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Old 02-08-2009, 04:15 PM   #9
Civicsman
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Freedonia!
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Quote:
What a bunch of dookey! Just what is "normal" about those hundreds of cars being parked on a TEST TRACK? What would be NORMAL is that the track would be clear and IN USE for testing.
...and dookey to you, too. I clearly said "some" of the images were expected. They could have been taken on any day over the last 10 years. Many of the photos are from the UK (where all Europe's car companies are apparently corrupt and incompetent, too)

Quote:
The only effective solution to whatever bad situations may in fact exist is for people is to simply do their jobs and get on with it, NOT to lamely repeat idle gossip in an attempt to justify their situations or blame someone else for their troubles.
I agree, but what part of my post do you think is "idle gossip"? So what was the intention of your "corrupt and incompetent" post. From where I sit, it was uninformed, at best.

Karl, the government mandate you talk about is something I would expect to hear from Lord Rush. It existed/exists, but it was/is a very small part of the problem. I won't argue about the timing. You're right that it took years of regulatory failures to get us to this point, but the unraveling occurred in a few weeks, and that short period from "doing OK" to "in the dumper" is what caught everyone out. The US car companies were not "doing OK", and when the bottom fell out, they had no cushion. Most of us (including the car companies) weren't playing in the default credit swaps market and assumed (incorrectly) that someone was watching our back. Clearly, we were wrong.

Glenn, California tried to force electric cars in 1990, but it didn't work. The technology didn't (and still does not) exist, not to mention that the infrastructure to generate and deliver all the additional electrical power does not exist. FYI, car companies DID see what was going on, but when do you "flip the switch" (though that is not exactly possible) on the factories and put hundreds of thousands out of work? On the first week of a downturn? (Do you know it's a complete free fall?) The second week? The fourth week?

The "Big Three" were essentially shut down completely from mid-December to mid/end of January, with the exception of a few plants making popular vehicles. Now, they're pretty well shut down, but operational costs continue, in the billions of dollars per month. Do you naysayers have ANY idea how complex it is to operate a business of this magnitude. It don't turn on a dime, jack.

BTW, I've never worked for a car company, and my paycheck doesn't come from anything directly related to the automotive industry. However, I have spent enough time working around the industry to have an understanding of how things function, and to have some respect for the work it creates in the USA, both directly and indirectly. The entire industry is on the edge. The failure of one or two critical suppliers could bring it to it's knees. Pray it doesn't fall on it's *ss, or 7.6% unemployment will start to look pretty good.

Last edited by Civicsman; 02-08-2009 at 04:18 PM.. Reason: modify terminology
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