Why Barack Obama's "stimulus" package won't work

Barack Obama is proposing a stimulus package designed around pumping almost one-trillion dollars of tax-payer money into the coffers of private industry in order to "save and create three million jobs" as he dumps many times that into wars.

Here are the problems with this:

Before a dime is spent big-business will suck at least one-third of this money out in the form of profits. If providing big-business with profits is the way to stimulate the economy one must ask another very fundamental question:

Big-business has had its most profitable reign in this country over the last twenty years. If profits are associated with a thriving economy in any way, shape or form--- or are in any way responsible for a healthy economy--- the American economy should be thriving beyond anyone's wildest dreams right now. So, why is the economy sinking into the worst depression in human history?

The answer is quite simple: Corporate America has sucked so much wealth out of our economy in the form of profits that big-business didn't leave anything for the rest of us. CEO's and Wall Street coupon clippers get fabulously wealthy by amassing huge huge profits from the labor of working people. The result is that most of us can no longer purchase back what has been produced.

What we have is "over-production" in the midst of massive human needs going unmet in many areas from health care and housing to food, clothing, education and public infra-structure... not to mention people who are unemployed, employed part-time and at poverty wages cannot purchase consumer goods like automobiles, stoves and refrigerators. What the heck, many people cannot even afford to heat their homes let alone pay the mortgage.

If we allow Barack Obama to now turn over another trillion dollars to these greedy titans of big-business after it has been admitted and acknowledged that the the government can't even keep track of how the present trillion dollar bailout is being spent by the Wall Street bankers, how the heck are we going to know what hundreds of big-businesses are doing with another trillion dollar "stimulus" package?

Is anyone so naive to think that there is not massive corruption going on as these greedy pigs feed at the public trough?

We have seen the massive corruption involved in just about every single government agency from Health and Human Services to the Department of Interior... not to mention the vast web of corruption associated with military and highway and infrastructure spending.

The I35-W Bridge collapse is directly attributable to this massive corruption. There is no other explanation for improper gusset plates to have been used in building a bridge that was under constant inspection by both state and federal inspectors and a bridge which was supposedly routinely "inspected." If one does not believe corruption to have been involved, how, then, do we explain that after so many inspections and even a report citing the problem nothing was done to fix the problem?

Let's get real here. We have a corrupt and lying United States Congressman, James Oberstar, looking after transportation... and he makes the boast that he is solely responsible for all the roads and highways we have in Minnesota and most of the country... the corrupt engineering firms and contractors along with the corrupt building trades unions bankroll James Oberstar to the hilt; along with the banking, mining and forestry industries.

All infrastructure work is being done by private contractors... our departments of transportation do little more than plow snow, grade gravel roads and fill a few pot-holes--- on occasion, as a trip down just about any highway or road in Minnesota demonstrates these pot-holes are only filled occasionally.

One-trillion dollars isn't even enough to fill half the potholes in this country given the present level of private corporate and governmental corruption; let alone fix-up our public schools.

Three-million jobs? No way. Not if left to the present Wall Street coupon clippers and bankers.

Think about this:

Where will this trillion dollars for Obama's "stimulus package" come from?

The answer is easy.

Obama will now borrow back the trillion dollars the tax-payers just handed over to these Wall Street bankers to finance his infrastructure program! Obviously, the bankers are not lending this money out to anyone else because they intend to lend it for big fat interest payments to Obama for his "stimulus package."

If this isn't the epitome of a "racket" I don't know what else to call it.

And, working class tax-payers are the ones being taken for a ride since the Wall Street coupon clippers "pay" capital gains taxes not income tax... and it doesn't look like these Wall Street coupon clippers will be paying much in the way of capital gains taxes for quite some time.

During the depression of the 1930's jobs were created through public works projects and programs; thus, there was little to no corruption involved... except a hungry and tired worker leaning on a shovel periodically.

But, this capitalist economy is now so far gone, and mired in corruption, that it would take no less than six to eight trillion dollars invested in public works programs just to begin to turn things around.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Secretary of Labor--- Frances Perkins--- had high hopes that creating a socialized health care program would be the catalyst of the kind of public works programs required to get our country out of a depression... this idea of socialized health care was smothered by the Wall Street crowd of business oriented right-wing Democrats and Republicans who saw in a successful socialized health care system the prelude to socializing other parts of our economy... namely banking, energy, forestry and steel... and probably agriculture.

Regionally there were massive socialized programs--- like in energy--- with the Tennessee Valley Authority... much, if not most, which has now been privatized... detrimental privatizations we, as tax-payers and consumers of energy, are paying through the nose for.

It was not the idea of socialized health care these well-heeled opponents of socialized health care were really so concerned with as they organized opposition to Roosevelt's and Perkin's socialized health care project. What was at stake is a private industry (health care) being successfully placed under public ownership which struck such fear into the capitalists and fomented such massive opposition from big-business who feared that one socialist success would lead people to conclude that socialism works better than capitalism.

It is interesting to note, that Barack Obama now raises high, once again, the banner of the "politics of pragmatism" as the means to evade the need for massive real public works programs.

Let us make no mistake; private industry working on public infrastructure as proposed by Barack Obama is not the same as public works programs and projects.

As in the 1930's era depression, again, we need to look at socialized health care as the way out to get us out of the current depression.

And make no mistake, we are now in the midst of a general break-down of the capitalist economic system... a full blown depression is at hand. This depression is only going to worsen if control is left in the hands of those who profited in the first place as this mess was coming to be.

If only the Wall Street bankers and their hand-picked politicians would have merely twiddled their thumbs rather than stick their greedy fingers in the public till and pull the strings of their political puppets we would have been better off.

The make-work programs and projects of the 1930's by the Roosevelt Administration alleviated a whole lot of misery for working people. But, these programs and projects never were intended nor designed to get the country out of the economic depression. Had it not been for World War Two which was accompanied by massive industrial production financed with massive government spending which created massive debt, our country would still be in that economic depression (unless, of course, there would have been a socialist revolution).

I don't think any sane person is looking for war as a solution to the present economic mess. But, we had better be looking for an alternative to capitalism real quick.

The time has come to consider the fact that capitalism is a system which enriches the few while leaving massive misery and problems for the many; while socialism is a system of cooperation where the problems, concerns and the needs of the many will be resolved using the wealth created by working people.

As long as we tolerate a few corporate pigs and the corrupt public officials they bring to public office to run our country things are not going to change for the better. This is only common sense.

We can already see the glow and sparkle in the eyes of these greedy Wall Street bankers and corporate CEO's as they drool waiting in line over getting their "share" of business from Obama's "stimulus package."

How much longer will we continue to allow the Wall Street coupon clippers to abscond with all the profits as the working class gets left with the problems and the mess?

The only thing Obama's "stimulus package" is going to "stimulate" is these big, fat pigs fighting over who will feed at the public trough and suck in the profits.

As usual, working people will get the bill and the problems along with what the sparrows leave behind.

No doubt a few workers will get thrown bones by Obama to keep them quiet; but, most of the working class will suffer.

If anyone doubts this, we need only look at the situation surrounding the closing of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant... all it took was the promise of a few jobs in the building trades constructing an upscale racially segregated "green community" for the corrupt leaderships of the Minnesota AFL-CIO and Change To Win to join in cahoots with the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce and the Ford Motor Company wanting to demolish the plant and send two-thousand jobs to Thailand manufacturing the popular Ford Rangers... of course, corrupt public officials in the Democratic and Republican Parties and even in the green Party were only too eager to serve their corporate masters.

To expect that Barack Obama and his "politics of pragmatism" will demonstrate any more concern for the plight of American workers than he does for the plight of the Palestinian people being slaughtered by a right-wing, warmongering, racist Israeli regime bent on expansion and control of the surrounding lands and resources is sheer stupidity. Israel intends to do to the Palestinian people what the United States government did to the American Indian... steal their land and repress and impoverish the remaining people their campaign of genocide cannot eliminate.

Do you really expect that anyone who has just been elected to the presidency of the United States on a message of "the change we need" and then sits in silence in the face of such bestial and ruthless Israeli carnage of the Palestinian people in the name of the "politics of pragmatism" really cares about anyone or anything besides the interests of the Wall street bankers and coupon clippers who comprise the military-financial-industrial complex?

Something to think about and discuss around the dinner table as you contemplate the relationship between why you can't afford to go to a doctor and Obama's shameful silence in the face of the Israeli carnage of the Palestinian people--- most of whom are working people and their families--- taking place right now in Gaza.

Then think about why we don't have the resources needed to help American workers through this economic depression with real socially useful and necessary public works programs and projects like the Roosevelt Administration undertook so successfully.

What is our financing a worthless warmongering Israeli government to slaughter innocent Palestinian people really costing you?

A job? Health care? An education? Good roads and safe bridges?

What is this campaign of carnage in Gaza "stimulating" besides more war, death, destruction and hate?

By the time we are done paying for this carnage in Gaza there isn't going to be any money left to "stimulate" anything... we would be better off if we all just took our wallets and purses out to the nearest lake and tossed them out from the end of a dock to sink.

