So lemme get this straight - Obama and his financial wizards give Wall Street how many hundreds of billions, with few real strings attached, and then go after Detroit and G.M. over a few billion in loans? They must still believe that Wall Street is the economy, they're too spineless to stand up to the money lenders and High Lords of Finance, so they're going to act tough by interfering with an industry that actually produces things! Mr. DeLorenzo, putting aside his ever-present hyperbole, sums it up well in his March 29th entry. Does Wagoner deserve some blame? Sure. And nobody's going to lose sleep because a multi-millionaire is out of a job. But the double standard is certainly troubling. It's yet another depressing example of insiders cashing in, while the political sleight-of-hand directs the public outrage over all of these bailouts towards an appropriately hapless target. The truth is that if GM was one of the favored Wall Street brokerages or investment banks, Wagoner probably would be working for Obama at Treasury instead of getting fired by him.
Coupled with the administration's adherence to some of the previous administration's bad habits regarding secrecy, detention, and the surveillance state, and my disillusion is beginning to spread.
Update: This blog post might convey my meaning better than I did (although my post was first!); not that Wagoner didn't deserve to go (I really can't say, since I've never run a car company), but that this administration is guilty of gross inconsistency/hyprocrisy in its dealings with Detroit and Wall Street. [Elected officials inconsistent and hyprocritical? In other news, the Sun will rise in the East tomorrow.]
Update II:A few more thoughts (from various perspectives) from the Electronosphere about Obama, Wagoner, U.S. industrial policy, et al:
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Aptera Sighting in DC!
I almost missed it b/c I was looking the wrong way, but then noticed everyone else on 17th Street staring at the same thing...Aptera is in DC to chat with some politicians about (what else, these days?) loans, manufacturing loans to be specific.
I was just getting used to seeing Smart cars every once in a while, but this was much cooler to see in person; the first future-car technology that I've seen - live, in motion, on a city street - that actually looks like it belongs in the future.
B/c Mr. Grau requested, nay, demanded it, more info on Aptera:
Their web site. Not a lot of concrete stats or numbers yet, but they're supposedly forthcoming. They're also rumored to be delivering the first production model to a real-life customer by the end of this month! Sales to California residents only, though. They're also going t have two initial versions of their 2-seater, an all-electric and a hybrid. They've hinted at a regular ICE as well, possibly in two flavors (gasoline and vanilla, um, diesel).
Here's the test drive by Road & Track last month. They really liked it!
I was just getting used to seeing Smart cars every once in a while, but this was much cooler to see in person; the first future-car technology that I've seen - live, in motion, on a city street - that actually looks like it belongs in the future.
B/c Mr. Grau requested, nay, demanded it, more info on Aptera:
Their web site. Not a lot of concrete stats or numbers yet, but they're supposedly forthcoming. They're also rumored to be delivering the first production model to a real-life customer by the end of this month! Sales to California residents only, though. They're also going t have two initial versions of their 2-seater, an all-electric and a hybrid. They've hinted at a regular ICE as well, possibly in two flavors (gasoline and vanilla, um, diesel).
Here's the test drive by Road & Track last month. They really liked it!
Monday, March 09, 2009
Dodged a Bullet
I called in yesterday to the U.S. District Court's automated juror line, to find out if I would need to report for jury selection today. Fortunately, I was excused from jury duty, perhaps because of my responses on the juror questionnaire concerning the death penalty, and that there were no circumstances under which I vote to impose the it, given a conviction.
Well, I turned on the TV this morning before leaving for work, and every single local news channel featured a story on this trial! Every station's story also mentioned that the judge had decided to keep jurors' identities secret, out of concerns for their safety. So my being "soft on crime" may have lead to an improvement in my personal safety!
Here's another article about the trial that has more on the decision to grant anonymity to the jurors.
Well, I turned on the TV this morning before leaving for work, and every single local news channel featured a story on this trial! Every station's story also mentioned that the judge had decided to keep jurors' identities secret, out of concerns for their safety. So my being "soft on crime" may have lead to an improvement in my personal safety!
Here's another article about the trial that has more on the decision to grant anonymity to the jurors.
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