Update 6/11/2016

This page is divided into four parts, listed below:

1. 2016 Presidential Campaign Update

2. My Letter To The Other Presidential Candidates

3. Essay: America's Decline after World War Two

4. Magazine Article: The Detroit Disaster Conspiracy Theory

2016 Presidential Campaign Update     

My presidential campaign has been dealt another setback.  This one is devastating.  Despite anti-virus protection, my computer was infected and virtually destroyed.  My external hard drive back-up didn't prevent almost all of my files from being lost.  I am now sifting through the wreckage and learning how to use a new computer operating system.  The important file containing my letter challenging the other presidential candidates to a public debate and other important campaign related documents is gone forever.  On top of that, someone destroyed some of my home-made roadside signs and left the pieces laying on the ground.  Is someone sending me a message? 

Despite this infuriating situation, it is my patriotic duty to carry on my fight for U. S. Treasury issued, debt-free United States Notes (U. S. Notes).  And it is my responsibility as a presidential candidate educate the American people with the WHOLE TRUTH about the problems and dangers facing our nation, including excessive government debt.  The looting of Greece is a case in point and a cautionary tale worthy of close examination.  This link to the U. S. Treasury web site: U. S. Treasury - FAQ: Legal Tender Status of Currency will verify that what I say about United States Notes is true and based on existing law.     

From the beginning a year ago, the presidential campaigns have been mostly the usual soap opera of vapid, claptrap, pandering sound bites and dubious “promises.”  The difference between me and all the other candidates, including the ones who dropped out, is that I demand action from Congress and the president NOW, not after the election.  After the election it will be too late.  I know from frustrating experience that once elected, politicians are totally insulated and virtually unaccountable.  I've waited twelve years for an answer to my Constitution-based proposal for debt-free funding of government, at all levels.  My proposal is to supplement  existing tax revenue.  I don't propose to eliminate taxes.  Responsible citizens should be willing to pay for their government.  But a $19 trillion national debt and funding short falls in states and municipalities all across the country dramatically prove that taxes are not covering the cost of government.  In 2004 when I began my battle with the politicians for debt-free U. S. Notes, the national debt was $7 trillion.  An unnecessary twelve trillion dollar increase has been loaded on the backs of American taxpayers since then!  This doesn't include increased state and municipal debt.  Of course, debt-free U. S. Note funding can reduce taxes and government debt. 

Holding politicians accountable for, and cutting, unnecessary spending is a separate issue because that won't fix the debt problem that exists now.  But before we can do that we have to confront the dirty little not so secret fact that government debt at all levels is an integral part of the global financial system and the private sector pension “system.”  What happens to the “fixed income” market if the national debt and state and municipal debt is ”paid off” as some conservative Republican politicians propose?  Incredibly, I hear conservative Republicans complain in Congress that “We won't be able to sell our government debt.” if we don't slash “entitlement” programs like social security, Medicare and Medicaid.  What a system!  They conveniently forget that the so-called social security “trust fund” went into the red because of the subprime mortgage disaster in 2007/2008 and the resultant Great Recession.  Incidentally, what bank holds the mythical $2.7 trillion social security “surplus”?  I estimate that $5 trillion has been stolen by politicians from the “trust fund” since the federal budget was “unified” in 1969!  This money is owed to the American people.  The only way it can actually and honestly be repaid is with U. S. Notes.  Stealing tax dollars and borrowed money from the federal general revenue fund to “replace” the stolen trust fund money only compounds the theft.  It's a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul the money that was stolen from Paul.  I'm calling for an uncorrupted audit to determine exactly how much money has been stolen since 1969.

Conservative Republicans constantly complain about taxes and government debt.  This is their excuse the attack “entitlements” and government programs.  But where were their complaints when Republican George W. Bush plunged America into the enormously expensive, totally unnecessary Iraq War and then cut taxes, twice?!  Conservative Republicans say America's high business taxes are causing “corporate inversions.”  This is when a U. S. corporation moves to a low tax country like Ireland.  Here is a question that I want conservative Republicans to answer:  Have Ireland and other low tax countries been engaged in enormously expensive, virtually continuous wars (hot and cold) since 1917?  Does Ireland and other low tax countries have an enormously expensive global military footprint?  What passes for a public “debate” of the issues facing America is a grotesque sham and an insult to my intelligence.    

I don't like to inject my personal life into politics.  But, in this case, I will in order to make an important point.  My wife is seriously ill with cancer.  We have been making and will continue to make, numerous trips to Pittsburgh for surgery and doctor's visits.  This involves traveling on the infamous parkway.  This limited access “highway” is a dangerous combination of NASCAR and demolition derby.  Pittsburgh has needed a beltway for at least thirty years.  Without a beltway, all traffic that could be diverted around the city, including huge trucks and buses, is crammed onto the   hopelessly overloaded parkway.  This guarantees gridlock, nightmarish lane changes and frightening on and off ramps.  But, despited the wonderful economic “turnaround” since the near death of the regional steel industry, Pittsburgh still can't afford a beltway.  And we have hundreds of suspension pounding potholes.  I particularly hate the ones that give me a choice of a head on collision with opposing traffic, running into a ditch or hitting the potholes, perfectly positioned to hit both front wheels.

I've written to virtually all of my elected politicians (their names can be found elsewhere on this web site) about debt-free U. S. Notes only to be stonewalled for twelve years.  The latest stonewaller is Democrat Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf.  I proposed unlimited debt-free United States Notes for funding infrastructure maintenance and improvement to him.  He won't even send me a form letter!  A beltway around Pittsburgh would be a massive, multi year infrastructure project with hundreds of well paying jobs.  Funded with U. S. Notes, there would be no new debt and no  tax increase.  Who could resist this win – win proposal?  Instead, it has been reported that Wolf wants to float a two billion dollar bond issue.  A proposal that will never pass the Republican controlled legislature. 

So, thanks to former Democratic governor Ed Rendell and loan originator in chief Tom Wolf (I never wrote to former Republican governor Tom Corbett), Pittsburgh will never have a beltway.  I remember the letters I sent them, that they ignored, every time my wife and I are forced to travel on that rotten parkway.  When I say we have no good politicians, I'm vastly understating the problem.  I E-mailed a mayor whose town had been devastated by a flood.  I explained that unlimited U. S. Notes could fund whatever infrastructure was needed to protect his town from flooding in the future.  He ignored me.  I E-mailed another mayor who was in the media crying the blues about his dying rust belt town.  I explained that unlimited U. S. Notes could be used for economic development with no tax increase and no debt.  He ignored me.  I wrote to all five offices of a U. S. senator who had a major city in her state devastated by a flood.  I explained to her that unlimited U. S. Notes could build levees strong enough to withstand a category six hurricane if such a thing ever happened.  She ignored me.  Our politicians are so horrible they actually discredit democracy! 

Here's another example of what I'm talking about:  If I had been Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007, I would have impeached both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.  We would have learned for certain if they had lied to Congress about weapons of mass destruction.  Lying to Congress is a felony, obviously an impeachable offense.  I'm convinced that if Bush and Cheney had been impeached, Nancy Pelosi would have been the first woman president in American history.  I also believe the Republican Party would have been totally discredited for a generation.  And their neo conservative masters would have been discredited permanently.  Instead, the feckless Democratic Party let the ultra conservative Republican Party and the neo conservatives come roaring back to power from the catastrophe of the Bush/Cheney Administration.  Sometimes I think the Democratic Party is the best friend the Republican Party ever had!  This leadership vacuum is the reason I am running for the office of President of the United States.

I'm disgusted by the weakling Democratic Party's response to Republican and conservative attacks on them and the American government.  To hear the conservatives and Republicans tell it, President Barack Obama is the worst president since, well, George W. Bush.  I have many serious policy disagreements with President Obama, but compared to Republican G. W. Bush he is vast improvement.  Space does not permit a comprehensive thesis debunking the mostly nonsensical right wing attacks on the president so I will try to do it as briefly as possible:

Starting with the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack; what was Bush and his Republican administration doing in the months before the attack?  Why didn't they prevent the attack?  Bush and his Republican national security team claim that they were given “faulty intelligence” that led to the Iraq War.  Why didn't they know it was “faulty”?  Why didn't they “blowback” on the people who gave them the “faulty” intell?  WHO gave them the “faulty” intell and why weren't those people held accountable?  After all, they caused an unnecessary war that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people including thousands of Americans, cost trillions of taxpayer's dollars and caused a Middle East catastrophe that may be unfixable!  Of course there are some explosive conspiracy theories but I won't go there.  Conservatives and Republicans attack the president mercilessly for not fixing the Middle East disaster that Bush and the Republicans created.  What if that Republican Middle East debacle is unfixable?!  That would certainly get President Obama off the hook.  Do I have a plan to fix the Middle East disaster?  Yes.  But I will only reveal it to President Obama in a closed door classified briefing.  I have no desire to wait until after the election to have my plan enacted, assuming that I would be elected president.  Why wait?  If there is a way to stop the carnage and destruction, we must act now!  Incidentally, unlike Donald Trump, Senator Sanders, governor Johnson and  Secretary Clinton, I am the only candidate who served in the military (Navy AMH E-4/E-5, 1962-1966).  I was not in combat but I was in two front line squadrons during the Cold War/Vietnam War era.  I served in VA-12 in the Mediterranean and VW-11 in the North Atlantic.  I was a flight deck plane captain aboard the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (my favorite president). 