Only a complete fool would say they are trying to stimulate the economy on the one hand while on the other hand spending much more on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and funding the Israeli carnage of the Palestinian people. We are all being played for suckers and fools.

Alan L. Maki

Barack Obama and the politics and philosophy of "pragmatism"

We now see what kind of president Barack Obama will be now that he has clearly articulated his philosophical world view as being defined by the "politics of pragmatism."

As the brutal and beastial carnage of the Palestinian people by the U.S. backed Israeli government continues, Barack Obama continues to frollick in silence on the beautiful, moonlit, sun-warmed, sandy beaches of Hawaii in complete indifference to the Gaza bloodshed.

Indifference to human suffering is a basic and fundamental hallmark of the "politics of pragmatism."

And, during this same period of continuing bloodletting in Gaza, Barack Obama and his handlers along with his sleazy apologists like those muddle-headed middle class intellectuals associated with the outfit "Progressives for Obama" have shamefully chosen this time to define Obama's politics as "the politics of pragmatism."

In the name of the "politics of pragmatism" Obama and his handlers excuse his indifference to the bloodletting taking place in Gaza.

The "politics of pragmatism" has been used to cover-up and excuse the crimes of imperialism and capitalist exploitation for over one-hundred years.

For over one-hundred years, the "politics of pragmatism" has been the official philosophy and world view (in opposition to socialism and Marxism) of the imperialist camp and the warmongers of every nation including those in the United States of America.

The muddle-headed middle class intellectuals like Carl Davidson, Tom Hayden and Bill Fletcher try to hide Obama's imperialist aims behind a cover of the "politics of pragmatism."

Just one more "inkling" that Obama will be no different from George Bush with whom he shares this imperialist world view of the "politics of prgamatism;" a philosophical world view of capitalism's "dog-eat-dog" system of competition which Obama also shares with the likes of Henry Ford, Harry Truman, Rockefellar, DuPont, George Wallace, Ronald Reagan, Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, Francisco Franco, Hirohito and the rest of the most despised exploiters, warmongers and fascists of the world.

The "politics of pragmatism" is the world outlook of choice for all the capitalist soothsayers.

Is Obama's "politics of pragmatism" the change we need?

I think not.

Should we ask the inhabitants of Gaza?

Something to think about and discuss around the dinner table.

Controversy continues to swirl around the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant

I have blogged several articles about this story making its rounds on the Internet:

How Closing Manufacturing Plants Can Be Transformed into Community-Saving Business Ventures

By Angela Walker , AlterNet. Posted November 12, 2008.


http://www.alternet.org/story/106425/


This was one of my blog postings:


http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/green-jobs.html


I have been getting numerous responses to my blog posting. Many of the people I am hearing from agree with me about using public ownership to save the Ford Plant, others do not.

First, allow me to apologize for something I published which is inaccurate along with an e-mail I received this morning.

Regarding the high-priced, upscale Lund's Supermarket next to the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant.

I made the statement that Lund's Supermarket is non-union.

I heard from four people now about this including a person in Lund's Supermarket management who assures me that Lund's Supermarket is a union store and workers are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 (UFCW). I heard from two members of UFCW Local 789 and a member of another union who first brought this concern to my attention.

I walked the strip of businesses from the Ford Plant on Ford Parkway for four days about two years ago asking people how much they made and if they were in a union.

I spoke with 13 employees of Lund's Supermarket... one butcher told me how much he made was none of my business... two were management, while the others were baggers and employees carrying groceries out for people. So, after now being informed that Lund's is union I began to wonder how it was that no one told me they were in the union when I asked them.

Then I open my e-mail this morning and I have this e-mail in my in-box from a woman who works at Lund's Supermarket which might explain some of this. She asked that I not use her name:

Mr. Maki- a friend forwarded me your blog posting. I work at the Lunds next to Fords. We do have a union if you can call it that. Most of us working here get so low wages we might as well not have a union for all the good the union does us. Let me put it to you this way my full time job at Lunds can't support a family. I have another part time job and my husband works seven days a week. It is possible that the employees you spoke to dont know they were in a union because the union wont do nothing for us. I hope the Ford plant can be saved.

I also heard from Brandon Knight who covers the Midwest for Global Exchange out of Lansing, Michigan. Brandon tells me that he is sure he can trust all information provided by Lynn Hinkle even though he never read S.F. 607 nor does he know if UAW Local 879 has ever informed its membership that they are part of this "ARISE" coalition. As an explanation as to why the twenty or so students from the local college, McAllister University, working through Global Exchange never bothered to ask the past or present workers at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant what they wanted to see happen, Brandon explained that the students weren't aware they should or needed to do this. Brandon chalks up all the inaccuracies in the story to Angela Walker being a volunteer reporter.

Brandon also insists that the proposal for this new green community that ARISE is advocating does not call for the demolition of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant even though he can't explain how this new "green" development can be constructed with the plant not being removed.

Nor can Brandon Knight explain why Global Exchange did not get behind the effort to push S.F. 607 through the Minnesota State Legislature.

I spoke with Angela Walker, also, she cannot explain how it is that she did not report the fate of S.F. 607 having been defeated in committee long, long before her story was written.

With this out of the way, let's look at the issue about this article originating from Global Exchange and disseminated by Alternet.org and spread all over by organizations like "Progressives for Obama" headed up by Carl Davidson, Tom Hayden and Bill Fletcher, Jr. who is also aware of the developing movement to save the Ford Plant through public ownership.

I would point out that Carl Davidson went ahead and posted this article knowing that there were problems with this article since he has been kept fully informed of the developments around the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant--- but, Davidson went ahead and posted this article anyways on the "Progressives for Obama" web site. What motivated him to post it is for Davidson to explain... perhaps simply because it fit in with the kind of skewed and convoluted progressivism he advocates on behalf of Barack Obama, I don't know.

I am glad to hear from so many people no matter what their views because I think that discussion is healthy and controversy helps to build movements with people bringing forward all kinds of ideas.

My primary concern in writing what I did centers on one specific paragraph written by Angela Walker of Global Exchange:

"Yet something unusual is in the works that could change the future of this 140-acre manufacturing site and convert it into a model for green manufacturing. A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site. The ARISE project is currently being considered by the Minnesota Legislature under Senate File 607 as a way to transition workers into a mixed-use facility for green manufacturing."

This paragraph, as I am sure everyone will agree, is the crux of this entire article. If there is anything not true in this paragraph, the entire pretext for writing this article is obviously flawed.

Now, I don't know if Angela Walker set out to intentionally write an article intended to mislead her readers... only she can explain if she did this or not.

Nor do I know if someone put her up to writing an article filled with misinformation.

Nor do I know if Lynn Hinkle used this group, Global Exchange, to promote misinformation.

One thing for certain though, I haven't heard an explanation from Lynn Hinkle even though I sent him everything I wrote.

Let me go through this paragraph once more, point by point, so we all understand exactly what is at issue:

"Yet something unusual is in the works that could change the future of this 140-acre manufacturing site and convert it into a model for green manufacturing. A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site. The ARISE project is currently being considered by the Minnesota Legislature under Senate File 607 as a way to transition workers into a mixed-use facility for green manufacturing."

If any of the following is actually true, yes, something unusual is definitely in the works:

"Yet something unusual is in the works that could change the future of this 140-acre manufacturing site and convert it into a model for green manufacturing."

But, is this statement true: "A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site."

Is UAW Local 879 part of this coalition? If it is, none of the elected leaders will own up to it. And for good reason they will not own up to this even if it is true. The elected leaders of UAW Local 879 have a responsibility to work to protect the jobs of the members first and foremost. The elected union leaders never even bothered to inform the members of Local 879 that the Ford Motor Company had taken the profits made from working them ten hour days and invested those profits building a new Ford Ranger plant in Thailand. And, Lynn Hinkle and Global Exchange have omitted this one small detail as did Angela Walker in her article.

In fact, it was Lynn Hinkle who pushed for ten-hour days at this plant in the name of "green manufacturing." Any progressive union leader would have pushed to shorten the work week to thirty or thirty-two hours with forty hours pay so employment could be created for more workers... anyone who thinks ten hour days working in this factory or any other factory can be construed as "progress" has never worked in a factory. There is a reason the working class in this country led the international struggle for the eight-hour day.

Isn't it nice to go around advocating the building of nice new green communities built at the expense of the present workers losing their jobs! All in the name of "green."

Before I go any further, for the record, let it be noted that S.F. 607 was killed in Committee over a year before Angela Walker wrote her article for Global Exchange which is now being distributed by Alternet.org and posted on a myriad of web sites and blogs like "Progressives for Obama."

It is kind of strange and it would seem to me difficult to explain how this "ARISE" coalition could be now claiming to be working with the very same legislators who killed S.F. 607.

And, anyone taking the time to read S.F. 607 clearly sees that the unambiguous language of S.F. 607 is in complete contradiction to what this "ARISE" coalition is pushing for as S.F. 607 clearly calls for keeping the plant and hydro dam intact as an industrial unit; in no way, shape or form can anyone--- not even Lynn Hinkle--- twist S.F. 607 to mean that this plant should be demolished and replaced with some kind of "green community."

