CLOUDS ARE DARKENING RAPIDLY

BANKS TO COLLAPSE SOON
NATIONALIZATION OF BANKING SYSTEM INEVITABLE?


Just today it was revealed that many of the bankers who received tens of billions in bailout monies just a few months ago, actually gave out billions (yes billions!) in year end bonuses to their leaders before the rescue money even arrived! These people belong in jail or some place worse.

On our home front times are about to get really messy. Delta will announce our fourth quarter losses in a couple of days and the numbers will not be good. Much of the loss will be blamed on our managements’ miscalculation on fuel hedging during the latter part of last year. They guessed wrong and hedged 60% of our fuel during the fourth quarter at nearly $120 dollars a barrel. Ouch!

That’s what happens when your experts are more interested in their own bonuses and stock options than in paying attention to economic trends and world markets. Do you want to bet that they have not expended as much capital towards hedging at our current lower rates as they did when the rates skyrocketed?

What’s even more worrisome is that these same people are about to make permanent decisions about our future staffing needs; yes, the same people who can’t figure out which direction fuel costs will go during the worst recession since the Great Depression of 1929!

We don’t mean to be too judgmental but goodness sake, how tough is it to understand that when recessions hit, people and businesses use less energy. You can drill all you want for oil but the fact is that demand drives price, not necessarily supply. Our leaders miscalculated the most basic tenant of supply and demand.

What else have they misjudged? Who’s going to suffer from their poor planning and insufficient knowledge? WE ARE, unless we organize and protect each other and our families’ futures.

We’re going to tell everyone what we think will happen this year. Some people at Delta/Northwest are going to lose their jobs; maybe lots of people. The economy demands that this will happen. Delta is busy trying to get employees to take the early-out programs but sadly these reductions will not be enough.

Unions can’t prevent recession caused layoffs or bad management decisions which also cause reductions. However, being a member of a union such as the IAM will afford all of us the opportunity to formulate contracts that stipulate how we are treated during the tough economic times we will surly face soon.

We all need a friend during these hard times. How about trusting more than just the promises and assurances that Delta has uttered; how about a guaranteed contract with a roadmap that shows us the way home after a bad economic storm?