 The problems with the budget deficit and national debt can be traced directly back to George W. Bush.  Remember, he was handed a surplus when he took office.  The Afghanistan war and the unnecessary Iraq war were started on Bush's watch.  But conservatives and Republicans ignore this truth and try to blame Obama for increased government spending and debt.  And remember, Obama was stuck with the cost of the bank bail out even though the disaster was caused by and happened under Bush.  Bush and the Republicans pushed for the bank deregulation and securitization that caused the subprime mortgage disaster.  Yet ,despited the major role that securitization played in the crisis, I heard a Republican in Congress say that securitization is a vital part of out financial system!  Was the bail out money really paid back to the government and if it was, where did the banks get the money?    And what about the loss of tax revenue caused by the Great Recession?  President Obama bent over backwards to accommodate the conservatives and Republicans.  In return, they (figuratively) stabbed him in the back and opposed him at every opportunity.  Despite this, considering the disaster that he inherited, the Obama recovery is impressive.  As for the problems, real or imagined, with the economy, blame the deregulated, globalized, free market, capitalist New Normal private sector, not Obama.  It is the private sector's war on the working class that is the cause of unjustified income inequality, poverty and a stagnant economy.  It was the pull out of General Motors and the American auto industry that destroyed the tax base and caused the economic disasters in Flint, Detroit and other parts of Michigan.  It is the private sector that controls the economy, not the government or the president.  When the private sector “promises” jobs and economic growth if the government cuts business taxes and regulations, that's economic blackmail.  Isn't extortion a crime?

I'm astounded when I hear conservatives and Republicans repeat the absurd claim that we need a businessman to be president.  They say: “the government should be run like a business.”  Well, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were businessmen.  In fact, they were both CEOs!  And it is an indisputable fact that their administration was a total disaster.  However, they did run the government like a business.  They privatized a significant part of their unnecessary Iraq War, they privatized the Iraqi oil industry and handed out lucrative war related business contracts.  Of course, all this privatization increased the enormous cost of the war.  Why are the Democrats so reluctant to blame the disastrous Bush administration and the private sector for America's problems?  Probably because many top neo conservative, neo liberal, globalist Democrats are implicated America's problems.

The Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) was an altruistic effort by President Obama and the Democrats to provide healthcare to the underinsured middle class, the working poor and the poor.  Is that so terrible?  Judging by the hateful reaction of conservatives and Republicans, you would think they committed a major crime against humanity.  What did the Republicans ever do to provide healtcare to the middle class, the working poor and the poor?  Nothing.  The problem with the Affordable Care Act is that Obama and the Democrats tried to work within the for-profit healthcare insurance “industry” and subsidize the program with tax dollars.  But the free market and the profit motive are the weak links in the healthcare chain.  My U. S. Note funded proposal for universal healthcare (explained elsewhere on this web site) doesn't require tax dollars and isn't hamstrung by the for-profit insurance “industry.”  Obviously, the healthcare crisis and all the problems in the economy are the result of the failure of the capitalist system, not a failure of government.   

And I am soooooooooooo sick of hearing the cry baby conservatives, Republicans and fat cat right wing talking heads whine about America's “highest corporate tax rate in the world.”  What about the corporations that pay NO federal tax?  If the corporate tax is so high, where did those massive profits come from?  And what about the multi billion dollar's worth of dividends and stock buy backs?  If the tax system is so “confiscatory,” where did all those American millionaires, multi millionaires, billionaires and multi billionaires come from?  Who is buying those multi million dollar cars, yachts, mansions and works of art?  Why does the number of American millionaires and billionaires increase every year (except when Wall Street crashes the economy)?  As for the complexity of the tax code and taxes that, in some cases, really are too high, I have debt-free money solutions to those problems (explained elsewhere on this web site).

Space does not permit a comprehensive explanation of my Constitution-based, debt-free money economic, monetary and social reforms.  I removed from this web site my essays titled “Building a Strong Economy” and “Rebuilding American Manufacturing” that were written for my 2010 campaign for the Pennsylvania state legislature.  I am revising them to reflect the current political and economic environment.  Most of my ideas for economic, fiscal, monetary and social reform can be found in various places on this web site.  However, a comprehensive overview of them can be found in my February 11, 2012 Update on this web site.  Simply scroll back to that post. I invite you to compare my thesis with what is proposed by the other presidential candidates or any politician now serving in government.  The New Normal economy that has so many Trump and Sanders supporters angry has been called a “gig economy.”  I call it a “gingerbread Economy.”  I call my alternative the “Constitution economy” because it fulfills the Constitutional mandate to “promote the general welfare” of the American people.  That said, this quote from my 2010 campaign essay Building a Strong Economy should allay fears that I am a business hating communist determined to destroy the capitalist system: “The fact that I am a pro worker populist doesn’t mean that I am anti business.  However, I do believe in economic justice.  I have plenty of ideas for job creation that will benefit business as well as workers.”  “Despite my populist agenda, I could be the best friend the American business community ever had.  I’m not a tax and spend politician.”  “The recent social instability in Baltimore and other volatile areas reveals a broken economic system that, as a president/mechanic, I will make every effort to fix.”  “With unlimited debt free-money for funding, the government can partner with the private sector to create good jobs that will employ the “unemployable” before they become a menace to themselves and society.  My jobs program can turn economically devastated [dangerous] neighborhoods into areas of peaceful prosperity.”      

Conversely, President Obama's recent trip to Vietnam to push TPP is a perfect example of the continuing bipartisan war on the American working class.  History certainly does repeat itself.  All the World War Two atrocities were instantly forgotten as Germany and Japan were handed American jobs and integrated, as vassal states, into the global capitalist empire.  The antiwar protesters said the Vietnam War, with fifty-eight thousand Americans and two million Vietnamese killed, was a capitalist/imperialist atrocity.  Obama's Vietnam trip proves that they were right!  Vietnam, like Iraq, was never a threat to American national security.  Why do our politicians start these wars?!  Despite the complaints from conservatives and Republicans about the “restrictive,” “oppressive,” “heavy hand of government,” Obama's trip proves that our “government,” in effect, is an extension of the private sector.  Vietnam's inclusion in TPP will make them another vassal state (like America) in the ubiguitous, predatory global capitalist empire.  Does arms sales to Vietnam mean they are being recruited for a future war with our “trading partner” China?  Isn't this the way the stupid politicians blundered into World War One and later, the War in Afghanistan?!   I'm sure these points will NEVER come up in the fraudulent presidential campaigns.

I have a message for all those “blue collar Republicans,”“Reagan Democrats” and Bernie Sanders supporters.  DON'T VOTE FOR DONALD TRUMP OR ANY REPUBLICAN IF HILLARY CLINTON GETS THE NOMINATION.  Republicans aren't your friends.  And don't stay home.  Vote for Democrats.  Then get involved in the politics of your party!  Take back your party from the neo liberals, the neo conservatives and the globalists.  I know from personal experience that the “real Democrats” sat back and let their party slip out of their hands.  I've been a blue collar worker all of my working life.  I know the Democratic Party leadership has made many serious mistakes.  But compared to the Republicans, I have no doubt that a Democrat is almost always a better choice for the working class.  Do you know that it was Ronald Reagan who put the TAX on social security benefits?!  (Do you know that employers can deduct their social security payroll contribution from their taxes as a business expense?)  To quote Lee Iacocca: “...if there had been a Republican administration in 1979, Chrysler wouldn't be around.  The Republicans wouldn't even have said hello to us.”  (Chrysler would have been liquidated.)  We don't need a third party.  We have a party.    And we don't need a revolution.  We just need one good politician to lead us and to let the American government solve America's problems with debt-free United States Notes.  The problems at the Veterans Administration, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, TSA, IRS, SEC, CFTC, Flint  and Detroit Michigan and most government problems are caused by LACK OF MONEY.  That is the problem.  And that problem can be fixed without raising taxes or borrowing money with U. S. Treasury issued debt-free money.  The problems of unemployment, underemployment, working poor, low wages, poverty, the healthcare crisis, rotten or non-existent pensions and other economic problems exist because the private sector dropped the ball.  With debt-free money, the government can fix all these problems because it doesn't have to please stockholders or make a profit.  The government has a Constitutional mandate to “promote the general welfare” of the American people.  I have been trying to have a public debate about these issues with my elected representatives for TWELVE YEARS!!!  But for twelve years all I get is a deafening silence.

I want to take this opportunity to state my opinion about the “scandal” at the Veterans Administration.  Long waiting times aren't unique to the VA.  They are a widespread problem in our free market “greatest healthcare system in the world.”  Why?  Two reasons: 1. less doctors mean more profit.  2. there is a shortage of doctors in this country.  At the VA, fewer doctors mean less tax dollars for funding.  This is why the VA is always underfunded.  For twelve years I have been trying to fix the underfunding problem with Treasury issued, debt-free U. S. Notes but the rotten politicians won't let me!  Of course, this situation conveniently plays right into the hands of the privatizers.  Conservative media pundits and Republicans are in a privatization frenzy.  They love to talk about “incompetent bureaucrats” but they never talk about VA underfunding.  I explain the “incompetence” like this: the VA administrators are told “run the VA with what we give you or we will get someone who will.”  This is why there were no mass firings.  And then Obama brings in someone from the private sector to do damage control and start the privatization.  I would like to state for the record that Obama has been stonewalling me on U. S. Notes since BEFORE he was elected!  Somewhere on this web site I ask the question: are our veterans victims of a privatization conspiracy?! 

One more point before I conclude.  Why is there a doctor shortage in this country?  Our society and culture have some fundamental problems.  These problems are reflected in the low test scores and low graduation rate of our students and our enormous prison population.  Delineation of these problems is beyond the scope of this article.  However, I will say that our culture and society produce an inordinately high number of delinquent, dysfunctional young people.  These young people are almost always bad students and rarely become doctors or engineers.  The other factor, in my opinion, is that many good students look for soft gingerbread jobs in the gingerbread economy.  Wall Street, Hollywood and silicone valley are among the preferred destinations.  Doctor, engineer, nurse and mechanic are tough jobs that require a demanding education and lots of responsibility.  And you have to get your hands dirty or bloody.  This is the exact opposite of gingerbread jobs like stock picker, industry analyst, script writer or a bumper music player in the right wing conservative media.  So, doctors and engineers are imported from the upper classes of foreign countries like India and Korea.  Do I think I know how to fix these societal problems?  Yes, I do.  That's why I'm running for president.   

