Current Events

I feel that I should post some comments just so that my views can judged in the future.....

- The Bailout; it seems that no one just took the time to consider what would happen if the government did nothing.... it took three attempts at the bailout bill, it grew from 3 pages to over 450 pages, and during that passage of time, the public sector began handling the situation. And what did we get with this bill? An incredible amount of debt and more pork! Has anyone considered who will need the next handout?! GM?

Addendum (10/6/08): President Bush explaining today's drop in the stock market - [paraphrasing:] we passed the bill, but we still need to figure out how to implement it...

Addendum (10/11/08): GM is now looking for a bailout or a buyout. Poor senior management!

- Automakers; every decade since the 1970s, we've faced a gas crisis. We've watched the price of oil steadily increase for decades! To date, none of the US automakers has stepped up to bring an gas-alternative to the marketplace. Why is it that Toyota can engineer the most prominent hybrid vehicle and the rest of the automakers have not stepped up? More and more SUVs continue to roll off the production lines. It just makes no sense! It cannot be said that we suffer from a a lack of engineering skills - we humans, have the capability to overcome any technical obstacle - it comes down to purely a lack of desire to address this. But, it's not just the US automakers who we should blame. With the success of the Prius, logic would lead us to expect that Nissan or Mazda would have developed their own hybrid also. Not so though. This train of thought now leads me back to bailouts. Mark these words.... GM needs to re-tool a plant to produce their new Volt electric vehicle. I suspect that soon there will be talk of an assistance package to GM to do so.

Addendum (10/7/08): Tesla motors seems to be on the right track; I hope they can translate their technical success into a vehicle for the common people.