Blogger Ace of Spades gives his account of this weird attack against British writer Christopher Hitchens.
Hitch and two others were out on some or such errand. One guy was just telling Hitchens that the Syrian Nazi party had little support in the country but was paid by Syria to kill people, and that he'd been told they're the one party you don't fuck with.
So five minutes later they come across the poster for the Syrian Nazi Party on an abandoned bagel shop -- abandoned, if I had this right, after Hezballah had attacked it last year due to the overly Jewish connotations of bagelry.
So Hitchens immediately takes out a pen and writes "No, no, Fuck You" on the poster. I don't know if he'd digested the story and decided to fuck with them anyway, or else he was just reacting to the modified swastika on the poster.
Now, the Syrian Nazis are not popular and neighborhoods have tried to get their posters taken down. But then they threaten people and cause problems.
So the state leaves them up. To avoid getting their posters defaced or torn down, they post a paid Nazi watcher to keep an eye on their posters.
Well, when this Syrian Nazi goon saw Hitch do this, he confronted him and kinda-sorta attacked him. I say kinda sorta attacked, because what his main intent was was to delay Hitchens from leaving -- until the ten Nazi goons he had just texted on his cell phone could arrive.
There was some kicking and pulling and hitting. Hitch and the others attempted to get into a cab -- the Syrian Nazi goon got right in the cab with them, still hitting Hitchens. They could not force him out. Eventually they all exited, and attempted to get a fresh cab, but other cabbies were now hip to the fact the Syrian Nazis had been riled and wanted no business from them, so two cabs passed refusing their fare.
Now at this point the ten Nazi goons showed up (about five minutes into this-- they came quickly) and Hitch and the other two were probably going to get the crap beaten out of them, at best. However, they finally managed to get a cabbie who was either brave or didn't know the trouble he was getting into and got in, this time without the goon, and left the other ten behind.
Now, as far as the damage Hitch suffered, it wasn't much. He did get some lumps -- a knock on the leg, a scrape on the face. And also his writing hand had been stomped on. He'd been roughed up a bit, but didn't have "the shit beaten out of him." If I hadn't been told the story I wouldn't have known he'd been fucked with at all. Apart from a bit of pain walking and some more pain typing, he was fine.
So, that's the story. I was holding off on it until we were out of the country, but some rat we ran into apparently began blabbing it to his rat-like kin.
The lawyer, who recently praised the Mumbai terror attacks, said anyone becoming intoxicated by alcohol should be given 40 lashes in public. He claimed alcohol was "the root of all evil".
The 41-year-old made the remarks on his website Islam4UK, which argues that Britain should become an Islamic state ruled by Sharia law.
Mr Choudary also used the plight of George Best, the former Manchester United footballer who died aged 59 in 2005 after a long battle with alcoholism, to illustrate why it must be outlawed. He wrote: "Under Islam, all harmful intoxicants will be banned unequivocally, regardless of their classification or their profitability in retail marketing.
"The Final Messenger Muhammad condemned the manufacturing, transporting, retailing and consuming of alcoholic beverages over 1,400 years ago and equated it with being one of the roots of all evils.
"Islam additionally imposes 40 lashes in public for deliberate intoxication, followed by 80 lashes in public if repeated for a second time."
Mr Choudary argued that alcohol should be "removed from society".
He also wrote that everything would be "sound" and "put right" if Sharia law was introduced in the UK, adding: "Islam is undeniably the only real solution for Britain's problems." I wonder if the British voted right now which they would vote for, flogging drunks or flogging Muslims?
I keep asking the question, "Why are we in Afghanistan?" No one has a good answer. A few without television respond, "To get Osama." But everyone agrees that he is somewhere in Pakistan. Then the answer is: "As President George W. Bush said, 'to spread democracy.'" The Brits tried to spread democracy for years. The Russians tried to spread communism for years. But democracy must come from within. I helped liberate Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, sixty-eight years ago and they have yet to opt for democracy. We liberated Kuwait eighteen years ago and they have yet to opt for democracy. In the Muslim world more important than freedom and democracy is tribe and religion. We have made the good college try for over seven years and now should realize that we are not going to teach warlords to like democracy and grow cotton instead of poppies.
