Factory Floor

Stimulus and bailouts! Buzz words or reality? All designed to get the American economy out of the sinkhole. It is hard to say if the plan is working. Maybe a little bit here and there, but the formula for success is missing an important ingredient. It is called an infusion, an intravenous, whatever. And it is the American Taxpayers – a.k.a. hard working middle class – that have what it takes to provide the real McCoy stimulus, that shot in the arm so far missing ingredient. When I say American Taxpayers, I define such as those of us that work for a living. Millionaires, politicians and lobbyists not included. The big problem nowadays, we are working way more these days for less pay! When jobs are cut, the bosses can’t grasp the concept of manpower constraints and expect the factory floor to produce the same with less. We put out, because we are Americans! So we are having a difficult time infusing. Isn’t there something wrong with this picture, wherein we work a lot more and take home a lot less? Bottom-line, stimulate the American workers with more take home money and the economy will be provided with the missing link - spending it is called. The supply and demand theory is institutional and cannot fail. Americans like to spend, as that is the real fruit of thy labors. Save for a rainy day? Not anymore, as with all the hard work and frustration over job security, we can afford to binge out and have a little fun. Yes indeed, we can spend our way out of this economic sinkhole. And why save money, as saved money normally gets invested and it appears that all the Wall Street investing outfits were outfits for outlaws. Trust Us? But for some reason, and stalling the efforts of recovery, there exists a detriment that is dead set on ruining the future for us, it is called “Management”. Once upon a time, before investors came around, most companies and factories were family owned and run, so there was not a whole lot of fluff with respect to the workforce. There was the boss and the workers, a relationship! Nowadays, there is this disease called a CEO, that is bent on making the working conditions miserable, just so he or she can walk away with millions, regardless if their actions or inactions ruin a company’s portfolio. How can failure be rewarded? Bottom line, “we never get to meet the man whose name is on the label”. CEOs have an insensitive incentive mandate, and when they win we workers loose. It is that simple. And the sad fact of the matter, without the workers the factory cannot survive. I bet that if there came a moratorium on CEOs, the entire economic collapse would reverse, as the money they run away with after running down a corporation could be extra spending money in our paychecks. And we should be rewarded, as like mentioned before, we work a lot harder now because the CEOs are bent on downsizing and sending jobs to overseas localities somewhere far and away, all in efforts to have millions of earnings on the books just in time for the “trigger”, that golden parachute package - all for keeping the shareholders happy. CEOs are a detriment to Americanism! You cannot keep the shareholders happy and at the same time keep the workers happy, not in my backyard! So CEOs have one agenda which has proven to be self-centered greed at any expense to the workers, that in turn comes down to a stranglehold with results a struggling economy. Get rid of the CEO, get rid of the shareholders and go back to family run businesses and there will come a turnaround in this country’s economy – within a week! Without such changes, the struggle will continue. Case in point upon CEO malfeasance – a.k.a. greed. Now there exists very complicated negotiations between a CEO and a board of directors, all behind closed doors. There is no transparency. Take for instance the CEO of a major defense contractor so equipped to manufacture the F-22. Originally the” Raptor” had an asking price of $74-million, for two wings and an engine. When built, there was mission creep and each bird that has been considered worthless in modern day wartime theater cost the taxpayers $340-million! This made huge profits for the contractor, wherein the CEO and underlings benefited. So it makes one wonder what was behind the driving force to make for such an increase in the cost of manufacturing the jets? It’s the CEO and his staff of goons! So the company that had the contract to build these birds saw huge profits. And I bet the factory floor workers never saw an additional red cent. But there is an easy and simple case of CEO malfeasance in Alaska that kind of puts it all into perspective, to what goes on behind the scenes when the workers just want a decent day's pay for a decent day's work. Alaska is a pretty new state, so we could do it differently, with transparency for all! But NO. In fact, we don’t learn from others’ mistakes, but want to go down the same course of corruption, just for the hell of it. See, there used to a railroad in Alaska, built and run by the Fed.’s. Now over time and included in a stipulation following statehood, the railroad would have to be privatized. When it went up on the auction block, there came only one taker, but that taker bailed-out due the fact there was no way in hell for the rail to turn a profit. So it became the stepchild of the state, through a state run orphanage corporation. Now the rail never sees a profit. All that is taken in is exhausted keeping the rust bucket running. So the list of CEOs hired over-time to run the rail never felt like modern day CEOs when it came to that golden parachute award. It was more of a status symbol type occupation. The rail chiefs were paid well, with good benefits and all. But without a year-end profit to claim, there was nothing that warranted a bonus - even though there was contract language that defined such should there be something leftover come the end of the year and all the bills were paid. Hey, if there’s nothing there… Then came a change of the guard and a prominent and wealthy ex-politician found himself at the helm of the iron tourist trap. Then it happened, as with the tourists’ season gone away there had come cutbacks in the worker population, which saw a downturn in maintenance activities. See, CEOs like to do something with all their spare time, even if it causes havoc. It is so easy for the bastards to cut jobs! Now with maintenance falling by the wayside, there came a wreck. It was winter, so it was not an environmental nightmare, yet. So the chief, because he had friends in high places, saw to it that the wreck was governed as a disaster, which made the mishap available for Federal clean-up money courtesy of FEMA. But Uncle Sam doesn’t work fast. So the wreck was removed and the clean-up went without much fanfare or bother. Costly to the “state”, upwards some $5-million. Remember, this is not a private venture, even though it falls under a corporation, a state corporation - whatever that means? Anyway, come towards the end of the year, low and behold, Uncle Sam delivers a check - for millions as part of the disaster recovery request. Now you can’t send it back, that would be un-American. So the state used “state” money to clean up the mishap because the rail had none saved for a rainy day. And now there is relief. So it went into the railroad’s coffers and this was realized as a profit, the first time ever that the state run railroad boasted such a return, on NO investment. This was money courtesy the U.S. Taxpayers! So guess what, what a convenient time to retire. The CEO realized that this would be the only time this outfit would see a profit, and since his retirement was tied to end-of-year profits, he sailed away - with a big-fat bonus check based on disaster declared money realized as that year’s end profit - U.S. Taxpayers’ money! See what I mean about CEOs! Just a bunch of misfits given a loaded gun to point at the economy. And they are trigger happy! And so lucrative was this CEO’s retirement package tied to disaster relief from Washington, that when this same idiot was enjoying the sun down Mexico way, came a simple nosebleed that warranted taking advantage again of the situation. This guy decided that his insurance coverage following retirement allowed the use of a private Medivac, to provide forever his own private doctor’s assistance for any reason. So for a minor nosebleed, this guy found himself traveling back to Alaska, by private jet just so his own doctor could do something. I am sure that by the time he found himself back in Alaska, the nosebleed was a thing of the past. Can you imagine having that kind of coverage? So in ending, it is the CEO mentality like was observed here that is to blame for a screwed up American economic system. It is that simple. When a CEO wins, the workers get screwed, and when we get screwed, we take it out on the economy. Bottom line again, give us what we deserve for working the factory floor and we will reciprocate, by spending and all this bailout bondsmen crap like giveaway will be but a past experience of failure. And let us face the facts, where are all the billions in relief going too? Bonuses, you betcha! Bottom line some more, the best thing that could happen to this country is socialized income! When CEOs and Wall Street crooks and politicians are all becoming millionaires and taking advantage of loopholes, we need something to reign in on this horror scam. Remember, when they win, we loose. It is indeed an out-of-control train-wreck. Casey Jones, need a job?