Category Archives: Random Access

Random Access, the op-ed.

Bashing – II

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Politics bashing bidness, otherwise known as the famed and apparently widely sought-after Rectal-Cranial Inversion.

Have you noticed the direct correlation between Nancy Pelosi’s statements and the stock market tumbles? Consider this. Every 400 point drop in the Dow has come immediately after Ms. Pelosi mounted her podium.

Is it something in the water? Is it genetic? What is the matter with politicians in general, with Democrats in particular, and with Ms. Pelosi specifically? Are they just plain stupid or is it their God-given mission to ruin America?

We’ve been riding a couple of horses in this series: bad science and bad management.

Global Warming is a good example of Not-So-Real science. The popular press and the Congress would have us believe that all scientists agree on the causes and outcomes of Global Warming. And yet. And yet the National Climatic Data Center reports that global temperatures in 2006 were the third coldest on record.

Meanwhile, Weather Channel founder John Coleman wrote, “There is no significant man made global warming. There has not been any in the past, there is none now and there is no reason to fear any in the future. The climate of Earth is changing. It has always changed. But mankind’s activities have not overwhelmed or significantly modified the natural forces.” Mr. Coleman may be a whackjob but he is a whackjob with better scientific credentials than any national elected official.

That must be why Ms. Pelosi (with the help of Mr. Gore) will once again proclaim that Congress has more scientific knowledge than the actual scientists. The Democratic Global Climate Control machine just keeps on trucking. So to speak.

And then there is business.

Here’s a typical recent comment: “Automakers don’t need a bailout. Look at the airlines.”

And another: “General Motors doesn’t make cars that people want to buy.”

Hello?

It may be true that American automakers can survive without an infusion of loan funds but that airline analogy is just plain wrong. The airlines are a service business. Automakers make actual products.

Which company sells more cars in the world, General Motors or, say, Citroen? How about General Motors or, say, Volkswagen? Oooh, I know. How about General Motors versus, say, Toyota? Yeah, yeah, there is a real battle between the General and Toyota over which is the largest automaker in the world but the fact remains that millions literally millions of people have bought, are buying, and will buy brand new General Motors vehicles this year. That doesn’t add up to “not making cars that people want” even inside the Beltway.

Econ 101: You can fix labor problems by cutting wages, particularly in a service business. You cannot make fixed assets cost less by cutting income.

Ms. Pelosi is playing pur sang politics with a single objective. I believe Ms. Pelosi understands that she cannot ever look good. Therefore she must make everyone else look bad. If the Global Warming political argument destroys American industry and if she can force the automakers into bankruptcy, she believes she can rescue the teeny-tiny-and-oh-so-grateful remainder.

Assuming that any American employers last long enough to be “saved.”

Is it something in the water? Something in the air? Is it genetic? Maybe we need a government-funded study.

Or not.

All One

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We who write editorials and particularly we who rant on blogs know in our hearts that we stand alone in the wilderness, baying at the moon. On the other hand one of my correspondents noted, “Six days and you have not opined via blog. You are a disgrace to the whole of blogdom.”

Alrighty, then. It is indeed Monday. Here it is.

Radio guy Josh Mothner ranted about one of my pet peeves this morning: our gummint in its infinite wisdom has decided to solve the credit crisis by … wait for it … borrowing money.

Sheesh.

I am not an economist. I do not even play one on television. It seems obvious to me, though, that our economists are a wee bit warped. The world economy is tanking because the American economy tanked. The American economy tanked because we lost faith in it. We lost faith in it because a bunch of bankers decided to rip us off. That bunch of bankers decided they could rip us off because we live on tomorrow. We live on tomorrow because we want that bright and shiny object right now. We want that bright and shiny object now because we’ve learned we don’t have to pay for it. We got into this mess by our own avarice.

When you borrow money against your house to pay off your credit card, sooner or later you have to sell your house.

$700 billion and climbing.

Not even Bill Gates and Warren Buffett together has that in their combined piggy bank. And we can’t just print it.

Oh. Wait. I know! We’ll issue more Treasury notes. We’ll borrow it!

Let’s see. The banks don’t have enough money to lend to their customers so their customers can buy more stuff from companies that depend on the banks to borrow money from.

So tell me again exactly where the $700 billion and climbing will come from?

Oh. Wait. I know! We’ll borrow it!

It is interesting that, in the middle of the borrowing fever, the number one radio advertiser on that morning radio show is … Rolex. Bright and shiny object anyone? Unfortunately nobody listens to Mr. Mothner, either.

I wish, Dick wrote plaintively, that someone other than the Man in the Moon took these brilliant analyses to heart. There is a chance for a curmudgeon like me, though. I found out today that I’m going to be Andy Rooney when I grow up. See, I’m already growing his eyebrows.

Bashing – I

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I followed a Subaru out the causeway the other day. It got me to thinking.

