Flow Deficits. The main issuers of such bonds are capital-intensive companies with high debt ratios, or young companies that have yet to establish a strong credit rating.[41]
GM’s Executive Senior N Junior, Male N Female Stooges having discreetly pursued such a fatal self-referencing cycle suggesting volatile Capital Gains on High Risk Investment Vehicles, were neither ill-advised nor merely stupid – they were limitlessly ... sorry ... criminally irresponsible!
Who paid the bill?
Well, at the end of the day, the American Taxpayers did!
Alas, commoners are not in command of running the Federal Reserve’s Money Printing Press in high gear[42].
Providing, executive Market Particants seem not to care about the Origins and Consequences of their Malpractice, The State is to step in. Thus, the ethical Justificationfor (!) and of (!) State Intervention in the Economy is generally obvious. When Markets and its Participants fail, The State‘s Engagement is absolutely legitimate and inevitably necessary.
Be it unwillingly or willingly, economic (F)Actors pursuing Businesses and Trade Models generating societal Disruption, social Decay and long-lasting sociological Shocks; yielding national Inertia, Paranoia, Underperformance, Disfavour, Aggression and Corruption; bearing a kind of decisive monotheism of business despotism invested in democratic infrastructures for camouflaging strategic and operating totalitarianism, substituting for Democracy – eventually turn out Public and Constitutional Enemies, requiring Large-Scale State Incentives serving to paralyse such cancerous (F)Actors fatal ignition!
Against this backdrop, especially Populations of industrialised Nations have to ask themselves and each other, whether or not, i. e. to what extent their Governments haven‘t long since regressed to Liquidators, i. e. Bankrupcty Trustees in regard to their private and Public Affairs. Labelling these countries Rich Nations is ridiculous if not absurd, mostly in view of the increasing social Despair, sociological Misery and surging Crime.
In the field of economics, an action, a habit, an institution, a law, produces not only a single effect but a series of effects. Of these effects, only the first is direct, it appears simultaneously with its cause, it is seen. The others develop gradually, one does not see them; happy if one foresees them. This is the whole difference between a good economist and a bad one: the one sticks to the visible effect, the other takes into account both the effect that one sees and the one that one has to foresee. But this difference is enormous, because it is almost always the case that the immediate consequence is favourable and the ultimate consequences are disastrous, and vice versa. This leads the bad economist to strive for a small present improvement from which a great evil results, while the true economist strives for a great future improvement at the risk of a small present evil. (Frédéric Bastiat, What Is Seen And What Is Not Seen)
In providing its Citizens with a wide, horizontal and deep, vertical range of material goods and integral, immaterial Assets, such primal Tasks of The State had already been thought of, thought out and known, before Economics[43] started maturing, eventually labelling itself Science assuming the Mandate of major societal Concerns to deal with.
The State‘s support for Education, Research and Development as a Prerequisite for increasing National Prosperity, Transportation, National Defence, Justice and Police were already prescipited from lay Tracts and Treatises as The State‘s statutory Tasks more than 300 years ago!
The Origination of Economics also ignited the everlasting controversy on which services The State ought to offer versus private Provision. From experience, the doubtful at least questionable Privatisation of Public Services has not served a more peaceful and productive Society but certainly a handful of everyday Showdown Profiteers.
Apparently, too many wanna-bee-executive Preppies, Managing Directors and Masters of the Universe seem to have ignored such economic Facts.
Ready for one more Excursus accordingly?
According to Haavelmo[44], societies bearing unequal income ratios tend to impair their Economical Performance.
The Economic Aggregates‘ lifting and shunting effects fail to substantiate in mutual compliance, resulting in a kind of piston seizure frustrating the economy as a whole. National Money Flow is the (!) lubricant granting and sustaining a successful National Economy.
Consequently, Haavelmo deducts, the lowest third of Income Earners accounts for an economy’s power reserves inducing Impetus and Momentum bottom-up into all other Aggregates. His findings diametrally withstand, e.g. the Reagonomics‘ infamous trickle down theory[45].