Now some answer to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for Al Qaida. I called the State Department after 9/11, and it reported Al Qaida in forty-five countries, including the United States, but not Iraq. Now we have spread Al Qaida to Iraq and determined to have Al Qaida grow in Afghanistan. What we can't understand is that we are creating terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban were our best friends in Charlie Wilson's War -- the only war we've won since World War II. I helped Charlie on the Senate side. I didn't know what was going on, but he was getting Israel to send Stinger missiles to Muslim Pakistan to shoot down the Russians. Now we are determined to turn our former friends into enemies and destroy Pakistan. Yesterday I read an article that it won't be long before charging President George W. Bush with war crimes for killing civilians in Pakistan with drones. Now the same charge could be made against President Obama. Five years ago, I was in Pakistan to learn that Osama bin Laden had a sixty percent approval rating and President Bush was at ten percent. I wouldn't advise an America to walk the streets of any city in Pakistan today. We are ruining Pakistan. Finally, I'm given the answer, "to stabilize Afghanistan." The best way to stabilize is to get out. It became a matter of conscience for me years ago. I always remember the Wartime Prayer found in Eleanor Roosevelt's papers:
"Dear Lord, lest I continue my complacent way, help me to remember that somewhere, somehow out there, a man died for me today. As long as there be war, I then must ask and answer, Am I worth dying for?"
Our ruling elites kept crying Wolf! for decades to scare the West into supporting their tenures. And now, as the NWFP government prepares to promulgate sharia law in Swat and Malakand, the proverbial wolf has finally arrived. President Zardaris statement regarding Taliban designs to take over Pakistan should have read: The Taliban have already captured parts of Pakistan and they are on their way to grab the rest.
Given the narrow vision of the governing elite, the prevailing anarchy in the country and absence of any alternative movement of resistance, the Taliban takeover of Pakistan or large parts of it seems a very real possibility now.
Up until the recent past, many of us believed that, beyond the tribal belt and its adjoining areas, the Talibans appeal could never be translated into a theocratic state. The underlying theoretical belief had been that backward ideologies cannot take over or overrun economically and socially more advanced societies. This belief has been shaken because of the states failure to stop the Talibans continuous penetration into settled areas.
Looking at the ruins of Harappa and Mohenjodarao, two sites of the great Indus civilization, one feels in awe of the level of advancement those societies had achieved. These ruins indicate that these cities had better civic planning than many contemporary cities of the subcontinent. But they could not defend themselves from less advanced invaders and perished. Although the destruction of the Indus civilisation may have been caused by natural forces as well, the way Vedic literature narrates the destruction and burning of enemy cities, it is clear that this great civilisation was invaded from without too.
Similarly, the Muslim invaders coming from West and Central Asia were not socially and economically more developed then the Indians. And it is puzzling how with a few thousand soldiers they defeated grand Indian armies of several hundred thousands, which were equipped with thousands of elephants as well. And it happened many times between the 10th and 16th centuries. Can it happen again?
Security agencies have reported to the government that about 18,000 Taliban are armed and organised. Furthermore, there is every indication that the Taliban are equipped with the most modern arms and accompanying technology. If their influence expands, as it happens with every successfully advancing force, Taliban numbers are going to swell because many opportunistic influential families will start joining them. Moreover, the Taliban already have a very well configured network in Punjab, which makes itself visible every time militant commanders want to display their strength to the Pakistani state.
Many knowledgeable observers had noted these militants organisation and force especially those based in Muridke when they attacked the Mall in Lahore to express their rage against Dutch cartoonists. A senior political figure opined that, based on the organisation of these groups, including the Laskhar-e Tayba, one can say with certainty that the militants can take over Lahore whenever they want. This may be an exaggerated projection but the larger point is valid.
And one should not forget that almost all of the Mumbai attackers belonged to the Punjab. Therefore, the Taliban have already sunk their tentacles in the Punjab and the rest of the country. Their advance can hardly be stalled because of the narrow mindedness of the ruling elites, petty thinking of the economically rich sections of society and the apathy of the general public.
As a matter of fact, contemporary Pakistan is an ideal example to solve the historical puzzles of the past where retrogressive forces ruined much advanced societies. The rulers in Islamabad are only minding the interests of their feudal clique; the rich do not want to share their wealth with society and fulfil their civic duty; the people are consumed by their daily socio-economic agonies; and the intellectuals are absorbed by political correctness and anti-US rhetoric. No section of society is prepared to recognise the imminent threat.
