If people don’t buy cars, there is no amount of bailout that will save the millions of US jobs in and related to car manufacturing. If they’re not making cars, the manufacturers won’t recall workers or order from their suppliers. It’s as simple as that.

But there’s a pretty simple solution as well. The US government should order a complete replacement for its vehicle fleet to be delivered over the next four years. The new vehicles must be either plugin electric hybrid, pure electric, or possibly natural gas. Obviously retooling both at the manufacturers and suppliers is required to deliver this order so the government should be willing to prepay a significant part of it as it does for new weapons systems. That gets money into the system fast and creates/saves jobs almost immediately. It lets the suppliers retool as well as the final assemblers.

Ideally all auto companies ought to be able to bid. Maybe we only offer prepayment when there is a certain percentage American content although I hate be even that protectionist. Certainly the companies with Japanese names that build cars using American labor in the US ought to be on an equal footing with Detroit. American jobs are American jobs whether unionized or not.

Some infrastructure money needs to go into recharging stations. Good project to be doing as well. Also the electric grid needs work.

The objective is not to assure that no auto company goes bankrupt; the objective IS to keep Americans working on making America a better place. The manufacturers and their suppliers that win the bids to supply the US government with a green, fuel-efficient fleet, will then be well-positioned and retooled so that they can sell these products to the rest of us and the rest of the world once we start buying cars again.

If we simply shovel money into the weakest companies like Chrysler and GM, we’ll have to also bail out relatively strong Ford to keep it from being disadvantaged. If we subsidize our car industry, the rest of the world will respond with competitive subsidies. The net effect will be something less than zero, especially if no one is buying cars. But, if the rest of the governments emulate us and order new green fleets for themselves, the world’ll be a better place.

———————–

And here’s a neat “companion” article from the New York Times:

How to Fix a Flat
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: November 11, 2008

Last September, I was in a hotel room watching CNBC early one morning. They were interviewing Bob Nardelli, the C.E.O. of Chrysler, and he was explaining why the auto industry, at that time, needed $25 billion in loan guarantees. It wasn’t a bailout, he said. It was a way to enable the car companies to retool for innovation. I could not help but shout back at the TV screen: “We have to subsidize Detroit so that it will innovate? What business were you people in other than innovation?” If we give you another $25 billion, will you also do accounting?

How could these companies be so bad for so long? Clearly the combination of a very un-innovative business culture, visionless management and overly generous labor contracts explains a lot of it. It led to a situation whereby General Motors could make money only by selling big, gas-guzzling S.U.V.’s and trucks. Therefore, instead of focusing on making money by innovating around fuel efficiency, productivity and design, G.M. threw way too much energy into lobbying and maneuvering to protect its gas guzzlers.

This included striking special deals with Congress that allowed the Detroit automakers to count the mileage of gas guzzlers as being less than they really were — provided they made some cars flex-fuel capable for ethanol. It included special offers of $1.99-a-gallon gasoline for a year to any customer who purchased a gas guzzler. And it included endless lobbying to block Congress from raising the miles-per-gallon requirements. The result was an industry that became brain dead.

Nothing typified this more than statements like those of Bob Lutz, G.M.’s vice chairman. He has been quoted as saying that hybrids like the Toyota Prius “make no economic sense.” And, in February, D Magazine of Dallas quoted him as saying that global warming “is a total crock of [expletive].”

These are the guys taxpayers are being asked to bail out.

And please, spare me the alligator tears about G.M.’s health care costs. Sure, they are outrageous. “But then why did G.M. refuse to lift a finger to support a national health care program when Hillary Clinton was pushing for it?” asks Dan Becker, a top environmental lobbyist.

Not every automaker is at death’s door. Look at this article that ran two weeks ago on autochannel.com: “ALLISTON, Ontario, Canada — Honda of Canada Mfg. officially opened its newest investment in Canada — a state-of-the art $154 million engine plant. The new facility will produce 200,000 fuel-efficient four-cylinder engines annually for Civic production in response to growing North American demand for vehicles that provide excellent fuel economy.”

The blame for this travesty not only belongs to the auto executives, but must be shared equally with the entire Michigan delegation in the House and Senate, virtually all of whom, year after year, voted however the Detroit automakers and unions instructed them to vote. That shielded General Motors, Ford and Chrysler from environmental concerns, mileage concerns and the full impact of global competition that could have forced Detroit to adapt long ago.

