In response to: "Your arguments are always well thought out, Chris. But answer me this; if the Big Three were all making sound business decisions for years, then why are they about to go belly-up when the foreign car companies, (i.e., Toyota) are flourishing? Even before the world-wide economic collapse, Toyota was gaining ground on the Big Three. Just last year it passed Ford, and became the #2 auto manufacturer in the world, and they are closing in rapidly on the #1 spot, if they haven't already obtained it.
Toyota is in the same markets and fighting for the same consumer dollars as is GM, Chrysler and Ford. So, how come Toyota is doing well, while GM, Chrysler and Ford are falling apart?
I contend the answer is that Toyota was much more far-sighted than the Big Three, and much less into short-term profits."

That answer is so easy it almost sounds like a conspiracy theory.

When Toyota and Honda first broke into the American market 40 years ago or so their marketing campaign was simple. They built smaller, cheaper, more reliable cars. Cars that would last people for 30 years, compared to the average life-span of 7 for an American car.

I'll say this plainly, EVERYTHING ABOUT A JAPANESE CAR HAS BEEN DONE IN AN AMERICAN CAR. There is NOTHING innovative, new, unknown, or secret in how those cars are built. They are not built with better materials, in better factories, or by smarter workers.

No. Their genius was in how long they were willing to wait before making a real profit. They weren't looking to compete with the big 3, they were looking to dominate the industry. And they knew they could not do that inside of 20 years. So for 5 years, Toyota and Honda sold nearly all of their vehicles in America a just a couple of points above cost. They made almost no profit. Why? They were positioning.

They created this perception that their cars were cheaper and they lasted longer, as long as you treated them right. Neglected by American auto makers was the response that EVERY car on the road will last practically a lifetime if you treat it like your baby and keep it maintained.

After Toyota and Honda had their foot in the door and they were gaining a percentage on the market, their prices started to come up. Slowly, but on the rise higher than inflation. It wasn't until the mid 80's that they actually hit the same profit percentages as the Big 3, and coincidentally, that is EXACTLY when they started to gain real ground on taking over the market. Now, they had the best of everything. They were making the same amount of money as the Americans, AND they had more than 20 years of an ingrained perception that they cars were better and cheaper, even though they weren't. But if you've been taught that your entire life, that's what you believe to be fact. You'll even hear some MECHANICS repeat that to you, even though if you question them on the differences between Toyota's, Honda's and American cars they will simply NOT be able to tell you what the difference is between them.

So hear we are today, and the highest selling Japanese cars are MORE expensive, not less, than their American counterparts. And the perception the American consumer has is, "Wow! This car must REALLY be great, because everyone KNOWS that Japanese cars are better and cheaper." That information is now hereditary. Fathers will pass it on to their cons when they go to buy their first car, and Toyota and Honda did their job.

I did not say that the American car industry were making sound business decisions, just that they responded to supply and demand. For a lot of years the SUV took the country by storm. And with gas prices being with 70 cents of what they were in 1980, it didn't matter that they had no mpg. What mattered is everyone wanted one, the next one, the bigger one, the longer one. The Big 3 put hybrids and compacts on the back burner to explore different versions, sizes and shapes of SUV's. And you got 3 different sizes of the same automobile (See Explorer, Expedition, and Excusion). Then you got the 'Sport' versions, which were smaller than the originals. The 'Track' versions with a small bed instead of a trunk.

So no, putting all your eggs in one basket is NEVER a sound business decision, but there was no possible way that the gas price explosion could have been predicted. And by the time the Big 3 responded to it, it was too late. Toyota and Honda were already in that space.

By the way, need verification on what I said here? See the Kia marketing strategy. They are trying to do to Toyota and Honda what they did to the Big 3, 40 years ago. How can they build cars which are virtually identical, some even built in the same factories, yet charge 20 percent less? It's the EXACT same thing, but we are forgetting what we already knew.

The problem with unions has nothing to do with how much money they make. The problem with unions is that they have such a disproportionate amount of power that there is no longer any accountability. I've seen firsthand what a union can do once the power shift is that large. One of the mechanics in the X-garage (Ford speak for Experimental Vehicles) was robbing banks DURING HIS LUNCH HOUR. He hit 4 banks and was actually caught on film at two of them. He was identified by a ton of eye witnesses, he was arrested, spent 3 days in jail and was out on bail. The company fired him. 4 days later he was back on the job.

He had filed a grievance with the union and according to their bylaws, that wasn't enough cause for termination because he didn't take more than an hour for his lunch, which was the only rule he could have broken as far as the company goes.

That kind of power is ridiculous.

