Archive for November 12, 2008

Tangled Bank #118: Yes We Did Edition

It’s my pleasure to bring you this edition of Tangled Bank, a biweekly collection of posts on important issues of biology and science. How I managed to secure the first post-election Tangled Bank for this little politics blog is beyond me: far be it for me to complain, but it really makes you wonder about PZ Myers’ processes for vetting new hosts… I’ll try my best not to play Sarah Palin to his John McCain.

Common readers of this site will know from experience that I, like all the co-writers of this blog, pushed hard for Obama’s election, and new visitors will guess as much from the site’s browser icon (surprise!). Now that the man’s elected, though, there’s a lot of work to be done – especially because, over the past eight years, scientific integrity somehow became a Democrats-only issue. America’s science community has a lot of ground to recover and, until Obama decides to restore the office to its pre-Bush grandeur, we, the concerned netroots, are the closest thing he has to White House science advisers. Thus, I present to you President-Elect Barack Obama’s first science briefing -

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Dear President-Elect Obama,

Please consider the information below, provided to you by a self-selected group science bloggers who, for one reason or another, consider themselves particularly knowledgeable. As President, we hope that you will:

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Obama’s Non-Appearance at the Economic Summit is Causing Marital Strife

I am currently arguing with my husband over whether Obama should represent at the imminent economic summit in D.C. My husband says, “Hell, yes!” I think he should have his people there to monitor meetings, etc., but Bush’s administration needs to handle this. There is a sort of chain of evidence, a protocol that should be followed. I understand my husband’s (and, apparently, world leaders’) anxiousness to get Obama into the fray. I am absolutely confident his non-appearance is not avoidance. But let’s stay reasonably calm. We’ve already had eight years of an executive branch continually usurping control and setting precedent with the reasoning of “extraordinary circumstances.” I think we should avoid a situation, however temporary and “extraordinary,” where we have two presidents at once. Your thoughts?

Perfect Storm or Stellar Opportunity: Saving the U.S. Auto Industry

Back in early September, in a lively comment thread, I mentioned a radical idea for GM to staunch its financial bleeding:

gm, which continues to post record-breaking losses quarter after quarter ought to declare bankruptcy, get out of their union contracts, retool their production for hybrid and hyper-fuel-efficient automobiles (which they have long known how to produce), rehire workers as non-union labor, and demand establishment of a universal health-care plan from the federal government.

Looks like I might have been onto something. GM has announced cost-cutting plans, but the company says, without federal assistance, bankruptcy is imminent before the end of the year. I think bankruptcy is still the way to go. Under bankruptcy protection, the company can reorganize in an orderly fashion. Simply getting money from the government to continue to operate in the same way is not going to help any one.

There is one way, though, federal aid can make a meaningful difference and render bankruptcy moot. Democrats in Congress have sent inquiries to Treasury regarding whether any of the $700 billion bailout can be diverted towards Detroit automakers. If so, we have an opportunity to institute additional controls on GM’s reorganization. For instance, the government can oversee compensation packages for executives; it can have a hand in the retooling of assembly lines for high-fuel-efficiency auto production, and the government can demand ownership interest in the company on behalf of tax payers.

In an Obama administration, breaking union contracts (per my suggestion) might not be supported, but I am confident Obama will insist the unions play ball. Everyone is going to hurt in this reorganization; it is simply a matter of degree. Firm oversight by the government, in my opinion, is most likely to best blunt the injury.

Of course, GM’s implosion is both inopportune and fortuitous. The situation in Detroit requires quick implementation of Obama’s policy platform: taxes, energy, health care (especially health care, considering health care obligations are dominating GM’s operating costs). It also requires from GM’s corporate royalty (1) admission that the time to change is now and (2) commitment that change will be real.

In the meantime, enjoy The Colbert Report‘s spotlight on The National Hummer Club.

Happy (Belated) Veteran’s Day

Courtesy a server outage (thank you, DreamHost), I couldn’t coax the site into posting my note on Veteran’s Day. Nonetheless, a little late, here it is:

Viewed from an outsider’s perspective, one of the most amazing things about this last presidential election is that we can have orderly transitions of power between diametrically opposed executives. How many times would that freedom have died, but for the service of our men and women in arms? Truly amazing.