Rulers averse to an independent judiciary and an equitable socio-economic order; an economic upper class hostile to paying its fair share in taxes; self-obsessed intellectuals and media persons; and a poverty-stricken population this presents the perfect mix for the forces of destruction.
The armed institutions of such societies have no will to fight the real enemies, not to mention a section of these institutions may be inviting this destruction in post-Ranjeet Singh Darbar style when they invited the British to destroy the Khalsa army.
The stage is therefore set for Northern invaders overrunning Punjab and Sindh. And, unfortunately, such dangers are never recognised until it is too late.
Well, let us continue playing Neros flute because hanooz Dilli dur ast (Delhi is still far away).
So the rulers obsessed with control will have their wish fulfilled, though the mullahs will be in control. The rich will rejoice if they can do without their parties. And the intellectuals will have to start practicing to write and speak for their independent theocratic state.
The people, used to suffering for centuries, will hardly notice any change. And, most of all, the clean-shaven supporters of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar will get a real taste of living under the system of their beloved heroes. The dream of making Pakistan a real ideological state may come true after all.
#1
Those who wanted a free society wouldn't compromise like this. Even if they have western educations, they still have old world bad habits and lack integrity.
Posted by: Omolugum Prince of the Platypi2692 ||
02/19/2009 15:31 Comments ||
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More likely than not, Abdul Jabbar would have encountered the poetry of 13th century mystic poet Ibn al-Arabi in the Sufi order which shaped his life. I profess the religion of love, al-Arabi wrote, and wherever its caravan turns along the way, that is the way the faith I keep.
Jabbars own journey led him from a small north Kerala town, through a roadside restaurant, secret circle of Sufis, and an Islamist terror cell to a Lashkar-e-Taiba terror unit in the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir a Kalashnikov in his hands.
For chroniclers of Indias jihadist movement, his bizarre story has particular significance. Most members of the Indian Mujahideens networks were drawn from groups like the Students Islamic Movement of India or neoconservative religious orders. But Jabbar and the group of Kerala jihadists he was a part of emerged from the Noorisha tariqah a prominent Sufi order of the Chishti-Qadri tradition, famous for its emphasis on openness and love.
Born in May 1973 into a working class family from northern Keralas Puruthur town, Jabbar dropped out of school in the fifth grade. At just 13 years of age, he began work as a parantha cook at a roadside hotel. His father, Kunzhi Bavanu, still runs a small tea stall in Puruthur; one brother, Abdul Samad, is a fitter, while the other, Abdul Hakeem, an autorickshaw driver.
Back in the late 1980s, the Malappuram region was in the midst of a small-scale communal war which pitted the cadre of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the charismatic Islamist leader Abdul Nasser Maudhanys Islamic Sevak Sangh against each other. Jabbar was among hundreds of angry young men who found meaning in Maudhanys inflammatory polemic, and went on to become a vice-president of his partys Malappuram unit.
In 1998, Maudhany was arrested on charges of providing logistical support to the serial bombings in Coimbatore of which he was only recently acquitted. Pursued by the police, many of his supporters fled Kerala. During his time underground, Jabbar came into close contact with Maudhanys followers linked to the Noorisha order: Kannur resident Abdul Sattar and his long-standing associate Tadiyantavide Nasir.
Like Jabbar, Sattar and Nasir had cut their political teeth in Malappurams street wars. Police investigators believe that the men, who are alleged to have been involved in an abortive plot to assassinate the former Kerala Chief Minister, E.K. Nayanar, executed the July 2008 serial bombings in Bangalore, and supplied components for the improvised explosive devices used by top terror operative Riyaz Bhatkal for the Indian Mujahideens murderous attacks in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
Nasir, using the alias Haji Omar, had established himself as an ustad or instructor of students at the Noorisha orders headquarters in Hyderabad. The Jamia Arifiya Nooriya seminary sprawls across a 40-acre campus, housing a free school and the al-Arif Unani General Hospital. Thousands of people attend the orders 40-day Chilla, a spiritual course intended to help adherents overcome physical and material desire.