Indeed, if and when they do have to bury Detroit, I hope that all the current and past representatives and senators from Michigan have to serve as pallbearers. And no one has earned the “honor” of chief pallbearer more than the Michigan Representative John Dingell, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who is more responsible for protecting Detroit to death than any single legislator.

O.K., now that I have all that off my chest, what do we do? I am as terrified as anyone of the domino effect on industry and workers if G.M. were to collapse. But if we are going to use taxpayer money to rescue Detroit, then it should be done along the lines proposed in The Wall Street Journal on Monday by Paul Ingrassia, a former Detroit bureau chief for that paper.

“In return for any direct government aid,” he wrote, “the board and the management [of G.M.] should go. Shareholders should lose their paltry remaining equity. And a government-appointed receiver — someone hard-nosed and nonpolitical — should have broad power to revamp G.M. with a viable business plan and return it to a private operation as soon as possible. That will mean tearing up existing contracts with unions, dealers and suppliers, closing some operations and selling others and downsizing the company … Giving G.M. a blank check — which the company and the United Auto Workers union badly want, and which Washington will be tempted to grant — would be an enormous mistake.”

I would add other conditions: Any car company that gets taxpayer money must demonstrate a plan for transforming every vehicle in its fleet to a hybrid-electric engine with flex-fuel capability, so its entire fleet can also run on next generation cellulosic ethanol.

Lastly, somebody ought to call Steve Jobs, who doesn’t need to be bribed to do innovation, and ask him if he’d like to do national service and run a car company for a year. I’d bet it wouldn’t take him much longer than that to come up with the G.M. iCar.

I’ve always wanted my own Muppet… and now I can!!!

FAO Schwarz allows you to design and build your own Muppet on their website. If anyone is having a hard time deciding what to get me, this might be your solution. ]]> http://www.chrisandleah.com/2008/11/11/muppet-whatnot-workshop/feed/ http://www.chrisandleah.com/2008/11/09/zack-miri-make-a-porno/ http://www.chrisandleah.com/2008/11/09/zack-miri-make-a-porno/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:22:54 +0000 chris http://www.chrisandleah.com/?p=451 Last night Leah and I along with Mike and Nancy saw Zack & Miri Make A Porno at The Beach Theatre. The theatre is much different than our “home” theatre, aka The Queensway Cineplex. The Beach is small, quant, and quiet; the polar opposite of The Queensway. The only downer is that you have to pay for parking.

The movie is filled with laugh out loud moments, and a sweet sort of love story. Full frontal male and female nudity are responsible for the 18A rating because the “porn” scenes are fairly softcore - no, you don’t get to see Seth Rogan or Elizabeth Banks nekkid.

It seems to me that the great escape a movie once afforded me is gone. Although I can’t see any of my friends actually making a porn for profit, this movie, much like Nick And Norah, seemed to just be a camera crew filming regular people doing mostly regular stuff. And if that’s all a movie is going to be, Zack & Miri is not the standard to aim for.

Is that how you’d spell that sound that people make when they neither like or dislike something? If so, that’s what I thought of the movie. Michael Cera plays the same character he’s played in every movie I’ve seen him in. The “cameos” by John Cho (Harold of Harold and Kumar) and Andy Samberg (SNL, are unnecessary and give the movie a bit of a cheesy feel. And unlike the much cooler movie-that-takes-place-in-a-single-evening “Dazed and Confused”, this movie never went anywhere. And sadly it didn’t provide any escape from real life…

Oh well. It almost made me want to go to New York City. At night.

On our first night in Boston we checked out the Matt Nathanson concert at the Berklee Performance Center. We scored front row center seats in the balcony, giving us an incredible view of the stage, and spectacular sound. I borrowed Steve’s recording gear and taped the show - save the linked FLAC files from setlist below.

Here’s what was performed:
02: Gone
03: Car Crash
04: Sad Songs
05: Still
06: Princess (Jessie’s Girl interlude)
07: Pretty The World (In Between Days intro)
08: Curve Of The Earth
09: Laid
10: Falling Apart (In A Big Country intro)
11: Sing Me Sweet
12: Suspended
13: Loud (duet with Jessie Baylin)
14: Somewhere To Hide
15: To The Beat of Our Noisy Hearts
16: Take On Me - A Ha cover
17: Wedding Dress
18: Angel
19: I Saw
20: Detroit Waves (Kids In America interlude)
21: Come On Get Higher
22: Answering Machine

The next day we started with breakfast at Trident Booksellers on Newbury Street. It’s a book store and café all-in-one, and Leah was in heaven! After breakfast we boarded and Old Town Trolley for a tour of the city. This is a hop-on, hop-off tour, and we did just that - getting off in Beacon Hill where we wandered the streets, climbed the hill, and stopped by the exterior of Cheers. We got back on the trolley and despite the fact that we had the greatest tour guide ever in Nate, we hopped off near Faneuil Hall Marketplace to grab some lunch.

