I highly suspect the Obama news conference scheduled for Monday, December 1^st, at 10:40am (EST) will be Obama’s naming Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. 

In order to do so, Obama’s team had to clear Hillary, and consequently Bill, of any conflict of interest. 

Among the odd events that seem to have been leading up to this is Bill Clinton’s release of the long-secret list of 208,000 donors to his presidential library and foundation. He has promised to produce the list by the end of the year. Why? No reason unless Hillary was going for Secretary of State. 

There is also rumor of CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) not hosting annual events outside the US and that CGI will no longer accept foreign government contributions. Why? Again, no reason unless Hillary was going for Secretary of State. 

Also scheduled to attend is Robert Gates, Bush’s Defense Secretary, who will remain on board at the Pentagon. 

Is it a good move? 

Well, this remains to be seen but it certainly shows Obama is willing to put powerful personalities on his team. On the other side, for Hillary fans, this will most likely be the end to her ever seeking the Presidency. If she is indeed taking the Secretary of State position, she is stepping into a very difficult position that, historically, does not end at the Presidency.

Godfather Added: Confirmed this morning, Obama did nominate Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Additionally added to the list are…

Obama confirmed he is keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his current role.

Obama named retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones as his National Security Adviser.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Secretary.

Eric Holder as Attorney General.

Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations.

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I don’t like “Black Friday.” You know, the big shopping day after Thanksgiving. I am not really even sure how it received its increasingly appropriate name. I dislike it not only because I tend to avoid crowds of people at all costs - no, I hate Black Friday because it invariably reaffirms my opinion of the significant flaws in our behavior.   

On Thursday people sit around, presumably with family, and declare all they are thankful for – family, friends, food on the table, etc, etc. On Friday they turn that passion into the mass acquiring of goods at local shopping malls - an event the Romans themselves would have been proud to display in the Coliseum. 

What I really hate to hear is the senseless violence that occurs at some point during Black Friday. Each year I hope to not hear any tragic stories related to this no-holds-barred event and each year I am horrified over some avoidable tragedy. Unfortunately this year was not the exception… 

In New York, a Walmart worker was killed when “out-of-control” shoppers trampled him to death when he opened the doors. The man was Jdimytai Damour, 34, and he was probably thrilled, in this current economic times, he was able to find the job through a temporary employment agency during the holiday season. 

Dozens of store employees trying to save Mr. Damour were injured when trying to rescue him. To top it off, customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were temporarily closing the store because of the death. 

Mr. Damour will not be celebrating the holidays with anyone this year. His family and friends will always remember this day as a day of tragedy. Not because of some random car accident or tragic health related death, but because careless and inconsiderate people put the value of saving a couple dollars on stuff higher than that of a human life. Black Friday indeed. 

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I think I am about over real estate investors walking around dumbfounded as to why real estate prices came back down. As a good friend of mine says (and I mean no disrespect) “Ray Charles could see that one coming.” 

You remember the game Monopoly? The game tends to serve as a great example when describing various situations in real life.  

As I am sure you may remember, one of the first properties after “Go” was Mediterranean Avenue. No one really ever wanted Mediterranean Avenue – you could tell because of all the properties on the board it was the cheapest to purchase. 

Mediterranean Avenue sold for $60. Conversely Boardwalk sold for $400. If you landed on either property and it was owned by someone you paid “rent.” It should be no surprise the price to stay at Boardwalk was considerably higher – especially if someone erected a Trump Hotel or a couple houses. 

Boardwalk was more expensive than Mediterranean Avenue because, I guess, they were different sides of the tracks (or at least on different sides of “Go”). No matter how you cut it, Boardwalk was a nice villa with water fountains in the front yard and Mediterranean Avenue had a ’73 Chevy Nova on blocks sitting in the front. 

If you were a buyer you wouldn’t pay the same for Mediterranean Avenue as you would for Boardwalk – you would never make your money back. You would simply meander around the board until you ran out of money or ended up in jail. 

The same held true over the last couple years as “real” real estate went higher and higher. If you paid Boardwalk prices for a house located next to Mediterranean Avenue – you paid too much. 