50 years ago, there was a real need for unions. Management was terrible and they were driving the American worker into the ground. But the only thing the unions managed to prove is that whoever is actually IN power is going to exploit it.

Unlike most people in this neck of the woods, I actually WORKED at Ford for about 8 years.

I talk about this with folks here at work a whole lot. And one of the guys from Minnesota said something pretty interesting.

It’s a given that people are going to be upset that their tax dollars are going to bail out any companies that are failing. The basis of the free market system is survival of the fittest. So why not tell them that they can stop grumbling about spending their tax money on the American Auto industry, and instead just BUY AN AMERICAN CAR. Don’t give people 5,000 dollars to buy one, just get them to buy one when it’s time for a new vehicle.

The idea that foreign cars are superior is propaganda. It’s good advertising combined with the fact that the American auto industry built tanks for people when gas prices were low and everyone WANTED to drive a tank. That isn’t being irresponsible, that’s responding to a demand. The mistake they made was not bolstering their compact and high mileage product lines so when the gas prices went up, they could compete. So now they are faced with being two years behind Toyota and Honda when it comes to hybrids and compacts, and are trying to fight the 30 year advertising campaign that foreign cars are better, cheaper, more reliable, and longer lasting. NONE of which are really true.

Prius’s are selling now because of their hybrid status and because of the mpg’s. But if you do the math, a Prius will save you between 4,000 and 7,000 dollars over the life of the car in gasoline. Compare that with the average cost being 6,000 higher than a Ford Focus.

Also, letting two of the big three fail, or all three of them is not an option. Between the three companies there are more than 500,000 employees that would be put out of work. This economy (PARTICULARLY in my home state of Michigan) cannot handle that big of an influx of unemployment. You’re talking about a new depression. Not a recession, a full on DEPRESSION. Because once that happens, the problem spirals down into consumer costs, housing markets, and credit markets. Once the first big bank fails, people will be trying to operate on a cash only basis, much like I am now.

I find it hilarious that the same people who debate this as being unfeasible are a lot of the people who supported Obama whose mantra and plan is to put everyone with any sort of claim on Medicaid and welfare. With him in office, (according to his promises) the newly unemployed shouldn’t have to worry because the government will take care of all their needs, destroying everyone who actually has a job with higher tax rates. They are even talking about a higher tax BRACKET being implemented.

This is not like AIG, Fannie and Freddie. They failed because they took a calculated risk to make money and get everyone in the country on a mortgage regardless of whether or not they could afford it. The Big 3 were victims of an economy and oil prices that could not have possibly been predicted ten years ago. Their actions were appropriate for the time, and it wasn’t even a lack of foresight on their part.

But where do I stand on the bailout? As a proponent of the free market system, I am opposed to it. But I’m smart enough to know that there is a difference between letting the strongest company survive, and watching the collapse of the entire American auto industry. This country’s life blood is still oil. Like it or not.

I DO think that the whole American auto industry needs to get itself an enema. It may need to be destroyed and rebuilt. But you can’t do that with foreign automakers poised to take over the whole market. The U.S. auto industry is now a dinosaur, but it only took two years for it to get that way. Toyota and Honda are also dinosaurs, they just run a little faster. We need to take a real look at the UAW and what the future focus of our automobiles should REALLY be. They need to stop worrying about concepts and trying to build space-shuttles-on-wheels, and get themselves back to basics. Form follows function. And the American consumer is going to need a car with a really high mpg, and will make all the greenies like you happy.

It’s the only way we won’t find ourselves back in this position in another 5 years.

OH I have no doubt that all those things are real. I have no false assumptions that anything that has happened to Jennifer has been staged. She isn't a little girl that is vying for attention and will do anything or say anything to get it. I just don't understand the psychological disconnect that allows women like her to rationalize. Nor do I think they should be held without compassion.

Personally, I think they should be treated like addicts. Continually doing something that is obviously unhealthy is addictive behavior, and she MUST be getting something out of it.

Like I said before, there are very few women that I've known who have been in abusive relationships. But I've HAVE seen them. I've seen a black eye, welts around the wrist. I've seen all the verbally abusive messages erased from a blackberry, I've seen cell phones stolen and cars that suddenly get themselves 'broken down.' SO I know those types of men exist. And while I don't pretend to understand their motivation for being total pricks, I cannot FATHOM the motivation of the women who stay with them.

One of Laura's friends used to be married to a man like this. She is a beautiful, funny, caring woman, and while she was married she was simply not allowed to leave her house. Her husband would disable her car engine to make sure she would never go out. He didn't want other men to see her.

As far as Jennifer goes, I know her. Not well, but enough to know she's not stupid. I am a very smart man, but I still find myself doing stupid things from time to time. Repeatedly. And my self introspective usually leads to the question, "WHY are you so DUMB?!" Asking the mirror.