Made up in the main of Kerala residents, the Noorisha order is among the inheritors of a unique tradition of Islam. Folk tradition in Kerala has it that king Cheraman Perumal Bhaskara Ravi Varma, on witnessing a miraculous split-moon in the skies, travelled to Saudi Arabia where he was converted to Islam by Prophet Mohammad himself. In some tellings of this legend, Varma took on the name Tajuddin and married the sister of the king of Jeddah.
After Varmas death, the story goes, a spice trader named Malik bin-Dinar returned to Kondangaloor, bearing a letter from Verma which led to a local temple being converted into a mosque dedicated to the kings memory. The Cheraman Jama Masjid, reputed to be over 1,370 years old, still stands in the Hindu tradition, facing east.
Nasir had little time for the Noorisha orders spiritual legacy or its syncretic concerns. He argued that the rise of the Hindu right, and worldwide atrocities on Muslims, made armed jihad a religious imperative. Most clerics at the Jamia Arifiya Nooriya found Nasirs position unacceptable but he had the support of Abdul Kader, an influential Noorisha ustad known among the order as Abdu Ustad. 1960-born Kader, police sources say, first started visiting the Noorisha seminary in 1996, for treatment of a psychiatric disorder. Later, he gave his daughter in marriage to Sattar.
Sattar, in turn, helped draw Jabbar into the jihadist circle among the Noorisha. Married twice first to Zeenath Ibrahim, by whom he has a 12-year-old son, and then Ramola Mohammad, who gave him two more sons, two-year-old Salahuddin and six-year-old Mukhtar Jabbar was beset by financial and legal problems. Zeenath had filed a criminal complaint against Jabbar for dowry harassment, and moved the court for maintenance. Sattar arranged for Jabbar to marry again, this time his sister-in-law, Nasia Moinuddin, to help him rebuild his life in Hyderabad. Jabbar was to have two daughters with Moinuddin: Aasiya, who is now three and Zainabi, who was born last year. Sattar also helped Jabbar find work and arranged for him to take on Kader as his spiritual mentor.
Behind the façade of this new life, Jabbar continued to pursue his old jihadist path. He was among five Noorisha-linked men from Kerala who joined a ten-man Lahskar unit in the mountains above Kupwara, along the Line of Control, on the morning of September 16, 2008. In the next few weeks, the men were put through gruelling combat-fitness drills, and taught to use assault weapons and explosives. Long before their training ended, though, the Jammu and Kashmir Police, backed by Indian Army troops, arrived to put their skills to the test. Four of the men Jabbar travelled with were killed. He hid out in the forests all night, before beginning his journey home where the police were waiting.
Those who distort the meaning of jihad, the supreme leader of the Noorisha order, Sayyid Muhammad Arifuddin Jeelani, said in a recent interview, will certainly go to hell.
For the most part, public commentary on Islamist terrorism in India has cast Sufi Islam as inherently opposed to jihadist violence. In part because the aesthetic of ascetic spiritual traditions Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish and even Christian has become fashionable among metropolitan liberals, Sufi practices have been cast as inherently hostile to the Islamist project.
But like other religious systems, Sufi mysticism can witness the recent fighting in Iraq, Central Asia and Pakistan provide legitimacy to violence. In the dying decades of the Mughal empire, the influential Sufi mystic, Shah Waliullah, called on the warlord, Ahmad Shah Abdali, to wage war against the Jats and the Marathas, arguing that it was predestined that unbelievers should be reduced to a state of humiliation. Sayyid Ahmad whose failed 1831 jihad against Maharaja Ranjit Singhs empire inspired the founding of the Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadis from which the Lashkar draws its ideological legitimacy was also a mystic.
Hassan al-Banna, the founder of Egypts Muslim Brotherhood the seed from which much of the modern jihadist movement was born was profoundly influenced by the work of 12th century mystic Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali. Although al-Banna rejected al-Ghazalis theological convictions, scholars have noted that elements of the practices of the Sufi brotherhoods continue to suffuse organisations such as the al-Qaeda practices like the swearing of a bayat, or oath, to its sheikh, Osama bin-Laden
Pakistan has seen Sufi orders adopt jihadist tactics to counter their neoconservative theological rivals. In 1997, Sufi leader Allama Pir Mohammad Saeed Ahmad Mujadidi set up the Sunni Jihad Council to fight in Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking to the Gujranwala-based magazine Dawat-e-Tanzim ul-Islam in March 1999, SJC military commander Saeed Raza Bukhari said that the decision was taken because certain people have used jihad to propagate their false creeds in Kashmir.
