“Politics is the art of looking for
trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and
applying the wrong remedies.” --
Groucho Marx
Along those lines, check out this
actual note from a senior-level person at Chrysler, dated Sunday,
July 19, 2009.
Monday morning, I attended a
breakfast meeting where the speaker/guest was David E. Cole,
Chairman Center for Automotive Research (CAR and Professor at the
University of Michigan). You have all likely heard CAR quoted or
referred to in the auto industry news lately.
Mr. Cole, who is an engineer by
training, told many stories of the difficulty of working with the
folks that the Obama administration has sent to save the auto
industry. There have been many meetings where a 30+ year
experienced automotive expert has to listen to a newcomer to the
industry, someone with zero manufacturing experience, zero auto
industry experience, zero finance experience and zero engineering
experience, tell them how to run their business.
Mr. Cole's favorite story is as
follows:
There was a team of Obama people
speaking to Mr. Cole (engineer, automotive experience of 40+ years,
and Chairman of CAR). They were explaining to Mr. Cole that the
auto companies needed to make a car that was electric and liquid
natural gas (LNG) with enough combined fuel to go 500 miles so we
wouldn't "need" so many gas stations (a whole other topic). They
were quoting BTUs of LNG and battery life that they had looked up
on some website.
Mr. Cole explained that to do this
you would need a TRUNK FULL of batteries and a LNG tank as big as
the car to make that happen, and that there were problems related
to the laws of physics that prevented them from...
The Obama person interrupted and
said (and I am quoting here): "These laws of physics? Whose rules
are those? We need to change that." (Some of the others wrote down
the law name so they could look it up.) "We have the Congress and
administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an
executive order to get rid of that problem. That's why we are here,
to fix these sorts of issues."
..... And these are the same people who are going to fix
healthcare?!
yes -- I'm no fan of this administration's economic team but it
is good to remember that something is not true just because you
read it on the internet, from what claims to be an
authoritative source. If its important enough to send around
to all your family and friends I'd do a little due diligence first
and see if its real.
The story is false. Dr. Cole when asked directly said that
he has never met with the Obama administration. The
conversation actually was with several congressmen, years ago and
involved the laws of thermodynamics.
I guess I shouldn't be astonished, but I am. I have deep
seeded feelings that this is not going to end well. For
almost everyone. As always anything can happen. And in
this case, I expect it will be, also as always, something no one
expected to be the trigger. Luv this site and all the
info flo. Many thanks to everyone for their excellent efforts
(Matt and Steve and the rest of the contributing community).
Newsletter
Subscribe to our email list for regular free market updates
as well as a chance to get coupons!
Friday Funnies
Posted by whistlebear on 20th of Nov 2009 at 10:02 pm
<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;} @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} h2 {margin-right:0in; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-outline-level:2; font-size:18.0pt; font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; font-weight:bold;} p {margin-right:0in; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” -- Groucho Marx
Along those lines, check out this actual note from a senior-level person at Chrysler, dated Sunday, July 19, 2009.
Monday morning, I attended a breakfast meeting where the speaker/guest was David E. Cole, Chairman Center for Automotive Research (CAR and Professor at the University of Michigan). You have all likely heard CAR quoted or referred to in the auto industry news lately.
Mr. Cole, who is an engineer by training, told many stories of the difficulty of working with the folks that the Obama administration has sent to save the auto industry. There have been many meetings where a 30+ year experienced automotive expert has to listen to a newcomer to the industry, someone with zero manufacturing experience, zero auto industry experience, zero finance experience and zero engineering experience, tell them how to run their business.
Mr. Cole's favorite story is as follows:
There was a team of Obama people speaking to Mr. Cole (engineer, automotive experience of 40+ years, and Chairman of CAR). They were explaining to Mr. Cole that the auto companies needed to make a car that was electric and liquid natural gas (LNG) with enough combined fuel to go 500 miles so we wouldn't "need" so many gas stations (a whole other topic). They were quoting BTUs of LNG and battery life that they had looked up on some website.
Mr. Cole explained that to do this you would need a TRUNK FULL of batteries and a LNG tank as big as the car to make that happen, and that there were problems related to the laws of physics that prevented them from...
The Obama person interrupted and said (and I am quoting here): "These laws of physics? Whose rules are those? We need to change that." (Some of the others wrote down the law name so they could look it up.) "We have the Congress and administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem. That's why we are here, to fix these sorts of issues."
..... And these are the same people who are going to fix healthcare?!
Thanks for Posting
Posted by bboylan on 21st of Nov 2009 at 11:40 am
I copied this and send it out to all of my friends.....Can you believe it?
No and neither should you....
Posted by captmet on 21st of Nov 2009 at 06:37 pm
No and neither should you....
believe it?
Posted by Michael on 21st of Nov 2009 at 08:26 pm
yes -- I'm no fan of this administration's economic team but it is good to remember that something is not true just because you read it on the internet, from what claims to be an authoritative source. If its important enough to send around to all your family and friends I'd do a little due diligence first and see if its real.
The story is false. Dr.
Posted by deberah on 21st of Nov 2009 at 08:52 pm
The story is false. Dr. Cole when asked directly said that he has never met with the Obama administration. The conversation actually was with several congressmen, years ago and involved the laws of thermodynamics.
Thank you... Back to trading
Posted by captmet on 22nd of Nov 2009 at 12:30 pm
Thank you... Back to trading
I guess I shouldn't be
Posted by tahoe on 21st of Nov 2009 at 11:14 am
I guess I shouldn't be astonished, but I am. I have deep seeded feelings that this is not going to end well. For almost everyone. As always anything can happen. And in this case, I expect it will be, also as always, something no one expected to be the trigger. Luv this site and all the info flo. Many thanks to everyone for their excellent efforts (Matt and Steve and the rest of the contributing community).