Ronald Reagan said: “Government isn't the solution to our problems, government is the problem.”    He also said the scariest words are “I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.”  I'm outraged that a president would direct these slanderous insults against the American government that I took an oath to defend when I enlisted in the military.  According to my dictionary, the definition of sedition is: “incitement of discontent or rebellion against the government.”  And the synonym listed is TREASON!  If I had been a member of Congress when Reagan made those despicable remarks, I would have introduced articles of impeachment.  I'll admit that politicians and bureaucrats make mistakes that hurt businesses.  But that doesn't justify condemning and destroying government as an institution.  For years I have been trying to explain the difference between the institution of government and the politicians that we elect.  If we elect bad politicians, we have bad government.  If we elect good politicians, we have good government.  Government is neutral.  The government does plenty of things to help the American people.  And it does plenty of things to help businesses.  That's called corporate welfare.  If the government doesn't protect the American people from the excesses of the private sector, who will?  People are shocked at the predations of the payday loan “industry.”  Am I risking my life when I say payday loans could be made interest free by the government with U. S. Notes?  What politician would dare to introduce legislation to set up and fund a postal banking system with U. S. Notes?  Would that be political suicide?

It is time for Congress, House and Senate, to do their Constitutional duty and “promote the general welfare” of the American people.  This can be done by immediately introducing legislation directing the U. S. Treasury to begin issuing United States Notes directly into the the federal trust funds to replace ALL of the money that has been stolen from the government and spent by the politicians since the budget was “unified” in 1969.  “Replacing”the stolen money with tax dollars and debt money from the general revenue fund only compounds the theft.  The legislation can be introduced in the Senate by Senator Bernie Sanders and in the House by Representative Nancy Pelosi.  If this proposal is rejected, on behalf of the American people, I demand a written explanation of WHY it was rejected from Senator Mitch McConnell and Representative Paul Ryan.  All correspondence and rebuttals from politicians, reputable pundits and academics should be sent to Committee to Elect Ray Uhric, PO box 815, Coraopolis, PA 15108.       

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Below is the letter that I will send to the remaining major presidential candidates.  In this letter I will request that the candidates address the debt-free money issue that I raise in the letter and on this web site, in a timely manner.  I will also request that they present my debt-free government funding proposals to the currently serving federal politicians, in a timely manner.  I have proposed debt-free government funding many times to politicians over the past twelve years only to be ignored or stonewalled every time.  If the candidates refuse to respond to these requests, on behalf of the American people, I will demand a written explanation of why they deny the American people the enormous benefits of U. S. Constitution-based debt-free money.  Their explanations will be put up on this web site and published in the mainstream media as soon as I can get the media to finally acknowledge my existence!  The $19 trillion national debt is a threat to national security and the general welfare of the American people.  U. S. Treasury issuance of debt-free United States Notes is the only responsible solution to the national debt threat and America's fiscal, economic and social problems.  The time to stop the irresponsible and dangerous fiscal policies of our loan originator politicians is NOW!

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My Letter To The Other Candidates

PO box 815

Coraopolis, PA 15108

June 11, 2016

Donald J. Trump

725 Fifth Ave.

New York, NY 10022

Dear Mr. Trump:

I am a presidential candidate like you.  I have been registered with the Federal Election Commission since April 21, 2015.  Unlike your total access to the news media, my voice has been suppressed.  For more than a year I have watched in frustration as the vast majority of the campaign rhetoric has been the usual soap opera of vapid, claptrap, pandering sound bites.  A perfect opportunity to educate the American people about the critically important issues has been squandered.  As usual, the corporate media are careful to avoid steering the presidential “debates” and discussion in the direction of discomforting substance.  As a presidential candidate, I have the right and the duty to inject truth and substance into this presidential election cycle.  In this letter, I intend to do exactly that.

I am running on a Full Employment (with just compensation and benefits), Low Tax, Low Debt, Debt-Free Money platform.  The main plank of my platform is a permanent U. S. Constitution-based: article 1, section 8, paragraph 5, debt-free money solution to federal, state and local government funding problems.  Debt-free money can also stimulate the economy with well paying government and private sector jobs.  My proposal is based on existing law: The Legal Tender Act of 1862.  The Constitution and the law give the U. S. Congress the authority direct the U. S. Treasury to issue debt-free legal tender currency –- United States Notes (U. S. Notes).  This is the same currency that was issued under Presidents Abraham Lincoln in 1862 and John F. Kennedy in 1963.  Under Lincoln, $449,338,902 worth of U. S. Notes was issued by the Treasury.  This increased America's national money supply by approximately twenty-five percent with no inflation.  President Kennedy's $4 billion of U. S. Notes was withdrawn from circulation by Congress after he was assassinated.    

This link to the U. S. Treasury Department web site: U. S. Treasury - FAQ: Legal Tender Status of Currency on my web site: rayuhric.com will verify that what I say about United States Notes is true and based on existing law.  According to the Constitution, the government has the unique authority to “coin,” that is, create money.  There is nothing in the Constitution about the Federal Reserve.  Thus, was it an unconstitutional, illegal crime for Congress to give its enumerated power to create money to the Federal Reserve without a constitutional amendment?  Despite the stupidity of Congress, $300 million of Abraham Lincoln's original $449,338,902 of debt-free money remains an unissued part of our national money supply.  Under the authority of the Legal Tender Act of 1862, Congress can increase this $300 million to whatever amount is needed to solve America’s fiscal, economic and social problems.  The Treasury web site states: “The issuance of United States Notes is subject to the limitations established by Congress.  It established a statutory limitation of $300 million on the amount of United States Notes authorized to be outstanding and in circulation in the United States.”  United States Notes are interchangeable with and have exactly the same value as Federal Reserve Notes.  Therefore, the claim that U. S. Notes would not be accepted in the global economy is spurious.  On January 21, 1971, Congress discontinued the circulation of U. S. Notes.  As a candidate for President of the United States, I have the right to demand that Congress explain WHY this was done.  Incidentally, in 1971 the national debt was $398 billion.  Today it is $19 trillion.  That's an 18 trillion, 602 billion dollar increase!  Our politicians have made sure these facts remain a well kept secret.

Based on the legal justification established above, I propose that U. S. Notes should be put directly into

the federal trust funds to replace the trillions of dollars ($5 trillion?) that have been stolen since the

federal budget was “unified” in 1969.  Replacing stolen trust fund money with tax dollars from the general revenue fund and borrowed money only compounds the theft.  I demand an uncorrupted audit of the trust funds to determine the exact amount of stolen money.  Treasury issued debt-free money is the perfect, legal and practicable solution to America’s fiscal, economic and social problems.  As a presidential candidate, will you publicly support my debt-free money proposals as stated in this letter and on my web site?  If you are elected president, will you direct Congress to authorize the U. S. Treasury to issue debt-free money as was done by Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy?  Based on the facts stated above, Congress “with a stroke of a pen” can authorize the Treasury to issue debt-free United States Notes in any amount.  This action can be taken immediately.  Why wait until after the November election to begin fixing America's fiscal, economic and social problems?  In my 12/12/2015 post on my web site, there is what I believe is an irrefutable thesis explaining the legal justification for U. S. Treasury issuance of United States Notes.  I suggest you read it before you reject my proposals.      

I propose to use United States Notes to supplement the normal funding of Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the SEC, CFTC, IRS, the Veterans Administration and other important and necessary government functions.  Thus, these vitally important government programs and agencies will be generously funded, made permanently solvent and benefits will be increased irrespective of tax revenue or economic conditions.  This will be a major economic stimulus with no tax increase and no increase of the national debt.  Today, government funding is such a disaster that several private sector charities are making television appeals for money for our wounded and disabled veterans.  Wounded and disabled veterans have become charity cases!  This is a national disgrace!  For years I have been badgering my democratically elected politicians telling them to use Treasury issued debt-free money to fund ALL of the needs of our veterans.  Tragically, I have been stonewalled and ignored by the dozens of politicians who I have contacted.

I stress the issue of Treasury issued debt-free money in this letter because so many of America's problems are the result of lack of money.  Military funding needs to be increased to meet the growing national security threats.  Infrastructure funding is dangerously inadequate.  Entitlement programs are shamefully inadequate for a modern civilized society.  Full healthcare must be provided for all American workers and their families and the poor.  The Transportation Safety Administration is dangerously in need of increased funding, The Federal Aviation Administration and other government regulatory agencies are badly underfunded.  Social programs need to be expanded to reduce social instability and violence.  Well paying productive jobs must be created for at risk young people before they become a danger to themselves and society.  While Republicans and Democrats argue endlessly about what to cut and what not to cut, we must take remedial action NOW to fix America's problems.

I have populist, AMERICA FIRST positions on all of the issues and challenges facing America, both domestic and foreign. I will discuss and debate them all AFTER the issue of Treasury issued debt-free money is resolved to my satisfaction.  When I first proposed the issuance of debt-free money to more than a dozen politicians in June of 2004, the national debt was $7 trillion.  Since then, $12 trillion of unnecessary debt has been loaded on the backs of American taxpayers.  Mr. Trump, I challenge you to give me a point by point response to this letter in a timely manner.  Thank you.

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                                    Ray Uhric

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America’s Decline After World War Two

Two closely related forces are responsible for America’s frightening economic, political, fiscal, ethical and moral decline since 1945: the pursuit of of maximum profits by American businesses and expansion and defense of the global capitalist empire.  Both demanded downsizing, globalization, union busting, out sourcing, off shoring and cheap sweat shop foreign labor.  These forces transformed America’s tremendously productive economy of 1945 into the debt-based consumption economy of 2016.  America had a productive economy during World War Two that was unprecedented in world history.  Today, we have what I term a “gingerbread economy.”  Others call it a “gig economy.”  This transformation is the result of what I call “strategic economics” and the economic barbarism of free market capitalism.