In fact, if it is a "green community" that "ARISE" wants to create in an urban environment; why don't they choose a run-down, dilapidated, rat-infested slum area of the Twin Cities of which there are many areas far larger than the 140 acres the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is located on to construct their new "green community"--- where the creation of such a visionary community would actually do people some good.

But alas, here is part of a letter from the former Secretary-Treasurer of UAW Local 879 to me:

Alan Maki. I have been reading some of the Green Party propaganda you have been been espousing. These types of attacks lend no credibility to your cause by accusing good people of bad things. Your accusations against Senator Metzen are both untrue and uncalled for. Jim has had a long standing relationship with the UAW which continued with his full support of our Ford Plant Legislation that called for the Fo Mo Co to keep TCAP in saleble condition for a period of 2 years after its' closing. This bill would have given us time to find other manufacturers to take over the property and keep good paying jobs in St Paul. If you had asked I would have told you our legislation was doomed because of pressure the St Paul Building Trades put on legislators to oppose our bill. Their goal, although shortsited, was to create short term building trades jobs by tearing down our plant and building condos. The St Paul Mayor was a huge ally of theirs in shooting down our bill. Other Senators who helped us were Tomassoni and Sparks. The true culprits were all Republicans on the committee - Bonoff, who is running for Congress in the 3rd district, and Saltzman. Murphy and Bakk got up and left the hearing just before the vote.My point is please refrain from attacking Senator Metzen. He is a good freind of the UAW and our family of members.

Bob Killeen Secretary-Treasurer UAW Local 879

First of all, does this sound like someone representing a union local who would now be pushing "green?"

Second, why didn't UAW Local 879 form a massive coalition with community organizations, church groups and other unions to get S.F. 607 pushed through the Minnesota Legislature? This is a question requiring an answer to; and why does the leadership of UAW Local 879 continue to drag its feet on such an initiative while this plant is still operating? One might ask Lynn Hinkle why he has not sought to develop nation-wide support for such an undertaking as he now makes presentations across the country on "greening" what is left of America's industrial base." Presentations that Brandon Knight of Global Exchange is so enamored with that he will take every word uttered by Lynn Hinkle as the gospel truth.

This was my response to Robert Killeen:

Brother Killeen;



Thanks for this letter. I was by your office several times to talk about this vote. You weren’t in.



I am sorry about any confusion. I do not take back anything I have said about Senator Metzen.



I did not “accuse” anyone of “bad things.” I simply have written and spoken based upon information I received from Senator Metzen’s office. I sent several e-mails, made numerous phone calls; and stopped at Senator Metzen’s office twice before I ever wrote or spoke a single word to anyone about this. I can asure you, if there is any confusion it is of Senator Metzen’s own making.



Since I notice this e-mail from you was not Cc’ed to Senator Metzen I have not sent it to him. You may send it to him if you chose; or with your permission I will forward this entire correspondence to him.



You should also know that two members of Senator Metzen’s staff have contacted me claiming that I am not telling the truth. Again, I asked them to provide me with minutes from this hearing which would clarify things. They refused. And I am not going to go through the trouble of suing a State Senator to obtain records which should be public and provided to the public upon request to begin with.



In fact, Metzen’s Committee is overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats… all of whom your local has supported.



I have in fact noted numerous times Senator Tomassoni’s support for this important legislation; in fact, the record of this hearing clearly shows that he was the one and only Democrat to support this legislation… The record clearly shows one thing: Tomassoni moved for support of this proposed legislation and the record states the motion failed. If you have any written record of the proceedings from Sen. Metzen’s Committee Hearing in question to substantiate what you are now saying, please provide me with the official minutes of this hearing as recorded by the Committee Clerk/Secretary. The only Senator’s name I find in writing from the minutes of this hearing, such as they are, is that Senator Tomassoni was the lone, sole supporter of this legislation. This is based upon the records I received from Senator Metzen’s own Legislative Assistant.



I have charged that the minutes of this particular Senate Hearing were probably kept in such a shoddy fashion so that no one would be able to tell from reading the minutes what went on in this hearing. If this is the case it raises an even larger issue which goes right to the heart of attempting to subvert democracy and the right of people to expect honest and open government from those whom they elect. Again, I stated all of this in an e-mail to Senator Metzen to which he never responded.



I find it strange that, at this late date, you are providing an account of this Senate Hearing that the clerk should have noted in the official minutes from the hearing at the time she provided me with the minutes.



Please feel free to request that Senator Metzen provide you with all correspondence I made with his office and that which was sent to me. I give him the right to release all such documents to you provided he releases everything without any omissions.



For the record, I have not been espousing any “Green Party propaganda.” Nor do I support the Green Party, even though I am strongly leaning towards supporting who I consider to be the best Democrat in the Presidential race, Cynthia McKinney; who, as you know was forced from Congress largely by the same grouping of business oriented Democrats who are pushing for the closing of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant.



The St. Paul mayor you refer to is a Democrat. Representative Paymar is a Democrat. Murphy is a Democrat. Rod Skoe is a Democrat.



There is something seriously wrong with a Democrat who you say is a big supporter of the UAW when he is the Chair of the Committee and he can not control his own Caucus members when it comes to such an important vote. In fact, the UAW has supported every single DFL member of this Committee. I do not have to draw any conclusions from this; the facts speak for themselves.



I have worked in the Democratic Party in several states over a period of some thirty years--- since I could vote, in fact; never have I seen such betrayal except over these “Compacts” creating casinos sending 20,000 Minnesotans to jobs in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any of the rights your own members enjoy protected under state or federal labor laws.



You can call me when ever you like about any issue or concern you have; I have been to the Plant often. I have left every leaflet I have distributed at the Plant at your office.



I am a member of the Minnesota DFL State Central Committee, not a member of the Green Party. You will not find anything that I have written contrary to this. In no way, shape, or form have I distributed anything in the nature of “Green Party propaganda;” nor anything which approximates such.



I do not understand how you can say the “The true culprits were all Republicans on the committee…” when all the evidence in the minutes of the meeting as recorded by the clerk of the Committee clearly shows it was Democrats who are the culprits. In fact, even if all Republicans had refused to attend the hearing and refrain from voting, the Democrats would not have voted for this legislation.



Again, what I write and what I say is based upon the minutes I received from Senator Metzen’s own Legislative Assistant.



In fact, the building trades unions provide Metzen with more campaign contributions than does the UAW. I am very concerned about the role of the building trades unions in all of this; however, I know from experience that their position on this issue can easily be reversed should your local clearly articulate the issue involved here in a way that people understand. If you choose to do this, by the time you are done, the building trades leaders will be hanging their heads in shame; seen by everyone as very pathetic as they pander for jobs by taking away the jobs of other working people.



I have tried to speak with Senator Metzen about this prior to the Committee Hearing, the day after the Committee Hearing, and as recent as yesterday. Senator Metzen, if he is concerned about anything that I am saying or writing can call me, sit down and talk with me, or send me an e-mail just as you have done.



I would be more than happy to sit down with you and Senator Metzen to discuss where we go from here.



I talked with Senator Cohen’s Legislative Assistants on several occasions, including yesterday; she tells me Senator Cohen plans no further legislative action. This is not right that the Democrats are dropping the ball in trying to save the Ford Plant.



As long as this Plant is still standing this will not be a “done deal” no matter how loudly the proverbial fat lady sings. Working people never give up, and working people never give in to corporate domination and greed; if they do, they lose.



If the Democrats snooze; working people lose. If the Democrats acquiesce, working people lose. There needs to be accountability here; there is no accountability; not from Senator Metzen, not from Representative Paymar; not even from Ron Gettelfinger or Bob King.



I would encourage you to invite the leadership of the Minnesota DFL and all DFL legislators and the U.S. Senate candidates to tour the plant with you so they know exactly what is at stake; and, encourage them to talk with rank and file workers about what a job means to a worker and his/her family. I think one of the very big problems is that most of the politicians with the power to save this Plant are so far removed from the life of working class families and their daily struggles to survive that they can look the other way, and then later say, “I didn’t know.”



I would also encourage you to insist that the Minnesota DFL take a position in support of public ownership of this plant; there is simply no other way to save it. This is not a “far out idea” as some of those looking for excuses to take the wrecking ball to this plant have stated. Public ownership has been very successfully used as a tool by the labor movement to save plants and jobs all over the world, including in Canada… the huge bus plant in Winnipeg being one very good example. I would also encourage you to talk with Bob King and Ron Gettelfinger about supporting public ownership of this plant… we can’t do any worse than the legislation which failed.



WE haven’t even explored the possibility of a joint China-Minnesota government venture to save this plant. Why not? Your Local supported Mark Dayton, you mean to tell me that Mark Dayton can not broach this issue with the Chinese; the Chinese aren’t afraid of public ownership. What about George Lattimore? Your local supported him for years; he has all kinds of connections in China.



