It's Just a Cream Filled Treat the Whole Day Through Thing

Dear America,

okay g, it's just like riding a bike.

don the pink helmet and just go with it...
run with free abandon on whatever comes to mind.


Living "on the verge of a civil war" in Egypt?  Not.   (Besides, it's been in a civil war for a couple of years now -- but more important, where can I get me a pair of those rose-colored glasses?)

Syria?  No way; that is one hot mess. 

Our president -- who is presently mulling over pulling the troops out of Afghanistan,  more sooner than later?  Between the no will to win, no strategy beyond an empty threat that comes complete with a surge and ends with mixed signals, low moral, a PR nightmare, and a lead-from-behind Commander-in-Chief leading the way -- hell no, we won't go there today.  The eyes are burning crimson red just thinking about it.

The Asiana plane crash with a pilot in training -- having 43 hours behind the joystick of the Boeing 777,  with this being his ninth trip, but his first flying into San Francisco on this type of plane?

Or perhaps we get into the loss of the nineteen "hot shot" firemen in Arizona? 

As worthy of my time these events may be, I just don't have it in me.   Tragedy that keeps coming at us in shock waves demands our full attention immediately and respectfully and with everything we've got.   And being a girl who recognizes her limits respective  of the emotional whirlwind that is her life these days, THIS is NOT that day.  So let us pray for these families and continue venturing into a topic that sticks...

The wavering immigration bill on perpetual stand by in the congressional wings; or how about the disintegration of Obamacare right before our eyes?  Oh what's the point.   What does it matter, right?  What congress sells to the American people as the "end all" legislation to illegal immigration, never seems to be an "end all,"  now does it?  Things that get written into law -- be it dealing with new immigration law, or health care  -- fail to stick, fail to fix, fail to end the conflict, or simply fail to address and answer the unintended consequences all the time.  Besides explaining just how much a bigger government does not equate to better, smarter -- THIS, too, is not where we will settle and dwell in this new day.  But it does provide the segway into an idea with some long, lean legs with a free enterprising fire in the veins.


So -- after wandering the world -- we suddenly find ourselves at the hot topic on the day.

It's a story of perspective, really; nothing  more, nothing less.  But more often than not, it never fails at achieving the perfect balance, striking the right cord, bringing to life the virtues (and calamities) of cause and effect.  Effort and hard work (and maybe a little dumb luck) -- against the odds, liabilities and risk -- aim to prevail in the pursuit of happiness.

It's a civil war as old as time itself.

May I first point you in the direction of a perspective missing the point entirely.  In a stunning, whining appeal to loathe the 1% and then some, read Rex Nutting's  (MarketWatch)  Who Killed the American Dream.

Let's just skip to the chase and get to Nutting's conclusions, shall we?

Bivens and Mishel's research further shows that the horrendous widening of equality in America isn't the result of benign and impersonal market forces, but of conscious policy decisions -- for instance, lower tax rates and reduced bargaining power for workers -- that increased the ability of a few to capture almost all the benefits of the economy's growth over the past 30 years.

Ultimately, the next generation at the top will be the friends, neighbors, classmates and children of the current crop.

The country that once boasted of equal opportunities has re-created a self-perpetuating aristocracy. And that's not the America I dream of.

Is this really a fair deduction, Rex?  "conscious policy decisions...that increased the ability of a few to capture almost all the benefits of the economy's growth over the past 30 years?"  Seriously?

"A few"; "all the benefits";

give me a f&*((& break.

The next generation at the top will amount to the frills of friends with benefits and nepotism running amuck?  Oh really?

"The country that once

boasted

of equal opportunities

has re-created

a self-perpetuating aristocracy?"

And you are a guy who writes for Market Watch, a fully integrated and connected business news network focusing on the business of understanding the free market, the stock market, from the corporate office to the mom and pop market?  wow.

America has made business large and small the mainframe and source of providing the greatest abundance on the planet.  Corporate America provides opportunity and jobs and a future that otherwise would not be there, if not for the initial risk and investment.

And now -- to another eye opening perspective.

Let's apply the learning curve of just one story happening in corporate America today in order to complete the equal opportunity, not equal outcome, guarantee.

Cue the Twinkies.

But behind the return of the familiar cream-filled sponge cake is a leaner operation, free of the union contracts and the $1.3 billion in debt that saddled the brand's previous owners. With that clean slate, the new owner and chief executive, C. Dean Metropoulos, plans to launch an ambitious growth plan and avoid the problems that led to two Chapter 11 bankruptcies, the last of which ended in liquidation...

A bankruptcy judge in March granted Hostess permission to sell most of its snack cake brands to Mr. Metropoulos's private-equity firm, Metropoulos & Co., and Apollo Global Management LLC, APO +2.25%for $410 million, following liquidation proceedings that began in November. The two firms wouldn't disclose their ownership stakes in the new Hostess, which also cranks out snacks including CupCakes, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, Zingers, Suzy Qs and Sno Balls.

hmmm.
a private equity firm gets the opportunity to buy a company losing semi-truck-loads of money...
they get to buy it for a whopping $410 MILLION dollars...and, if you read on, get to put hundreds of millions more into it in order to make it profitable, operationally sound after operating in the red for so long.  Julie Jargon does a fabulous job spelling it all out in black and white and read all over.

In addition to the 50 million Twinkies that will be shipped to 100,000 stores in the first two weeks of the launch, Hostess has gotten orders for nearly 40 million Hostess CupCakes and 6 million bags of Donettes, which are small donuts. The four bakeries are running two shifts a day, seven days a week to fulfill the orders.

I don't know about you, but little old G here wouldn't know where to begin in making 50 million Twinkies.  I'm more of a pie maker, myself; but honestly -- getting 50 million Twinkies made and to market seems a daunting task; at first blush thinking outside the box,  my eyes would explode, my legs would buckle, and I would be on the floor sucking Chianti from a straw with no problem passing on this "equal opportunity."   Not.   No way.   Not in this lifetime.

This is why America works, and how it works for us, in ways we seem totally oblivious, according to Rex Nutting.  According  to Rex --   C. Dean Metropoulos -- Metropoulos & Co. -- (wonder how many sons and daughters and cousins are involved...) is simply a greedy bastard.

Oh Never you mind --  in reality --

The 67-year-old Mr. Metropoulos has been involved in 78 consumer acquisitions in the last 25 years, including Pabst Brewing Co. in 2011. A spokeswoman said his deals' average return on investment exceeds 44%.

The old company also was weighed down by debt, preventing it from investing in its 11 plants, all the while rivals operated more automated, efficient bakeries.

The owners purchased four of those plants and are investing $100 million to upgrade them. They plan to spend another $75 million to $80 million to open a fifth plant next year.

The debt and hefty pension obligations that the old Hostess faced also prevented it from investing in product innovation or marketing. Consumers seeking healthier products abandoned Twinkies, while those who still wanted indulgent treats grew bored of the same old assortment.

 Which, by the way --

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to comment. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers International Union didn't respond to requests for comment.

[of course they did.]

Rex -- who killed the American Dream?  Apparently, all signs point to you.  Here's some news, with accompanying perspective,  you could use:

We are what we make, bake, bundle and gobble in more ways than one.

Make it a Good Day, G