For those of you who have been reading along, you know that ‘Puter lives in the socialist paradise of Upstate New York. ‘Puter’s been complaining about the unions, taxes and anti-business policies of New York for years, and more publicly in this blog since its inception.

In two different places, two very different sources make critiques of New York similar to ‘Puter’s. Megan McArdle of The Atlantic here, and The Wall Street Journal here. Interestingly, each of these critiques is equally applicable to General Motors.

GM and New York are being done in by greedy/stupid/ineffective senior management (legislators) beholden to an even greedier union (unions) at the expense of the shareholders (taxpayers). As a result, both entities are on the verge of failure. And, taxpayers are being asked to bail both GM and New York out. This is unacceptable.

The solution for New York is clear, but political will is lacking. Cut spending deeply preserving only essential services, markedly lower all taxes, overturn outmoded and anti-competitive laws and regulations, layoff/computerize significant numbers of state workers and put public sector unions in their place. If these steps are not implemented in short order, New York will fail.

General Motors’ solution is equally clear. File bankruptcy and reorganize in a prepackaged Chapter 11 filing, with the federal government providing DIP financing at a market rate of interest, secured by all assets of GM. Wipe out all existing shareholders and management, restructure the union contracts (even better, decertify the union altogether), shed duplicative/nonperforming brands and rewrite all dealer contracts on more equitable terms. If GM can’t make a go of it then, permit it to fail or be sold off to the highest bidders.

Laying people off is a horrible solution, but it is the least bad of all available avenues. That said, anyone who went into General Motors within the last 25 or so years went in with his eyes wide open, knowing full well that the American automobile manufacturing model was doomed to failure. It was apparent in the mid-1980s (and even before — see, e.g., Chrysler bailout); it just took this long for the walking corpse to realize it was dead.

And if P.E. Obama delivers on his promised economic plan (higher taxes, more unions, more regulation, redistribution), the rest of the United States can look forward to joining New York and General Motors in the crapper. Recycling failed policies is not the hope and change ‘Puter’s been waiting for.

'Puter

Always right, unless he isn’t, the infallible Ghettoputer F. X. Gormogons claims to be an in-law of the Volgi, although no one really believes this.

’Puter carefully follows economic and financial trends, legal affairs, and serves as the Gormogons’ financial and legal advisor. He successfully defended us against a lawsuit from a liquor distributor worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid deliveries of bootleg shandies.

The Geep has an IQ so high it is untestable and attempts to measure it have resulted in dangerously unstable results as well as injuries to researchers. Coincidentally, he publishes intelligence tests as a side gig.

His sarcasm is so highly developed it borders on the psychic, and he is often able to insult a person even before meeting them. ’Puter enjoys hunting small game with 000 slugs and punt guns, correcting homilies in real time at Mass, and undermining unions. ’Puter likes to wear a hockey mask and carry an axe into public campgrounds, where he bursts into people’s tents and screams. As you might expect, he has been shot several times but remains completely undeterred.

He assures us that his obsessive fawning over news stories involving women teachers sleeping with young students is not Freudian in any way, although he admits something similar once happened to him. Uniquely, ’Puter is unable to speak, read, or write Russian, but he is able to sing it fluently.

Geep joined the order in the mid-1980s. He arrived at the Castle door with dozens of steamer trunks and an inarticulate hissing creature of astonishingly low intelligence he calls “Sleestak.” Ghettoputer appears to make his wishes known to Sleestak, although no one is sure whether this is the result of complex sign language, expert body posture reading, or simply beating Sleestak with a rubber mallet.

‘Puter suggests the Czar suck it.