As long as we are talking about some differences of opinion we may have over this entire matter of what happened in Metzen’s Committee where this legislation was defeated; I am of the opinion that you should have mobilized your entire membership including those working and those retired to turn out for this hearing in support of this legislation since you knew there was going to be strenuous opposition. Large numbers do not always assure legislative victories over the well-heeled, corrupt Summit Hill crowd; however, it never hurts to bring along a great big crowd… your dad must have agreed with this concept as he was a big supporter of the demonstrations aimed at closing down the Schools of the Americas… something that really should be shut down.



Yes, close the “School of the Americas”--- this killing machine--- and fund the continuing operation of the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant; tax-payers would be the real winners and humanity would be the better for it.



I think if we sat down and talked about all of this and tried to work out a common strategy aimed at saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant we would be further ahead.



In case you missed my letter to the editor in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on saving the Plant (Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007; Page OP 4), here it is:



Your excellent editorial (Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007) on saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant missed one important point.

For all practical purposes there is little chance of saving this plant unless it is brought under public ownership; free enterprise has failed to save the plant and the jobs.

Tax-payers already have a huge investment in this plant. More tax-dollars should be invested to save this plant and these important manufacturing jobs.

What tax-payers finance they should own.

Minnesota legislators have a fiduciary responsibility to see to it that this plant survives through public ownership.

Alan L. Maki

Warroad, Minnesota



Our approach to saving the Ford Plant is that we are willing to work with anyone and everyone towards this end; this includes you, your local, the Greens, the Democrats, the Reds, Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists and those who have no party or organizational affiliations at all.



Saving this Plant is an issue dear to many, many Minnesotans; not only the members of your local.



As a result of my activities I have had people contacting me from all over Minnesota, the country, Canada and other parts of the world wanting to know how they can help. Just last week I heard from an eighty-seven year old former St. Paul resident, now retired and living in Arizona, who broke down and cried when she told me what this plant meant to her family and her family’s friends--- a lifetime of a decent life won through struggle. And our conversation ended with her saying: “Why did our families fight so hard; just to end up losing it all.”



We are working with very limited resources in order to encourage dialogue, debate and discussion on this issue while working towards creating the greatest possible unity on this issue; it is not my intent to burn any bridges; I would much rather build bridges of open communication… towards these ends I would be happy to sit down and discuss this issue with you, Senator Metzen and any other interested parties, and adjust tactics as called for.



I will be in the Cities early next week if you would like to meet.



Yours in the struggle to save the Ford Plant through public ownership,



Alan



Alan L. Maki

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

The paragraph in question goes on to state:

A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site.

First of all, Lynn Hinkle, Leo Gerard, President of the United Steel Workers, and none other than top-dog environmentalist, Carl Pope who heads up the Sierra Club, have all assured us that the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is a certifiable green manufacturing operation and the largest green industrial manufacturing operation in the world which is powered by, according to Carl Pope, "clean, green, hydro."

So, one has to ask, "Why would this "coalition" want to demolish the largest, greenest manufacturing operation in existence in the world and "design a green manufacturing site?" Should not these "environmentalists" be interested in fighting to keep this plant in operation and saving two-thousand jobs while bringing those environmentalists from all over the world to see that green manufacturing in a huge industrial operation is really possible?

One would think that this ARISE "coalition" (if there is really even such a coalition) would choose a more appropriate manufacturing facility to turn "green." Perhaps they should take a look at Alliant Tech and how they could turn a war industry "green;" "swords into ploughshares."

In closing I would just like to point out what most people already know; fighting against these huge corporations for what is right and to save jobs is a very difficult struggle.

Organizations like Global Exchange should understand that struggling against these global capitalist giants requires more than a vision.

Winning requires the building of real coalitions focused on solving real problems impacting the lives of real living, breathing human beings.

Saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and two-thousand jobs is a struggle which can be won.

I find it very interesting that those groups bringing forward such sweeping visions for change are so focused on demanding of the rest of us that we pause from our daily struggles for justice to share their vision of what they think our vision should be, that they remain on the sidelines of the real struggles of the people for justice and dignity.

Lynn Hinkle and Global Exchange are entitled to their visions of "green communities," but, the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is located in a residential community which includes very good housing, there are all the shopping and amenities one would want and expect in such a "green community;" all anchored with a modern public library, a huge Planned Parenthood facility, doctor's offices, restaurants... all situated along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi River with beautiful huge parks part of the landscape where people fish, swim and lay in the sun; and most importantly, the people of this community and of the Twin Cities and people from all over Minnesota understand how important saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is to saving all of this.

There might be a more diverse, greener community in America than the Highland Park community of St. Paul, but I don't know where.

Why would the advocates of "green communities" not want to fight and struggle to save this very important model of a "green community?"

The "vision" of the "green community" is here. All that Global Exchange members and others have to do is wake up from their dreams and open their eyes and the community they are talking about is before them... it just needs to be saved from the wrecking ball the real-estate speculators can't wait to bring in.

The problem is this: "free enterprise" has failed to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant. Public ownership of this plant is the only alternative.

Now, it is time to take real concrete action to save this plant.

We have been working diligently with very limited resources to save this Plant; and, in the process, save an existing model green community.

The Ford Motor Company should not be allowed to sell pick-up trucks in the United States if they do not keep this Plant open. Congress can see to that. It is time for James Oberstar to shut his big mouth for once and put action behind his words. We are sick and tired of hearing him talk about, "Jobs, jobs, jobs" as miners on the Iron Range and auto workers in the Twin Cities continue to lose their jobs by the tens of thousands.

Outfits like Global Exchange and the Campaign for America's Future should put up the resources to organize a real fight to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant. The UAW needs to flex its muscle and we need to ask where the AFL-CIO has been hiding out as this plant goes down.

Certainly John Sweeney understands the difficulty of such struggles and the resources required to wage such a struggle if we are going to save jobs. Let Sweeney put some money and resources where his mouth is, too.

John Sweeney knows something about "arm-twisting" when it comes to politics even if the president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the leaders of Local 789 do not... let the "arm-twisting" begin starting with Democratic Minnesota State Senator James Metzen who Chairs the powerful Committee on Business, Industry and Jobs... modify S.F. 607 to ten years to give this all a chance to work as we go through the hoops to bring the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant under public ownership.

The hydro dam should be placed under public ownership immediately and without any further delay. The Ford Motor Company should have to pay their electric bill just like the rest of us do. Excess power should be provided to the public schools for free.

It makes no sense to demolish a perfectly good factory.

Who is Lynn Hinkle and Global Exchange expecting to bank-roll their vision of an alternative "green community?" You got it, tax-payers, of course. Tax-payers who still owe millions for refurbishing the hydro dam and building the UAW-Ford-MnScu Training Center and who have subsidized Ford's production--- even to the extent of paying wages and for training its employees who they now want to throw out on the street.

It is almost a joke to have to win the battle to convince politicians that public ownership is the only feasible alternative left to saving this plant because the entire operation of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant has been so thoroughly subsidized by the public already who have picked up the tab repeatedly for any of the problems while the Ford Motor Company has walked off with all the profits including enough profits to build new plants in Thailand, Brazil and China.

Former leader of the Minnesota Senate, Democrat Roger Moe, while campaigning for governor declared that the tax-payer subsidies he had pushed through the state legislature assured continued operation of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant "for the next seventy-five years." Well, Ford no longer wants to keep this Plant in production so legislators should take the appropriate action to bring the plant under public ownership--- workers at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant assure me that they don't mind getting a pay-check signed by the Governor of Minnesota.

Not only are we talking about saving a model green community here built around what has become a model of green manufacturing... we are talking about creating a model for saving America's industrial base which includes first and foremost the auto and steel industries... after all, isn't this the direction real progressives claim they want to see our country move towards?

In conclusion I quote the final sentence of the paragraph in question:

"The ARISE project is currently being considered by the Minnesota Legislature under Senate File 607 as a way to transition workers into a mixed-use facility for green manufacturing."

I think I have explained that this is an outright lie. Why would any politician put forward S.F. 607 if they were working with this "ARISE" coalition to demolish the Plant?

If, in fact, such a scheme is taking place, let us all here the complete details, including who is involved so that everyone can take part in the decision-making process for a change.

In closing, let me point out one very important fact:

At one time the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant was one of the dirtiest most unhealthy workplaces in the world. There were no homes or other businesses located anywhere near this plant.

From the inside of this plant the workers fought like hell to force better working conditions and for a better working environment against a money-grubbing greedy employer motivated only out of profit while outside the plant the community fought tooth and nail to force the Ford Motor Company to clean up its act; often the struggles of the workers and the community merged as labor and the community came together to fight this huge corporate giant.

As conditions in and around the plant began to improve an entire community, the community of Highland Park, sprung into existance around this plant... until today the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and the entire Highand Park community in the City of St. Paul is a very liveable community and the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is one of the more decent places for human beings to work--- all of this a product of successful struggles of workers and the community against a corporate giant... struggles which many predicted would fail... the people won some very important battles... now comes the greatest challenge of all, to protect what THE PEOPLE have created, a truly complete green community; today, the struggle which continues is over ownership and control of what has been created from the struggles of the past.

Karl Marx observed that all history is the history of class struggle... need we say more.