To achieve the goals of strategic economics, America’s productive economy had to be dismantled and redistributed among the vassal states of the global capitalist empire.  In the case of our auto industry, were the products deliberately sabotaged in order to avoid resistance from the American people?  Skeptics of this explosive question should examine the history of the American auto industry since 1946 to today.  Compare the disastrous American decline to the meteoric rise of the foreign brands that dominate much of the American car market.  Why was enormous American direct investment poured into foreign auto companies, including from American auto companies?!  I cover this subject comprehensively in my “Detroit Disaster Conspiracy Theory” article below.  The prosperity created in the capitalist vassal states – Japan, Germany and South Korea – at the expense of America, was one weapon the capitalists used undermine and destroy the socialist rival that was emerging in the aftermath of World War Two.  The other weapon was protracted, bloody and enormously expensive military confrontation.  This process destroyed socialism but it also hollowed out the American middle class, increased poverty and transformed America into a debt ridden vassal state in the global capitalist empire.  Is America’s decline a problem or just the inevitable economic reality in the so-called new world order?    

Now that the 2016 presidential election cycle is underway, the subject of “income inequality” is a hot topic for both parties.  (Does anybody believe that conservative Republicans are opposed to income inequality?)  As usual, the public discussion of the issue is flawed.  The vitally important adjective “unjustified” is omitted from the phrase income inequality.  Republicans and conservatives are quick to point out that income inequality isn’t necessarily bad.  They say “do you want a cashier to make as much as a CEO?  Are all these conservative pundits and politicians really that stupid that they don’t realize that unjustified income inequality is the problem?  This brings up an extremely important but mostly ignored aspect of the unjustified income inequality discussion: overcompensation and undercompensation.  This is the “third rail” of economics.  When I bring this subject up, the usual reaction is: “Who will determine who is overpaid and who is underpaid”?  I say this is not an unanswerable question.

What does unjustified income inequality have to do with America’s decline?  Increased unjustified economic stratification is a symptom of American’s decline.  The pursuit of maximum profits, downsizing, globalization, union busting, out sourcing, off shoring and cheap overseas sweat shop labor, virtually destroyed American manufacturing, millions of middle class jobs and increased poverty in America.  Who would deny that this caused a decline in the social fabric and strength of America?  Who would deny that this increased social instability?  Of course, the pursuit of maximum profit is the reason for unjustified income inequality, declining wages, the loss of job security, loss of benefits and loss of pensions.  Conservatives and Republicans blame President Obama’s “socialist” economic policies for the slow recovery after the 2007/2008 crash and declining wages.  Is anybody stupid enough to believe this blatantly dishonest nonsense?  It is a fact that all of the negative things that happened to American workers after World War Two are a direct result of free market capitalist economic policies.  Socialist/populist economic policies would produce the opposite of unjustified economic inequality.  Unjustified income inequality is a direct consequence of globalization and deunionization because workers are virtually powerless to improve their economic situation.  It is a myth that workers “don't take advantage of opportunities”  It is a game of economic musical chairs when there aren't enough good jobs in the New Normal economy.  

In order to maintain economic activity after America’s manufacturing sector was virtually destroyed by globalization and wages across the board went down, increased debt has replaced the lost wages.  And to maintain government operations, our massive global military footprint and ongoing neo conservative military operations, debt replaced lost tax dollars.  Our $19 trillion national debt, budget crises in many states and unsustainable municipal debt is an obvious symptom of America’s economic and fiscal decline.  I'm sure the globalizers were well aware of the fact that declining incomes result in lower tax revenue.  But that was obviously part of the plan to “starve the beast” and weaken the power of the American government to regulate the private sector.  I believe the decline in living standards in Greece and other heavily indebted capitalist vassal states is a preview of America’s economic and social future unless we change course.  Economic decline, a reckless neo conservative foreign policy, the ongoing and possibly endless neo conservative foreign wars, possible military confrontations with China and Russia, the terrorist threat resulting from a reckless and stupid neo conservative Middle East policy and an ever increasing multi trillion dollar national debt may combine to produce an existential threat to America as we know it!  As a patriotic America First populist, I will not silently accept this self-serving stupidity.   

Another (little noticed) manifestation of America’s decline is the increasing foreign penetration of the American economy.  This is nothing new.  This trend has been with us for a long time.  Many familiar brands on our store shelves are foreign companies – Nestle, Norelco, Phillips, Sony, Samsung and Bayer are examples.  In fact, the largest for profit employer in the Pittsburgh area is Bayer, a German company.  This trend has accelerated dramatically in recent years.  Publicly owned American corporations are for sale to the highest bidder.  That’s why they have been gobbled up by cash flush foreign businesses from other vassal states in the global capitalist empire.  Japanese Bridgestone’s purchase of Firestone is just one of many examples I could name.  American stockholders eagerly relinquish ownership when they are offered a premium price for their stock.  The American tire industry has been devastated by foreign penetration just like our auto industry.  The Kerkorian/Iacocca hostile takeover attack sent Chrysler on a downhill slide that resulted in the disastrous Fiat-Chrysler “merger.”  This debacle was the death of a one hundred year old American company.  When American car companies started shedding brands like Plymouth, Pontiac and Oldsmobile, I proposed having the American government buy these brands with debt-free United States Notes.  That would have interfered with the “creative destruction” plans of the global capitalists but it would have prevented the disaster that is the American auto industry today.  It is interesting to note that shedding brands was the recommendation of the American business press to fix the problems of the American auto industry.  Did these “experts” not notice the massive proliferation of brands from Honda, Nissan and Toyota?  Having the government buy discarded brands and companies with debt-free money will horrify the free traders (traitors?).  But I would have rather seen the magnificent Westinghouse Electric Corporation owned by the American people than chopped up and sold off like party favors to crony capitalists.  On January 15, 2016, General Electric sold their appliance division to the Chinese.  The non-productive stockholders got a fat 22 percent pop in their GE holdings.  How soon will the Kentucky GE workers be competing with Chinese sweatshop labor Senator McConnell?  

Foreign manufacturers get tax breaks when they set up “transplant” production facilities to make their products here.  Our pro trade politicians insist that these are “American products.”  This is great marketing for the foreign companies that are eating our lunch economically and accelerating America’s economic decline.  The pro trade economists and politicians tell us “we will never go to war with our trading partners,” China for example.  This is complete nonsense.  The European countries had vigorous cross border trade before they were destroying each other in World War One and the resultant World War Two.  Obama “pivoted to Asia” to confront the military threat of our “trading partner” China.  Pro trade politicians conveniently ignore the fact that the U. S. Constitution gives Congress, and only Congress, the power to control the value of the dollar.  Thus, they can accept our “trading partners” manipulating their currency to dominate our market and fatten the profits of the retail “industry.”

The new gingerbread businesses that have “replaced” the so-called rust belt manufacturing are mostly facades with manufacturing out sourced to foreign sweat shops.  Many “industries” like telecommunications, finance and real estate produce nothing.  Our economy is sustained by gingerbread “industries” like finance, retail, marketing, advertising telecommunications, entertainment, hospitality, sports and other non productive activities.  The banking “industry” could be thought of as a legal racket.  The American government issues debt (Treasury bonds, bill and notes) and gives it to the Federal Reserve (Fed).  The Fed creates money based on that debt and “loans” (gives) it to the banks.  Then the banks loan it to us at interest.  What a racket!  Banks have other non productive ways to make money such as “trading” in the markets and mergers and acquisitions (i.e., destroying companies).  Why does the gross domestic product (GDP) go up when actual production in the economy goes down? 

The answer lies (pun intended) in the fraudulent way GDP is calculated.  (GDP: personal consumption, business investment, government  spending and net exports.)  Much of the gingerbread economic activity involves selling and buying the foreign made products of foreign multinational corporations.  Or, buying foreign made products sold by American multinational corporations.  The legal, medical and accounting professions are necessary but non productive.  The transportation “industry” is also necessary, but non productive.  How much economic activity involves advertising, marketing and selling foreign made products?  It is true that America produces and exports a lot of food.  However, there is a downside to this overproduction that is rarely discussed.  Exporting the last of our reserves of oil and natural gas is supposed to save the gingerbread economy from stagnation.  Future generations may curse us for this foolish gift to the energy companies.  High speed rail equipment for the west coast will be made by the Chinese.  This is a typical example of the New Normal American economy. 

Is the New Normal gingerbread/gig economy viable or an illusion?  We have a healthcare crisis, an infrastructure funding crisis, a college affordability crisis, a student loan debt crisis, an immigration crisis, a youth/black/Hispanic/native American unemployment crisis, a national debt crisis, a pension crisis, a looming municipal bond default crisis, the housing market is still a problem after the subprime mortgage disaster, the 2007/2008 financial disaster produced a permanent $77 billion annual social security deficit.  This deficit will increase dramatically in the future.  We have a Medicare crisis, a Medicaid crisis, a Veterans Administration funding crisis, there is a lack of middle class jobs, in many areas there is a lack of municipal funding for police and fire protection, for libraries, youth support activities and other important community activities, and poverty is still a major problem.  The very structure of the economy causes income distribution to be a sick joke.  In fact, foreign sweat shops are an integral  part of the American economy.  The stock markets and financial services suck massive amounts of money out of the economy, and produce nothing.  Is productivity an obsolete concept?  Is its only function to be a lash across the backs of the workers of the world?  Have we learned nothing from the disasters of 1929 and 2007/2008?  Thanks to our for sale politicians, the “government” is, in effect, an extension of the private sector.  To me, America isn’t a country moving forward.  It is a country in decline.  As a nation, is this the best we can do? 

