The Perfect Storm: The Auto Bail-Out, the Economy, & the Mutable Dilemma

Feeling a little tense lately? We can certainly say that there are three men from Detroit who are feeling the love from one of the most intense planetary configurations of the year. We are sharing their angst in our own way, and if a wise solution does not come out of Washington with respect to the auto industry’s woes, we’ll all soon be feeling the ensuing downturn in the real economy.

A planetary storm has been gathering since mid-November, and now it is upon us. The storm will last from the 5th through the 15th as one after another of a set of sharp-edged planetary events reaches perfection.

The Big Astrological OMG
Considering the planets involved and the type of contacts they make with each other, is it any wonder? They are moving into a mutable grand cross, which to the astrological cognoscenti is the equivalent of a very big OMG. This grand cross is found in the mutable (flexible but sometimes spineless) signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces.

The key factors in this (see the chart) are: a) Saturn opposing Uranus (ongoing since September); b) Sun, Mars, and Mercury squaring them both, forming a T-square; and c) the Moon filling in the missing point to form a “box” or grand cross in the chart. While there are numerous contacts between these six points over the 11 days of their interaction, there are two peak periods, December 5–6 (today and tomorrow), and December 10–12. The first one is the most difficult of the two.

Yeah, But . . .
This pattern has the overall effect of a roomful of “yeah, but’s”. The auto industry will fail unless they get bridge loans to help them continue. Yeah, but the loans are far larger than the combined value of the corporations. Yeah, but their value to the real economy exceeds the value of the loans when we consider potential job losses across the economy and losses in parts and resource companies that are dependent on the auto industry. Yeah, but no one is buying the cars. Yeah, but they can be forced to make energy-efficient cars. Yeah, but the price of gas is down, so everyone is going back to gas-guzzlers, so the automakers have no incentive to switch. Yeah, but we have to retool to compete with foreign automakers. Yeah, but they could continue to lose money on cars no one wants. Yeah, but the earth is warming! Yeah, but the automakers can’t survive if they are forced to retool. Yeah, but if they don’t they’ll fail, and we’ll have to buy all our cars from foreign automakers. . . .

This is the infamous mutable dilemma, and we all have our own version of it in our lives. However, on the national scale, so much is at stake.

Bail-Out Today?
The first thunderclap of the storm comes today with two major contacts: the conjunction of the Sun and Mars, and Mercury squaring Uranus. On Saturday (the 6th) but very much in effect today (the 5th), is Mercury’s square to Saturn. This has the effect of leaving Washington lawmakers and auto executives very much perplexed and aggrieved as they struggle to find a way out of this perfect dilemma.

So, you want to take any bets on what will happen with the bail-out today? Even though lawmakers are under the most extreme of all pressures — an impending holiday recess — it seems unlikely that they will reach a decision by this supposed deadline despite the pressure to do so, and I hope they don’t. This one is tricky, but they still have a chance to get it right. The planetary pattern suggests that a decision won’t happen until next Friday (the 12th). If it does — such is the power of the holiday recess — the result is not likely to be as good as it will be if they wait. By next Friday, ideology will melt into pragmatism as Mercury enters Capricorn and gives us the opportunity for much better outcomes.
Even the Worst Storm Has Its Benefits.
Even if the mutable dilemma is bewildering, it has its benefits. It reveals a conundrum that existed even when we didn’t know about it. It forces us to face this conundrum and detangle its strands of cause and effect so it can be reorganized to operate in a functional manner. We could think of the auto industry as a dysfunctional family that creates false realities to distract from what’s really going on, which is a chronically corrupt culture that perpetuates its own weaknesses. Lawmakers are faced with the task of re-parenting these wayward and overgrown schoolboys so that they do not continue in their dysfunctional ways of encouraging Americans to continue their profligate gas-guzzling ways. The alternative is to further create a victim class in American society.

In this respect, the challenges presented by Sun, Mercury, and Mars are good. They say to the representatives of the status quo (Saturn - the auto execs), “You can’t operate that way anymore. It can no longer be ignored.” Uranus across the wheel from Saturn is the people and the lawmakers saying, “We won’t put up with this anymore - change!” — even as they (we) are shocked by the looming economic disaster.

Our lawmakers have to be very clever to work this out. They have to rely on monies already available to them, because George W. Bush will not sign any bill into law that offers relief to the auto industry. Even so, there is a way out, one that will draw more consensus and be more wisely devised if it happens on or after the 12th, if the planets offer any indication of timing and events. Should the situation take this longer path to maturity and harvest, the most likely day for a final resolution is the 16th or soon after. If they pull a rabbit out of the hat tomorrow, it will probably not be the best deal for the American people.