Hey, I don’t like it anymore than anyone else does that houses came down in price – but I can’t say I am “surprised” when they went up as fast as they did. Isn’t there some gravity thing like “what goes up must come…?)

If you aren’t familiar with the phrase let’s play Monopoly sometime…

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Given Thanksgiving is this week; I was going to make a list of things I was thankful for. I am sure the list would have included the obvious – health, family, and Captain Crunch with Crunchberries. My mistake was I should have written the list in advance of coming up to North Carolina. Once again the Godfather is off the grid. 

When I say “off the grid,” let me elaborate… 

My cabin in North Carolina is very comfortable. We have firewood for the cold nights (and days at this point). We have running water, indoor plumbing, even a television with satellite which we never turn on (except for a Green Bay Packer Game). 

What I don’t have is high-speed internet access. I am stuck on dial-up. 

For those readers not old enough to remember dial-up or frankly those that have never had the pleasure of using dial-up internet you are really missing out. You really should try it once. Want to try it right now? 

Take a piece of string and tie it to your computer (anywhere is fine). Now take the other end of the string and fasten it to a tin can. Stretch the string tight and surf the net to your hearts content – I will wait. 

Yep, you guessed. Sure I am still thankful for family, health, etc. But at this very moment I am really thankful for high-speed internet – and wine. Oh wait, not only did I buy a cabin that doesn’t have high-speed internet, I also purchased a cabin in a dry county. 

Before I close, I don’t want you to think it is all bad. I consider this therapy. I am hoping my time here gets me to slow down a bit. Gandhi said “there is more to life than increasing its speed.” I am going to guess Gandhi never had dial-up in a dry county but maybe I am missing the point. 

So, if The Slow Bleed is a bit sparse on posts this week you will know why – I am running out of string.

Happy Thanksgiving.

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All three automotive CEO’s flew to DC yesterday to complain about how they are about to go under and basically the Congress needs to step in and help. By “help” they mean give the three automakers some big bailout money. 

Here is my favorite part… 

(WARNING: Those with queasy stomachs should not read any further). 

They didn’t drive to DC. And flying commercial coach wasn’t on the agenda either. Matter of fact, a commercial airline wasn’t even on the radar so-to-speak. 

All three CEO’s flew corporate jets.  Rick Wagner* (GM), Alan Mulally (Ford), and Robert Nardelli (Chrysler). 

*Wagner, who flew on the $36 million luxury aircraft, asked Congress for $12 billion for GM alone. 

Come on guys. Not even “Jetpool” to get your stories straight on the way?! Did you at least remember to take off your Rolex watches before you went in front of congress? 

Godfather Note: Sorry readers…I just can’t make this stuff up! And I thought I would have nothing to write about after the election. Sheesh. 

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I am amazed at the attitudes of people making their way into the workforce today. Frankly, given the current state of the economy I would expect people to be a bit more humble in their job demands. 

I spoke with someone the other day that brought up the big “e” word…Entitlement. He actually felt since he finished college he was entitled to a good job with significant benefits. 

I think the only people “entitled” to anything are royalty. Years of inbreeding, a careful selection of marriages, and century old rules could make one entitled to be king. 

For example, I believe if 6,492 key people simultaneously disappear off the face of the earth I get to be a prince of Whales (not to be confused with the country “Wales”…more like, as opposed to Dolphins) – I am entitled. If just one less person (6,491) disappears; I get a big cup of jack. 

Let me see if I can clear up this misnomer for the newcomers to the job force. Here is a list of things you are entitled to and here is a list of things that you are not entitled to. Ready? Here we go… 

A. List of things you are entitled to:

B. List of things you are not entitled to (otherwise knows as stuff you will just have to work for): 

Everything not in list “A”

Any questions? 

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You couldn’t take a big truck or SUV near a car dealer as a trade-in unless you wanted them to laugh right in front of you.

Years ago America went through the same thing. I am old enough to remember you could only get gas on days the last digit of your plate was correct (odd and even days). Even with the division you still had long lines, as we were short on what we thought was (then) expensive fuel. It prompted talks of cars with better mileage and alternative energy. The nation was fired up for change and self-sufficiency…until the prices came back down and short-term memory kicked in.