Do I dare to speak of moral decline?  I will only address economic morality in this essay.  Polls show that the take no prisoners American consumers prefer sweat shop produced products to more expensive American made items, on the rare occasions when they have a choice.  This is the free market in action.  Globalization and “right to work” states destroyed millions of union jobs.  Americans seem to approve, consequences  (economically devastated Detroit for example) be damned.  I guess this “rambling” essay proves that I am way out of step with  the Zeitgeist.  However, I will defend every word against any rebuttal from any reputable pundit, academic or politician. 

I have debt-free monetary solutions for America's fiscal, economic and social problems.  I'm proud to say that I get my inspiration from Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Jesus (but I don't go to church).  My proposals get their legal authority from the U. S. Constitution and existing law.  But, for twelve years I have been stonewalled and smacked down by the politicians, the media, academia and the voters.  To be blunt, I think we have an ignorance crisis, a stupidity crisis and a corruption crisis.  Why should the Americans who depend on social security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, the PBGC and other important government functions suffer because of the ignorance, stupidity and corruption of our elected politicians?!  They gave us the subprime mortgage disaster, the Great Recession, the disastrous neo conservative foreign policy and the Iraq War.  These policy blunders (and many others) are why the important government functions I listed are threatened.  Only debt-free U. S. Notes can save us from the consequences of the folly of our political leaders.   

I will not pander to the voters or defend the leaders of my Democratic Party when they are wrong.  I will state my policy recommendations honestly.  I will not “spin” my platform to please this group or that group in order to get elected.  I will adhere to the Constitution.  That means I must promote “the general welfare” of and address the legitimate grievances of the American people, if I am elected.  For years the voters have been offered false choices.  The false choice between U. S. Treasury issued, legal tender, debt-free United States Notes and hyperinflation is just one insidious and destructive example.  The result of this scandalous scam is an unsustainable, destructive $19 trillion national debt.  We live in a democracy.  The voters can accept my proposals or reject them.  However, the voters can’t make intelligent, objective decisions about public policy while I continue to be frozen out of the public debate.  The time has come for TRUTH in politics. 

I will debate any foreign policy or domestic policy issue AFTER the debt-free money issue is resolved to my satisfaction.  Rebuttals from any reputable pundit, politician or academic should be sent to PO box 815, Coraopolis, PA 15108.

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I give a comprehensive explanation of how I believe a capitalist conspiracy destroyed the American auto industry in a article titled “The Detroit Disaster Conspiracy Theory” below.  The original version of the article was published on my old web site which I was advised to take down by my “handler” in Harrisburg when I ran for the Pennsylvania General Assembly (state legislature).    The original article evolved into long and a short versions.  I tried to have these articles published.  They were rejected (suppressed?) by the several national publications that I contacted.   

The long version was submitted to Time magazine and the Atlantic Monthly.  I think I also submitted it to The New Yorker but I can't remember for sure.  The reaction was silence.  There was no rejection notice or any acknowledgement that I contacted them.  This seems odd to me.  Of course, their silence means that I can't prove that anybody at the magazines read and rejected the articles.   The article is quite long but I figured the magazines could edit it and shorten it to fit their requirements.  Were they reluctant to send me a rejection notice because I might tell the world  on my web site that they saw the article but refused to publish it.  Silence is the standard response that I “get” from virtually everyone I contact.  That way (except in a few cases) I can’t prove that anybody ever heard of me.  Now that I am a presidential candidate, you would think that it is impossible for the “establishment” to ignore me.  As I explained on my last web site Update, that logical conclusion is totally wrong!     

I submitted the shortened, less polemical version of my conspiracy article to three or four car enthusiast magazines.  The response again was dead silence, not even a single rejection notice.  Were the editors so exalted that it was beneath them acknowledge my existence?  Were they ashamed to admit that they were scooped by a mechanic who had never been to J school?  Or, are they well aware of the conspiracy but they have to pretend that it doesn’t exist?  That way they won’t offend their advertisers and risk a backlash from the now enlightened public.  The short version is not included because it would be redundant.

The Detroit Disaster Conspiracy Theory (long version)

[Updated 2/20/2012, 11/27/2014 and 1/15/2015]

introduction

Today, February 20, 2012, the Democrats are celebrating “saving of the American auto industry.”  On the other side, the Republicans are griping because President Obama didn’t “let the markets work their magic” and deliver the death blow to General Motors.  I have two questions: does an American auto industry actually exist, and, did the Democrats really save it?

Below is a lengthy polemic that I wrote for a web site that I was advised to take down when I ran for public office in.  At the end of the article, I call for a government investigation of the reasons for the disastrous decline of the American auto industry.  I want to know who was responsible and what were their motives?  I am still calling for an uncorrupted Congressional investigation of the actions of the American auto industry’s top executives and boards of directors.  They were in charge when the American auto industry was destroyed. 

I believe the American auto industry is virtually dead and that it was top management and compliant politicians who deliberately killed it.  Today, General Motors and Ford are nothing but weakling links in the global supply chain.  And Chrysler Corporation no longer exists.  Contrary to popular belief, Chrysler isn’t part of the American auto industry.  “Chrysler” is a subsidiary of a Netherlands-based holding company with headquarters in London, UK.  I consider the “Chrysler” manufacturing facilities in the United States foreign transplants.  How many Americans know or care that “Firestone” tires are manufactured by a subsidiary of Japan’s Bridgestone tire company?  Does it matter that Hondas built in Marysville, Ohio are products of a Japanese company? 

And, for the final nail in the coffin of the American auto industry, conservatives, Republican politicians and the business press are proudly proclaiming the non-union, foreign owned transplants in the southern states “the new American auto industry.”  In fact, in 1991, Bush administration officials, in order to bust European quotas on Japanese cars, declared Hondas made in Ohio “American cars.”  I think it is obvious that our auto industry is all but dead.  A sizable percentage of the American people couldn’t care less.  But I do care about the death of another American industry.  Was it a good idea to kill the American auto industry in order to destroy the auto workers union?  Is the destruction of American industry bad for America and the American people?  Do our foreign “trading partners” think the leaders of the American people are stupid fools?            

The Detroit Disaster Conspiracy Theory (12/16/2008)  By Ray Uhric

In my neighborhood, American cars are disappearing from the driveways.  The American people, apparently, have voted with their wallets for the death of the American auto industry.  It has become a cliché that: “Detroit makes cars that people don’t want buy.”  Mysteriously, I have never heard any politician or anyone in the media ask Detroit’s top management WHY they build cars that people don’t want to buy.  In this article, I will attempt to answer that question.  Since I seem to be the only person who cares enough to ask the question, this article may be a waste of time.  However, I consider it my patriotic duty to fill in this huge hole in the historical record.

Today, December 16, 2008, the media are doing their best to keep us in suspense as to whether GM, Ford and Chrysler will die or if the White House will throw them a financial lifeline.  An industry that was once a source of pride for America may be mortally wounded.  What happened?  Americans seem to be remarkably indifferent to an issue that could have devastating consequences for an already reeling economy.  The Wall Street pundits say: why should we care?  We have a brand new non-union “American” auto industry in the Southern states.  Transplants: Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW and others, build cars here and employ American workers.  That makes them “American cars,” right?  Wrong. 

I don’t want to debate whether a Nissan made in Tennessee is an American car.  My objective is to satisfy my curiosity as to why the Detroit automakers went into self-destruct mode shortly after the end of World War Two -- just as the Cold War was heating up.  Detroit’s decline certainly didn’t hurt the global capitalist’s Cold War strategy to build up the post war economies of Germany and Japan.  But that’s another story to be covered later.  

Putting that aside, these are some of the common explanations for why Americans turned their backs on our auto industry:  “Detroit management is stupid; they wouldn’t adapt; they offered a ‘ho hum’ product line; they make boring cars; poor quality; awful styling and they make cars people don’t want to buy.”  Whether or not these things are true isn’t my question.  The question is: if these criticisms of American cars are valid, why aren’t people curious about why these criticisms are valid?  The loss of this industry could wreck the economy and the lives of thousands of workers.  You would think that people would be intensely interested or at least curious. 

To me, it seems extremely odd that all of the American automakers made exactly the same, well publicized, “mistakes” – year after year, decade after decade.  Why wouldn’t one or more (there used to more than the “Big Three”) break out of this self-destructive pattern?  The market share was there for the taking but they all handed it to the foreign competition on a silver platter.  Why?  To paraphrase a disgusted Texas Chevrolet dealer: “They couldn’t have lost market share more effectively if they would have done it deliberately.”  Is it possible that it was deliberate? 

Why would the senior management of the American auto industry deliberately lose market share?  Simply add up the number of shut down unionized plants and the answer to this question becomes obvious, at least to me. This irresponsible class warfare may be applauded on Wall Street but what will the ultimate cost be to the economy, the U. S. Treasury and the families of thousands of workers?  Did Wall Street demand that the auto workers union be destroyed even if it meant destroying the American Auto industry?  In my well informed and well researched opinion, the answer is obviously yes.    

But, what about the dealers and the investors?  Wouldn’t they want to save our dying American auto industry?  Most car dealers are diversified.  The mega dealers sell Japanese, German, Korean, and probably soon Chinese and Indian cars.  They have long ago factored in the disappearance of the American auto industry.  An American car is just another face in the crowd.  As for Wall Street, they’re diversified and global.  The profit growth of the foreign brands gobbling up the American market is a magnet for the “smart money.”  Remember, Wall Street’s mouthpiece, the business press, never tires of telling us that Detroit is profitable in China.  No legacy costs there. 

