In Ordinary Times...

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Anybody else spew their coffee this morning listening to The Worst President In American History lecture and scold that "in ordinary times..." corporations should have to pay a price for their failures?

Well, at least Dumbya finally recognizes these are not ordinary times...tho' he still has to be dragged kicking and screaming into a bailout for the auto industry and American workers' jobs.

The irony of having to pay a price for failure seems to've escaped the Crown Prince of the Bush family political dynasty. But I digress....

There is a possible silver lining in what Boy George announced this morning, for all the angst of the chess match that's recently played out as politicians pontificated and postured of matters such as "organized" bankruptcies [huh?] vs. fears that this was all a strategerie to kill the unions, once and for all.

Big 3 Auto companies have until March to get their schiess together and come up with a viable business plan that matches the foreign car companies, scolds Bush. Oh, and don't blame me while I'm in legacy mode and kicking the can down the road to Obama's team.

Starting with the outsize and outrageous executive compensation plans and other financial gizmos of Wall Street that suck the lifeblood from corporations to feed the financial vampires and restoring responsible productivity and profit models would be a good idea.

And putting the product back in the hands of the designers and the engineers instead of bean counters who've lost their beans so they actually develop a product people will want to buy without a bazillion dollars of glitzy media advertising to brainwash 'em, that would be a good start, too. I mean, who needs DVD players on every seat rest? Or those idiot shiny object tires? I want safety, fuel efficiency, universal design....

For starters....

Update: speaking of Wall Street gizmos, Josh at Talking Points Memo points the way to this Krugman column opining that all of Wall Street and the financial industry are Madoff now.... Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is must reading...and the comments he generates are must reading as well.
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crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette