COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Real Americans Should Buy a Ford



Real Democrats like to boycott. The lefties love to talk about the things they do not eat, do not buy and do not visit. They do not like salt in their butter, msg in their Chinese or second party tobacco smoke. The Obama left wing machine thinks they can run a car company better than the car companies, so let them. Do not buy GM while the Democrats are running the company. Buy real American. Buy Ford.


88 comments:

  1. Bennet had a bunch of GM owning Callers who said they are going to do just that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Meet The New Boss

    Industrial Policy:
    The U.S. government dictating a major corporation's merger partner and who its CEO should be was unimaginable a year ago. Has industry sold America's free-market soul for bailout money?

    A president of the United States orders the chief executive officer of General Motors to resign. The same president is further ordering Chrysler to merge with Fiat, the Italian firm specializing in flimsy cardboard boxes on wheels.

    This new reality should send a chill down the spines of all Americans. The federal government has begun to run U.S. companies.

    President Obama said Monday, "my team will be working closely with GM to produce a better business plan."

    To that confident assertion he added these stern sentiments:

    "They must ask themselves: Have they consolidated enough unprofitable brands? Have they cleaned up their balance sheets, or are they still saddled with so much debt that they can't make future investments? Above all, have they created a credible model for how not only to survive, but to succeed in this competitive global market?"

    Who is in a better position to know the answers to these questions? Rick Wagoner, the GM CEO for nine years and former GM chief financial officer who has been with the automaker since the late 1970s, even running one of its foreign affiliates in Brazil, and who holds a Harvard Business School MBA?

    Or President Obama, a former community activist from the south side of Chicago with a great rhetorical gift?

    The president answered that question this week by ordering Wagoner's firing.

    Imagine if it were not GM, but your own small business employing a handful of people.

    How would you like the country's highest-ranking elected officeholder telling you that he and "my team" know better than you about cleaning up your balance sheets and competing against your rivals? How would you like being ordered by the government to fire the person you hired as manager of your company?

    Does an entity that is itself $11 trillion (and climbing) in debt have any right to criticize a private business for owing tens of billions, let alone to claim it can do better running that business?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Think of the Billions of Development Costs that will be thrown down the drain.
    (is the new Camaro already Stillborn?)

    Easy to do, if you're The Messiah.
    On a Mission.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Man Arrested For Driving Motorized Bar Stool, Picture Included

    We need a few of these stools around here, powered electrically, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just wondering, - has this commercial been solicited by Ford Motors?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ford, or Chevy: Doesn't matter. Just buy a Flexfuel.

    No American Kids Died for My Fuel.

    Can you imagine how good it feels to type that?

    ReplyDelete
  7. No, Igor, it wasn't paid for by Ford.

    And we understand why your mouth waters dreaming of Fords, and puckers up at the thought of the
    Volga you're sitting in.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Success will mean little if U.S. plans fail

    SÃO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil
    -- Silvio Illi would seem to have little to worry about as he walks the line at Ford Motor Co.'s São Bernardo plant outside São Paulo.

    He manages a factory that -- even running at full capacity -- can barely keep up with demand for its cars and trucks. Better still, Ford is investing heavily in Illi's plant as it prepares to begin production of a new model.

    But Illi cannot help but be concerned about what is going on half a world away in Dearborn. He knows Ford is struggling to save its North American automotive business.
    He knows the company has mortgaged everything to finance its turnaround plan.
    And while the success of a similar restructuring effort in Brazil gives him hope, Illi knows the efforts he and his team have made to revive Ford's South American business will not matter much if the plan fails in the United States.
    ---
    "I know what they are facing," Ponti said, adding that he hopes Ford's problems in North America will not force the company to close its operations in Argentina.
    "We worry about that here."

    Nor are employees of Ford and GM the only ones concerned about the fate of U.S. automakers in South America. Dealers are also anxious to see both companies' restructuring efforts succeed.
    Ernesto Geraldi owns a number of automotive dealerships in São Paulo, including several Ford stores.

    "It's logical to be worried," he said. "(But) I'm sure that Ford and GM are so strong, so famous, so important -- they are going to choose good plans to make the turnaround."

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sorry, Ernesto, you lose.
    The Messiah has Spoken.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is my green 1996 Ford Mustang with about 120,000 miles on it. My sidekick Gabrielle drives a red 1999 Ford Escort with about 130,000 miles on it.

    CHEVROLET stands for "Can Hear Every Valve Rattle On Long Extended Trips"
    --
    Shut Up And Let Me Go!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Check out the Cabela's Package

    You can get two-tone paint, too!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That green Mustang sure looks blue to me.