The issue of legacy costs means that for blue-collar workers the American Dream is becoming a myth (and for some, a nightmare).  Like a nuclear power plant, a private sector corporation has a finite life span.  When the workers get old and sick and infirm, the corporation becomes, metaphorically, radioactive and it must be discarded.  Or, there must be massive cuts in the worker’s pay and benefits or production shifted to a place with no legacy costs.  The business press and the so-called “liberal” mainstream media demand that United Auto Workers (UAW) union workers and retirees take cuts in their wages, healthcare coverage, and pension benefits.  I say, all the people who are demanding that the autoworkers take cuts should take cuts in their pay, healthcare and pension benefits.  Only a hypocrite would demand a sacrifice of others that they are not willing to make themselves. 

But when it comes to legacy costs, nothing can match the burden of the compensation given to corporate executives and federal politicians.  All those Southern politicians who spent millions of tax dollars to lure the foreign, non-union companies into their states should take cuts in pay, healthcare coverage and their pensions.  That is what they are demanding of the unionized American autoworkers.  Our politicians subsidize the foreign competition so they can put American workers on the street!  I thought conservative politicians hated socialism.  Whose side are they on anyway?  I wonder if they all have dual citizenship.  Are they citizens and secret agents of Japan or Germany or Korea?  (By the way, dual citizenship should be illegal.  If you can’t give total allegiance to America, you shouldn’t pretend to be an American.)

The conservatives and the Southern politicians conveniently forget that Germany and Japan have national healthcare systems that give their manufactures a cost advantage over us.  (Toyota said they built a plant in Canada rather than the U. S. because Canada has universal healthcare.)  The conservatives and Southern politicians ignore the foreign government subsidies, the American capital and tax dollars that built up the foreign car companies after World War Two and the currency manipulation that gave/gives the foreign car companies a price advantage.  What politician will tell you that currency manipulation fattens the profits of foreign car dealers and the retailers of foreign products?  That's why the politicians will never stop currency manipulation despite their promises to do it.  They ignore the below cost dumping that grabbed market share and the fact that Toyota sells the Prius at a loss.  I thought this was illegal.  Conservatives and Southern politicians want us to believe that they are too stupid to realize that one hundred year old companies inevitably incur legacy costs.  What do they want, a workforce comprised entirely of illegal alien migrants riding to work in the back of pickup trucks?

According to my conspiracy theory, this is all part of the American/global capitalist’s (Wall Street) Master Plan to gradually downsize, outsource, de-unionize and eventually offshore the American auto industry.  And the plan was running right on schedule – until Wall Street’s sub-prime mortgage meltdown disaster/global credit crisis blew a gigantic hole in the American economy.  Detroit’s CEOs begging tapped out taxpayers for a bailout was never in the Master Plan.  When the Big Three CEOs say they could have made it if it wasn’t for the recent economic train wreck, they’re telling the truth.  The plan was to gradually destroy the union.  And, when the last painful concession is wrung out of the last hapless United Auto Worker, Wall Street will suddenly issue a “buy” rating on the Big Three stocks and the “shrewd” investors will make a killing.  Ironically, the current recession (depression?) may work to the advantage of Wall Street after all.  The final deathblow to the UAW will come sooner rather than later. 

The media circus surrounding the Detroit bailout hearings was a gigantic PR black eye for the UAW.  The hearings were aired on every cable news channel, wall-to-wall, gavel-to-gavel.  Even the so-called “liberal media” piled on.  It seemed like everybody in the country was screaming for the blood of the unionized American autoworkers.  I’m sure the multi-millionaire CEOs were uncomfortable begging Congress for money but they will be heroes down at the country club.  Maybe they will get medals from the Chamber of Commerce for service above and beyond the call of duty.

In my opinion, the goal of creating a non-union auto industry is the real reason the Big Three, year after year, “wouldn’t adapt.”   This is why, decade after decade, Detroit put out “ho hum,” “boring” products “that people don’t want to buy.”  I believe Detroit’s top management never tried to compete with the foreign manufactures.  In fact, they actually financed and supported the foreign competition.  This is the real cause of the auto industry disaster and it is a subject that many anti-worker “experts” and pundits skillfully avoid. They rarely mention the billions of dollars of cash that were squandered by Detroit when they bought and refurbished dying foreign automakers.  Like a stupid, senile, brain dead old sugar daddy, the American auto executives went on a worldwide spending spree.  The industry analysts constantly complain about UAW contracts but do they mention the multi-million dollar financial disaster that was Ford’s Jaguar adventure?  This is just one of many such balance sheet destroying “mistakes” that I could list.

I was a “car guy” and an auto racing enthusiast long before I was old enough to drive.  I enjoy all forms of auto racing but my primary interest is sports cars.  In the next part of this article, auto racing and sports cars will be my primary focus.      

The sad story of the slow death of the American auto industry begins with the Marshal Plan at the end World War Two.  How much money did the politicians steal from the American taxpayers to rebuild German and Japanese industry in order to prevent these countries from going communist?  How much technology was transferred?  How much capital was lavished on our former deadly enemies?  All the atrocities were instantly forgiven because the American capitalists were creating the weapon they would use against the unionized American workers.  And, in the process, these capitalist fools transformed America from the world’s biggest creditor nation into the world’s biggest debtor.  Some historians say the real winners of World War Two were Germany and Japan.

Immediately after the war, Ford and Harley-Davidson built plants in Japan for Japanese manufacturers.  Honeywell and Bell and Howell set up joint ventures with Japanese camera manufactures thus catapulting Japan into their position of world dominance in cameras and optics.  The American market was thrown wide open to our recently hated enemies.  Coast to coast foreign auto dealer networks instantly sprang up thanks to millions of dollars of American investment.  You can be sure that very little of that cost went on Japanese or German balance sheets.  The “American” businessmen had to make sure the capitalist foreigners were profitable in order to destabilize the so-called “communist” governments in Asia, Europe and Cuba.  The economic theater of the Cold War was raging and American workers were now the enemy. 

To make sure the Japanese manufacturers had the industrial muscle they needed to destroy the American autoworker, W. Edwards Deming, an American and one of the world’s foremost quality and reliability engineers was dispatched to Japan.  From 1950 onward he taught top Japanese management and engineers his methods of management and quality.  He is honored to this day in Japan for his glorious contribution to their industry.  While Deming was in Japan, however, the American auto executives were busy telling anybody in the media who would listen about their quality control problems.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Detroit refused to build sports cars to compete with Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Porsche, Mercedes and many others.  Instead, they embarked on a series of joint ventures with the Europeans and Japanese.  The cars that resulted accomplished three things.  They wasted lots of money; they made the foreigners look smart and they made Detroit look stupid.  How many billions of dollars have been sucked out of the American economy and the U.S. Treasury, over the last 50 years, when the wealthiest Americans bought high profit margin, overpriced, Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, Spykers, Maybachs, Rufs, Ferarris, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos, Lancias, Lamborghinis, Bugattis, Lotuses, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Aston Martins, Jaguars, Infinitis, Lexuses, Acuras, Superformance Cobras and GT-40s instead of American luxury and performance cars?  Would anyone on Wall Street, in Washington or academia dare to calculate the total cost to America of this needless economic disaster?  And, this enormous number does not include the massive loss from all our other dead and dying American manufacturing industries.   

The great patriotic American sportsman Briggs Cunningham struggled from 1950 into the 1960s trying to achieve success in international sports car racing with an American car.  The captains of the American auto industry watched him struggle against the Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes, Jaguar and Porsche onslaught but offered little in the way of support.  Finally, he gave up and raced Jaguars, Ferraris and other foreign cars.  In 1953, when the wealthy children of the wealthy American auto executives were clamoring for Ferraris and Jaguars, something had to be done.  So, to prevent thinking people from smelling a rat, Detroit gave us the Corvette.  Now don’t get me wrong; I like Corvettes.  In fact, if I had the money, I would own a 1960 Corvette with a 283 V8, solid lifters, fuel injection and a 4 speed transmission.  In 1960, however, the Corvette should have had a 5 speed.  With 5 speeds, disc brakes, an alloy engine with overhead cams and a stressed alloy body, the Corvette might have actually won Sebring and Le Mans.  Of course, this was just an “honest mistake.”  When Detroit’s management and engineers went to college, didn’t they notice that truck transmissions had five or more speeds, American aircraft had disk brakes in the 1940s and America was a major producer of aluminum alloys?  

The first Corvette (1953) had a pushrod, cast iron, in line six.  This was a very good truck engine.  But it was hopelessly outclassed by the aluminum, overhead cam, V12 Ferraris and the double overhead cam Jaguars.  When you consider the enormous technical and financial resources available to General Motors at the time, it is impossible to believe that anybody could have been that stupid as to sabotage the first Corvette with a 2 speed automatic transmission, drum brakes, a cast iron push rod engine, a heavy steel frame and an unstressed fiberglass body.  Nobody could be that stupid!  In fact, these “mistakes” nearly killed the Corvette before it was ever born.  Was that the plan?  In 1953, the Porsche Spyder had an all aluminum double overhead cam roller bearing crank engine and a 4 speed transmission.  The Corvette didn’t get a 3 speed transmission until 1955.  Ford, Chrysler and all the other U. S. manufacturers made sure they never made cars to compete with the Europeans, and later, the Japanese.  And these “mistakes” continue right up to the present day.  Would anybody in their right mind say that Detroit seriously tried to compete with the foreign invaders?  Remember, in 1960 General Motors owned Allison Aircraft Engine Company.  The Allison V-1710 was an aluminum and magnesium overhead cam, 4 valves per cylinder V12 engine.  This engine was in production in the 1930s.  American auto makers were building semi monocoque aircraft structures in the 1940s, long before the British Lotus race cars had them.  Ford built a single overhead cam 600 hp V8 for NASCAR in 1964.  But this engine was never put in a production car.  General Electric had a turbocharged V12 Liberty engine in 1918!  American aircraft had disc brakes in the 1940s.  Detroit could have competed against the foreign manufacturers but the CEOs and the directors on the boards said no. Nobody could be that stupid.   

