Saturday, December 06, 2008

Panic In Detroit - Thumbs Down

In the bad old days of Imperial Rome, the fate of political prisoners and gladiators was sometimes decided by a quick poll of the citizens gathered to witness the bloody spectacles at the Coliseum. If the audience cheered loudly enough to spare the prisoner, the Emperor would raise the "thumbs up" sign, thus saving the person's life and allowing them to fight again another day. If the audience voiced their disapproval and the Emperor gave a thumbs down, well, then the lions had fresh meat.

Today, Ford, GM and Chrysler similarly find themselves exhausted, depleted and at the mercy of the people as they await a thumbs up or down in our own political Coliseum. The Big Three, who are responsible for so much damage to our country and our planet, who killed the electric car, who conspired to destroy and derail clean and cheap public transportation, who have lobbied against every effort to reduce harmful vehicle emissions and fought the mandatory implementation of safety features such as airbags and safety belts, who continued to pump out gas-guzzling Hummers and SUV's in gleeful partnership with Big Oil, who sold us exploding gas tanks on Ford Pintos in the '70's and rollover death traps in the 80's, who have fought every meaningful attempt to bring fuel efficient, clean vehicles to the marketplace are pleading for their lives.

This citizen's voice joins the chorus calling for a thumbs down resounding through the halls of Congress. Or throw them a $34 billion lifeline and see how much things will really change; corporate greed doesn't die until the corporation itself dies. It's not about individual players, it's about nameless, faceless greed that rolls on steel belted wheels in the name of shareholder value and profit. Save the planet. Let the Big Three die.

"Why don't cha take the day off and try to repair
A billion others don't seem to care
Better ideas are stuck in the mud
The motor's running on Tucker's blood
Don't let them tell you the future's electric
Cuz gasoline's not measured in metric
Thirty thousand wheels a spinnin'
And oil company faces are grinnin'
And now my hands are turning red
And I found out my baby is dead"

The Big Three Killed My Baby - The White Stripes

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Public Transportation Rules!
You save on Gas, insurance, ect.
Give up your car, you will see how much easier your life will be without them.

Jenny Lens said...

I am SO glad you are so outspoken. Let the Big Three die! I read let them go into bankruptcy and be bought by people who start over. I'm all for it. BTW, my car needs work and I haven't driven more than 2 miles in nearly two years. And I only drive those 2 miles if it's raining or I have a heavy load. Some peeps DO walk in LA! Or take the bus. I still pay for insurance and wonder why. A person needs a car for back-up, but my insurance should be lowered cos I only fill my tank twice a year!

Vaginal Davis said...

Happy Birthday Miss Alice from your old Cholita sister of the clothe living in exile here in Berlin, Germany. I miss you and your young big peniled husband Jailbait and daughter Sophia Loren.i always take a peek at your blog just to gets me a taste of Sad Girl
much love and kisses
Graciela
aka Vaginal Davis
www.Vaginaldavis.com

Matt "Max" Van said...

I am glad to see you back around. I always enjoy your perspective.
I can't say I always exactly agree, but where's the fun in that, anyway?
I think the government should get into the car business. Instead of letting the big three die, nationalize 'em, then, redirect them. Bring all those outsourced jobs back home, and start producing a much greener product. Yes, that means that some wealth will be redistributed, but as should be obvious, I'm fine with that. And hey, Fannie Mae is already getting into the landlord business, so we're one step closer to socialism there, too. Yup, I'm still a pinko, but I'm amazed at how quickly it could happen...

Anonymous said...

About the thumbs up thing... they don't actually know if thumbs up was to kill or spare the defeated person.

It has been suggested thumbs up could mean thrusting the sword into the person and thus killing them, and thumbs down was sheathing the sword and sparing the defeated's life.
The resons thumbs up has a postive connotation now is because Romans enjoyed bloodshed so much killing somone was seen as entertaining and exciting inside the arena.

Anonymous said...

I just heard that GM has killed off the Pontiac brand name, along with other car-lines that typically would be geared towards moderate income and working class people, yet retained the Cadillac and Hummer lines.

Also, there's a considerable PR campaign on the part of the automobile industry to put the blame on unions and workers for their financial problems.

I shed no tears for these clowns. They're the reason this country's in trouble. They have refused to meet public demand for hybrid and electric vehicles and fought against Federal regulations of emissions and mileage standards and continue to pump out gas-guzzling parade floats for suburban egotists, all the while poisoning the planet, creating a bloodbath in the Middle East and screwing working people worldwide.

funwithphobias said...

Looks a lot like Che Guevara