In India, members of the mystic Deendar Anjuman order executed a series of 12 bombings in 2000. Deendar founder Siddiq Husain who outraged conservatives by claiming to be the incarnation of the Lingayat-caste saint Channabasaveswara sought to rebuild his legitimacy among Hyderabads Muslim elites by setting up a military training centre in 1939. Husain marketed his jihadist organisation, the Tehreek Jamiat-i-Hizbullah, as an instrument with which pre-independence Hyderabad would be able to resist both the Hindu chauvinist Arya Samaj, as well as a growing Communist insurgency. Police investigators found that Zia-ul-Hassan, Siddiq Husains Pakistan-based son, used the old Tehreek Jamiat-i-Hizbullah to execute the 2000 bombings, which were marketed as retaliation against Christian and Hindu atrocities.
Jabbars story demonstrates that the roots of the jihadist movement lie neither in scripture nor particular right-wing renderings of the faith. Like other jihadists, Jabbar turned to the jihad because of the lived experience of communal conflict not a theoretical understanding of the imperatives of Islam. Even the most plural and tolerant faith-systems, his story makes clear, are unlikely to survive in the crucible of communal hatred. Secular political formations and the Indian state will have to find a language with which to meet the challenge.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/19/2009 12:41 ||
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#1
Sayyid Ahmad -- whose failed 1831 jihad against Maharaja Ranjit Singh's empire inspired the founding of the Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadis from which the Lashkar draws its ideological legitimacy -- was also a mystic
The Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh ruled a great portion of present day Afghanistan. He knew how to deal with the Pashtun tribesmen. A lot of nonsense is written about the Afghan tribesmen being unrulable since the days of Alexander. There have been many empires that ruled over that region and enforced law and order and ensured peace.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/19/2009 13:01 Comments ||
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Chinese President Hu Jintao wrapped up his African tour by breezing in and out of the Indian Ocean island state, Mauritius, this week. Given the reputation of Mauritius as Asias financial gateway to Africa, Hus visit would seem a routine one. The Chinese presidents sojourn in Mauritius, however, is anything but ordinary. It underlines Beijings relentless thrust to secure a permanent naval foothold in the western Indian Ocean. Among the highlights of Hus visit to Mauritius included $250 million to modernise the airport in the islands capital Port Louis and a commitment to complete a $750 million special economic zone.
Even the sleepiest of South Blocks mandarins should be able to figure out that the scale of Chinas commitment to Mauritius a billion dollars in a country of barely 1.3 million people might have something to do with maritime strategy. Whether New Delhi is aware of what China is up to in Mauritius, the region has been quick to grasp the significance of Hus visit that Beijing is determined to draw Port Louis out of Indias sphere of influence. Few countries in the world are as intimately tied to India as Mauritius is. Official India, however, tends to take these links for granted. For New Delhi, Mauritius must now mean a lot more than Bihari diaspora, a safe haven for Indian capital, and an attractive locale for Bollywood.
Any maritime power worth its salt knows that Mauritius is a prized piece of real estate that allows the control of Indian Ocean sea-lanes. No wonder Great Britain kept the island of Diego Garcia for itself before freeing Mauritius in the late 60s. Diego Garcia is now the main base for American naval operations in the Indian Ocean. Removing Diego Garcia has not made Mauritius any less attractive. Amidst its growing maritime interests in the Indian Ocean, Beijing is zeroing in on Mauritius to secure a permanent naval presence. That, of course, would only come at the expense of the Indian navy, which has been the principal external security partner of Mauritius all these decades. If the South Block can quickly bestir itself, India will find itself locked in a tough zero-sum naval game with China in the western Indian Ocean. If it cant, New Delhi will be dealt out of the game without much ceremony.
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CHIN NETTERs know to quote REAR ADMIRAL ALFRED THAYER MAHAN > that whomever unilater controls the INDIAN OCEAN [trade, includ nearby littorals areas, will effect and control the geopols of the entire World in the 21st Century???
