Bankruptcy Inconsistencies

The recent talks of extending monies to the "Big Three" auto makers has reached a fever pitch.

Nearly every talk-radio show has at one time or another either covered the topic or made it the focus of a segment of an hour, or made it the topic for the hour.

There are many great points made on those shows; especially the point that what these auto makers is facing is the very reason for bankruptcy laws.

Allowing companies to continue to do business while restructuring themselves as they have more time to pay their debts and keep workers (that's real people) from being unemployed due to no cause of their own.

The Congress shall have Power To...establish...uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States.

But, this is so much more than big important and connected people coming in and saving some group and letting others have to follow the laws.

We are in the middle of the Congressional leadership and the Democrat Party's chosen one deciding that the auto makers and therefore the auto workers are more important than our power-supplying companies and therefore the mine workers that supply the coal that is the predominant source of fuel for our power supply.

I was at a loss for understanding how this could be. But, there were no uncertain terms applied to what would happen to any company that would try to build a coal-fired plant:"they will go bankrupt".

Why is bankruptcy OK for one industry, that we all need and use, but not for another that, well hasn't been so very necessary of late - remember it is the "Big Three" of Ford/GM/Chrysler that are on the verge of bankruptcy not ConEd/Exelon/FirstEnergy; yet, very strangely, it is ConEd/Exelon/FirstEnergy (as well as many others) being threatened with bankruptcy if they even attempt to supply more of the product that is in such demand.

The answer my friend is in the rhetoric of the Democrat Party's chosen one.

Remember the number 250,000 ? (or 200,000 or 150,000 or 120,000 whichever the number du jour is)

Oh, sure, when at first we heard him use it, he meant the dollar amount at which your income has made you less important to him. But that number is so much more meaningful.

The United Auto Workers are a group of 464,910 as of the end of 2007. That is a lot of union dues. That is a lot of union dues being funneled into the Democrat Party coffers. Those union dues would undoubtedly be decreased in the event of contract restructuring by a bankruptcy.

The United Mine Workers, however do not make it to the magic number.

The United Mine Workers are a group of 105,000 according to their statement of endorsement of the Democrat Party's chosen one. A large part of that membership is outside of the coal industry, in such varied occupations as public service and healthcare.

That is apparently not enough union dues being funneled into the Democrat Party coffers to care enough about preserving their contracts from bankruptcy restructuring.

President-Elect Not Quite Yet

The popular vote is in, except for maybe a few precincts in GA and the backseats of some poll workers in MN, and it seems as if there is a decisive winner in the Presidential race.

Except for one little thing. The Constitution.

You see we had a very smart group of founders. They saw to it that the only branch of the Federal Republic that was to be a One-Man-Show, the Executive branch, would be protected from any single group forcing their way in. In doing that they gave us what has come to be called The Electoral College.

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.

The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President,...and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, ...and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;

The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed.

The day the Electors meet to cast their ballots is December 15th. The Electors will meet in their respective State Capitols. In The District of Columbia they will meet within the District.

On January 8th Congress shall assemble in joint session to count the Electors' votes and declare the winners of the election. The meeting is held at 1:00 p.m. in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives.

So, until that day and time, we do not as yet have a President-Elect.

Slow down.

Wait for it.