Lunch was some great pizza from Regina Pizzeria which we enjoyed in the sun outside of the main market hall. Although the calender tells me that it is October, it felt like July it was so hot.

We reboarded the trolley and made our way north a bit more before hopping off to check out some of the Freedom Trail, The Paul Revere House, and The Old North Church.

By this point our feet were getting tired so we hopped back on the trolley and returned to our hotel for a rest before heading out for dinner.

Our extremely helpful concierge John made reservations for us at Cantina Italiana where we enjoyed homemade pasta, great wine, and wonderful deserts. The North End of Boston has the market cornered on Italian restaurants as they line both sides of Hanover Street. And every one of them was packed, most with patrons lined up onto the street waiting to get a seat. If it weren’t for our reservations we would have been in for a wait of more than an hour!! And lots of people were willing to wait.

After dinner Leah and I walked up Hanover, explored the touching Holocaust Memorial and then cut through Beacon Hill before catching a cab back to our hotel.

On Sunday we returned to Trident for breakfast before walking out to Fenway park for a tour. We got the last two tickets for the 11am tour - there were 130 people on the tour, and the tours run every hour.

Much like Nate, our tour guide was awesome, full of quick facts and one-liners that burned any Yankee fan within earshot. It’s hard not to get caught up in the emotion of being a Red Sox fan, as it flows from the pores of every Bostonian.

After the tour we hopped on The T and headed across the Charles River to explore Harvard. When we emerged at Harvard Square we were greeted with a sea of people, live bands and a parade! The campus, at least the part we explored, is gated and free of cars. It’s very nice, but not as “impressive” as I thought it would be. Lots of columns and big buildings, but something was missing.

Before getting back on The T, we stopped at JP Licks for some “Maple Walnut Buttah” ice cream. Bostonians seem more than willing to poke fun at their accent - we also saw “The Connah Store” in our travels.

By this point we had to make our way back to the hotel to collect our bags. But along with way we stopped at The Upper Crust to try another of Boston’s favourite pizzas. I preferred this one to Regina, but Leah liked Regina more.

A final stroll along Boylston and through the Prudential Centre before we gathered our bags and boarded The T for the return journey to Logan. It’s so nice to be able to take the subway to the airport. Such a novel concept that the decision makers in Toronto sadly don’t understand.

Our weekend in Boston was a great getaway - it is an amazing city.

Items that we now take for granted like the iPod didn’t even exist!

I’ll be participating in a 2-day major cycling event called The Ride to Conquer Cancer benefiting The Princess Margaret, one of the top 5 cancer research hospitals in the world.

I’ll be cycling over 200 kilometres that weekend, from Toronto to Niagara Falls, with thousands of other Riders. All the proceeds will go to The Princess Margaret to support cancer research, treatment, and services. The Princess Margaret is Canada’s leading comprehensive institution devoted to cancer research and care, and the work they’re doing is leading-edge.

I’ve agreed to raise at least $2,500, but I’ve set my personal goal to $5,000. So here’s where you come in, because I need your help to do that. Could you please consider making a donation? Use the link at the bottom of this post to go visit my webpage, and please take the time to support me. Please keep in mind the commitment I’m making to end this heartbreaking disease and the personal efforts I’ll have to make to accomplish this.

When I say “heartbreaking,” here’s what I mean: In 1987, when I was 10, my father was diagnosed with Cancer. He died three months later. Earlier this year my father-in-law lost his battle with Cancer. That’s why I’m riding. To do something BIG about cancer. I hope that you’ll share this incredible adventure with me by supporting me in my fundraising efforts.

Thank you in advance for your generosity!

My page: http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/chrisandleah

Sincerely,

Chris

But I digress, the software Genius is awesome. Choose a song from your library and click the button. A 25 song playlist is automagically generated consisting of songs that go well together. And if you click on any song in the playlist the Genius sidebar displays related songs with a button to Buy the song immediately from the iTunes store.

So is the genius feature that the software works so well and creates great playlists, or is it that Apple have made it so incredibly easy for you to spend money on new music?