Institutional and individual large-scale Income Earners tend to invest significantly more time in verifying their Investment Decisions and Return Expectations than low and average Income Earners.
Such caution puts a systemic Restrain[46] on the national Economy‘s Performance.
Quite many experience the Strain, few others don’t feel the Pain.
Ready for another Excursus?
Inspite of surging Governmental Debt[47] in lockstep with inclining Debt Service Contingencies and Capacities, common sense should've suggested enquiries into the odd nature of especially Developed Economies‘ Government (US: Treasury) Notes[48] and Bonds[49], having steadily rendered annual Interest Yields at 3 to 5 percent, matching Blue Chip Stocks' Performance.
How about doing a bit of a calculation?
For example, 120,000 US $ invested in Government Notes (2 to 10 years of investment period) for 10 years or Bonds for 30 years (20 to 30 years of investment period) at an annual interest rate of 3 percent would yield 161,270 US $ (10 year notes) or 291,272 US $ (30 year bonds) respectively.
Wow!
Now, who could afford such a lump sum just like that?
Few can, many times over ... 250,000 US $ ... 500,000 US $ ... 1,000,000 US $ ... 10,000,000 US $ ... 20,000,000 US $ ... 50,000,000 US $ ... 100,000,000 US $ ... 1000,000,000 US $ ... etc.
Feeling dizzy?
Certainly, Donald Trump is not feelin‘ giddy and his Voters’ve been lovin‘ him for that.
What else?
The following article on the global automotive industry was released in 2007:
Challenges for carmakers and suppliers until 2015 – Global megatrends determine tomorrow's automotive technologies. In due course, many innovations fail at complying with the customers‘ wishes.
The most important thing is: cars must remain affordable in the future despite cost-intensive research and development. ... In the industrialised countries, the price of a new car has risen by 100 percent within the last 20 years, while the average income has only risen by 50 percent.
Cost innovations are therefore a key goal of the automotive industry and will be just as important in the future as traditional innovations. Financial analysts agree on keeping cars affordable and profitable until 2015 at an estimated cost reduction rate of about 1,500 Euros per unit.
Pardon?!
Figuratively, it sounds like one should be expecting one-way/throw-away-and-throw[50]cars, kind of mimicing Coca Cola‘s hollow bottom soda can diversion, nonetheless, featuring even more useless – though highly expensive – peripherals by means of luminous and digital frills.
Over the past 30 years, automotive manufactures’s visions[51] across the globe have suggested turning reasonably priced cars into ridiculously stylish[52] and overly flashy Toy Cars For Adults at extortionist purchasing levels bearing significant danger[53] potential.
Ready for an Excursus accordingly?
The Developed Countries‘ Blue Print Concept of a Throw Away Society[54] suggests a working-life subsistance on Earned Income covering fixed and variable Expenditures on basic Commodities, Consumer Durables and Perishables.
Moreover, the ubiquitious acquisition of so-called Status Symbols reflects on exuberant Status Seeking[55], a Phantasmagoria of attaining social Supremity on dead manufactured Matter, acquired by means of Purchase on Credit[56], Hire Purchase[57], Finance Lease[58], Lease Purchase Contract[59], Lease[60], Subscription Business Model[61].
Objection! – A Life’s Abstract on Average: 73 years life expectancy[62] | 65 years of age[63]retirement | 24 hsThreadmill ∞ sleep ~ work ~ spare-time (leisure time).
Thus, how much soever men are in earnest and constant in pursuit of happiness, yet they may have a clear view of good, great and confessed good (..) As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty. (..) The stronger ties we have to an unalterable pursuit of happiness in general, which is our greatest good, and which, as such, our desires always follow, the more are we free from any necessary determination of our will to any particular action. (John Locke, Essay Concerning The Human Understanding – Treatise On Civil Government)
Has the HumanPursuit of Happiness[64] come that rundown, i.e. resorted to the perpetual Advertisement[65] of Pies in the Sky, ending up in economically developed Societies of Waste Makers‘[66] Spending Sprees of ALiving on Credit (Cards)?