The only one that can really help her, is her.

Jim,

I come from an old-fashioned home. My grandfather's house was a good place to grow up if you wanted to learn a more dated set of values. Dated, but not OUT-dated. Among these is an intense respect for women. I cannot stand wife-beaters and the idea of laying hands on a woman in the way sickens me.

I have only been exposed to a very few men who habitually hit women. This is probably a good thing, because I wouldn't want to spend so much of my time fighting.

I have to confess, though, that I do not understand the compulsion. The compulsion that brings women back to any relationship that is clearly unhealthy. And you cannot get much more unhealthy than being physically abused. I have never been able to understand the psychological disconnect that gives women the idea that anything less than what they deserve is a desirable situation. And everyone deserves to be happy. to find the person that makes them jump up and down with excitement at the prospect of them getting home from work.

Some women either think it's normal, think it's what they deserve, hate themselves, or are so scared of giving up the good times they DO have with that person that they rationalize the beatings. They think a warm body is better than no body at all.

They are wrong.

I also see things in my daughter that I am afraid of. She is a trauma junkie. It's hard to know, and we are doing everything we can to try and raise her self esteem to the point when she cares about herself enough. She sees situations and cultivates them to keep herself a victim and thrives on the sympathy and attention she receives as a result. We are able to recognize this behavior and try to eliminate it, but it isn't easy. For her or for us.

I see this same kind of attitude in the few women I know of who have been abused. They hate the idea of being out of control but gravitate to vices and aspects of life that remove control from them. And the attention and sympathy and embraces they subsist on are the bright spots in their lives. The problem with that is they cannot get to those bright spots without first being traumatized.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm pompous. But you can see it, if you would look.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! You're killing me. KILLING me. first, a short commentary on the events of Tuesday:


I did not comment yesterday on the events that transpired during the election. It was simply too hard for me to get out of bed.

Today… I wear black.

I mourn for the impending death of the U.S. military might.
I mourn for the ultimate destruction of our economy through socialization.
I mourn for the elimination of the free market system in the health care industry.
I mourn for the death of the ideal that mediocrity is NOT ok, and the slow elimination of what is left of the American work ethic.

My only solace is that on January 21st, I can go ahead and quit my job, live off the public cash, get my house paid for, my food, my cable bill, and gas for my car. And the only thing I will have to do is abandon any sense of dignity that I have and teach my children that it’s better to receive than to give. That it is more prosperous to NOT care about developing yourself, your skills, or your mind; than it is to live like a sloth and let other people who are “foolish” enough to work hard take care of you.

I can’t wait.

------------------------------------------------

OK, now that I'm done with that... Jim....
Jim Jim Jim Jim Jim Jim Jim Jim...

Why you tryin' to kill me?

First, we have an oil surplus at this point. Surplus. So drilling locations do not have any immediate impact on ANYTHING. That statement about drilling locations was made for the long term. Domestic dependency on oil is exactly what we need to reduce the overall costs.

There are about a hundred different factors for why we are paying low at the pump now. Not the least of which was the election. Look back over the last 20 years... gas prices ALWAYS drop around election time.

As far as the profit that Exxon is making... so what? They are making the greatest amount of profit that the market will absorb. THAT is not only the duty, but the flipping DREAM of any business. Gas companies do not prey on people the way cigarette companies do. They are not selling a vice. They are producing and selling a necessity. Are you ranting because you're JEALOUS of it? Or because they are good at it? They don't drive the prices up... they don't have to. As you stated, the companies themselves don't have that much to do with price setting. It is based on commodities speculation.

If you're THAT upset with how much money they are making, ask yourself, "would I like to own an oil company?" You're damn right you would.

Get angry with how little of a percentage they are donating to charity. Get angry with how little of a percentage they are using to set up scholarship programs or medical research. But for crying out loud, don't get mad becuase they are really good at what they do. That is the ESSENCE of the free market system. A system that took a big hit on Tuesday with the election of a completely unknown, woefully underqualified man who is pointing us in a direction that will destroy the Capitalist economy that VALUES people and companies who are good at what they do.

T. Boone Pickens' first name is Thomas.

God may love us, but wasps, mosquitoes and bees were created by Hillary Clinton.

Yes, size matters. Don't be stupid.

Sugar Daddies and Sugar babies can be found at amusement parks and museum gift shops. But they are the same ones that were manufactured when you were a kid.

I LOVE those marshmallow Circus Peanuts.

So many things to respond to and/or argue with. I'm going to respond to this on my own blog, my comment would be too long.

Dork.

I wrote a little about this over on my page. Because I'm cool.