Just something for everyone to think about as you re-read this article by Angela Walker written for Global Exchange and distributed by Alternet.org:


http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/green-jobs.html

http://www.alternet.org/story/106425/

How Closing Manufacturing Plants Can Be Transformed into Community-Saving Business Ventures

By Angela Walker , AlterNet. Posted November 12, 2008.

Ford's oldest plant in operation, which is set to close in 2011 will be the epitome of the changes to come.


Hit hard by the slowdown in the marketplace and higher fuel prices, Ford Motor Company recently experienced its largest quarterly loss in its 105-year history. With people evacuating their fuel-inefficient vehicles, Ford is experiencing its delayed rude awakening about the unsustainability of an auto industry geared towards producing pickups and sport utility vehicles. Despite plans to introduce six small cars made in Europe to the U.S. market, Ford today announced another 10 percent reduction in salaried payroll costs and will cut as many as 2,200 salaried jobs by January.

The oldest Ford plant still in operation -- the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. Paul, Minnesota -- will be the epitome of the changes to come. With plans to shut down in 2011, an additional 900 jobs will be lost in a plant that used to employ 2,000 workers. Communities throughout the state have already experienced the brunt of the country's economic downturn, Minnesota having lost 50,000 manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2006 alone, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

"We're just hemorrhaging," states former United Auto Worker (UAW) official, Lynn Hinkle, who retired over a year ago from a 30-year career at the Twin Cities Ford plant.

Yet something unusual is in the works that could change the future of this 140-acre manufacturing site and convert it into a model for green manufacturing. A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site. The ARISE project is currently being considered by the Minnesota Legislature under Senate File 607 as a way to transition workers into a mixed-use facility for green manufacturing.

ARISE is re-envisioning how people look at industry, which historically has collided with the environmental movement. Their reindustrialization plans serve as an opportunity for industry to play a key role in the green economy.

"It is becoming increasingly clear to people in the union movement that our job security is dependent upon the new energy economy," states Hinkle. "If you're about family sustaining jobs, you have to connect global warming solutions and jobs otherwise you're going to have neither."

Ford's current training center would be converted into a green jobs training program for onsite wind turbine manufacturing and installation, and light rail car production. A plan to expand the light rail system is in the works to reach out to surrounding, traditionally low-income communities, which have been working with ARISE on the reindustrialization plans.

The Ford plant, located on the Mississippi River, is already connected to a hydroelectric system, which produces 18 megawatts of hydropower, and has powered the plant for over 80 years. Additionally, there exists a maze of tunnels onsite that were originally dug out for silica, used in making glass for windshields. These tunnels may be used for ground-source heating.

"We believe there's enough green energy sources on site to go totally noncarbon," says Hinkle.

With 140 acres, the coalition has the space to get creative with its envisioning and holistic approach. Businesses would be brought in to develop retail shops on the lower levels of buildings with affordable, residential units above. Walkways up and over the buildings would connect rooftop restaurants and bars to urban gardens with beautiful views of the Mississippi River. To connect the shops to the light rail, small electric vehicles would be produced onsite.

Throughout the last century, manufacturing jobs and industry have played a significant role in the growth of cities and development of communities by providing families with low entry-level jobs. Communities cannot afford to continue experiencing the off-shoring of their manufacturing jobs, especially during the current economic downturn. ARISE's plan is to develop this site as a prototype for turning brown fields, or old industrial grounds, into green manufacturing sites to support green jobs and sustainable community development.

Student group Summer of Solutions -- in partnership with economic justice organization, Global Exchange -- sees the future of their generation invested in this project.

"If we're going to build the green economy, we have to start here," says McAllister graduate Joseph Adamji. "The green jobs movement and the whole idea of shifting and expanding economic opportunity are to make social changes happen. As much as this project is about the Ford site, we need to use it as a model for how we develop communities, intentionally and sustainably."

City planners hope to see this space used as a central hub for sustainability projects for St. Paul and beyond.

"We could redevelop old manufacturing cities like Detroit and bring economic opportunities and prosperity," states Adamji. "We're trying to say that industry can play a role in the green economy."

Decarbonize, reindustrialize, equalize, is what ARISE is saying. The new energy economy can be used to battle lagging economic opportunities and social inequity. ARISE hopes to inspire communities -- from Flint, Michigan to Richmond, California -- to decide how they want to develop a new sense of community. Reindustrialization can be part of this process by formulating ways to generate green energy, mass transit, higher density and energy efficient buildings, and affordable housing.

"This is an opportunity to change the landscape literally and figuratively," says Hinkle. "What a great basis to rebuild the union movement. It's an opportunity for the green union movement to emerge, where unions can stand center stage and create aspirations for our entire society."



Angela Walker is the media director for Global Exchange.

Canadians are fed up with the Conservatives...

Green jobs

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Maki [mailto:amaki000@centurytel.net]

Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 12:40 PM

To: 'David Shove'; 'WCS-A@yahoogroups.com'; 'ddepass@startribune.com'; 'Randy Furst'

Cc: 'angela@globalexchange.org'; 'sen.david.tomassoni@senate.mn'; 'rep.dave.olin@house.mn'; 'rep.tom.anzelc@house.mn'; 'rep.bill.hilty@house.mn'; 'rep.maryellen.otremba@house.mn'; 'rep.tom.Rukavina@house.mn'; 'rep.tony.sertich@house.mn'; 'Joan Vanhala'; 'Jennifer@headwatersfoundation.org'; 'joan@metrostability.org'; 'Lynn Hinkle'; 'Chris Spotted Eagle'; 'Christine Frank'; 'info@jamesmayer.org'; 'info@jamesmayer.org'; 'info@peoplestribune.org'; 'info@autoworkercaravan.org'; 'info@insightnews.com'; 'djrie@visi.com'; 'mzweig@notes.cc.sunysb.edu'; 'rachleff@macalester.edu'; 'Charles Underwood'

Subject: Re: H.I.R.E., Global Exchange, ARISE, Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant

David,

I found it interesting saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is not even mentioned in this posting in your “Progressive Calendar” by its organizers. Nor is support for Senate File 607 mentioned.

I find all of this very alarming, especially seeing as how the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability has been working in league with Lynn Hinkle and Global Exchange using Alternet.org to disseminate false and very misleading information.

Since the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and Global Exchange are working to get the Ford Plant demolished under the guise of projecting a new “green” community in place of the Ford Plant in what appears to be simply a front working on behalf of the Ford Motor Company as the pretext to taking the wrecking ball to the plant I have very little confidence that this H.I.R.E. Minnesota is anything other than one more front for the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party’s arm controlled by the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, the insurance industry and a bunch of greedy contractors waiting to get their money-grubbing fingers in the trough, again.

I think the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability has a lot of nerve and gall claiming to be advocating for creating and saving millions of jobs when they can’t even convince their Democratic friends in the Minnesota state legislature to pass S.F. 607 to save the two-thousand jobs of workers at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant as Ford took the wealth created by these workers and built a new Ranger plant in Thailand.

And, as far as energy is concerned, ARISE, the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and Global Exchange have been completely silent when it comes to the future of the hydro dam that tax-payers have subsidized to the hilt which has powered the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant since it was built with power left over for the Ford Motor Company to sell and profit from rather than supplying this electricity for the cities and public schools--- I guess we should tremble at the thought of public institutions not having to pay for the same electricity the Ford Motor Company received for free.

At some point, these promoters of these conferences are going to have to be held accountable to the working people of Minnesota and the Twin Cities not to the philanthropists providing them with funding to support Obama’s meaningless platitudes.

Here is the article being distributed by Global Exchange via alternet.org and others like “Progressives for Obama.”

http://www.alternet.org/story/106425/

Outright lies and misinformation. As anyone knows, the only intent of S.F. 607 is to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and hydro dam intact as an industrial unit. S.F. 607 is not about destroying the plant or any part of it to create this “pie-in-the-sky” vision of what a “green community” is.

Half the businesses and even the banks in this community are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy as it is and these people want to bring in competition to drive the existing small businesses out. It makes no sense at all.

Does anyone really believe the vision of these people is to create a “new green economy and community” by taking the wrecking ball to a perfectly sound and usable plant and that new factories are going to be built in its place? No. The Ford Motor Company and land developers are using these fairy-tales pushed by the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and Global Exchange as the cover to take the wrecking ball to the plant after which they will proceed as intended to build their high-rise upscale and racially segregated housing.

What the heck, neither the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability nor Global Exchange have been anywhere to be seen as people in St. Paul and Minneapolis are victims of home foreclosures and evictions, leaving thousands of homes vacant and unoccupied for years now as they deteriorate and rot.

Or that these people will fight for real living wage jobs when over two thousand poverty paid workers are presently employed within a six-block area immediately adjacent to the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant with its nearest business neighbor the upscale, high-priced Lund’s Supermarket which pays its employees a miserly minimum wage right across from UAW Local’s hall and not one single step has been taken to organize Lund’s employees?

To top it off, Barack Obama came to the Twin Cities and was so arrogant he didn’t even mention the plight of the workers who will be losing their jobs if the Ford Motor Company has its way… I guess workers need to occupy the plant to save it if they want to get Obama’s attention.

