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Hi Roxanne, and thanks for this original report. I agree with your assessment, and as always, look forward to more news from you.

As I have read this article 3 times, I still don't understand the statement about economic shift that doesn't need a bailout. Perhaps you mean that the 3 big US Automakers don't need a bailout, however, you state later in the article how unskilled labor will be harmed, but there is a silver lining as a whole.

There seems to be a mindset in this global economy that is hopefully shifting, but I think the current bailouts are still part of that mindset that I would compare to the educated in Nigeria that are producing scams in the millions.

That mindset is that the investors with most of the money for investing seem to be only interested in investment that serves themselves and their like. Example the investment in Dubai. If the manufacturing jobs continue to disappear, the taxpayer will be become more invested in either the companies or the unemployed. Either way, the large amount of money that is available for investment won't trickle down to investing into the new skilled labor that has no job. The mindset of the investors will keep investing into economies that are with their peers.

That mindset has been trickling down the same as the trickle down economic theroy. More crime, more blame, more anger, as people are losing their lifestyles. Change doesn't come easy and the silver lining may not be what is expected by so many.

The silver lining may appear if our leadership educates and empowers a shift to saving the faith, hope, and abilities of the middle class or else the silver lining would be hope in welfare from the ones that received the bailout money.

One silver lining is the possibility of small economies growing like the SLO FOOD movement. These economies shift profits from the large corporations to smaller communities directly and are economies that the new unemployed skilled labor can support and prosper.

GREAT comments! Yes, perhaps I wasn't as clear in my article as I meant to be. The silver lining I refer to is similar to what happened after the industrial revolution; although many were harmed by the shift in economic priorities, in the end, the change eventually created a more service-oriented economy. As a result, our populace is far more educated and there are more opportunities for equitable access to good jobs than ever before (well provided one has access to education).

And so, in the 21st century, it appears the days of high-paying union jobs and for unskilled labor and trillion dollar salary CEOs are likely coming to an end. There is no question that this will harm many in the short-run, obviously some more than others, but my hope is that in the long run, new opportunities will arise that require more educated and skilled workers.

In the end, I don't think an auto bailout is the answer, even though I recognize how it will impact the U.S. economy in the short-run. I feel as you do about shifting profits, but these efforts cannot be accomplished with revamping the free-wheeling laissez-faire government we've had the past eight years. And, I hesitate to say it, but it seems to me this type of effort will require quite a heavy federal government hand for a while, in order to find new ways of stabilizing the income potentials more equitably to all.

I have to say, I don't envy Obama at all, in trying to find a solution that will work for a majority of individuals. It won't be easy, with so many wealthy interests lobbying to keep things as they are.