Why didn’t Chrysler build a sports car?  They had the facilities and the money.  Hot rodders were building what were essentially sports cars in their back yards!  Ford killed the Thunderbird sports car and then sold the preposterous idea to the public that the “T bird” had to be a big, heavy, four-seat car in order to increase sales.  Why didn’t Ford build BOTH, a two seat sports car and a four seat personal luxury car?  And remember, the iconic GT-40 and the Cobra were both born as British cars.  It took American hot rodders to make them winners.  When a rules change outlawed Ford’s 427 ci Le Mans winning 250 mph GT-40 MkIV, Ford pulled out of sports car racing and let the Porsche 917K become a legend.  Ford had the 255 ci Indy 500 winning quad cam engine that could have been enlarged to 305 ci and dropped right into the MkI or a lightened MkIV.  This car would have given Porsche a run for the massive pile of money that they sucked out of this country.  Instead, Ford just quit and let Porsche dominate sports car racing from that time to this day!  General Motors was equally clay-footed when it came to Can Am racing.  Big block Chevy engines dominated the Can Am series until Porsche showed up with their SUNOCO SPONSORED twin turbo 917/30.  GM could have bolted a couple of turbochargers on their big block and deflated some of Porsche’s “all conquering” legend.  Instead, like Ford, they just quit and disgraced America’s reputation in the industrialized world.  The Indy quad cam GT-40 race car and the twin turbo big block Chevy Can Am engine were both developed independently.  But Ford and General Motors weren’t interested.  This has to be a conspiracy because nobody could be that stupid!   

While the Ferraris, Porsches and Jaguars were getting rave reviews in the all-important enthusiast car magazines; Detroit’s offerings were greeted with almost universal contempt.  The pattern was set and it continues right into the present with hybrids, electric cars “street tuners” and top of the line luxury and sports cars, in my opinion.  Detroit has nothing in the top tier market segment.  When it comes to alienating the youth market, women and the rich, the “Big Three” seem to have bad marketing down to a science.   I believe the top Detroit executives deliberately created the stupid, stodgy image that they rode right into bankruptcy or near bankruptcy and busted union contracts.   

Beginning in the 1960s, Esso, Good Year, Firestone, Gulf Oil, Sunoco, Texaco, Mobil Oil Marlboro, STP and many other American corporations poured tens of millions of dollars of sponsorship money into European racing teams.  In Europe, the image destroying Detroit helicopter cash drop was muscling up the European auto industry.  In 1966, Ford gave British Cosworth $250,000 so they could build a world beating Formula 1 racing engine.  This, despite the fact that Ford already had a world class, in house, DOHC, Indy 500 winning engine on the shelf!  Why didn’t Ford use their Indy engine to compete in Formula 1?  Why did they waste all that money in order to help the British build a racing engine?    And the self-destructive pattern rolled on.  In 1965, Honda entered Formula 1 with two American drivers.  In 1966 and 1967, the tiny Australian company Repco-Brabham won the Formula 1 world championship with a modified Oldsmobile engine that was abandoned and transferred to Europe by General Motors.  Despite their enormous resources, Detroit never competed in Formula 1.  Is it any wonder that the American people have such contempt for our auto industry and can’t wait to see it tossed into the dustbin of history?  Am I the only American who wants to be proud of what we make in America?  What should I think when someone who inherits a Lincoln dealership drives a Toyota Camry?  What should I think when someone who inherits Ford Motor Company drives a Ferrari?  Several years ago when visiting friends, I lamented rhetorically that someday Honda will probably buy Ford and Toyota will probably buy General Motors.  The response from a woman who never owned an American car was “Good!”  I think pride in America is dead.  And it shows!  

For decades, in Europe and America, our greatest race car drivers were (and still are) winning races and championships in foreign cars sponsored by American corporations.  Ford rescued Japanese Mazda from bankruptcy, twice.  Mazda promptly took the rotary engine that General Motors virtually gave them and used it to humiliate America on the racetracks of the world -- with American teams and American drivers.  What were the Ford executives thinking when they created and sustained the Mazda monster that is the nemesis of the American auto industry?  Does anybody mind that our local Cadillac dealer was replaced by a Mazda dealer?  I do.  A Pittsburgh Cadillac dealer built a magnificent Lexus dealership directly across the street from their shabby clapboard Cadillac dealership.  (What were the IBM executives thinking when they, in effect, created the German SAP software monster that is the nemesis of the American software industry?  Was this a Wall Street stock play?)  From the 1960s to this very day, the best and the brightest of American auto racing teams and talent use all their brainpower and risk life, limb and fortune to put foreign cars in the winner’s circle.  Why did “All American Racers” build the all conquering championship winning AAR/Eagle Mk III GTP for Toyota?!  The competition isn’t between us and the foreigners.  It is us against us.  No wonder we lost!  What happened to pride in America?  What happened to the win at all cost fighting spirit of “The Greatest Generation” of World War Two?  Did Wall Street and Washington opportunist politicians destroy America’s economic fighting spirit?  What is there to cheer about at the Indy 500, Italian cars with Japanese and British engines?  Will the Southern politicians be happy when every NASCAR on the track is a Toyota?  I would rather watch a rerun of Jim Hall winning the 1965 Sebring 12 Hours in his all American Chaparral.  That was something to cheer about and I’m happy to say I was there to see it.  There is no American today of the caliber of Jim Hall in 1965.  What a shame on this generation!

In the 1960s the same self-destructive pattern continued with passenger cars.  Top management doomed the ill-fated Corvair before the car ever got to the production line.  It was “cost considerations” that prevented the engineers from designing and building the early cars properly.  Could anybody be that stupid to put a heavy iron cylinder (rather than aluminum) engine and uncontrolled swing axles in the rear engine Corvair?  The Corvair was a great car with one designed in flaw.  Despite the fact that this flaw was later corrected, GM took the Corvair out of production.  The swing axel “blunder” made Ralph Nader famous and made General Motors look like a bunch of idiots.  It has to be a conspiracy because nobody could have been that stupid. 

I won’t rehash the passenger car “mistakes.” of the 1970s, 80s, 90s and later.  I will only say that all of them could have been avoided.  A suspicious coincidence occurred during this sad period.  When the government required improved safety, pollution and fuel economy standards, the American car makers fell on their face and blamed government regulations for their problems.  The foreign manufactures took this opportunity to increase their penetration of the American market.  (The Porsche 911 Turbo had twice the horsepower of the pathetically underpowered Corvette, in a car that weighed almost a thousand pounds less than the Corvette.)  Consumer defections to foreign manufacturers dramatically increased.  Of course, the closing of unionized auto plants accelerated and this terrified the union leaders and membership.  They had no choice but to sign concessionary contracts.  What a happy coincidence for the stockholders.  Also, this gave conservative politicians and pundits an opportunity to vilify the “nanny state” government for interfering in the “free market.”  Another coincidence?  [However, after reading Lee Iacocca's autobiography, I have to agree that the “stupid” regulators seemed to be out to destroy the American auto industry.  Another coincidence?]     

                                                                                                                                                           

Going back to the 1960s, the most infamous, anti competitive outrage committed by GM’s top management occurred when they killed the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport.  Chevrolet engineers secretly built a world class, Ferrari killer called the Grand Sport.  Super lightweight, with a state-of-the-art aluminum DOHC (the original proposal) engine, America was ready to take on the world.  But America never got a chance.  When top management got wind of the car, they instantly killed the project and reprimanded the engineers responsible for this outrageous insubordination!  Remember, racing by GM employees was forbidden by Automobile Hall of Fame inductee Frederick Donner since 1957.  Yes sir, “the suits” really know how to compete.  Is that what the professors taught them at Wharton and Harvard Business Schools?  The answer is YES. 

Were the top executives of General Motors insane?  Were they stupid?  Were they “Mid-Westerners who wouldn’t adapt”?  No, no and no.  They were standard issue global capitalists doing what global capitalists do.  Their priorities are destroying unions and traveling the world in their private jets looking for cheap labor.  If a sports car, made in America, in a unionized plant, conquered the automotive world, it would have ruined everything.  The myth they were creating would have been crushed under the wheels of the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport.  What happened to pride in America?

                                                                                                                                                           

Where were the American politicians, the Chamber of Commerce, and the “National” Association of Manufactures when all this “stupidity” was going on?  Why was there no criticism or investigation of this bazaar, cookie cutter consistent, self-destructive pattern that persisted for 50 YEARS?!  Why did nobody ever ask Detroit why they didn’t adapt?  Why didn’t Detroit build high tech motorcycles to compete with the Japanese and Germans?  They had the facilities, the technology and plenty of money.  Why did Detroit’s marketing people let the Japanese and the Germans create a fabulous image with the young people of America while they did everything they could to discredit themselves with this vitally important consumer segment?  The leaders of the American auto industry could have fought for their market share and crushed foreign invaders.  But they chose not to.  Why?  Were they stupid?  I say nobody could be that stupid.  Or, was it part of the Marshal Plan/global capitalist plan to give away the American car market in exchange for strategic military alliances and bases in Japan, Italy, West Germany, South Korea and England?        

