Perry Said:

How would the Big 3 failure affect the U.S. economy?

We Answered:

• Should all of the Detroit Three's U.S. operations cease in 2009, the first-year total employment impact would be a loss of nearly 3 million jobs in the U.S. economy—including 239,341 direct job losses at the three auto companies; 973,969 secondary jobs at auto supply companies; and more than 1.7 million jobs at other employers from the reduced spending by those jobless workers. The employment picture would recover somewhat in 2010 and 2011, due to increased U.S. production by foreign-based automakers and dislocated workers finding new jobs.

• Even if just one or more of the auto companies goes down, the first-year losses would still be nearly 2.5 million jobs in the U.S. in the first year before coming back somewhat in the second and third years. That's because the domino effect of one major automaker going under would push several financially fragile auto suppliers into insolvency, which would interrupt production at the remaining car companies.

• In economic terms, a 50% cut in the Detroit Three's U.S. operations would reduce personal income by more than $125.1 billion in the first year, and $275.7 billion over three years.

Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Chairman David Cole, one of the authors of the study, says legislators and members of the public who doubt the U.S. auto industry is worth saving "should realize the costs of it failing are far greater than the $25 billion in loans the industry is seeking."

I was originally against the bailout but I think we are in the classic situation of being "in between a rock and a hard place". I don't think we can allow a serious chunk of our manufacturing capacity go down the tubes.

Karl Said:

Could the year 2012 be the last days on Earth?

We Answered:

The Mayans made no predictions for the end of their long count of days which corresponds to our 21 December 2012. That was invented recently by modern woo-woos like Jose Arguelles, and even he did not go on about stray planets, planetary alignments, galactic central planes and all that nonsense, probably because even he knew that was easily disproved.

What changes in our solar system? Citation please, and it had better be peer-reviewed. And I will guarantee that Prof. Hawking agrees to nothing of the kind. He may agree that we could face extinction if struck by an asteroid, anybody with modest knowledge of the solar system knows that.

Nibiru was invented in the 1970s or so by the fake scholar of ancient history, Zecharia Sitchin to give his Earth - visiting aliens somewhere to live when they are not on Earth. Sitchin claimed that these aliens created humans by crossing themselves with Earth apes. The idea was to get humans to work for them. Not only does this conflict with Christianity of any kind, it also conflicts with known science.

Nibiru, which is supposed to be their home, was actually the domain of the Babylonian god Marduk and this eventually became associated with the planet Jupiter in late Babylonian times. Jupiter is quite happy to stay in it's usual orbit and continue it's customary 11 year circuit round the Sun.

Nibiru is supposed to have a 3600 year orbit round the Sun, which means it must be frozen stiff most of the time. According to Sitchin, it was due back in the inner solar system in 2085, not 2012. So these 2012 frauds have stolen an imaginary planet from it's creator to "support" their imaginary disaster.

Planet X is a separate imaginary planet invented about 1994 by a woman called Nancy Lieder. She claimed that aliens abducted her and she could contact them telepathically. This planet was supposed to invade the inner solar system and cause a pole shift on Earth. That was supposed to happen about May of 2003. You might have noticed that it did not. So nutty Nancy just tranferred the twaddle about 2003 to 2012 to agree with the "predictions" made about the Mayan day count, whch were already known to be faked. See Zetatalk

Honey bees are not going extinct. The disease that has been affecting one species is confined to North America. Bee populations in other parts of the world have not been affected much if at all. There are several species and varieties of honey bee, some are smaller and stingless like the Australian native bee. However their life habits are similar. As bee populations in North America die out, if they die out, they are easily replaced with swarms from Australia, New Zealand,
Britain, China, Westen Europe, Japan, you name it.

All these supposed disasters are more or less mutually exclusive, had you noticed that? What connection is there between a disease of bees and a non-existent planet that, even if it existed, would be about as far from us as the orbit of Saturn at the moment?

The lies about disaster in 2012 continue to exist because some people are making money out of them. They do this with faked up books and "survival guides" and by making fraudulent documentaries to be shown on the History Channel. Some make money by dragging the foolish into ghastly religious cults.

It is flim-flam. See you in 2013.

Anthony Said:

GCSE Geography Case Studies!?

We Answered:

I done my Geography exam today, I used Oakhampton (change is service provision - theme 1) and Mekong river delta (flood- theme 2)

Ruth Said:

What do you think of Newt Gingrich's opinion of George W. Bush and his legacy?

We Answered:

Gingrich is the one who created the M.O. of lie, deny, spin and do so in lockstep, no matter how idiotic it is to take control of the narrative.

If the Republicans aren't united in their propaganda, no matter what the cost, Bush can't get into office, let alone implement or get away with any of this nonsense.

Gingrich has no business trying to claim that this hurts the "cause" of Republicans and their party. This is the legacy he left for his party.

Other than that, yeah, Bush's legacy is one of failure. But it's not a legacy that's non-Republican.

Constance Said:

how was the gulf of mexico affected by hurricane katrina (costs, people left homeless etc.)?

We Answered:

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/katrina/l…

Charlene Said:

Hurricane Katrina, Facts, Response and Effects :)?

We Answered:

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall. At least 1,836 people lost their lives in the actual hurricane and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane; total property damage was estimated at $81 billion (2005 USD), nearly triple the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm weakened before making its second landfall as a Category 3 storm on the morning of Monday, August 29 in southeast Louisiana. It caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge. The most severe loss of life occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland. Eventually 80% of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes became flooded, and the floodwaters lingered for weeks. However, the worst property damage occurred in coastal areas, such as all Mississippi beachfront towns, which were flooded over 90% in hours, as boats and casino barges rammed buildings, pushing cars and houses inland, with waters reaching 6–12 miles (10–19 km) from the beach.
The levee failures prompted investigations of their design and construction which belongs to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as mandated in the Flood Control Act of 1965 and into their maintenance by the local Levee Boards. There was also an investigation of the responses from federal, state and local governments, resulting in the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Brown, and of New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Superintendent Eddie Compass. Conversely, the United States Coast Guard (USCG), National Hurricane Center (NHC) and National Weather Service (NWS) were widely commended for their actions, accurate forecasts and abundant lead time.
Nearly five years later, thousands of displaced residents in Mississippi and Louisiana are still living in trailers. Reconstruction of each section of the southern portion of Louisiana has been addressed in the Army Corps LACPR Final Technical Report which identifies areas not to be rebuilt and areas and buildings that need to be elevated

Check this website for all you need to know about Katrina >>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_K…