With all due respect, listen you automotive Chair(wo)men of the Board around the world, you must(‘ve) be(en) extremely bored[67] or kidding[68], however you can’t/couldn’t have been serious[69]! Dave Horowitz[70] would’ve been even more outraged.
What’s all this crap?!
Moreoever, Musk’s plans suck! E-Cars surely emit no CO2. Wow, what a Blow ... now clap your hands everbody[71]! Nevertheless, they produce costly and sustainably dangerous E-Waste, usually exported to this planet’s E-Waste junkyard N° 1, India[72]. By the way, China refrained from their global plastic imports[73] in 2015.
Which countries should be – paid to serve as – a chumbucket for a handful of economically (over)privileged States messianically claiming to aim at/be climate-neutral?!
Apart from that, be it CO2-, E- or E-Fuel-Cars, governments (!) should've set higher State Budgets permitting upgrade and expansion of public infrastructures as much as affordable public transportation by land (bus, streetcar, train).
Australians require single-engine prop planes, Canadians snow mobiles and Americans still need cars – for a living! Since Henry Ford released his iconic T-Model, motorisation has been a substantial necessity of life having safeguarded mobility, availability and supply in all continental regions of the world.
Brothers, do your part to get me work at your price." This is the right to work, elementary socialism or the first degree. "Brothers, do your part to get me work at my price." This is the right to profit, refined socialism or the second degree. The one as well as the other live by those of their effects which are seen. They die by those of their effects which are not seen. What one sees is the work and profit created by the social contribution. What one does not see is the work to which this same contribution would give rise if left to the taxpayers. (Frédéric Bastiat, What Is Seen And What Is Not Seen – Right To Work, Right To Profit)
Americans can be proud of their history, country and themselves. No one is going to take that away from them. Today however, even fewer Americans bear the financial capacity to be in undisputed possession of what it takes to be and at least feel like an independent American, no jobs and pension plans[74], no affordable homes[75], neither reasonably priced[76] nor beautiful[77] cars.
Who wants to enjoy a life on fuckin‘ leases and stoogy subscriptions?
Will the United States be eventually turning into somewhat of a Cuba II as maintenance, repair and preservation of cars are concerned[78].
How about doing some homework on the Global Automotive Industry[79] and its corporate and continental market participants as follows:
Top Automotive Countries[80] by Annual Car Production | China — 26.08 million / United States — 9.17 million / Japan — 7.85 million / India — 4.40 million / South Korea — 3.46 million / Germany — 3.31 million / Mexico — 3.15 million / Brazil — 2.25 million / Spain — 2.10 million / Thailand — 1.69 million
Top Automotive Manufacturers[81] by means of Overall Performance and Brand Value | Rank 1. Volkswagen / Rank 2. Toyota Motors / Rank 3. Daimler / Rank 4. Ford Motor / Rank 5. General Motors / Rank 6. Honda Motor / Rank 7. SAIC Motor / Rank 8. Hyundai / Rank 9. BMW group / Rank 10. Nissan Motor
The law – perverts! The law – and with it all the collective powers of the nation – the law, I say, has not only diverted from its goal, but has been used to pursue its opposite goal! The law as the instrument of all desires, instead of being its reins! The law itself as the executor of the injustice whose duty it was to punish! Certainly, this is a serious fact, if it exists, for which reason I must be allowed to draw the attention of my fellow citizens to it. It is not because men have legislated that personality, liberty and property exist. On the contrary, because personality, liberty and property are pre-existent, men enact laws. So what is the law? As I have said elsewhere, it is the common organisation of the individual right to legitimate defence. (Frédéric Bastiat, The Law)
Enquiring into an outlook on the Winners and Losers among the Automotive Manufacturers misses the point. The question remains, to what extent are their respective CEOs being exposed to ethical and governmental Incentives to securing their Home Countries’ Economies and People’s Future!
Dear Executives of the Board!
Protecting your fellow citizens it not to be misunderstood in the sense of protectionism[118].
