Things I've Noticed:

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The staff here at "Things I've Noticed" want to officially wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving. I can't believe its already late November and we have been subjected to Christmas music since right after Halloween. I boycott those radio stations.

Anyway, my brother and I played in our annual Turkey Bowl football game on our team which represents our part of our old neighborhood. The good thing is that we won on a last second miracle play and I had a few good defensive plays covering a faster taller guy, but later I collided with him and we went knee-to-knee so I have a massive bruise on the side of the knee and slight hyperextension. (That's my diagnosis so I'll take Motrin and put ice on it and save $75 to hear the same advice from a doctor). I can walk, but it hurts. I'll be going on the injured reserve list for a few weeks now which sucks.

But, I have lots to be thankful for including family, friends, their health, a job, food, a roof over my head, and a Democratic win for the presidential election. It's just too bad that it had to be marred by the bombings and terrorism in Mumbai. I was there just last December. The economic collapse and possible Detroit 3 bankruptcy also puts a damper on things.

I haven't seen any wild turkeys in our neighborhood this year like I did last year, but I am making this my 18th consecutive Pro-Turkey Day by not eating a turkey. The turkeys I know also highly recommend this practice.

+ Atul

November 27, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)

The U.S. Government Must Provide Loans to Assure The Survival of GM, Ford, and Chrysler

We’ve heard a lot of news from the press lately about the dire situation the American automobile industry is in. In part due to the “financial hurricane” that the credit crisis has created, the Detroit 3, (D3), including GM, Ford, and Chrysler are on the brink of going bankrupt or closing up completely. As a former GM employee who loves cars, and cares for Detroit, my friends who work in the auto industry and our whole country, I believe that the government must provide loans to the Detroit 3. Blame can be laid on many things but a negative spin about the Detroit 3 has gotten out of control to the point that people have a grudge beyond reason, one that could lead to our government making a horrible decision. I don’t mean to dismiss mistakes of management and the possibly unreasonable demands of the unions up to this point, but the issue is not who we should punish but what we should do now to prevent a catastrophe.

I’ve written on countless numbers of website comment sections and based on what I’ve written, I want to address all the claims others have made as to why they think the Detroit 3 shouldn’t get support in the form of a loan, (not a bail-out). Please don’t quote me on the exact numbers as these are estimates, but read this with the understanding that I do know a lot about the auto industry from experience and interest. Feel free to research some of my general figures.

Here are claims and suggestions listed, with bullets beneath them addressing why the suggestions aren’t feasible, the claims are overstatements or just aren’t true.

The Detroit 3 don’t make cars that people want to buy:
- Ford, Chrysler and GM sell nearly half the vehicles purchased in our country. 50% of the customers are not nobody, and many of these customers are loyal repeat ones.
- The Detroit 3 had fewer competitors in the 70's than they do now, so some market share attrition is bound to occur by virtue of there being more choice.
- GM sells the most mid-sized cars of any manufacturer, but they are spread out amongst many models with different styles but the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry get all the credit for their manufacturers

The D3 only make gas guzzlers and SUV’s:
- They did profit from the SUV craze but so did/do all the other competitors. Consumers tended to equate value with size and the D3 couldn’t get its typical consumer to buy small cars at prices that would be profitable.
- Admittedly, they should have started making hybrids earlier but that’s a small slice of the market. - For the segments that sell the most, American car company vehicles are amongst the most fuel efficient in their segments such as the Chevy Malibu, Saturn AURA and Ford Focus...
http://www.freep.com/article/20081117/COL14/811170379

The quality of vehicles from the Detroit 3 is not nearly as good as that of the Asian and Europeans:
- The quality gap has narrowed significantly and in some cases, D3 products have better quality than Toyota and Honda, (Chevy Malibu and Ford Fusion are prime examples in JD Powers studies.) http://www.freep.com/article/20081117/COL14/811170379
- Toyota recalled more vehicles last year than GM did http://forums.motortrend.com/70/6495664/the-general-forum/recall-numbers-for-2007-honda-toyota-numbers-highe/index.html

