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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (440356)	12/14/2008 3:34:18 PM
From: tejek	1 Recommendation Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1576600

Really good article.......the Obama era is prompting people to identify and think through problems, and then come up with solutions. There's a new energy emerging that I see as very positive.......springing from the well of.....yes, HOPE that's developing in this country. Over the years, Detroit bosses kept repeating: “We have to make the cars people want.” That’s why they’re in trouble. Their job is to make the cars people don’t know they want but will buy like crazy when they see them. I would have been happy with my Sony Walkman had Apple not invented the iPod. Now I can’t live without my iPod. I didn’t know I wanted it, but Apple did. Same with my Toyota hybrid. The auto consultant John Casesa once noted that Detroit’s management has gone from visionaries to operators to caretakers. I would say that they have now gone from caretakers to undertakers. If they are ready to bring in some visionaries and totally restructure — inside or outside of bankruptcy — so they can make money selling cars that people will want to buy, then I say help them. I’d hate to see the Detroit auto industry go under. But if all we are doing is prolonging auto undertakers, then we have to let nature take its course. Damn. This is exactly what I have been saying. Mgmt of auto companies has failed to shape the American market for cars. Instead they have let consumers dictate the market. I say you need to do with cars what we have done with cigarettes. If Americans want a gas guzzling SUV, then put a heavy tax on those cars......and use that tax money to promote green technology or develop more mass tranist. Make them pay for their extravagance......just as people pay for the privilege of smoking. Have you noticed how cigarette smoking has steadily declined over the last 10 years as the cost of cigarettes [due to taxes] has gone up to $5 per pack? After Detroit, Mr. Obama will be asked to bail out Afghanistan. Watch out. The tide has turned against us there because too many Afghans don’t want to buy our politics, or, more precisely, the politics of our ally, the corrupt government of President Hamid Karzai. That is “the thing itself.” I knew Harzai was pretty ineffectual........I didn't know his gov't was corrupt to boot. How the hell do we get into these messes?! Merde! Regarding the credit thing, I don't know what to say. I am not sure I understand what the problem is and why we are in trouble over it. I understand subprime but not this garbage.