    ReplyDelete
  13. All the colors are muted over here on the Wet Side of the Cascades, Bobal. Have to go to Yakima or Wenatchee for a weekend just to get the moss out sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  14. It could be the light, bob.

    Or photoshop.

    ReplyDelete
  15. A GM buyer that got fsuked, or whatever Mat calls it, called Bennet to report that he's owned 9 with no complaints.
    ...had 300.000 on the last one that he turned in.
    Damned Evil Corporations!

    ReplyDelete
  16. "9 GM Trucks"
    ==

    Let them make trucks. They have no business making cars.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Doug: A GM buyer that got fsuked, or whatever Mat calls it

    fsck

    File System Check for us Unix people

    Same as CHKDSK in DOS

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ford has a truck, the Super Chief, which can run on hydrogen, gas, or ethanol. Don't think it's for sale to the public yet, however.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Diskcheck?
    I don't need no stinking Diskcheck!

    ReplyDelete
  21. ...or so I thot back when I blamed it all on Vista.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Who woulda that dropping it on a tile floor would impact it's performance?

    ReplyDelete
  23. VOTECHECK,
    THAT'S THE TICKET!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I can run on Nitrous Oxide, which may become a necessity in our
    Brave New World.

    Last Man Laughing Wins

    ReplyDelete
  25. Sorry Mat,
    Our Dear Leader is a Greenie too:

    Trucks will be made by someone other than the once employed by GM Losers.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Doug is quoting Ayn Rand!

    The revival of the conservatives cannot be far behind.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The Devil:
    I've got a neighbor with one of those.
    Can't come close to remembering all the exotics parked there over the years.
    Like to know what he does to acquire them, but afraid he's outta my league.
    Like Barry

    ReplyDelete
  28. The Devil Made me do it, Trish!

    ReplyDelete
  29. When Doug starts saying things like "Come back and I shall taunt you a second time, you English wiper of other people's bottoms!" then he will have reached the plateau.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Miller says he knew his Marriage was in trouble when he got in bed and his wife was in a Sharkcage.

    ReplyDelete
  31. That would be Coatholding
    Rumpswab, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  32. What does an Infinity have that a motorized bar stool hath not?

    Hath it more wheels?

    Nay.

    Better mileage?

    Again, nay.

    Maneuverability, parking ease?

    Obviously not.

    Warmth, climate control?

    You don't even notice such things.

    Curb appeal?

    A thousand times no.

    A hint of adventure, a tinge of dash?

    The stool outperforms, outperforms them all.

    ReplyDelete
  33. "9 GM Trucks"
    ==

    Btw, how old is this person? My dad is 66, and he only managed to go thru 4 cars:

    72 Peugeot 304 sedan
    82 Malibu station wagon
    86 VW Jetta sedan
    2007 Nissan Sentra

    ReplyDelete
  34. Maybe a traveling Salesman?
    ...or a liar.
    Or both.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Coatholding Rumpswab.

    If that's your invention, Doug, I'm awarding points.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Besides the highlight of meeting the British sovereign, an event Obama is said to be anticipating with excitement, the new president will attend several meetings during his eight days abroad:

    •A Group of 20 summit in London Thursday, where leaders of the world's largest economies will address the global financial crisis.

    •A weekend NATO summit in France likely to be dominated by the alliance's faltering effort in Afghanistan.

    •A US-European Union summit in the Czech Republic. The leader of the EU last week called Obama's proposal for larger global economic stimulus packages "the way to hell."


    Skeptical Allies

    ReplyDelete
  37. Stole it from Wretch's Brazil Thread Trish.
    You know me.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Saw Brazil back in...thinkthinkthink...1986?

    Just don't steal his concern-trolling on the subject of "Afpak."

    The Belmont folks are gonna eat one on that front.

    ReplyDelete
  39. BREAKING: With 496 of 610 precincts reporting, Republican James Tedisco leads Democrat Scott Murphy, 63,197 to 62,147 in the race for New York's 20th Congressional District seat

    ReplyDelete
  40. Scott Murphy = 76,573
    James Tedisco = 76,321

    ReplyDelete
  41. Latin America's biggest economies face close to zero growth over the next five years if the developed world does not pull out of the global economic crisis during the second half of 2009, the Inter-American Development Bank warned yesterday.

    ...

    "Precarious access to credit markets for many emerging market countries calls for multilaterals to step in and play the role that governments with better access to credit, such as the US government, play domestically," it said.