[3]– YouTube video erased ... day was already dawning!–
[4]Cocoyoc Declaration 1974 (denkwerk.com): The problem today is not primarily one of absolute physical shortage but of economic and social maldistribution and misuse. (..) At the same time, the very cheapness of the materials was one element in encouraging the industrialized nations to indulge in careless and extravagant use of the imported materials. ... Nothing could illustrate more clearly the degree to which the world market system which has continuously operated to increase the power and wealth of the rich and maintain the relative deprivation of the poor is rooted not in unchangeable physical circumstance but in political relationships.
[5]Monthly Review | Monopoly Capitalism: Among Marxian economists “monopoly capitalism” is the term widely used to denote the stage of capitalism which dates from approximately the last quarter of the nineteenth century and reaches full maturity in the period after the Second World War. Marx’s Capital, like classical political economy from Adam Smith to John Stuart Mill, was based on the assumption that all commodities are produced by industries consisting of many firms, or capitals in Marx’s terminology, each accounting for a negligible fraction of total output and all responding to the price and profit signals generated by impersonal market forces. Unlike the classical economists, however, Marx recognized that such an economy was inherently unstable and impermanent. The way to succeed in a competitive market is to cut costs and expand production, a process which requires incessant accumulation of capital in ever new technological and organizational forms. In Marx’s words: “The battle of competition is fought by cheapening of commodities. The cheapness of commodities depends, ceteris paribus, on the productiveness of labor, and this again on the scale of production. Therefore the larger capitals beat the smaller.” Further, the credit system which “begins as a modest helper of accumulation” soon “becomes a new and formidable weapon in the competition in the competitive struggle, and finally it transforms itself into an immense social mechanism for the centralization of capitals” (Marx, 1894, ch. 27).
[6]Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought (ethernet.edu.et): The appearance of a new ruling class reflects capitalism’s political coming of age and with it a new corporate aspiration, not just to exert political influence but to absorb and incorporate the political and transform it, tacitly abandoning the idea of commonality. It is not unusual to encounter the term The imperial CEO applied to business executives. In its most powerful forms the corporation is no longer describable solely by economic criteria (such as market share, profitability). The meaning of economics has expanded to include objects of exploitation hitherto considered outside the pursuit of profits. Capitalism has transformed itself, from a system of activities analyzable through economic categories to one that has adopted political character and the qualities of a new constitutional blend devoid of democratic substance. The new economies created by technologically advanced societies provide equivalents for democracy’s values of participation (mass consumption), inclusion (work force), and mass empowerment (consumer sovereignity, shareholder democracy). Those sublimations accord with a virtual way of being in the world transformed by the technological revolution in communications. Electronic technologies (computers, video, Internet) epitomize the combination of the illusion of individual freedom/power with the encapsulation of the individual in a cocoon from which escape seems an incoherent idea. The changes in capitalism have weakened the authority of The State as the supreme power in society. Globalization is an euphemism for continuous expansion abroad and the constriction of politics at home, narrowing the joints of entry so that only the pressure of money can gain political access. … It is not only that The State and The Corporation have become partners; in the proccess, each has begun to mimic functions historically identified with the other. … While Superpower caricatures democracy, terrorism is the grotesque caricature of revolutionary protest. … John Dewey once remarked that equality becomes dangerous when it is widely praised but empty in practice. … Democratic citizenship was, instead a process of becoming. … As several commentators have noted, the powers embodied in modern change do not enter the world without disrupting and eventually destroying established forms of work, play, personal and social relations, belief, and habitat. Those who define, direct, finance and prosper from significant change, rarely experience their own lives mangled or stupefied and the misshapen results passed on as an inheritance.
[9]Vance Packard, The Status Seekers (soilandhealth.org): This lack of entrepreneurial experience is most vivid in the ranks of our industrial executives. More than three fifths are the sons of men who, at one time, ran their own businesses. Yet, according to one survey, only one executive in six today has ever had such experience.
