Screwball

Funny; Billionaire conman Bernard Madoff arrested Today, but from 2008. This is nuts. At least Bernie ran a long known scam in which we know the mechanism he used to cheat people - not that that mattered, because that's what we do (He was one of the founders of the NASDAQ after all). While this guy seems to be a complete nut job used car salesman that has no clue on how markets work. Hook, line, and sinker the fish lined up. How the fuck does that happen? Harry Markopolos is laughing his ass off, and I'm sure there were some Harry's out there. Nobody listened. Again. This movie gets old.

I'm not sure who you mean by I's but I'm gonna go with the workers as the definition. Sure they have agency - they always have - go find a combine to harvest that straw. I hope I'm not gonna piss Del off here, but I want to use him as an example. I've talked to him for years on this board. He runs his own business. I'll leave it at that; other than I think he has great insight on how to do so. I think his main thesis is; if you take care of your business, and take care of (including training) the people who work for you - it becomes a gratifying and profitable endeavor for all involved. I'm on board with that thesis. I don't know the median age of the clientele here, but I'm guessing most of you are younger than me. Does anyone remember the labor wars back in the day? Some of you should have parents (especially if you grew up around the auto capital of the world) who were involved in the industrialization of the North and the resulting labor wars. Unions became a thing because workers were getting exploited to the point they got fed up and fought back - sometimes not very nicely. So did others. It got really ugly if you study the history. Nothing has really changed, except the violence. Crooked Unions, crooked politicians, crooked companies - all against labor in aggregate because it benefited the select few - while spending billions over the years to eliminate what was once called "collective bargaining." The top .01 percent gets richer while we get poorer. It's a big club and we ain't in it.

The union story should be the leading story on every news channel. The ultimate battle between workers and corporate greed. But of course that doesn't happen. Imagine that. But they are moving some of the suicide net factories from China to Vietnam, so we can still buy $100 microwaves, so it's all good.

I know, it is possible. Best I can tell, they could elect (not sure that's the right word) anyone. I'll do it. Think that wouldn't be a hoot?

Didn't Cheney lose so she is out? If so, good. Keep her out. If she was the SOFH there would no war we wouldn't get into, or start, and fund (since the money starts in the house). Bloodlines and history (hers) from Darth Vader himself - daddy Dick. Neo-con warmonger of the highest order. Nothing but a tool for the killing for profit machine.

Maybe I should have never brought up disco. 🙂 I grew up in that era, and I never thought, nor did any of my buddies at the time, that disco was about gays or whoever. The way we took it was more of a class thing. Maybe class isn't the right word here, but I don't know what else to call it. Example: late 70s probably, there was a night club around Toledo/Bowling Green Ohio called Dixie Electric. 4 of us guys decided to go there on Saturday night to see what the attraction was. We were blue jean tee shirt type people who drank beer. We go into that place, which was quite big in comparison to our little rinky dink clubs around Cornhole. They had a lighted dance floor and music going. It looked like we just entered the world of Saturday Night Fever with a bunch of John Travolta's showing off their stuff. We got a table and the waitress came over and we ordered beers. She looked at us like we were from Mars. So did everyone else. We might have stayed for a couple hours, but the entire time we became the entertainment. People were pointing, laughing at us, making snotty comments, and trying to make us uncomfortable since we didn't fit the picture. No high heels, no fancy clothes, and no Grasshopper type drinks. We found it funny, but we could sure tell we were from the other side of the tracks according to them. We didn't care what they looked like, or they liked that kind of music. To each their own - no biggy. These people just reeked of superiority and we had to know it. Well woop-t-fucking-do! Ain't you all that and a bag of chips. It made me think of the book - "The Outsiders." They might have looked nice, and danced real good - but probably couldn't change a tire on their car.

I was really only half kidding about blaming disco. As I look back, I think disco helped usher us into the materialistic/consumerism type of world we have today. The Fonz turned into Tony Manero (Saturday NIght Fever - 1977). We went from blue jeans and tee shirt with a pack of smokes rolled up in the sleeve to platform shoes, leisure suits, and drinking grasshoppers. Edward Bernay's like marketing set the vision and culture. Travolta in that stupid outfit on the poster of the movie was enough to make you puke - but that's what so many became.

Yep, that's it. Thanks.

I remember Dick Purtan too. I think he was part of CKLW (800?) at one time? Who was the guy on WJR who came on at like 11 at night and did a show called "night flight" or something like that? Air time before JP came on at like 6? CKLW (back in the day); we saved our money and bought radio/recorder devices so we could record the tunes from CKLW. Spent hours making our own tapes. Had to blast the music while cruising in our not so much of a hot rod (gas was .35-.40 cents), but we did see American Graffiti (1973) last night. 🙂 Somewhere along the line it got all fucked up - I blame it on disco.

When I grew up my parents listened to WJR via transistor radio to hear JP McCarthy. Later in life, I drove an hour (or three because Toledo highways that became parking lots every summer...) to work in the late 80s, early 90s, and listened to him on my way. I also remember listening to Albom on the way home - he had an afternoon show. I did a quick search. It appears JP died in 95, and Albom came along in 96. Albom sure isn't a JP, but not many are. Maybe I'm just too old. Or maybe radio has went to shit, which is how we get Mitch's of the world.

