The labor situation has become so dire that you can now hire an American Blue Chip CEO for a dollar – and a ride to work.

I’ve already reported in these pages as to how many of the top officers of the few remaining grand old Wall Street houses are forgoing bonuses this year. Now we hear that GM’s Rick Wagoner and Ford’s Alan Mulally have cut themselves back to a mere dollar each for 2009.

They are not the only folks willing to do a lot more for a tad less. One of the peculiar byproducts of these uncertain times is a sudden 1.3% increase in U.S. worker productivity.

It’s a Recession (At Least) After All

Last month (officially the 11th in our newly christened recession) saw another 250,000 jobs eliminated, making it the worst November since 2001. With unemployment hovering somewhere between 6.5%

The private jets were the last straw. I speak of the chosen mode of transportation for the “Big Three” automaker CEOs last week. When the heads of GM, Ford and Chrysler made their trek to Washington, they did so in the style of fat cats. They should have flown coach.

I’m serious.

Flying coach would have been little more than a gesture, sure. But it would have said something at least. It would have shown that these knuckleheads aren’t completely tone-deaf. But they are tone deaf. They’re crap at the little things.

And in the end, it’s really all about the little things. When you add up all the little things, you get a big impact.

Take Honda, for example. Did you know Honda is in the soybean business? As Forbes tells it, “Honda couldn’t brook the sight of the shipping containers

The Chevrolet Volt is scheduled to roll off the assembly lines in Hamtramck sometime in late 2010. The vehicle will be powered by onboard batteries and a 1.4 liter 4 cylinder engine that will kick on after the 40 mile range of the battery charge has run out. General Motors likes to refer to it as an “electric car” but in reality it is a hybrid gas-electric vehicle.

The vehicle should provide a long enough range on just the battery charge for an estimated 75 percent of American’s to be able to make it to work and back on a single charge. Re-charging the batteries will only take an estimated 10 hours. It is very likely that many who purchase the Volt could go weeks on just battery power assuming they re-charge every night.

Some of the technological innovation that has gone into production of the EV1 is simply amazing:

Shares of Ford Motor Co. (F) and General Motors Corp. (GM) posted gains yesterday (Tuesday) on speculation that consolidation in the U.S. domestic auto industry could be the struggling sector’s saving grace.Over the last three trading sessions, Ford shares are up almost 18%, while GM shares are up over 37% on reports of possible merger talks and asset sales.

Shares of Ford Motor Co. (F) and General Motors Corp. (GM) posted gains yesterday (Tuesday) on speculation that consolidation in the U.S. domestic auto industry could be the struggling sector’s saving grace.Over the last three trading sessions, Ford shares are up almost 18%, while GM shares are up over 37% on reports of possible merger talks and asset sales.