One Test Biden May Not Have Anticipated . . . [Michael Rubin]
Keep an eye on Bahrain. Over the last month, Iranian rhetoric against the continued independence of the tiny Arab island nation has really picked up, with repeated declarations that Bahrain isn't independent, but really just a province of Iran.
(Historically, Bahrain was part of Iran until the Portuguese separated it in 1522; it later became a British protectorate and a 1970 plebiscite confirmed the Bahraini desire to be independent).
Iranian authorities have recently suggested seating Bahraini representatives in the Iranian parliament, categorizing Ahmadinejad's trips to the island nation as provincial trips, and broadcast interviews with Bahraini Shi'a predicting revolution within a year.
Yesterday, Bahrain stopped allowing Iranians to travel to the island, and announced they were cutting off oil imports from Iran.
Of course, much of this may be simple rhetoric, but then again, so was Saddam Hussein's Kuwait-is-our-19th province rhetoric until he made good on his threats.
Bahrain is more complicated because of the U.S. navy's presence on the island.
#3
...and at one time Persia was just another administrative unit of the vast Mongolian Empire. Be careful when you cite history as a basis of territorial 'possession'.
GM's new restructuring plan seeks another $16.6 billion in government aid -- for now. Chrysler wants an additional $5 billion. The $30 billion that GM has either received or requested since December doesn't count the $8 billion it wants to develop fuel-efficient cars, and another $6 billion it's soliciting from foreign governments.
For these taxpayer subsidies, the government could buy hundreds of thousands of GM cars a month and give them to deserving citizens. Make mine a Corvette, please.
Before deciding what to do with Detroit's demands, uh, requests, government officials first need to confront a fundamental question: How could so many smart people produce such a disastrous result? Make no mistake, there have been many bright minds in the American auto industry over the years -- at the auto makers, the United Auto Workers union, and the components companies. Most of them saw today's troubles coming for years, even decades.
"I frankly don't see how we're going to meet the foreign competition," said Henry Ford II, then chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Co., on May 13, 1971, right after the annual shareholders' meeting. "We've only seen the beginning," he predicted. Regarding American's increasing preference for small cars, Henry II declared: "Mini car, mini profits."
That was a couple years before Detroit agreed to let auto workers retire with full pension and benefits after 30 years on the job, regardless of their age. In practice, that meant a worker could start at age 18, retire at 48, and spend more years collecting a pension and free health care than he or she actually spent working. It wasn't long before even union officials realized they had created a monster. This is nothing new, Civil Service employees get this benefit all the time, especially Police and Firefighters workers. Plus, here in California many Police and Firefighters get disability in addition to retirement.
In 1977, UAW Vice President Irving Bluestone said he was "flabbergasted" that so many workers were retiring at age 55 or younger. "We were aware that the trend to early retirement was escalating . . . but we were surprised at the escalation in 1976," Mr. Bluestone declared. "It is astounding."
None of this is ancient history. The 30-and-out retirement program persists -- a sacred part of the inflated cost structure that makes it unprofitable for Detroit to make small cars in America. Another example: Every Detroit factory still has dozens of union committeemen -- the bargaining committee, shop committee, health and safety committee, recreation committee, etc. -- who actually are paid by the car companies. This is a "legacy cost" that the nonunion Japanese, German and Korean car factories in America don't have to carry.
The union, though, shouldn't bear the entire blame for Detroit's disaster. It wasn't the UAW that pushed GM into the home-mortgage market where it has incurred billions in losses over the last couple of years. Nor can the UAW be blamed for Saturn and Saab, two brands that never made money, as GM executives have recently acknowledged. What they haven't explained is why their company would keep these money-losers around for nearly 20 years.
So why were these problems allowed to fester, when smart people recognized them all along? The answer is that the solutions were painful, requiring not just brains but considerable amounts of courage. UAW officials weren't brave enough to risk re-election defeat by agreeing to curtail the 30-and-out plan. Detroit executives weren't about to take on the union and risk a strike that could cost them billions. GM likewise felt hamstrung on Saturn and Saab by state dealer-franchise laws, especially after they spent $1.3 billion to shut down Oldsmobile a few years ago.
Perhaps the best analogy, and one that Washington will understand, is Social Security. Everybody in Congress and the White House has known for years that it's a ticking time bomb, thanks to actuarial trends and inadequate funding. But when President George W. Bush tried to reform the system early in his second term, he was handed a crippling defeat.