If the Detroit 3 go under, the import competitors will just sell more cars and provide just as many jobs:
- The Detroit 3 employ far more people in our country than foreign-based companies. It’s not just at plants but at headquarters white collar professional, engineering and technical jobs.
- If any one of the D3 go under, then many suppliers will go bankrupt leading to more job losses and parts will stop flowing to the Toyota, BMW, Honda plants here. That would lead to (at least temporary) layoffs at the transplant company plants.
- No other company is going to take up slack in our industrial base by starting a large, new auto manufacturing company as the major investment, expertise, low profitability, and economy would be inhibitors. Small companies like Tesla and Fisker will take tens of years to become mass market manufacturers, (assuming they succeed).

Continue reading "The U.S. Government Must Provide Loans to Assure The Survival of GM, Ford, and Chrysler" »

November 25, 2008 in Business, Cars and Trucks, Current Affairs, Politics, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (9)

Quick Ten List #1 - I'm a PC and... Responses

I was back at my house in the Detroit area and my friend/tenant and I came up with some great Microsoft "I'm a PC and..." responses. I haven't really felt like videotaping myself so I thought I'd write them on my blog instead. Here are the ones that I feel are TIN-worthy...

I'm a PC ...

... and I'm all about the music... man
... but I don't freeze up
... and I have high cholesterol
... and I program your software
... and I hate washing dishes
... and I like dropping my laptop
... and I like big butts and I cannot lie
... and I'm not a plumber... and my name's not Joe
... and I like to do the moonwalk
... and Bill Gates is my hero

+ Atul

November 10, 2008 in Current Affairs, Entertainment, Humor | Permalink | Comments (2)

Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Even Consider Voting for McCain and Palin Instead of Obama and Biden

1. Wasn’t Iraq supposed to have weapons of mass destruction? When did America start caring about Iraqi freedom?
2. Cheney’s Haliburton has made and still makes how much money off of the war in Iraq?
3. Do people making over $250K per year really need bigger tax cuts than the rest of us? Isn’t that “spreading the wealth” upward?
4. Remember when the Republicans wanted to privatize Social Security? How much has the stock market, (on which it would have depended), dropped?
5. Should the richest nation on earth let any of our people suffer without health care? Should people have to go bankrupt to pay for it?
6. Given the recent financial crisis, should people have more freedom or should corporations?
7. If McCain becomes president, do people who have spare cash to buy stocks outside of their retirement plans deserve to pay less tax on this income than many of us pay for sales tax?
8. Do you really want a vice president who apparently doesn’t read the news?
9. Do you really want a president who chose such a vice presidential candidate?
10. Should we be involved in an endless war?
11. Will the terror threat ever go below orange if we keep using the military to kill and lead to the formation of more terrorists?
12. Is it good that we’ve become more dependent on foreign oil than ever before because we haven’t cut consumption?
13. Will drilling for more oil solve our energy dependence on other countries?
14. Where was the movement to support environmental technologies over the last eight years before it became popular? What was our energy policy again?
15. Isn’t it supposed to be “Country First” and not “Me First”?
16. Should we reward a political party that has overseen our national debt to run up to $10,586,391,263,630? Is that good for future generations?
17. Is it a good thing that other countries own so much of our country by having bought our debt?
18. Do you want a president who would rather attack his opponent than talk about solutions?
19. Is allowing corporate consolidation a good thing when larger giants fail and cause huge impact to our economic systems?
20. How many real jobs have been lost over the last eight years?
21. Is it good that our manufacturing output is the lowest it has been in the last 23 years?
22. Have we really left “no child behind” with our education system?
23. Has trade been fair for US industry when they try to sell goods and services to other countries?
24. When’s the last time you went shopping for stuff and didn’t buy something that was made in China?
25. When’s the last time you bought something made in America?
26. Can you think of anything that’s going right with our country over the last eight years of a Bush and the Republicans in control for most of it?
27. Don’t you agree that we can do a lot better?