Like a crazy pendulum swinging out of control, the global stock markets had gone insane. Now that Dow dives below 8000 points (Nov. 19, 2008), Nikkei follows suit, and FTSE goes further south to near 4000 points, one wonders what will be next? Absolutely threatening and scary! Don't even think about 2009.

Did G20 achieve anything? Sadly, nothing much accomplished.
Not unlike most other international meetings of Head of states, the outcome does not add anything new to what people have not already known. At the moment, each nation has its own priority, more concerned with what it can do to calm its violent economic turbulence. More so, the heads are deeply preoccupied with their own worries and fears.

The guilty politicians (plus financial gurus) do seem to get themselves detached (albeit not that completely) from the ugliest swindle of all time.
(Tan Boon Tee)

Moreover, you're dead wrong about the UAW and seniority rules. All workers wind up getting COLA-type increases under the contract... and in each new contract entry level wages are renegotiated. And while the UAW's concession to allow significantly lower entry level and "full rate" wages for new workers created a "two tier" system, the big difference is related to grandfathering, not "seniority" (there is relatively little difference between the wages of workers doing the same jobs based on seniority WITHIN each tier.)

Seniority does provide other benefits under UAW contracts (preferred jobs and shifts, for example), but in terms of productivity, UAW seniority rules don't make much of a difference.

My point about the age of Big Three workers and health care was related to the fact that OLDER people cost more to insure than younger ones do -- and the work force at the foreign transplant factories is younger than that of the average UAW worker.

And again, I think its crucial to emphasize the role that racism has played in the hostility toward unions in the South -- and the resultant lower prevailing wages there which attract the non-union foreign 'transplant' factories. People who complain about wages earned at auto plants in the south compared those in union shops in places like detroit are (perhaps unconsciously) endorsing racial discrimination, because it was fear of black empowerment that resulted in the south's sucessful efforts to prevent unionization of its work force -- and now foreign companies are exploiting the impact of that racism.

How many times must Big Auto beg for cash
Before you tell them to scram?
Yes, n how many bailout bucks must get squandered and trashed
Before they seep into the Arabian sand?
Yes, n how many gas hogs should we allow to drive by
Before theyre forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is throw em in the bin,
The answer is throw em in the bin.

How many times must Rick Wagoneer cry
Before we explode his bailout pie in the sky?
Yes, n how many inches must John Dingell's nose grow
Before he can admit its a huge sham?
Yes, n how many Prius' and Lexus' must we buy
Before we admit MOTOWN died long ago?
The answer, my friend, is throw em in the bin,
The answer is throw em in the bin.

How many years can Detroit's unionized brontosaurs exist
Before their washed to the sea?
Yes, n how many years can General Motors clunkers exist
After all they're rusty and cheap.
Yes, n how many times can Joe Consumer turn his head,
Pretending he just doesnt see?
The answer, my friend, is throw em in the bin,
The answer is throw em in the bin.

The Big Three obviously made what, in hindsight, were bad decisions decades ago in terms of what it would provide RETIRED workers. But we're talking about decisions made DECADES ago -- and while you defend bailouts for wall street fatcats whose greed and corruption brought this economy to the brink of destruction, you desperately spin the question of bailing out AMERICAN companies that provide good jobs for AMERICAN WORKERS because of decisions whose consequences could not have been anticipated.

I think its also important to keep in mind that providing health care benefits for the big three is much more expensive than for the foreign companies because the big three's workforce is MUCH OLDER. Its also important, when looking at wages, to remember what it costs to sustain the same lifestyle for Big Three workers, and those who work for the "transplants" -- In other words, you're attitude seems to be "screw older workers because they cost more, and screw the entire "rust belt" because historical racism played a huge role in providing a massive force of cheap labor in the south where companies like Toyota put most of their manufacturing plants.

The easiest way to "bail out" the big three is to do what Sean seems to be suggesting -- single-payer health care, and a federally guaranteed decent standard of living for retirees. We CAN afford to do that -- if we stop bailing out Paulson's wall street cronies.