And to really put the final nail in the coffin of their balance sheets, Detroit continued to squander billions of dollars of cash buying up dying foreign car companies until virtually all of their cash was gone.  How much money did GM lose when they bought Lotus?  Let’s not forget the hundreds of millions of dollars that went down the rat hole when Ford and Chrysler bankrolled foreign (Jaguar and Lamborghini) Formula 1 racing teams.  In 2000, General Motors bought a stake in Fiat.  That meant they were bankrolling Ferrari’s Formula 1 team!  This “investment” disaster cost GM more than 2 billion dollars.  Ford bought Volvo for $6.5 billion.  How much money did Ford lose on this “investment”?  Why did they do it?  GM bought controlling interests in Saab and Isuzu.  In 2001, GM bought financially troubled Korean car company Daewoo which today is GM Vietnam!  Why did Ford try to buy Ferrari?  Why did Lee Iacocca buy Lamborghini?  GM bought a 20% stake in Suzuki.  Ford bought a 33% stake in Mazda.  Ford bought financial boat anchor Aston Martin. “Lee Iacocca’s baby” the Chrysler-Maserati lost $500 million from Chrysler’s balance sheet.  Then in 1995, the hostile Kerkorian/Iacocca attack sent Chrysler on a downhill slide that resulted in the disastrous Fiat-Chrysler “merger.”  This debacle was the death of a one hundred year old American company.  Incidentally, American “icon” Chrysler CEO Iacocca owned a Lamborghini.  Ford lost a ton of money when they bought and sold Land Rover.  Why did General Motors sell Allison Aircraft Engine Company to Rolls Royce?  This gave the British company a seamless product line from the bottom to the top of the jet engine market and it made them an American defense contractor.  How much did GM stockholders profit from this sell out of America by the private sector?  And this is just a partial list!   Is this the way American car companies “compete” with the foreign enemy that is devouring their market share?  Am I the only one who notices these things?  The only thing our paid off “free press” media notices is the worker’s “legacy costs.”

And then there is the problem of “brain drain.”  In numerous articles and interviews, highly qualified engineers, designers and managers openly admit that they would never work for the American auto companies because of their stodgy, hidebound, suicidal business philosophy.  There are probably more Americans working for the foreign competition than for the “American” auto companies.  For those who worship globalization and the so-called free market, this is wonderful.  But, for the few of us who worry about the long-term economic viability of America, this is a recipe for disaster.  I would like to remind Wall Street, our politicians and academia that “A House Divided Can Not Stand.”  When Americans compete against America – America is doomed.       

At one time, America had the most advanced home electronics industry in the world.  Now we have no home electronics industry.  Were the American workers who used to make our televisions, radios and stereos so highly paid that the capitalists on Wall Street had to destroy the entire industry in order to throw these people out into the street?  Will America’s auto industry someday be just a distant memory like the American home electronics industry?   

Congratulations to Detroit’s top management, Wall Street, and their Southern politician henchmen – isn’t “Creative Destruction” wonderful?  You destroyed the American auto industry so that you could create a “domestic,” non-union, auto industry for the countries that were our bitter, deadly enemies in World War Two.  No one will ever accuse you all of putting AMERICA FIRST.

Any fool could have seen 10, 20 or even 30 years ago that the steady loss of market share would destroy the American auto industry.  But, just like the subprime mortgage disaster, the insiders knew it was coming, but they did nothing to prevent it.  Tragically, the American people eagerly swallowed the myth that Detroit’s problems were largely the fault of the unionized autoworkers and “bad management.” 

I wish I could write a book documenting Detroit’s maddening 50 year unbroken string of “honest mistakes.”  The Ford Taurus SHO with the Yamaha massaged engine and the 1990-1996 Corvette ZR-1 with the Lotus dual overhead cam heads are just two of many examples of Detroit fouling their own nest.  For forty years, “American” car companies have been importing foreign vehicles and foreign vehicles from their foreign subsidiaries and slapping American model names on them.  As a proud former owner of a 1968 Pontiac GTO, I would rather walk than own a “Pontiac” GTO made in Australia!  And let’s not forget the Harley-Davidson (Lotus) V-Rod.  I know from direct personal observation that the Pontiac Fiero was a marketing and public relations disaster.  This car was sabotaged, like the Corvair, at the highest level of GM corporate management.  The car sold well to people expecting to get a sports car equivalent to the Toyota MR2.  People, who I knew personally, were furiously disappointed when they realized that they were stuck with a “commuter”/ “secretary’s” car.  People who were loyal to General Motors for years turned their backs on the American auto industry because of the Fiero.      

The “captains of the American auto industry” never miss an opportunity to make themselves, and America, look stupid.  In the transmission wars, Detroit always managed to be at least one gear behind the foreign competition.  For years European car companies bought General Motors automatic transmissions.  Now both Ford and GM buy German ZF transmissions. What kind of image was Detroit’s top management trying to create with Ford and Chevrolet badged Indy racing engines that were made in England?  How many billions of dollars have gone to England, Germany, Italy and Japan for racing cars, racing engines, racing parts and racing tires?  How much did this stupid and needless money drain increase our trade deficit?  Why did the entire American auto industry make exactly the same “mistakes” year after year, decade after decade?  Why did the American auto industry self-destruct?  Capitalist creative destruction, globalization, union busting, class warfare and foreign military alliances and bases, that’s why.  Globalization is heaven for the investor class but it is hell for the working class.  What will be the ultimate result of America falling from the world’s premier manufacturing powerhouse to a debt ridden industrial backwater?         

These statements by two top Ford executives will give an important insight into the globalization Master Plan: “You should never worry about what country makes your car, only the brand.”  When asked why Ford grossly overpaid when they bought money-losing Jaguar, a Ford executive said: “We wanted a prestige nameplate.”  What was Lincoln, chopped liver?  It was obvious to me, as a close observer, that Ford management deliberately sabotaged Lincoln and Mercury for the benefit of Jaguar sales.  If I was a member of Congress, there would have been an investigation years ago into why Detroit’s top management was so “stupid.”  After 50 years of losing market share, Congress is still playing dumb.  But they know how to say legacy costs.  I want to talk about the legacy costs of Congress.  Considering their miserable track record, I would say that Congress owes the taxpayers money.  Let them live on their campaign contributions.  We all know they work for the lobbyists, not the taxpayers.

Ironically, the bad reputation that American cars have acquired over the past 20 or 30 years, in my opinion, is largely unjustified.  As I explained above, because of the “stupid” Detroit top management, American cars have acquired a terrible image.  Marketing, styling, product line, advertising and stupid public relations – it seems like everything is geared to make the foreign competition look good and American cars look bad.  Why buy a “German engineered Buick” when you can buy a German engineered German car?  Chrysler is “America’s import.”  What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?  A bad image is the kiss of death for any corporation no matter how good its products are.  In reality, American cars are good products.  [Update 11/27/2014: My 1998, 100,000 plus mile Oldsmobile 88 still runs like a new car.  It requires very little maintenance.  The engine doesn’t burn oil and it was tuned up only once for a pittance of what it costs to maintain the typical foreign car.  The original transaxle has never been worked on and it works perfectly.  The car has a great ride with the original

struts.  It has the original stainless steel exhaust system and the original un-rebuilt master cylinder and wheel cylinders.  It has the original starter and alternator.  The amazing ant-lock brakes saved me from disaster several times when sudden ice/snow storms beat the deicing crews to the roads.  And the traction control is ever vigilant during unpredictable winter weather.  Of course, there is some rust damage underneath but the paint and the body look like a new car despite almost 17 years of running on Pennsylvania’s salt covered winter roads.  There is a slight misalignment of the hood and left front fender.  This is understandable after I hit a (small) deer!  When the car was ten years old, I did three 10/10ths wide open hot laps of the Watkins Glen race track.  With its low center of gravity and independent rear suspension, it handled like a sports sedan without a bit of brake fade.  This great car was unfazed by this very serious abuse.  I love driving this car.  It’s fast for a big sedan with only 205 hp and it gets 32 mpg on the highway.  At 3455 lb, it’s lighter than a Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, BMW M3, Nissan GT-R and Jaguar F-Type coupe.  It has excellent mid-range torque so it climbs Pittsburgh’s steep hills with ease.  It will haul six adults in comfort and it has a huge trunk.  I would buy a new one in a heartbeat.  Too bad the geniuses at General Motors took it out of production!]      

In my experience, for every-day transportation (and don’t forget the fabulous Corvette and Ford GT), you can’t beat American cars.  They’re cheaper to buy and they’re cheaper to maintain and repair.  And in my experience, very dependable.  There are a lot of good people in Motown (and in our unionized auto plants) doing their best to make great cars.  It’s the top management who do their best to alienate the customers.  They will “save money” cutting corners designing and building the cars but waste millions of dollars on stupid celebrity athlete endorsements.  By the way, anybody who buys a car on the strength of a celebrity endorsement is an IDIOT.  I could never understand why the marketing people waste money like that.  Do they think we are that stupid?  Did it ever occur to top management that paying some athlete to endorse your product is DISHONEST?  This stupidity really backfired on the “suits” when a celebrity athlete publicly admitted that he didn’t own the GM product that he drove in the commercial.  He drives a Porsche.  General Motors solved that problem by giving him a Cadillac!  Why don’t they put the money they waste on celebrity endorsements and golf tournaments into research, development and high quality materials?  Pay off the corporate debt.  Or give that money to the workers who build the cars.  Unlike the celebrities, they earned it.

Space does not permit a complete analysis of Detroit top management’s obviously deliberate marketing, styling, engineering, spending, “investment,” product line (not production line) and public relations screw-ups.  These “mistakes” had to be deliberate because NOBODY CAN BE THAT STUPID.   Until the CEOs and the directors convince me that they are that stupid, I will continue to believe that it is a global capitalist conspiracy.  

Over the years, I’ve had many American cars and I never had a bad one.  Most of them were actually great cars.  I saw “mistakes” but they were caused by executive decisions, not by the workers.  The economic treason of the top executives, including the boards of directors, has done enormous damage to the people and the city of Detroit.  They have made the American auto industry the butt of jokes of late night comedians and situation comedies.  And they have discredited America in the eyes of the industrialized world.  When will they be held accountable by the American government?  When will there be an honest, uncorrupted Congressional investigation to determine if the disaster was stupidity or conspiracy? 

Retired General Motors  celebrity executive  Bob Lutz wrote a book blaming the “bean counters” for the destruction of the American auto industry.  Did anybody ever ask this “car guy” why nobody fired those bean counters?

Ray Uhric writes a political blog: www.rayuhric.com