[10]Vance Packard, The Status Seekers (soilandhealth.org): "So we see this increasing social unrest, all caused by the false impression of American life cooked up by a bunch of eggheaded art directors. . . . It's a Madison Avenue version of Russian roulette with all barrels loaded, and somebody's gonna get hurt." — Clare Barnes, Jr., Consultant Art Director, in Art in Advertising. — In the Northeast, at least, the top executive is likely to have a gem of an estate, beautifully manicured on the outside, highly polished on the inside. The house will be Georgian, Colonial, Federal, old English, or old French, with clipped hedge or rustic fence, and, inside, a central hallway and period furniture. There will be old portraits or family portraits on the walls of the living room, and, if there is wallpaper—there probably won't be—it will be used just to add decorative touches. Most of the walls will be painted a solid color, usually with dark trim. The rugs will be either a solidcolor wall-to-wall type or Oriental. The built-in bookcases will contain mostly leather-bound volumes. The gleaming, mahogany dining-room table will be enhanced with silver candlesticks. The walnut-paneled den, with its green- or red-leather chairs, will have old hunting and sailing prints. The decor probably was supervised by an interior decorator specializing in the executive look.
[25]Subprime Securitization Hits the Car Lot | Richmond Fed: The car dealers deliberately inflated borrowers' incomes — sometimes without the borrowers' knowledge — to ensure the loan applications would be approved and they'd make the sale. The lender knew the applications were fraudulent and the borrowers were likely to default, but it didn't care because it could package the loans into securities and sell them off to investors. At least, that's the version of events described in an action brought by the attorneys general of Massachusetts and Delaware against Santander Consumer USA, a subsidiary of the Spanish bank Banco Santander that specializes in auto financing. In March 2017, Santander agreed to a $26 million settlement that includes $19 million in relief to more than 2,000 borrowers. To many observers, Santander's alleged lending practices look alarmingly similar to those that contributed to the housing boom and bust a decade ago, lending weight to broader concerns that rising delinquencies indicate an auto lending "bubble" is about to burst. "Auto Loan Fraud Soars in a Parallel to the Housing Bubble,"proclaimed one headline. "Are Car Loans Driving Us Towards the Next Financial Crash?" asked another.
[33]Rejected by Courts, Retirees Take Last Shot to Save Pensions (usnews.com): When General Motors went through the biggest industrial bankruptcy proceedings in history, 20,000 retirees from GM's Delphi Corp. subsidiary saw their retirement savings slashed. Dave Muffley poses outside one of the Delphi Corporation plants in Kokomo, Ind., Monday, July 11, 2022. As General Motors Corp. underwent the biggest industrial bankruptcy proceedings in history, and the federal government negotiated a company restructuring, Muffley's healthy retirement savings would be slashed by 70 percent, and his life's trajectory would take a dramatic spiral downward.
[34]Subprime mortgage crisis (Wikiped): The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline in US home prices after the collapse of a housing bubble, leading to mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures, and the devaluation of housing-related securities. Declines in residential investment preceded the Great Recession and were followed by reductions in household spending and then business investment. Spending reductions were more significant in areas with a combination of high household debt and larger housing price declines; Freddie Mac (Wikiped): On September 7, 2008, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director James B. Lockhart III announced he had put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the conservatorship of the FHFA (see Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). The action has been described as "one of the most sweeping government interventions in private financial markets in decades"; Fannie Mae (Wikiped): Following their mission to meet federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) housing goals, GSEs such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) had striven to improve home ownership of low and middle income families, underserved areas, and generally through special affordable methods such as "the ability to obtain a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a low down payment ... and the continuous availability of mortgage credit under a wide range of economic conditions". Then in 2003–2004, the subprime mortgage crisis began. The market shifted away from regulated GSEs and radically toward Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) issued by unregulated private-label securitization (PLS) conduits, typically operated by investment banks.
[35]General Motors and the Subprime Crisis (managementstudyguide.com) ––– GMAC Made Risky Subprime Mortgage Loans : NPR ––– Rejected by Courts, Retirees Take Last Shot to Save Pensions (usnews.com): When General Motors went through the biggest industrial bankruptcy proceedings in history, 20,000 retirees from GM's Delphi Corp. subsidiary saw their retirement savings slashed. Dave Muffley poses outside one of the Delphi Corporation plants in Kokomo, Ind., Monday, July 11, 2022. As General Motors Corp. underwent the biggest industrial bankruptcy proceedings in history, and the federal government negotiated a company restructuring, Muffley's healthy retirement savings would be slashed by 70 percent, and his life's trajectory would take a dramatic spiral downward.