In fact, the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and Global Exchange are so arrogant that they are proceeding with these forums and bringing forward their grand schemes of new green communities without so much as even asking those employed at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant what it is they want. Apparently they know the answer they will get will not be pleasing to the ears of the philanthropists funding their little think tanks to come up with these hair-brained schemes.

As far as “tax-breaks,” no corporation in Minnesota has received more tax-breaks than the Ford Motor Company in the name of creating a green manufacturing operation with the promise that the plant and the jobs would stay… one would think that the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and Global Exchange would be organizing in the community to force politicians to coerce the Ford Motor Company to keep its promises rather than abscond with the profits to Thailand.

To what extent any of these other organizations are willing participants in undermining the struggle to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant behind mobilizing people into supporting more calls inviting other corporations to perpetrate the same fraud on tax-payers that the Ford Motor Company is being allowed to get away with needs to be explored.

Certainly many of the other organizations must not be aware of the struggles for equality which have been won over the years that are “people’s investment” in and of themselves… for where else in the Twin Cities can people of color and women find such jobs where they receive equal pay for equal work and most all known institutionalized discriminatory barriers against people of color and women in the workplace have ended.

Finally, workers fought long and hard for the eight hour day. Workers at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant were forced to accept ten-hour days four days a week often forced into five, six, and even seven day work weeks by management working under conditions of brutal speed-up as the precondition for this plant remaining in operation. Working under such conditions takes a brutal toll on the human body hard for anyone to imagine who has not had to endure such terms of employment. But, workers needed these jobs to survive and they put their bodies and their families through this ordeal with the understanding their jobs would be secure.

Outfits like the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and Global Exchange owe it to Ford Workers and the community they are trying to influence to struggle with the rest of us to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant rather than running these types of diversions around this important issue.

Ironically these outfits like Global Exchange have been touting a dubious and very questionable “fact” that they are working in alliance and coalition with UAW Local 879 when in fact a number of the officers of this local viciously attacked me only recently for “distributing green propaganda” at the plant.

I think we need to find out why the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and Global Exchange did not get their members in motion to organize a massive push to get Senate File 607 through the Senate Committee on Business, Industry and Jobs dominated by their Democratic Party friends including committee chair, Senator James Metzen who had an eleven to seven Democratic majority and Senator David Tomassoni’s motion to move it out of Committee failed.

I, like many others, are now curious as to how these people now say they are working in coalition with UAW Local 879 in support of their new green vision under the aegis of S.F. 607?

Does anyone know of any discussion at a UAW Local 879 meeting authorizing the local to work in coalition to demolish this plant and destroy these jobs… workers at the plant who I have spoken to know nothing about their union participating in such dirty deeds… but then again they went to work everyday thinking the sacrifices they--- and tax-payers made--- assured them of job security… never did they think their own leaders would refuse to tell them that the Ford Motor Company was building a new Ranger Plant in Thailand with the wealth they created only to put them out of a job onto the street.

And, I don’t quite understand how it is that these student “organizers” with Global Exchange and their “coalition,” ARISE, have operated at a Macalester College under the watchful eyes of Peter Rachleff a labor historian and activist without getting any counsel.

Anyways, perhaps someone attending this conference will discuss some of these concerns. And perhaps Global Exchange will have the moral courage to admit that the information they provided concerning S.F 607 was just plain wrong and not true… perhaps due to shoddy journalism, perhaps motivated by something more sinister.

It is unfortunate that the struggle to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant got off to a bad start with a big-shot from the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Mark Froemke, proclaiming this was all a done deal and nothing could be done. Since people rejected this defeatist attitude, now we have to contend with the fairy-tale illusions being brought forward about how we need to demolish a certified green plant to make way for some kind of Disneyland/Epcott Center sci-fi community imagined in one of Lynn Hinkle’s extraordinary dreams which he hawks from conference to conference as plant after plant closes and gets demolished smothering more jobs in the debris.

Alan Maki


As posted to David Shove's "Progressive Calendar"

--------3 of 15--------

From: Maura Brown and Jennifer Jimenez-Wheatley

Subject: Green jobs December 16 @ 6:30pm

Alliance for Metropolitan Stability

How do you grow the economy and ensure thousands of JOBS for Minnesotans? H.I.R.E Minnesota (Healthcare, Infrastructure, and Renewable Energy)

Town Hall Meeting

Tuesday, December 16

6:30-8:00 pm

Minneapolis Urban League

2100 Plymouth Avenue N, Minneapolis, MN 55411


As America rebuilds its economy, green industries will be a major factor in creating jobs and refueling our economic growth:

* Governor Tim Pawlenty wants $3.65 million in tax breaks for companies investing in Minnesota green jobs from 2010-2011

* President-elect Barack Obama wants 10 percent of electricity to come from energy-efficient sources by 2010 and 1 million homes in low-income neighborhoods

It makes sense! Smart green investments in infrastructure will

* JUMP-START our ECONOMY,

* CREATE and PRESERVE millions of JOBS

* REDUCE our OIL DEPENDENCY and

* EASE the CLIMATE CRISIS

JOIN the conversation!! BE Heard! BE Involved!

Come and learn about green collar jobs and local construction opportunities in our communities Light dinner will be served and there will be musical entertainment RSVP online to let the Alliance know you're coming

H.I.R.E. Minnesota is a coalition of community groups led by the Summit Academy OIC (SAOIC). Coalition members include: American Indian OIC, East Metro OIC, Anishinabe OIC, Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota, Minnesota Baptist Convention, Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, Stairstep, ISAIAH, Insight News. For more information on the campaign, read the recent article in the Insight News.

Maura Brown and Jennifer Jimenez-Wheatley
Alliance for Metropolitan Stability
2525 E Franklin Avenue, Suite 200
Minneapolis, MN 55406


Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Discussion with an advocate of tax-payers bailing out the auto industry

I received this e-mail from Jane Cassady in Detroit from several different people in Michigan. I responded... this is our correspondence:



Jane,

You wrote:

Mr. Maki,

I don't know who you are or why you are writing me, but as much as I may agree in principle to much of what you said, living in Detroit and seeing the suffering of working families might jar your ideology a bit. The failure of this "bailout" is utterly anti-union and the suffering here in Detroit will be enormous.

Jane Cassady

bhturtle@aol.com

YES, WE DID!

I received this… written and distributed by you:

From: BHTURTLE
Sent: 12/11/2008 6:28:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: HELP!

Michigan's Gov, Jennifer Granholm, just went on TV to ask everyone in Michigan to contact people in other states who have Republican senators and ask you to call your senator's office immediately and let them know you want them to approve Big 3 help without the sudden union busting amendment these hypocrites just tacked on. It apparently was fine to give their ultra-rich friends billions in the financial sector without strings, but now they want auto workers to take HUGE concessions to get any $ for the companies. It's just outrageous. I am sending this to people in Michigan as well, so you can contact your friends also. The worst senators so far in this is Shelby (Alabama), Kyl (AZ), McConnell (KY) and actually just about every other Republican. Please pass this on to your friends also. It may happen as soon as tonight.

All you have to do is google your senator, or go to the US senate website if you can't remember the name...use the # to call (You'll either get some staff person or a voice mail, and also send an email if you can. ). All you have to say is that you want your senator to support Bridge loans to the Auto companies without the anti-union, anti-worker amendment.

Thanks everyone,

Jane

Jane Cassady

bhturtle@aol.com

YES, WE DID!

I am writing you because your call for support of this fiasco and boondoggle reached my desk--- as you obviously intended your call for support of the auto bailout to be distributed widely.

When you distribute such material it is kind of arrogant of you to assume that people with contrary views will not state their opinions in response to you.

You say you don’t know me. So what? What does knowing me have to do with what I sent you? You were not concerned that your cry for this bailout and tears for the demise of the auto industry and loss of three million jobs would reach those like me who you do not know.

However, now we are somewhat acquainted; so, allow me to speak frankly with you.

I think if auto workers and their union leaders acting under the guise of their union are going to mobilize behind a scheme initiated by their employers in a way that drags the rest of us in we all have a right to express our views.

Who am I?

I work with casino workers trying to organize in the Indian Gaming Industry. I am constantly chasing UAW members out of these casinos. Apparently the UAW has no sympathy, empathy nor concern for solidarity with other workers struggling for justice.

I requested of Ron Gettelfinger that he instruct Nadine Nossal--- the UAW’s lead lobbyist in Lansing, Michigan--- to “vigorously oppose” the Gun Lake Casino “Compact;” another “Compact” that will send another two-thousand workers in the Indian Gaming Industry into smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state, federal or tribal labor laws who will join some two-million other workers employed under the same Draconian conditions at over 450 such casino ventures strung out across the United States. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger did nothing as far as acting on my request to him… now he expects the entire nation to respond in support of turning billions of tax-payer dollars over to a pack of crooks and exploiters who mis-managed their industry into oblivion as they raked in tremendous profits. Where are these billions of dollars in profits generated over the last one-hundred years… this wealth has not disappeared into thin air. Those who have adamantly opposed little children getting free lunches in school and have pushed pan-handlers off the streets into prison cells and turned their backs on the hungry and homeless are now begging for billions of dollars in handouts from tax-payers.

