Moderation,

Probably, you need a boat or a place near the water. Ann Arbor is not close enough. The Huron River does not count. And I am a musician. AA is wonderful for music, but without that anchor, maybe not so great. Can you start with music lessons? Try the Herb David Guitar Studio.

Also, I believe Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids are places where people live in groups of their own old friends, and new people never see what really is going on. I know what you mean about Michiganders outside Detroit not looking you in the eye, smiling, returning greetings. It is some Upper Midwestern "trying not to seem as if we were trying to be fancy" thing.

Anyway, I am sorry you are not happy. I have a suggestion: My brother has a B&B up north, in a great spot on Lake Michigan. You would see a better side of Mich. Please e-mail me, bowlingfun@comcast.net, if you want to give Mich. one more chance. Can't hurt! Much better than just another boring Maize & Blue weekend.

Around the time the Germans bought Chrysler, other Germans bought my wife's (auto industry) American company. My wife's Germans were good and bad in the same ways Chysler's Germans were good and bad.

Basically, though, the Germans did not get American business, and they failed much worse than their American acquisitions.

We Americans, years ago, went through the reality gantlet. We work our butts off because we must, and even then, we often get fired. The Germans still have not come to this realization.

How can Daimler say that Jeep, the Chrysler 300, the PT Cruiser, and Dodge Truck are bad products?! How could my bride's Germans go bankrupt in Germany, while their American "subsidiary" gutted it out?!

The Germans are NOT business geniuses. They do not understand the USA, nor the current global marketplace. We are way ahead of them.

Now here's the big conclusion: Same-level German co-workers buy new, fancy cars every couple years, and they still have wonderful welfare-state benefits, while we still are driving our old Grand-Am, with no pension other than our self-funded 401K.

Who is wrong? It has been long enough: If Germany were destined to collapse into a worse-than-the-USA scrum, they already would have done so. They got burned when they tried to take over American companies, but their people still are way ahead of us, in comfort, in compensation, in happiness.

Don't know how to conclude. Do you?

You can make a lovely tour of Michigan Wine Country, without all the snottiness or expense of doing the same tour in California or France. And you can drink great wine while you tour.

The people who run the wineries will pay attention to you; the people at the B&Bs and hotels will spoil you. You may have to set your own itinerary, rather than planting your butt on a tourist bus....

But is that a bad thing??? NO! AND! You will spend about a third of what you would spend for lodging and great meals, compared to California, maybe a quater compared to France.

Right now, the Michigan grape harvest is in full swing; the leaves are turning exquisite; the autumn light is just perfect.

The right-wing christianists have two main issues: Abortion and Gays.

A Democratic candidate could take a pro-life stance, or at least a neutral stance on abortion... and could come out against gay marriage, even if maybe endorsing gay unions.

And that Democrat still could pull troops out of Iraq, and come down hard on corruption, torture, rights abuses, and fiscal crimes. And that Democrat might get many of those right-wing christianist votes.

You have to say, "JEEE-zuhzz-uh," or they will not believe you are one of them. And you have to say, "CRISSSSSS-chn," as well. A "CRISSSSSS-chn" is different from a generic Christian.

And then you have to parrot back some cliches, such as, "JEEEzuhz Crahst is mah persnal Lo-urd an Sayvyur," and you must compete with them on far-outness, in order to prove you really, really, RILLEEE believe.

If you pass these tests, you are good to go to heaven.

My pal in Cleveland tells me that the Indians lost every game they played against the Yankees this regular season. Now those two teams meet in the playoffs.

Six direct employees is the practical maximum. Can you take three of your good employees, and make them supervisors or "lead people," or some such title? And split your group into three teams?

You still would work closely with everybody, in the open, pretty much as you are working now. But you could be unfailingly, constantly cordial with everybody, and let the supervisors handle (listen to and dismiss) the silly stuff.

We had "Stagflation," a combination of a stagnant economy plus inflation, during the Nixon/Ford/Carter years. This was impossible, according to the conventional wisdom. Everybody blamed Lyndon Johnson, the president before Nixon. Interest rates went way up, and the stock market stank.

Now, what do we have? Inflasdaq? The Flow-Jones economy?

Interest rates are way down, but stocks are kicking along, but we have serious inflation, measured by the dollar's worth versus every other currency, including the formerly joke-worthy Canadian Loony. Again, this supposedly cannot happen.

And Americans are losing their jobs, their homes, their faith in the USA...

Stagflation took fifteen years to wear off. Will the US Dollar head down to Latin American levels? How long will that take, and where will we stand fifteen years from now?