Times were different then for sure. During the war these plants could change to making war toy parts because in those days manufacturing was a lot less specialized. Mass production was not what it is now. They used machinists, tool & die makers, and manual labor to do many things. Today it's all about just in time delivery, customized assembly lines, robots (where they can), process efficiency, and the cheapest labor possible (instead of skilled trades except where absolutely needed). When I was at a large manufacturer back in the 2010s our line had to do something every 13 seconds. Parts arrived on time, transported to the line, assembly people (outsourced to a job contracting agency - about 1/3 of the workforce) along the assembly line did their small but significant addition to the machine as it went by on the line. They worked in groups of 5 or six, rotating jobs every couple of hours. You might be adding a part to the machine for 2 hours, assembling sub-assemblies for another two hours, be a part gathering and support person for another 2, etc. If it could be done robotically, it would eventually be a robot. Robots don't screw off, don't call in sick, need smoke breaks, or go to the bathroom. But when you need a warm body, call the head hunters and hire cheap labor. They didn't need any skills, just a warm body that can put parts on a machine. Engineers spend hours figuring out the ergonomics of the process. We even 3D modeled people to simulate the process and ensure and prevent worker fatigue and limits. It is an industry within an industry. Back when the pandemic hit many thought factories could just re-tool to make masks, respirators, testing kits, etc. but it's not that simple like it was back during the war when our tools were lathes, mills, welders, and other man operated machines to make parts. An assembly line that made dishwashers could in no way be modified to make other kinds of parts, and that is only one example. Using global slave labor (and environmental arbitrage ), complex supply chains, and highly improved process manufacturing (including robots and automation) is what gives us cheap goods we have today. Nobody can or will buy a $6000 iPhone (for example).

Thanks, that makes sense.

I don't follow AAPL (or chips) that close but from what I understand chip manufacturing requires a lot of water. So building a plant in Arizona (desert) seems kind of strange. Besides, there are water issues in the west. Someone (INTC, I think) is building a chip plant around the Columbus, Ohio area (New Albany, I think) and I wonder where the water will come from there as well.

I had heard about that place so I looked it up; Ford Rouge Complex That's pretty big, but nothing like what China/Foxcon/AAPL do. That article says you can still take a tour. That would be cool. I like that kind of stuff. I was in the casting plat in Flat Rock during it's heyday. That place was large as well, and like a miniature city. I spent a few weeks in the Ford foundry in Windsor. That was an incredible operation and quite large. It would be interesting to know what happened to these old factories after NAFTA and the globalization push took root? I know the Spicer plant in Toledo I worked at (around 5000 at it's peak) all went south to non-union sites, but mostly Mexico. Now a large warehouse.

Good article. Reading the headline, my first thought was where will production go? I had my hunches, and sure enough, FTA (first paragraph): There are so many things to parse out of this article, even though most of it looks so familiar from living in the world of Dilbert for all those years. The very next paragraph: That number is the like the population of Pittsburgh. Incredible. This gets ink because AAPL is huge, but this stuff goes on all the time. Labor and environmental arbitrage some might say. It's all about the bottom line. I have to give them credit. They have globalized what we defined years ago as slave labor. But I suppose we always have.

Berkshire - that's Warren Buffet the Bailout King. No shit Sherlock. How's that happen? By paying off a bunch of gutless whores? Why, yes, yes it is.

Thanks. This saves me from wading through all the bullshit.

I don't think it's amazing at all. It's just a window into the corruption that goes on each and every day. This is just another example of a coverup to hide it all. Make the crook look like a clueless tyro, then the stenographers in the media to guide the herd to the conclusion they want. Wash, rinse, repeat. Why not, so many gobble it up like a Hoover.

Since we are talking about Unions, I have to tell this story. Disclosure; I grew up in a union home. My 5' 3" mom was a union rep at the local factory she worked in. Her 6' 5" 350 brother was scared of her, and so was dad. So was I. She was Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies - literally - coming from West Virginia. Moved North during the industrial revolution and made a life. Unions were part of how people like my parents could do so, same in Michigan with the auto industry. The story; circa 1983-4. I worked at a local (Cornhole, town in the sticks of NW Ohio) manufacturer who made cranes. They got a huge order from the military and built a couple hundred machines. They were making huge money. This was an example of $200 dollar o-rings. The workers wanted more money so the union threatened to go on strike. The contract was in play too, because they "collective bargained" every so many years and the timing was right. It took a while to play out, but it got there. While we ate lunch one day close to the deadline, the union president was going all preacher on us, telling how he was going to kick their ass here shortly. He was called to the office for the big meeting over the loudspeaker. Rah, rah, rah, off he went. Charge! He wimped out like a dead fish flopping around on a beach once in the room, and that's being kind. The funny part - they never turned off the mic - so the entire conversation was broadcasted to the workers. Brilliant, if you are company. He came out with the same bravado, but once he found out he was fucked - he shot out the door. He did come back (not the same day). I really thought the guys would string him up. There were some crazy dudes there.

I've been buying short term bonds just because it's fun pushing a button. I could check a box, but that's no fun.

Let me disclose up front, I haven't followed this rail thing much. I only have two questions. Did .gov pass a bill to prevent a strike? What does it do for the sick days thing?

A follow up while I try not to puke. I admit up front I didn't watch this; my blood pressure couldn't handle it. They should have perp walked this dickhead to jail, but not here. Instead we put the SOB on TV and give him a tongue bath. This is the second Tweet I read by two people who were mainstays of Bubblevision at one time.

Too many get hung up on an ideology and miss the bigger picture, but that's the narrative. It's easy, expected, and good politics to pigeon hole people into a corner to further the tribal warfare. We should focus on the message and not the tribe.

Thanks for the eyes. Pinto... I drive by a house that has a Pinto sitting beside the house on a little flat driveway. Almost like a monument it seems. Crazy to see one today. This one is basic blue and white. They were a POS. 1971 to 1980, so it's 40 to 50 years old.

This is why we aren't.