Coupla things have gone wrong for our kids in the past 40-or-so years. Unfortunately, it’s my fault. And Anne’s. And Bob’s. And Sal’s. And Dangerous Bill’s. And Linda’s. And Gene’s.

Ooh, there ya go. Let’s blame it all on Geno even if he is too old for the blame.

Our generation started out anti-war and ended up anti-everything. Want to put up a windmill to save us from imported oil? Somebody will protest. Want to shoot a terrorist? Somebody will protest. Want to manufacture widgets in Vermont, make some money and put folks to work? Somebody will protest. Want to cut a mangrove? Somebody will protest. NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) wasn’t coined by George Orwell. It came from the baby boomers.

That negativity has spread so it overshadows everything American.

We see one side of it in Jeremiah Wright who said blacks should sing “God damn America.”

We see the other side in that Subaru driver. See, there is a large and growing segment of America bashers who believe anything accomplished here is necessarily flawed and anything built here is necessarily shoddy.

Malcolm Bricklin made a deal with Subaru in the 60s to form Subaru of America and to introduce their cars to the United States.

I almost bought a Subaru Brat in 1978 or ’79. This scaled-down clone of the El Camino and the Ranchero from Chevy and Ford came with 4WD, an optional turbo charger, and standard rust. It was not a good car for Vermont and it cemented my expectations about Subaru quality for a couple of decades, despite the Legacy which was a decent, mainstream car and despite the fact that my daughter and son-in-law are on their third “Subi.”

I’ve looked pretty carefully at this now “National car of Vermont.” Subaru has built owner loyalty among yuppies by building what they see as an economical alternative to the Chevy, Ford, Jeep, and Volvo lines. It’s a worthwhile car.

Subi buyers, with their brethren Honda, Saab, Toyota, and Volvo buyers, won’t consider an American car. America-bashers believe German cars offer superior luxury and performance. America-bashers believe Japanese cars offer more dependability and fuel economy. America-bashers believe Scandinavian cars offer higher safety and quality. (It’s worth noting the Subaru plant in Lafayette, Indiana, the original Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio, the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, and the Toyota plants in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, and Virginia. Saab is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors. Volvo is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford.)

Domestic manufacturers have cars that lead in all these areas. In the J.D. Powers June survey, Mercury passed Honda and the Chevy Malibu was one of the best new vehicles of the year. The Detroit News reports that the survey results are “a pretty good predictor” of long-term vehicle quality and consumer satisfaction. Despite that, the domestic manufacturers may never overcome the usually uneducated bias among America-bashers, particularly those in the general press.

I have examined and driven the world class cars from Cadillac, Chevy, and Ford. The big Caddy STS V-8 can out-luxe and outhandle the Mercedes C300 and it gets 25 mpg on the highway. (Don’t believe me? The 2008 CTS outscored both the Mercedes and the BMW 328i in Consumer Reports’ sport sedan review.) The Corvette can stomp pretty much any sports car on pretty much any road. And it gets better mileage than the Caddy whilst idling down the Interstate. And then there is Malibu. 30 mpg. Comfortable. Good performance. Good fit and finish. Anne drives an Accord. The Malibu is simply better. (Consumer Reports again: “This is a heavy hitter that competes head-on with Camry, Accord, and Altima … Really no reason for GM to build the G6, Aura, Impala, or LaCrosse anymore – just sell these instead.”)

I learned to appreciate the Subaru so it is possible to change people’s minds. Maybe.

I guess others think their “foreign” cars are better than “American” cars. I guess the America-bashers are wrong. Again.

For the record, I have indeed put my money where my mouth is. I own GM stock. I drive a Camaro convertible (29.6 mpg on I95 with the top down in October) and a Silverado.

Is It Art?

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I wonder if a blog is an art site? More to the point, I wonder if my own blog is one?

A blog (shortened from “Web Log“) is a web site for commentary written by anyone; you the reader can leave comments or start a discussion on this blog and on any of the more than 112 million other sites worldwide.

I didn’t want a blog; blogs are too much work. I had told everyone I know that I was not going to commit to writing regular entries for one. That said, regular readers know I wrote an op-ed column for a number of years. This blog, with a new piece due online ever Monday, has forced me to do that again.

Is it art or is it crap with a price tag?

Oh. Wait. This is free.

Leo Tolstoy, a writer whose expansive, never-ending words were art, wrote in an essay published in 1896, “In order correctly to define art, it is necessary, first of all, to cease to consider it as a means to pleasure and to consider it as one of the conditions of human life. Viewing it in this way we cannot fail to observe that art is one of the means of intercourse between man and man…

“Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them.”

I write on an eclectic range of topics. You’ll find big thoughts here on everything from banking and books, to charity and death, to teaching and Zen, four or five hundred words at a time.

Potter Stewart wrote about an entirely different art, “I know it when I see it.”

Perhaps these essays are indeed art.

YMMV.