At the time OPEC saw we were not using enough as the prices increased and the certainly didn’t want us to focus on finding alternative (to oil) fuels. Well, here we are again. A record drop has short-term memory America back buying trucks and SUV’s.

Included in the top ten sellers for October was the Ford F-Series leading the way with 43,324 sold. Chevy Silverado was in the number two spot with 31,689 sold. Hummers which have been flooding the car lots have started rolling back into the streets.

How long does it take for Americans to forget? Somewhere between 43 seconds and I-don’t-have-a-clue.

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Ok, what is the deal anyway? 

In September Paulson was the man with a plan. Matter of fact, he basically scared the $^#@! out of everyone saying if they didn’t do what he wanted we were in for an economic collapse.

He said it was “urgent and necessary” to buy toxic assets (bad mortgages) – the cornerstone of his $700 billion bailout. This money must be infused into the banks (so they can lend) and not have the government take any type of ownership in the private sector. 

Now that most of the first round money is spent, Paulson is making a complete 180 based on “new information” – which actually won’t be shared with anyone. We absolutely should not buy the assets and we should take ownership interest in failing companies in a variety of sectors including automobiles and consumer finance. 

Some friends need money? 

Are you a financial organization and want a piece of the “new and improved” bailout pie? 

You would think there would be a very stringent process in place. Well, I hate to disappoint, but the application is only two pages long – just enough space to add a lot of zeros. 

This is just another example of the government trying to control a free market.

I don’t like it anymore than anyone else, but the system will correct itself if you just leave it alone. Greed and overvaluation got us there – once everything settles back down we can move on. But not if we keep spending money trying to solve a greater issue. 

Some companies conducted themselves irresponsibly. If they can not survive without a government handout then they should fail and let the next company in line (that did conduct themselves professionally) move up. 

So this week we have a “new and improved” plan.  I am not buying it. I think I will wait around for next week’s plan…or the movie.  

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With all of the bailout and deficit spending talk during the Presidential election, American voters became (painfully) aware of the debt the U.S. owes to other countries.China was mentioned several times during the debates and currently the U.S. owes them a cool $541 billion. Certainly not good on the surface and even worse when you discover that China is neither the only country we owe or the most amount of money we owe. 

So who else is on the list? 

Japan holds U.S. debt in the amount of $586 billion. 

United Kingdom holds U.S. debt in the amount of $307 billion. 

OPEC* nations hold U.S. debt in the amount of $179 billion. 

Caribbean Banking Centers hold U.S. debt in the amount of $147 billion. 

Russia holds U.S. debt in the amount of $74.4 billion. 

*OPEC includes Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, among others. 

No Free Ride… 

The debt is in the form of U.S. Treasury securities. In a nutshell meaning it must be paid back and it must be paid back with interest. Sooner or later a large amount of money must leave the U.S. to pay back the creditor countries. 

The government and the American economy have yet to put a hold on this deficit spending. It has grown dramatically over the past 8 years. For example, today’s debt to China ($541 billion) was $61 billion in 2001. 

Like a young couple that has gotten out of hand with a credit cards the U.S. spending needs to be reigned in and immediately controlled or stories about U.S. being foreclosed on will no longer be farfetched jokes on late-night television but a painful reality. 

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I am thrilled to now have the ability (meaning “permission”) to add some quality artwork to The Slow Bleed. The artist is a long time friend - although when pressed to answer ”how long” I will no doubt suffer memory loss as it also becomes a reminder just how old I am getting (but I digress). 

The artist is Jeff Durham and I have always enjoyed his work. I still have a couple “originals” in my home office but I suspect that I am not allowed to share those. 

My plan from time-to-time is to share some of his works when I think I can get away with plugging them into a blog or perhaps just post them in their own-right. The challenge I have immediately discovered (and will no doubt have the artist himself cringe) will be my ability to size them correctly here. I will always supply a link to the original (size and format) on Jeff’s site. In addition to viewing the artwork as it was intended, you can sometimes get a few words from the artist himself.

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