This is essentially a preview of my upcoming video on Purple States. I know I'm jumping around quite a bit throughout, but the video is simply responding to a predetermined questions asked by the Purple States crew. Rather than list each question, everything just freeflows. Comments and thoughts are always welcomed...

Unfortunately, we’re driving right down the road to a depression. The economic challenges being faced make it harder on all of us. I’ve been very lucky so far, but the little things are what add up – Not going out to eat or to the movies as frequently; passing up an item you want in the store - because you don’t need it.

The state of Michigan is in a unique position with such a heavy reliance on the automotive industry, which also puts us at the forefront of talks in the news with the proposed bailout of the big three. This makes it a very interesting – yet very scary time for our state. What bothers me the most is not just the home foreclosures or creeping unemployment rate, but the reduction and taking away of benefits and insurance from retirees who’ve been promised care, only to have the terms changed when they need it most.

As I mentioned, Michigan relies heavily on the automotive industry. Unless this changes, or the auto companies come up with a newer, more efficient business model, then the economy here will remain as is.

The cause of the economic crisis can’t be pinpointed to one particular item, industry, state or even country as everything is being felt on a global level. On a local level, our woes are due to the automotive industry’s troubles. First, the business model of the big three is flawed. If it wasn't, then foreign automakers would also be having the same financial issues of this magnitude, which they are not. We can argue back and forth on what the actual causes are, but the fact is very simple that throwing money at companies who have a proven track record of losing money and making bad decisions won't simply cause that to do a 180 and become a profitable company.

The proponents of the bailout typically have a vested interest, by working for, or being affiliated with the automotive industry. The disturbing part is that local politicians, who took a stance against the financial bailout, have shown to have no backbone by supporting one for the automotive industry simply for a power grab to garner more votes from the local workers.

A bankruptcy to any of the big three would be a major blow to both Michigan, and the country in the short term. In the long term, it would allow them to restructure and do things the right way as has been the case with the airlines. Filing for bankruptcy doesn't mean everyone loses their jobs, contrary to what many would have us believe.

Let's not kid ourselves here either - the financial bailout, which was opposed by the majority of Americans, opened Pandora’s Box on this. Not only has the original bailout been a debacle beyond most of our worst fears, but there has been practically no oversight on it as well. The proposed intent of the bailout was to help stimulate the economy and assist with lending, but the major beneficiaries of the bailout have used that money to consolidate and purchase other banks, still making it very hard to get loans. The executives of the big three made a huge mistake by going to Congress on private planes and then holding out a tin cup asking for change.

The auto-makers aren't all to blame however, as the government has a role in this as well. The efficiency standards for fuel and the pressure placed on the auto-makers has made business much harder. In addition, there are extremely efficient cars that the big three produce in Europe and Asia that aren't able to be imported here for various reasons.

The auto industry is in shambles, but can be compared to an operation to remove cancer. You can go through the procedure to remove cancer - which will be painful - but it sure beats dying, which is exactly what will happen if they don't file for bankruptcy. There comes a point where people need to be allowed to fail, otherwise they won’t learn from the past mistakes, since they’ll have Uncle Sam to prop them up at the first signs of trouble.

Giving individuals a tax rebate check doesn’t help to solve the problem either, since they money is coming from loans to the government, as evidenced by our massive and growing national debt. Rather, lowering the tax rates to give long term incentives to the market would be a better solution. A rebate check is simply a short term fix, that when gone, leaves the consumer wanting more like a junkie.

As far as the media is concerned, they’ve proved that they can’t be trusted. That isn’t to say that bloggers and the internet media are the answer either. All people should research the issues independently and double check the sources they are given. This may seem a bit surprising coming from someone with a blog, but most of us can’t be trusted any more than the media. Bloggers cover the most extreme sides of issues and do things like distributing chain emails that have been proven to be false and focusing on issues of no merit, such as the legitimacy of birth certificates and events that occurred over twenty years ago.

A short time ago, illegal immigration was one of the hot topics. With the economic meltdown being experienced now, there are much larger issues at hand. Is anyone going to try and argue that illegals are responsible for poor lending practices by the mortgage companies, or that they caused the big three to pay their workers a rate drastically higher than the competitors? Illegal immigration isn’t a necessary evil or anything like that. The mere fact that the name is illegal immigration, by definition, shows us that it is wrong. Once we’ve gotten the major issues taken care of, we can focus on issues such as that.