[39]There's still life in junk bonds after GM - The New York Times (nytimes.com): This year, however, has been a different story. Managers of high-yield bond funds anticipated higher rates but not the profit warning from General Motors that shocked the market in mid-March. The expectation now is that the automaker's debt will be downgraded to junk status. Worried by the prospect of GM bonds flooding the junk market, and by further interest-rate increases, the entire high-yield market sold off.
[44]Trygve Haavelmo (Wikiped): Trygve Magnus Haavelmo (13 December 1911 – 28 July 1999), born in Skedsmo, Norway, was an economist whose research interests centered on econometrics. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1989.
[45]Trickle-down economics (Wikiped): Trickle-down theory is an economic strategy where taxes levied on the high-income group are curtailed. The theory claims that the increase in wealth will trickle down into lower economic sections in the form of increased investments and employment.
[46] Note: E.g. since the 1970s Germany's national money flow has decelerated to one sixth of its original top velocity. Over the past five decades, the exponential accumulation of large assets and fortunes by means of interest yields has brought about a degree of wealth concentration having coincided with galloping wealth inequality. ––– related as follows: Annual report 1970 (bundesbank.de) ––– Outlook for the German economy for 2022 to 2024 (bundesbank.de)
[52]Vance Packard, The Wastemakers (soilandhealth.org): "One of the strangest, yet best recognized, secrets of Detroit is 'planned obsolescence' — a new model every year." — BUSINESS WEEK. — The automobile industry was the first major group to become fascinated with the increased sales that might be achieved by imitating the women's-fashion stylists. Decades ago, General Motors took the automotive leadership from Henry Ford I by successfully insisting that competition be on the basis of styling rather than pricing. Mr. Ford in fifteen years had brought the price of his Model T motorcar down from $780 to $290, by sticking to a basic design except for minor changes. Such fanatical dedication to the ideal of an ever-lower price tag made competition on the basis of price most unattractive. Competitors such as General Motors did not relish trying to match Old Henry in either production know-how or pricing, so they emphasized a yearly change and a variety to choose from. In the twenties and thirties, significant technological innovations such as balloon tires, shock absorbers, and four-wheel brakes were available almost every year to captivate the public. By the early fifties, however, the automobile industry was finding itself with fewer and fewer significant technological improvements that it felt were feasible to offer the public. Consequently, at all the major automotive headquarters—Ford now included—more and more dependence was placed on styling. One aim was to create through styling "dynamic obsolescence," to use the phrase of the chief of General Motors styling, Harley Earl. The motorcar makers began "running up and down stairs," as fashion merchandiser Alfred Daniels put it.
[53]Ralph Nader's Unsafe At Any Speed: Exploring Auto Safety NATIONALS - YouTube ––– The 5 Greatest Failures in Car Tech | Mashable ––– Ford recalls Edge, Ranger, Fusion and more for faulty air bag inflators (statesmanjournal.com) ––– Millions affected by exploding airbag recall - YouTube ––– Death toll for GM ignition switch: 124 (cnn.com) ––– by analogy:Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (Wikiped) ––– Challenger Disaster - YouTube ––– related:José Ignacio López de Arriortúa (Wikiped): Lopez introduced a number of changes to the supply chains and production methods at Volkswagen and GM known as "Purchased Input Concept Optimisation with Suppliers" or PICOS. The particular focus was on reduction of supplier prices so that a target end price of cars could be achieved. While he was at Opel, the manufacturer's input prices continuously fell, while prices in the overall market increased. The reduction in supplier prices was achieved by systematic price negotiations in a competitive market where a larger number of suppliers faced increasingly integrated car companies. Lopez' success in those price negotiations that resulted in a positive impact on overall cost basis had been dubbed "Lopez Effect". However, as suppliers increasingly struggled to deliver at cost, input part quality started to deteriorate which in turn had a negative effect car build quality. The "Lopez Effect" is therefore used for both those effects. ––– related:Vance Packard, The Wastemakers (soilandhealth.org): The bodywork of motorcars and their structural rigidity were not as good as they had been a decade ago, he felt. And this widespread lack of structural rigidity had