    The IADB's warning is the latest to say that Latin America - while better placed to withstand a crisis than a decade ago - will nevertheless be harder hit than most economists expected. "As the world's economy collapses, Latin America will find it impossible to avoid recession, and in some cases default," Capital Economics, a London research company, warned this month.


    0 Growth

    ReplyDelete
  42. Obama Job Approval:
    Gallup 59%,
    Ras 59%,
    ABC/WP 66%,
    USAT/Gallup 64,
    Hotline 63%,
    Dem Corps 58%

    RCP Average 03/25 - 03/30 --
    61.5 approve, 32.2 disabrove,
    the spread +29.3

    ReplyDelete
  43. Doug will love this:

    The New York Times newspaper to stop printing. Will be published as Twitter-only.

    ReplyDelete
  44. "We are Venezuela in the early years."

    - Limbaugh

    ReplyDelete
  45. The spread is larger than the WSJ had Bush's job approval on 12Jam09, 27%

    ReplyDelete
  46. Limbaugh is a drug offender that bob would have imprisoned for attempted murder.

    He has no credibility as a cultural critic.

    ReplyDelete
  47. With some.
    Others judge on the strength,
    or lack thereof,
    of the argument.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Me and Michael Yon will mourn the passing of the Times.
    No part of the booing blogger mob.
    Alt-Media has yet to come close to matching the product.
    (even with well-known bia discount in the equation)

    ReplyDelete
  49. "Not part of the booing blogger mob."

    ReplyDelete
  50. Who woulda known so many were yearning for their own Dear Leader?
    (prior to the campaign, that is)

    ReplyDelete
  51. Anything less than a 5,000 vote lead is eventually counted as a Democrat Victory al-Bob.
    But we knew that.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Me and Michael Yon will mourn the passing of the Times.
    =

    Doug, what time do you have?

    ReplyDelete
  53. "Just don't steal his concern-trolling on the subject of "Afpak."
    "
    ---
    Wish I knew what you do that I don't.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Limited, highly limited.
    Which may be a feature these days.

    I also have 4:47 HST

    ReplyDelete
  55. What is the basis of an argument that the US is Venezuela, doug, in the early years?

    More so now than under Nixon's Wage and Hour control regimine?

    Or the creation of Amtrack?

    Or the creation of the Federal Reserve?

    Buy Ford, buy American

    Ford, which is struggling with rising costs and declining market share in the United States, said it would upgrade assembly plants in Cuautitlán and Hermosillo, Mexico, as well as its engine plant in Chihuahua.

    It builds the F-Series pickup truck and Ikon small car in Cuautitlán. Engines for several vehicles sold globally are made in Chihuahua. The Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr are built in Hermosillo.

    ReplyDelete
  56. I also have 4:47 HST
    ==

    Ok. Don't forget to smile in about 7 hours.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Mat, Seattle just became a one-paper city this month. When it gets really bad, expect the Democrats to bail them out as they realize their print propaganda outlets are dwindling.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Cool!
    That BHO is such a kidder!

    ReplyDelete
  59. Amtrak is insignificant.
    Nixon's controls in response to a 3 percent inflation rate were temporary and proved disaterous.

    Wanna bet Obama's destruction of GM will be temporary?

    ReplyDelete
  60. Right/Wrong track polling graph, 7/17/07 to present, for the US of A.

    Puts a dagger in bobs' theory that Obama is losing the support of the citizenry.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Limbaugh never sold drugs to anyone, as far as I know. Just another of Rat's fantastical statements.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Mat, Seattle just became a one-paper city this month.
    ==

    Zero credibility = Zero business

    ReplyDelete
  63. Quit pickin' on bob. He already lost out on the tuna. There is only so much one farmer can take.

    ReplyDelete
  64. What I've put up is some Rasmussen polling that showed Obumble tumble from a spread of some 20% positve strongly approving to around 4% positive spread.

    Rat needs some time in a healthful national forest, get away from the city for awhile.

    ReplyDelete
  65. No, but Obama did not destroy GM, doug.

    He did not front create nor administrate the CAFE standards that classified SUVs as trucks and not station wagons.

    If you are looking for a fall guy, for GM, look and see who's watch those decisions were made on. It is the policy decision that allowed SUVs to be such gas hogs.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Hannity had some quotes by the democratic candidate in this New York race today where is said he's against the death penalty even for 9/11 terrorists. Something about it being too expensive to kill 'em.

