Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Too big means just that - too big

Well never thought it’d come to this. I thought that when the government tried to take over American industry, American industry would be the first to fight the government tooth and nail. I thought the government would have to come in the dark of night with National Guard troops and a court order from the 9th circuit to seize factories. Sort of in the manner that the loony Maxine Waters indicated when the oil execs were testifying on Capitol Hill when she let slip that "maybe it’s time to nationalize the oil companies.”

Boy was I wrong. Instead of fighting, American carmakers are groveling hat in hand for the government to take over about 20% of their operations. Instead of locking the gates, fouling machinery and forming human barricades to impede government encroachment on their business, the car guys are handing the keys to the plant over to Barney Frank.

If you think that that is a stretch, think again. There is no way that Lib fools like Pelosi, Frank, Reid – wait, why name them Lib & fools comprise a set of the whole – are going to keep their fingers out of that pie. They will be dictating color, model names, hose clamp design and tire tread patterns within six months after any of the big three take even a nickel.

When I asked the Griffin about the current economic hard times, he asked what hard times? It’s a great time for small business because they are able to react more quickly to the changing circumstances than the big guys. Think OODA loop here. Orient-Observe-Decide-Act - small business can do that at the speed of light compared to the big guys. Boy does that shoot a howitzer size hole in the notion “too big to fail.” It’s more like – too big certain to fail. The “too” in "too big" in this case is like being too fat, too slow, too stupid etc.

So what happens when some old auto exces get together after the government take over of the big three and they decide to build a three model line of good looking, inexpensive and well built cars to rival the line of overpriced, under powered heaps of crap that the government is turning out? Barney Frank will regulate them out of business that’s what.

FULL DISCLOSURE:

If you read the comment from the Griffin on yesterday’s post, you now know that the infamous exploding candle episode happened to him. Had I known he’d wear the incident as badge of honor, I’d have credited him with it yesterday. If you have 20 minutes, get the full story. Picture one of those new flat top stoves – the ones where you can’t, or at least men can’t, see the burners and a candle on top of the stove. It’s one of those fragrance candles that smells like blueberry muffins or pumpkin pie that women buy so they don’t have to cook blueberry muffins or pumpkin pies.

The best part goes like this:

So I go over to the stove to check my soup. I take a spoon full and taste it. It’s stone cold. That’s when I notice the burner behind my pot of soup glowing bright red. A nanosecond after that I notice the candle sitting on top of the red hot burner boiling like a pot of over cooked pasta.

The rest of the story goes on to detail the candle’s explosion, the ensuing fire, the heroic effort to put the fire out, the clean up and the wife’s reaction.

No comments: