Three Headlines of Mismanagement

Like many bloggers, one of the first sites I visit in the morning is the New York Times. If positioning stories is a kind of sign language, the first three headlines at today's front page at the site says it all about the current state of the Economy:

Democrats Seek Help for Automakers

Buying Binge Slams to a Halt

Lobbyists Swarm the Treasury for a Helping of the Bailout Pie

For all that I hate the U.S. automakers for foisting SUVs on the American Public™ as some kind of Fortress Against the Marauding Swarthy Hordes (select your own darker-than-Cheney swarthy horde), ignoring the warning signs of a coming oil crunch and allowing Americans to terrorize other drivers, I'm more kindly inclined towards bailing out the automakers than I am about bailing out the likes of AIG and banks. Perhaps it's because automaker management is about simple incompetence and shortsightedness, rather than simple incompetence, shortsightedness and greed. Perhaps it's because most of the people who work in the automobile industry are working-to-middle class people, rather than guys whose bonuses are bigger than their salaries.

I believe that I have the inside track on the Christmas shopping season this year, because I work within spitting distance of a Large New Jersey Shopping Mall. The way I figure it, if it takes me on average less than an hour and a half to make the 35-minute drive home during the month of December, you will know that come January 1, it's batten down the hatches, because we are totally and utterly screwed. The signs so far are not good. Linens 'n' Things has decided it has to mark down its liquidation goods more than 10% in order to get itself out of business before Black Friday. Circuit City will limp, coughing and retching, through Christmas (after puking up 155 stores) before taking its last gasp (still think firing all your knowledgeable employees was a good idea, dudes?). Harold's, a sort-of-upscale chain of sportswear stores, isn't waiting around for the holidays. The Mervyn's department store chain isn't waiting around for Santa Claus either.

And this is just retail companies that aren't deluding themselves that they can salvage themselves through Christmas. Not a week goes by anymore without my beloved J. Jill sending another e-mail offering me 30% off all clearance, or 15% site-wide.

By the time the inauguration comes around, the employer of last resort -- retail -- won't even be that anymore.

I sure hope the Obama transition team is coming up with a way to stop the bleeding. Because for Caribou Barbie, the taxpayer money she's spent to redecorate the Alaska governor's mansion is only a dry run for her plans for the mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.