played a major role in promoting "creative obsolescence." Nothing makes a car seem old faster than rattles. And motorcars produced in recent years have tended to develop rattles faster than they did a decade earlier. Further, he said, "the rattling gets worse as the car grows older. With the vogue for hardtops—into which less structural stiffness can be built—this characteristic is getting worse." In 1959, The Wall Street Journal took note of all the complaints about late-model cars by conducting a survey. It quoted the owner of an automobile repair shop in Detroit as saying that engine quality was commendable but that "the bodies today are cheesy. They're full of rattles." ... Another thing that makes a fairly new car seem cheesy and old—regardless of its dependability in transporting its owner—is exterior rust and corrosion. In the late fifties, many models developed mottled looks with a rapidity that appalled their owners. Some motorcar makers such as Oldsmobile installed corrosion-resistant aluminum grilles as a sales feature because of all the unhappiness, but others evidently were content to let the discolored splotches appear. Frequent resculpturing of the exterior was said to be one cause of the difficulties. ... "I think the current auto design trend indicates a moral decay in America that is most alarming. When such a large share of the national income is squandered on useless glass, fins, overhang, etc., which require excess horsepower and attendant wasted fuels, then it is about time the federal government stepped in and placed a tax on auto body weight and horsepower." Later he added, "If an automobile requires over 100 horsepower, it is too damned big and wasteful." At this writing, about three quarters of all motorcars being made in Detroit are still "too damned big and wasteful" by the engineer's estimate.
[74]Rejected by Courts, Retirees Take Last Shot to Save Pensions (usnews.com): When General Motors went through the biggest industrial bankruptcy proceedings in history, 20,000 retirees from GM's Delphi Corp. subsidiary saw their retirement savings slashed. Dave Muffley poses outside one of the Delphi Corporation plants in Kokomo, Ind., Monday, July 11, 2022. As General Motors Corp. underwent the biggest industrial bankruptcy proceedings in history, and the federal government negotiated a company restructuring, Muffley's healthy retirement savings would be slashed by 70 percent, and his life's trajectory would take a dramatic spiral downward.
[75]Subprime mortgage crisis (Wikiped): The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline in US home prices after the collapse of a housing bubble, leading to mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures, and the devaluation of housing-related securities. Declines in residential investment preceded the Great Recession and were followed by reductions in household spending and then business investment. Spending reductions were more significant in areas with a combination of high household debt and larger housing price declines; Freddie Mac (Wikiped): On September 7, 2008, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director James B. Lockhart III announced he had put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the conservatorship of the FHFA (see Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). The action has been described as "one of the most sweeping government interventions in private financial markets in decades"; Fannie Mae (Wikiped): Following their mission to meet federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) housing goals, GSEs such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) had striven to improve home ownership of low and middle income families, underserved areas, and generally through special affordable methods such as "the ability to obtain a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a low down payment ... and the continuous availability of mortgage credit under a wide range of economic conditions". Then in 2003–2004, the subprime mortgage crisis began. The market shifted away from regulated GSEs and radically toward Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) issued by unregulated private-label securitization (PLS) conduits, typically operated by investment banks.
[80]Car Production by Country 2023 (worldpopulationreview.com): China — 26.08 million / United States — 9.17 million / Japan — 7.85 million / India — 4.40 million / South Korea — 3.46 million / Germany — 3.31 million / Mexico — 3.15 million / Brazil — 2.25 million / Spain — 2.10 million / Thailand — 1.69 million
[81]Top 10 Car Brands in the World 2023 | MBA Skool: Rank 1. Volkswagen / Rank 2. Toyota Motors / Rank 3. Daimler / Rank 4. Ford Motor / Rank 5. General Motors / Rank 6. Honda Motor / Rank 7. SAIC Motor / Rank 8. Hyundai / Rank 9. BMW group / Rank 10. Nissan Motor