    ReplyDelete
  67. 65 vote spread right now, jeez.

    Coleman got a bad court decision today too, it was reported. A few hundred Libertarian votes would have had him in the Senate, instead of Frankenstein.

    I've come to think a lot of Libertarians just like punishment. Just thrive on all that turns out badly. Somehow they seem to think it confirms their outlook on life, so they tend to enable it, and take glee when things go ill.

    I'm pooped. Good nite.

    ReplyDelete
  68. No, bob, he acted in concert with his employee to purchase drugs, using that employee as a cut out. That is a conspiracy to traffic in a Schedule II narcotic, which took place over an extended period of time, certainly a RICO qualifying crime.

    Corrupting a loyal employee and coercing her, through wage intimidation to break the law.

    The Limbaugh Gang, or should he qualify, with millions of followers, as a Cartel Crime Chief?

    Both Limbaugh and Levi's mom. That'd be little Tripp's grandmother, off to the pokie.
    For attempted murder.

    bob's rules.

    ReplyDelete
  69. A crime kingpin, with an entourage of accomplices.

    Rush sure qualifies on that score.

    ReplyDelete
  70. BP Unit Is Sued Over Alaska Spill - WSJ.com

    By ANGEL GONZALEZ

    HOUSTON -- Seeking maximum penalties, the U.S. government filed a civil lawsuit against a BP PLC unit in Alaska for breaking federal laws during two major 2006 oil spills in Prudhoe Bay, the largest oilfield in the country.

    The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, said that BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. discharged 200,000 gallons of oil onto the North Slope during two different oil spills, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

    The move is a setback for the major Anglo-American energy company, which in recent years has worked to improve its reputation in the U.S. and relations with regulators. The 2006 spills in Alaska were preceded by a fatal explosion at BP's Texas City refinery. BP settled with the U.S. over that catastrophe, agreeing to pay millions and plead guilty to criminal charges.

    This most recent complaint accuses BP of failing "to prepare and implement spill prevention" and take other measures mandated by the Clean Water Act. It also alleges that the company "improperly" removed asbestos-containing materials from its pipelines, violating the Clean Air Act, and didn't comply in a timely manner with a federal order requiring tests, inspection and repairs.

    The government asked the court for civil penalties "up to the maximum amount authorized by law," and to order BP to "take all appropriate action to prevent spills in the future," the statement said.

    Pipeline corrosion caused two spills in the BP-operated Prudhoe Bay oilfield in March and August 2006. The second spill led to a temporary shutdown of operations that jolted oil prices during a period of tight supply.

    The state of Alaska also filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday over lost revenues tied to the oil spills.

    In a complaint filed in state Superior Court in Anchorage, the state asked to collect penalty fees from BP for violating environmental laws, and to be compensated for lost state revenues tied to an estimated 35 million barrels of lost oil production. The state didn't include a dollar figure in its request.

    In its complaint, the Alaska government argued that the two spills and subsequent emergency pipeline replacement work "significantly reduced oil production for more than two years."

    BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said that the company had "no comment on the legal issues."

    "We have taken significant steps to ensure that our operations are safe and reliable, and protect the environment," Mr. Rinehart said. "Those include building a new $500 million system of oil transit lines at Prudhoe Bay."

    In November 2007, BP Alaska pleaded guilty to one count of criminal negligent discharge of oil in violation of the Clean Water Act, a misdemeanor that carried a $20 million payment.

    But Scott West, the former head of the EPA criminal probe into the spills, said that the Justice Department hastened to shut down the investigation, settling for lower penalties than it could have obtained, the Wall Street Journal reported last November. In early 2007, the agency considered seeking penalties of up to $672 million and possible felony charges, according to the Journal report.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123855043724676627.html
    ==

    A $650 million subsidy. And there were a million such instances.

    ReplyDelete
  71. LOL!

    IBM files for patent on offshoring jobs
    Seeks to protect tax incentives


    By Christine Young
    Times Herald-Record
    Posted: March 30, 2009 - 2:00 AM

    As IBM was firing thousands of American workers last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published Big Blue's application to copyright a computerized system that calculates how to offshore jobs while maximizing government tax breaks.
    .
    .
    http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090330/BIZ/903300315

    ReplyDelete
  72. Btw, the "war on drugs" is nothing short of insane.

    ReplyDelete
  73. You either adopt China's policy, or you legalize it.

    ReplyDelete
  74. One tweet to rule them all:

    Protesters use Twitter to galvanise forces

    http://snipurl.com/ezcag

    ReplyDelete
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