The Good News Is....

THE CENTURION CHRONICLE
Special Issue – Apr 2010

THE GOOD NEWS IS….
(there’s not so much…bad news)

The latest reported improvement about new jobs figures versus reduced unemployment levels, is being trumpeted by our DC spin doctors as a turning point in our depressed economic condition. To what extent that may be true, or not, is hard to say, because that trumpeting about it seems somewhat hesitant, if not muted. Some signs are encouraging, some, not so much. So the message seems to be….the good news is…there’s not so much ….bad news. Woopee!

Of course, New England in general, and poor little Rhode Island in particular, are currently drowned in water from unusually heavy rain falls and flooding. All of which means more billions will now have to be provided to help them get back onto solidly dry economic ground. That’s okay, after all, under such circumstances it would be rather gauche to begrudge them that by grumbling and nitpicking on how that will further add to our deficit overload. Besides, by keeping those Treasury printing presses rolling for that, it helps to keep all its printers off the unemployment rolls, thus, it should be considered a positive offset to the situation.

Meanwhile, in mid-country, GM, Ford, and even Toyota, are selling their goodies at record levels. To what extent that might mean they’ll soon be cranking up their production lines again, for more employment activity, remains to be seen. Both Michigan and MoTown are now hoping it will all translate into some kind of economic CPR for them. As for venerable old Chrysler, which is still on life support, it may yet receive one more reprieve from corporate death (the third of these in modern times), thanks to Fiat coming to its rescue, by creating a new Detroit-Turin combination. If that successfully comes to pass we may end up having to rename Chrysler as….the DT’s!

Against all that “good news”, way across to the Left Coast on the Pacific, after more than twenty years of productive operations, the GM-Toyota production sharing enterprise called NUMMI, in Fremont, California, the only plant of its kind and size in that state, has just closed its doors, putting some 44,000 folks onto the unemployment rolls. To that, of course, one must add the collateral negative impacts on that community, surrounding small businesses, suppliers, etc.(not to mention losses of tax revenues to local and state coffers).

But, for all of that, we really shouldn’t worry. The Census Bureau is still hiring for a few more months. The pay isn’t much, but, cash flow is cash flow, and it’s better than unemployment. Well, it seems that our spin doctors in DC really dig these kinds of good-news bad-news jokes. So why aren’t we all….laughing?

CENTURION