Since Ron Gettelfinger and Nadine Nossal have no concern for the plight of casino workers I couldn’t care less if the auto workers see their standard of living brought down to the level of casino workers in the Indian Gaming Industry... then we will all be in the same sinking boat.

Don’t expect us to pay for something the UAW will not support for us. Don’t cry to me about the future of auto workers in Detroit when Ron Gettelfinger has not demonstrated any concern for the plight of their sisters and brothers in the casino industry in outstate Michigan.

I have put forward suggestions to save the auto industry that would be in EVERYONE’S best interest, including auto workers. We all invest… we all own what we invest in… auto workers come out ahead with their contract intact and their livelihoods and standard of living protected as the profiteers and exploiters are pushed out of the picture as vehicles required by society are produced… Wall Street coupon clippers lose; auto workers and tax-payers win.

You reject my suggestions. You come back with you may agree with me in “principle;” I would suggest that you organize people with your “principles” in mind to stand up and fight for those “principles” rather than making the rest of us suffer… and make no mistake about this: the real intent of the Big Three CEO’s bringing forward this bailout request is because they see an opportunity to get out from under their contractual obligations… the auto industry “broke?” Give me a break. They took the profits they made from North American workers and invested those profits overseas in cheap resource and labor markets; and now, not one single congress person, nor one single leader of the UAW has forced these swindlers to even prove they are broke by demanding they open up their books, including of their international operations.

If you really believe that handing over billions of dollars to the Big Three CEO’s will resolve anything; I suggest that the UAW invest its pension and health care funds in this bailout and leave the rest of us out of this.

The other thing autoworkers could do is re-open their contract with the Big Three and agree to work for seven dollars an hour like casino workers do until the management of the Big Three feel they can pay them back with some interest.

The math is really very simple; figure it out.

Three weeks ago I explained to a leader of a large auto local in Detroit the injustices casino workers are being subjected to as he plunked his quarters into a slot machine at the Odawa casino in Petoskey, Michigan. He told me, “Leave me alone; I came here to have fun. Now, if you don’t get out of here I am calling security to toss you out. Buddy, I don’t know who you are.”

So I gave him my card and told him that the next time I catch him sitting at a slot machine wearing his nice fancy UAW jacket I am going to take his picture and plaster it all over the Internet.

Further, I would point out that for over five years we have been fighting to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and Ron Gettelfinger would not even bring the weight of the UAW into the struggle by supporting a very basic piece of legislation brought forward by a group of progressive Democratic state legislators which would have prevented Ford from demolishing the plant until we could find a new venture for the plant--- either public or private or a combination of the two.

I do not mean to sound rude nor uncaring; but, I suggest that you fight for nationalization of the auto industry under public ownership because you know as well as I do that we are in the midst of a very serious economic crisis--- a depression--- and most working people just will never be able to afford a thirty-thousand dollar vehicle under these circumstances--- so, who is going to purchase the vehicles that autoworkers will build?

Only fools would support the present bailout package aimed at bailing out the Wall Street coupon clippers, bankers and top corporate management.

By the way, because the auto industry has been operated for the sole purpose of profit is the reason Detroit is mired in poverty. The wealth created by workers has been systematically stolen… this is what capitalism is all about.

Beyond the very mild reform--- given the depth of this crisis--- of nationalizing the auto industry; you might want to extend your principles to getting rid of this thoroughly rotten and corrupt capitalist system which has morphed into a parasitical imperialist beast bringing misery to billions of working people across the globe.

Oh, you might want to contact Governor Granholm and suggest to her that she call on the Michigan Senate to reject the Gun Lake Casino “Compact” so it can be renegotiated to include protection of rights for casino workers… we are all, sisters and brothers in struggle together for a better life, right?

Also, could you remind Ron Gettelfinger that many of us have concerns, in addition to the future of the auto industry, which extend to trying to create a better life for the rest of us, too.

Perhaps the auto industry should be turned over to the managers of the Indian Gaming Industry under the terms of these “Compacts?” What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

You might want to check out this blog about the future of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant which I created before you start lecturing me as if I don’t care about the plight of auto workers and the communities they live in:

http://capitalistglobalization.blogspot.com/

Now, let’s act on the principles we have in common and fight like hell to save the jobs and livelihoods and protect the standard of living of auto workers as we fight like hell to do the same for the entire working class and all working class communities.

I would suggest you consider what the management of the Big Three really want along with their “bridge loan”:

“But McConnell said the measure "isn't nearly tough enough." The Kentucky Republican also called for a different bill — one that would force U.S. automakers to slash wages and benefits to bring them in line with Japanese carmakers Nissan, Toyota and Honda — in return for any federal aid.”

See complete article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/congress_autos

United States Steel announced they are closing down a huge taconite operation on the Iron Range. Will Ron Gettelfinger call for a bailout of United States Steel, too?

You might also want to check out what I wrote on my blog on the Obama website concerning the “Main Street Recovery Program:”

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/alanmaki/gGx898

Check out the quote in this pamphlet by Frederick Engels… this is what he wrote in “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific:

"Commerce is at a standstill, the markets are glutted, products accumulate, as multitudinous as they are unsaleable, hard cash disappears, credit vanishes, factories are closed, the mass of the workers are in want of the means of subsistence, because they have produced too much of the means of subsistence; bankruptcy follows upon bankruptcy, execution upon execution. The stagnation lasts for years; productive forces and products are wasted and destroyed wholesale, until the accumulated mass of commodities finally filter off, more or less depreciated in value, until production and exchange gradually begin to move again. Little by little the pace quickens. It becomes a trot. The industrial trot breaks into a canter, the canter in turn grows into the headlong gallop of a perfect steeplechase of industry, commercial credit and speculation, which finally, after breakneck leaps, ends where it began--in the ditch of a crisis. And so over and over again. We have now, since the year 1825, gone through this five times, and at the present moment (1877) we are going through it for the sixth time.... The fact that the socialised organisation of production within the factory has developed so far that it has become incompatible with the anarchy of production in society, which exists side by side with and dominates it, is brought home to the capitalists themselves by the violent concentration of capital that occurs during crises, through the ruin of many large, and a still greater number of small, capitalists. The whole mechanism of the capitalist mode of production breaks down under the pressure of the productive forces, its own creations. It is no longer able to turn all this mass of means of production into capital. They lie fallow, and for that very reason the industrial reserve army must also lie fallow. Means of production, means of subsistence, available labourers, all the elements of production and of general wealth, are present in abundance. But "abundance becomes the source of distress and want" (Fourier), because it is the very thing that prevents the transformation of the means of production and subsistence into capital. For in capitalistic society the means of production can only function when they have undergone a preliminary transformation into capital, into the means of exploiting human labour power.

Frederick Engels's---
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific/
part of his...
Anti Dühring/
New York: International Publishers, 1935, pages 64-65

How much longer are we going to endure such a rotten capitalist system that creates so much human misery over and over and over again?

With, or without, this bailout, auto workers and the people of Detroit are going to suffer immensely--- just like the rest of us.

Take care.

Yours in solidarity and in struggle,

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/




-----Original Message-----
From: BHTURTLE@aol.com [mailto:BHTURTLE@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 6:13 AM
To: amaki000@centurytel.net
Subject: Re: auto bailout

Mr. Maki,
I don't know who you are or why you are writing me, but as much as I may agree in principle to much of what you said, living in Detroit and seeing the suffering of working families might jar your ideology a bit. The failure of this "bailout" is utterly anti-union and the suffering here in Detroit will be enormous.

Jane Cassady
bhturtle@aol.com
YES, WE DID!

In a message dated 12/11/2008 11:28:55 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, amaki000@centurytel.net writes:

This Letter to the Editor is submitted to the Star Tribune for publication; writer grants Editor the right to edit as seen fit.

November 12, 2008

First Wall Street Bankers. Now the Big Three automakers. Who is coming for a handout and free lunch next? The lobbying industry?

The government is prepared to let the St. Paul Ford Twin City Assembly Plant and two-thousand jobs go down the river because there was no money to save this one plant and now tax-payers are being told, not even asked, that they will be bailing out the entire auto industry.

Obviously free enterprise has failed. Why should tax-payers bailout the Big Three when in a few months the price of each of the Big Three's stocks should be less than one-dollar a share.

Tax-payers will have the opportunity to purchase the entire automotive industry for a real bargain for far less than what the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing us.

A board consisting of all the stake-holders could be brought together and we could finally produce quality products which are environmentally friendly... not to mention affordable.

Capitalism hasn't worked; socialism will.

The Big Three cry poverty after they have taken the wealth created by North American workers and invested that wealth in quest of cheaper labor and resources overseas.

I don't believe politicians would even consider turning over one penny to these greedy corporations without even having had the opportunity to see their books... all the books, including their international operations.

What tax-payers finance, tax-payers should own.

Nationalization under public ownership is the solution to the problems of the auto industry.

The time has come to put People, Jobs and the Environment Before Corporate Profits!


Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

I don't trust a single weasel in Washington

Barack Obama has yet to take office and his Wall Street handlers are up to their eyeballs in corruption... from the corrupt Illinois governor to Bernie Madoff the biggest swindler in American history and Bill Richardson who hires hit-and-run killers.

Working people shouldn't trust one single Democrat or Republican to do anything other than swindle us out of everything.

Just when we get rid of the most corrupt government in American history headed up by George Bush and Dick Cheney... along comes the flim-flam man and con-artist extraordinaire... Democrat, Barack Hussein Obama.

All we need is for President-elect Barack Hussein Obama to hold a summit meeting with the heads of the Afghan government in Red Lake with Melanie Benjamin, Stanley Crooks and Floyd Jourdain explaining the benefits of sovereignty... let the poppies flourish and the drugs flow through our children's veins.

What a great time we are in for... brother, can you spare a dime.



Maybe Jesse Jackson Jr. should buy a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota.

I understand U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison told Jesse Jackson Sr. to drop by his office for a chat.

Alan L. Maki

Obama faces heady challenges, and they're growing

The media continues to prepare the nation for a real let down because Barack Obama has no intent in solving any problems for Main Street as he will continue to dish out "free lunches" to Wall Street and no matter how sleazy, crooked and corrupt the recipients of public funds--- one whom was helped out by the bailouts was good old Bernie Madoff.

Look at this:

"Not only is Obama saddled with lingering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that he is inheriting from President George W. Bush, but he also must deal with:

_a deepening recession in the U.S. and a spreading global economic crisis.

_an automotive industry on the brink of collapse and soaring national debt.

_increasing unemployment and its ripple effects.

_the threat of terrorism amid a historic transfer of power.

First:

"Not only is Obama saddled with lingering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that he is inheriting from President George W. Bush..."

This is an outright lie. Obama, the Democrats and Bush are wholly and totally and completely responsible for these dirty imperialist wars for oil, dope and regional domination. These wars are every bit Obama's wars as they are George Bush's wars.

This country doesn't face any threat of terrorism that any other country in the world doesn't face; and, it is the barbaric, parasitic and cannibalistic policies of the United States government and the multi-national corporations in quest of greater profits that give terrorism life.

We now know that this rotten government--- Democrats and Republicans--- were fully aware of the dire economic situation well over one year ago and they with held this information from the rest of us as if they were guarding the secrets of the A-Bomb in order to try to get through the Election without having to address these economic issues. We are still being fed lies--- lie after lie just like the lies about the Iraq war; but now the lies are about the economy, too... an economy that is on the skids to oblivion, and if we remain on this road we will be on the road to perdition just like those poor people crossing the I35-W Bridge who thought they could do so safely because they thought, wrongly, the government was looking out for them.

Nothing short of nationalization can save the American auto industry. Allowing this industry, that has been subsidized to the hilt by the American tax-payer already, to remain in the hands of Wall Street coupon clippers is a recipe for complete economic ruin... not only for the auto industry, but for the steel industry and the Nation.

Obama has not remained "mum" during this transition because Obama does not intend to deviate from George Bush's policies... Roosevelt was setting the stage for a complete break with Herbert Hoover's reactionary policies because massive, massive militant opposition to Herbert Hoover's policies were well organized with people on the move on every front with a broad popular people's front developing with many people ready for revolution... Obama intends a smooth transaction thinking that his nice sounding, meaningless words will lull the American people into acquiescing in the same way that Democrats acquiesced to George Bush every step of the way for the last eight years.

What has been forgotten--- more likely intentionally ignored--- is that alongside Roosevelt's election thousands of communists and socialists were elected to public office in this country... from village mayors and county commissioners to state legislatures and a few in Congress... all with a progressive agenda demanding real solutions to the problems working people and the working class was experiencing.

The media is in high gear trying to convince us that we should not expect change.

Worse yet, the main stream media has refused to allow a full and free discussion, dialogue and debate to ensue as to what needs to be done by trying to convince us that there are no alternatives outside of capitalism which can solve our problems when in fact the only solutions lie outside of the capitalist way of doing things which got us into this mess.

Wall Street coupon clippers profit and the working class is stuck with this mess.

Working people let Roosevelt know in no uncertain terms that a massive redistribution of wealth was required to solve the problems of working people and today this is even truer than in the 1930's.

In the final analysis this unjust social system of capitalism enabled wealth to concentrate in the hands of the very few and any one with an once of common sense understands that a massive redistribution of wealth to working people who created this wealth in the first place is what is required.

It is interesting that the biggest Wall Street scoundrel of them all, Bernie Madoff, is linked to all of Obama's inner circle starting with Charles Schumer and the main stream media seems to ignore the corruption already swirling around Obama... including the Illinois governor. And then Obama has the audacity to appoint a worthless pimp to his economic transition team!




Obama faces heady challenges, and they're growing

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama, relatively young and inexperienced, is facing a rapidly growing list of monumental challenges as he prepares to take the reins of a nation in turmoil.

"I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead," Obama said after his historic election a little more than a month ago.

It was a sobering assessment at the time, but the country's problems have only worsened since then. Now, Obama sounds dire, particularly as he talks about the economy: "We're in an emergency."

He spoke during a week in which Congress killed a bailout of the failing auto industry, the government reported that jobless claims spiked to their highest levels in more than a quarter-century, and the Treasury Department said the nation registered a record federal budget deficit for November.

With woes foreign and domestic on more fronts than even Franklin Delano Roosevelt encountered when he took office in the midst of the Great Depression, Obama will be sworn in as the country's 44th president in January.

His leadership will be tested immediately and in many ways. His performance from the outset could well set the tone for his presidency.

Not only is Obama saddled with lingering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that he is inheriting from President George W. Bush, but he also must deal with:

_a deepening recession in the U.S. and a spreading global economic crisis.

_an automotive industry on the brink of collapse and soaring national debt.

_increasing unemployment and its ripple effects.

_the threat of terrorism amid a historic transfer of power.

At the same time, Obama may be drawn into an unfolding political scandal over Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's alleged efforts to trade the president-elect's former Senate seat for personal gain. The ongoing federal investigation could ensnare some of his top advisers and taint the self-styled reformer who has tried to steer clear of notorious Chicago politics.

The president-elect says he's "absolutely confident" his aides did not try to cut deals with Blagojevich, but at the very least, the scandal is a distraction for a leader facing the magnitude of problems on Obama's plate.

Obama also has promised an ambitious foreign and domestic policy agenda that includes withdrawing most U.S. combat troops from Iraq, cleaning up government, overhauling the health care system, fighting global warming and developing alternative energy sources.

Some priorities may fall to the wayside or be done piecemeal. But, so far, he has signaled an intent to move forward on much if not all of those plans. The question is how quickly he can accomplish his goals, while simultaneously confronting the growing list of major problems.

"There's a lot of ground giving under him. It's a terrific challenge," said Fred Greenstein, a Princeton University professor emeritus of politics and a presidential historian.

"From one perspective, it's as if he's about to take over the captain's job on a sinking ship. From the other perspective, he could be on a glide path to Mount Rushmore if he does a combination of morale building and energizing people while dealing with the economic distress by producing some constructive changes in the society and in the economy."

"The striking thing is he doesn't seem scared," Greenstein added.

Indeed, Obama exudes confidence. He has surrounded himself with people in his incoming White House and Cabinet who have decades more experience than him in government, as well as foreign and domestic policy. They include big names such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, Larry Summers, Tom Daschle and Robert Gates, longtime Washington insiders.

Comparatively, Obama has been on the national stage for a short time. He was introduced to the country during the Democratic convention in 2004 when he was in the Illinois Legislature and running for the U.S. Senate. Age 47, he will become president after serving just four years in the Senate

Most historians liken the situation facing Obama to that which confronted Roosevelt — but the comparison does not seem to do justice to the colossal challenges Obama is facing.

Roosevelt was already an established politician when he came into office at the depths of the Great Depression in a society with no safety net for the suffering. And the economy was much worse then than it is now. But he did not have two wars on his plate, nor a political scandal swirling nearby. And Roosevelt did not have a planet suffering from global warming and watching its natural resources dwindle.

He also let his four-month transition pass by keeping his distance from Republican Herbert Hoover. The two men had sharp policy differences over how to address the Great Depression, and Roosevelt stayed mum between his election and his inauguration.

Not Obama. He's been extraordinarily active since his election.

With each new bit of bad economic news, he makes his views known — though he always is careful to defer to Bush when it's decision time. As president-elect, however, Obama's words now carry the power to move financial markets — perhaps even more so than those of Bush.

He has held regular news conferences to announce his Cabinet, and he gives the Democratic radio address on most weekends.

"Part of what he's doing is paying lip service to the notion that there's only one president while sucking up all the oxygen," Greenstein said.

Politically, with things so bad, Obama can claim any change for the better as a success. If the economic and security situation deteriorates further, he can rightly say he inherited a mess.

Obama won the election with more than 50 percent of the popular vote, and nearly three-fourths of people in an AP-GfK poll last week said they approved of how Obama has been handling the transition.

Judging by those numbers, he has plenty of political capital to spend as he tackles the country's mounting problems.