Blog Category Results

Given the current situation in Detroit you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't have an opinion on what should be done to bailout the automakers or not. If you scan the letters to the editor at various newspapers you can always find some, let's say, interesting thoughts, like this one from KansasCity.com How about this for a plan to bail out the automakers? Our government will cut a check for $10,000 for each of 2.5 million adults to be selected at random...

Porsche has one of the highest profit margins in the automotive world at about 12%. Isn't it nice to hear talk about profit in an automotive story? But not only do they make money selling cars, they're also apparently pretty sharp when it comes to the financial markets...

The day after UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the union has made its sacrifices, done its reorganization, and there's not much left to give, there's a story that maybe the union is starting to see things a little more realistically. The UAW is negotiating the possible elimination of its controversial jobs bank and is considering other concessions to help Detroit's automakers win low-cost loans from Congress. What's that?..

I think the illustration says it all. Seems like the bailout of the auto industry might be coming whether we want it or not, with the only question remaining being which pile of money it's going to come from. With the Senate ready to start work on assistance to the industry, press secretary Dana Perino issued a statement saying the administration "does not want U.S...

Come on. Sit down and enjoy it. You know it's going to be comfortable...

BMW is going to lease 500 electric Minis in New York, New Jersey, and California beginning early next year. Will a Mini without engine noise still be cool? According the the Green Car Advisor more than 9,000 people must think so as they are interested in leasing one - at $850 per month...

Rising fuel costs and the credit crunch certainly have played their part in hurting GM, but they are hardly the root cause of all the trouble. Consider this passage from a Washington Post article: These problems began to surface about 15 years ago because regulators changed the accounting rules. In 1992, GM says, it took a $20 billion non-cash charge to recognize pension obligations...

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899 That may have been the conventional wisdom at the time, but our understanding of things can change in the light of new information...

Not exactly news that car sales are down, caused in part by the credit crunch. Some are calling for government intervention to ease credit to get people buying again. But isn't part of the problem that people who really couldn't afford to pay back loans were being given loans?..

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has always had a thought about how a football team progresses through a season. You either get better or get worse, but you never stay the same. The same could be said about the situation in Detroit these days...