Which brings us back to the restructuring plans proposed by GM and Chrysler, the two companies currently getting government welfare. Missing from both are concessions from the UAW to reduce the cost of health care for retirees. Ironically, union retirees over age 65 continue to receive generous, company-paid benefits, while their former bosses in management have to rely on Medicare. The companies could -- and did -- unilaterally change the health-care plans for management, but they have to negotiate changes for union workers and retirees.
Other missing links include any agreement with bondholders to substantially reduce the amount of outstanding debt, which is an especially acute issue for GM. And the cost of compensating dealers for killing brands -- Hummer and Pontiac, as well as Saturn and Saab -- is likely to be substantial.
GM justifies its bailout request by contending that a bankruptcy filing will cost the government $100 billion to guarantee pension payments and other obligations. But here's the thing: The total of nearly $45 billion requested so far from the Treasury Department, the Energy Department and friendly foreigners gets us almost halfway to $100 billion, even if the company doesn't request more money down the road -- which one suspects it will. Without a bankruptcy filing, the issues with the UAW, dealers and bondholders are likely to remain unresolved. The same pain-avoidance motive that has kept these issues festering for years will continue.
Chrysler's plan, meanwhile, basically requires constant government subsidies until the benefits of its proposed alliance with Fiat begin to flow, at best a couple years from now. So the taxpayers are being asked to provide funds that neither Chrysler's private-equity owners nor Fiat, which would get 35% of Chrysler's stock, are willing to provide. Hello?
As for the auto makers' fear that Americans won't buy cars from a company in bankruptcy, that damage has been done. In fact, bankruptcy will improve their chances of survival by relieving them of financial obligations that they can't afford.
And that's just the conclusion that President Barack Obama's new automotive task force should reach. The purpose of bankruptcy -- either a plain-vanilla Chapter 11 or a special-flavor version that would require a new federal law -- wouldn't be to punish Detroit's car companies. It would be to give them a chance to survive, just as radical surgery, however painful, often saves the lives of sick patients. And as their latest restructuring plans make clear, General Motors and Chrysler are very sick indeed.
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R.I.P. Saturn & Hummer and in intensive care Saab & Pontiac The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, "Saturn dealers are planning to spin off from General Motors Corp. into a new company that will seek to sell third-party vehicles under the Saturn brand, according to Dan Januska, the owner of Saturn of Scottsdale. Under the new plan, Mr. Januska said, Saturn dealers would be open to selling vehicles made by Indian or Chinese manufacturers that would be sold as Saturns. "There are not a whole lot of alternatives," said Mr. Januska, who is on the Saturn Dealer Council. "Someone is going to see the value of us and I don't know who it will be."
Posted by: ed ||
02/19/2009 12:21 Comments ||
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Shame about Saturn. I owned a Saturn SL2 for ten years and the first nine were great. That last year was a tough one.
The whole point to Saturn was to have it teach GM to build cars the Toyota way. It initially worked; cars like the SL2 and L300 were pretty good.
Then GM lost its focus (not a new problem there) and decided that Saturn would sell re-badged GM cars. The Vue (piece of junk up until last year), the Relay (mega-suck), the Ion (just a re-badged Cobalt which sucks) and the Aura (just a Malibu). It was nonsense. GM blew it with Saturn and now Saturn is unnecessary.
Fold Saturn and Buick. Sell Saab and Hummer. Unload everything that doesn't have anything to do with building cars and trucks.
The new divisions, as I would do it if I were in charge:
Chevy: cars and trucks for working people
Pontiac: upscale sporty cars for young people with money
Cadillac: upscale larger cars for middle-aged and older people with money
GMC: trucks in a separate dealer chain
That's all they need and all they can do right now. Re-size the corporation accordingly, remove the 30 year clause, let the union pay their own representatives, eliminate the work rules and the multiple, multiple job classifications and feather-beddng, and unload the many layers of middle management that paralyze the company. In return guarantee the union that the basic hourly wage rate will remain and that health care benefits will be equal to that of the workers at Toyota USA.
Let the engineers be engineers. Put engineers in charge. The sales and finance people work for them, not the other way around.
Tell the bondholders that they'd better accept 17 cents on the dollar in a debt for equity swap because otherwise their bonds are going to be worth zero. Tell the shareholders that they'd better be prepared to be wiped out. Tell the retirees that things are being scaled back: their medical care will be Medicare plus some gap coverage and their pension will be SS plus a stipend over that.
And remove the upper management as conditions allow. They need new blood.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/19/2009 12:57 Comments ||
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#3
Coming from an area that has a good number of the "48 year old retirees", when you ask them if they're getting another job (full-time or part-time) after retirement, the answer is inevitably "No, that will screw up my benefits".
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/19/2009 13:36 Comments ||
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#4
Re: Saturn
The unions killed Saturn. I'm sure you're surprised. The production lines were set up like Toyota/Honda, but union intransigence ultimately brought Saturn back into the swamp:
Please, no! I love engineers dearly, as y'all know, but engineers spend money like water on developing really neato cool new stuff if not focussed tightly on making something both appealing to the customer and profitable. Put a marketing guy in charge, with an engineer at one elbow and a really sharp purchasing guy at the other elbow. Explain to the unions that the old job classifications game is over, if they want the company to stay open 'til Christmas... and if not the entire union's last paycheck will be dated Friday, with a few individuals being called in for interviews on Monday. "The list has already been written out, I'm afraid, and won't be modified."
Dr. Steve's recommendations for right-sizing the company sound reasonable to me, but I'm not really qualified to judge.
Mullah Richard, how many of those retirees are working under the table, rather than volunteering at the nearby elementary school?
#10
while sales and finance would be sh*t without the engineers, I'm not sure you'd want us engineers in charge. F'rinstance, there's be a lot less sales and finance staff as the well-designed products would sell themselves, quality-wise, and do we need that many more unemployable people out on the street?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/19/2009 17:58 Comments ||
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#11
Put engineers in charge. The sales and finance people work for them, not the other way around.
Wow! That's revolutionary talk. Does any company, anywhere do that?
Sun Microsystems, and HP (during the time of Bill and Dave).
He said he opposes a limit on bankers' bonuses because it could make senior executives quit. And do what?
"The unintended consequences of an un-level playing field could mean that at a time when you want stability in senior management and you want your banks to be more successful again, I would worry that you could potentially lose senior executives," Kelly said. Losing the cream of the crap is a feature, not a bug. Multiple bank failures & widespread insolvency are prima facie evidence of incompetent management deserving termination, not just withholding bonuses. Solvent, profitable banks should be free to pay all the bonuses they want. Name a couple of big, solvent, profitable banks.
#1
From another Bloomberg opinion piece today: "Morgan Stanleys board in 2005 guaranteed Chief Executive Officer John Mack he would be paid no less than the average of that of his four major counterparts, who were, of course, the firms competitors. The implication that the more successful your opponents, the more you earn is ludicrous; and, although Mack later rejected that provision, it speaks volumes about how much bankers assume fat-cat pay is an entitlement."
I agree with some sentiment but if you were a major bank and you were told by Fannie and Freddie that you could buy and bundle these mortgages as government backed securities would you in hind sight think that a good deal for your shareholders? And if you were approached by ACORN or a reasonable facsimile, would you cave to their extortion regarding your plans for expanding your retail operations and start making no-doc mortgages? I agree that greed is contagious and the banks lacked back-bone and rigid due diligence but then so did the US government and its controlling Congress.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/19/2009 11:23 Comments ||
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#4
Government should have NOTHING to say about executive salaries. On the other hand, the salaries should have to be approved by shareholders. Who should also have the opportunity to boot CEO's that are running their companies into the ground (NO golden parachute).
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
I keep asking the question, "Why are we in Afghanistan?" No one has a good answer. A few without television respond, "To get Osama." But everyone agrees that he is somewhere in Pakistan. Then the answer is: "As President George W. Bush said, 'to spread democracy.'" The Brits tried to spread democracy for years. The Russians tried to spread communism for years. But democracy must come from within. I helped liberate Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, sixty-eight years ago and they have yet to opt for democracy. We liberated Kuwait eighteen years ago and they have yet to opt for democracy. In the Muslim world more important than freedom and democracy is tribe and religion. We have made the good college try for over seven years and now should realize that we are not going to teach warlords to like democracy and grow cotton instead of poppies.
