jacamar

What Do Yahoo-to-Microsoft Defections Mean?

Bing seems to be that good....

Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo as Ford, GM, and Chrysler

Difference is that their is a significant mental resource needed to compete with the GOOG and MSFTs of the world. The auto was a manufacturing industry that and upstart like the Korean OEMs and even the Jananese OEMs a few decades ago could enter the market with advance manufacturing capabilities if they could reaise the capital. Also the only real problem with the Detroti OEMs are their legacy costs (union contracts and retirement cost). Without them they would not be in trouble. Goog and Softy do not have retirement plans. While employees are treated well today, both can adjust as needed without paying employees not to work. For instance, each could stop matching in 401k's and drop bonuses tomorrow if needed to generate cash.

All industries go through cycles and I don't disagree with your assertion that we don't know what things will look like in 10-50 years. I will say that while the big 3 are in trouble and the auto industry as a whole looks down. GM, etc. were loosing market share with the times were good.

I would qualify everything and say there is no replacement for good management. (aka Yahoo's management cost their shareholders $$$$$$$ and probably saved MSFT shareholders $$$$$$$) So we had two bad management teams. Yahoo just turned out worse.

By the way. Who is going to bail out the oil companies now that they are loosing about $4/bbl processing crude oil? Suggest that they buy gasoline and diesel fuel and recombine it to make crude oil and resell it at a $4 profit. New business model.

MSFT is underpriced.

Energy Firms Should Look to U.S. Shale - Barron's

I agree that oil shale should be the last resort, but only because of the economics of developing oil shale. Unlike Canadian or Venz. bitumen, oil shale has numerous technical challenges.

If we want energy independence in the next 25 years we need to first elect McCain. Second through fourth are equal - develop onshore and off shore resources including ANWR. Figuring out how to build 100-150 nuclear power plants. (Where is all of the lectricity for plug in hybrids and electric cars coming from). Develop coal gasification technology.

Lets eat corn and soybeans and be the bread basket for the world. Yes someday(~ 100 years) we will run out of hydrocarbon in the ground, but by then hopefully we will be self sufficient in nuclear power. Also we should conserve and develop technologies that better utilize energy. The US government (USCAR / PNGV) sponsored a program and gave $100's of millions to the US auto industry to develop a high mileage car. The US OEMs studied and talked about it, spent the money while Honda introduced the Insight and Toyota the Prius and Detroit delivered the mobil Subdivision and three versions fo the Hummer.

But we could solve all of our problems by electimg Obama who will bless the 5 barrels of biodiesel and 2 wind farms and we will have our fill with baskets of energy left over.

Google's Android: Beyond Phones, Farther-Reaching Aspirations?

Maybe Google should buythe OS from MSFT.

Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed?

If we would eliminate the tarrifs on imported ethanol, Brazil is the best choice for imported ethanol if you don't mind converting tropical forests to row sugar cane. As for PBR and I don't mean "Blue Ribbon. Have owned it for about 4 years. Great investment. Lots of offshore oil and ethanol investment to boot. Also don't have the negative climate conditions tha the Gulf of Mexico has, nor the politics of the Middle East or Venz.

Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed?

Energy master-  Your are nuts. Anyone the misrepresents the facts to make a case does no one any good. First the 7% is really about 5% when you take lower BTU content into account.  Second the energy used to till, plant, fertilize, harvest, transport, process, ship the ethanol to terminals, etc. ends up yielding about 10% energy benefit at best.  Therefore at best we may be seeing 0.5% benefit from ethanol. And where does a large part of the energy to do this come from, big oil... As for all of this great research towards cellulosic ethanol or butanol, don't hold you breath.  these "operations" are pilot scale plants that will not make a dent in ethanol demand. Oh don't forget that ethanol gets a 50+ tax subsidy per gallon paid for by OUR taxes.  Oh forgot to mention the the money TN is is contributing is OUR tax money, Oh forgot to mention we subsidize the farmers with OUR tax money.While the vehicular emissions form "gasohol" is higher, modern vehicles emit very little non CO2 emissions and therefore ethanol is not as bad as on makes it out to be from a regulated emissions point of view.As for repealling the EPACT 2005, it for all practical reasons is history.  The 2007 Energy legislation took care of that.  We will be at 10% ethanol in every drop of gasoline in 2014, i.e. ~15billion gallons per year.   After 2014 our cars designed t run on upt to 10% ethanol will be exposed to greater than 10% because congress "knows" that it will be OK.    I suggest we let market forces drive energy.  Gasoilne consumption is down between 2-3% this summer in the US due to the high price of fuel.  If fuel stays high, people will cut back more and prices will receed.  By the way,  what did you think of BIG Oil 7 years ago when they were not making hardly any money, gasoline in some parts of the country were less than $1/gal.   Remeber when you say big oil you are probably talking about yourself.  Do you own any mutual funds???  If so you are "BIG OIL".  Most non-national oil companies are owned by their shareholders.  SO look in a mirror...   

Impact of GM Destroying the EV1

Get a life. The EV1 was never designed for commercial production. The cost was out of sight. Even if mass produced it would have cost over double what a comparable gasoline powered car would cost. As for CO2 emissions, where does the electricity come from to charge the batteries. Much if it from coal. Also efficiency of electricity usage was a challenge. Nothing is free. The EV1 sounded good on paper, similar to hydrogen, solar wind, biofuels, but nothing is "free". All leave some sort of environmental foot print. Yes people are paid to count dead birds under wind farms..... We are an energy intensive country and will be as long as we want to be a world power. Some would like us to go back to the stone age, but I would prefer to develop coal gasifiaction, oil resources and promote conservation while developing a nuclear infrastructure. Drive a reasonable car that gets 30-35 MPG and rent a SUV or minivan for you trip to the beach. The ultimate answer in the next 50 to 100 years is nuclear. We need to start now. I will not be here, but my children and grandchildren will be.

Also quit harping on GM. They had/have to do something. With all of the legacy costs they have few options.

GM Slashes Benefits: One Bad Decision After Another

Ok GM is in the survival mode. What do you think pension benefits will look like if GM goes under??? These are tough decisions, but during tough times tough decisions need to be made. The big three are getting killed by legacy costs, too many platforms and vehicels hat people don't want to buy. While lots of maney was made form SUVs/Pickups, did the companies have a stategy for what would happen if gasoline went for $1 to $2 to $3 to $4 per gallon. I doubt it.

We have come to focus on today and tomorrow not next week and next year. Maybe this will bring a awakening in the US that we need to look 1-5-10-20-50 years down the road. I heard yesterday a candidate in Virgina opposed to offshore drilling because it would not yield any revenue to the state untill 2030. So let's wait another 10 years and then the revenue will be seen in 2040. I think we need to start thinking about our children and grandchildren and get our acts together. Hydrocarbon fuel is still king and will be for many years so lets get going developing our resources. Nuclear is next so let's start building plants, they should start coming on line in 10-20 years. All the other nickel and dime stuff we are doing with biofuels, wind, solar are neat, but will not make a dent in demand.

Bottom line is to conserve and to develop new high output energy sources. By they way, lets liquify some coal now that the EPA has agreed to sequestering CO2 emissions. South Africa has been doing this for years.

Sorry for the divergence, I just get tired of people complaining and not getting on with business. By the way what company is for practical purposes sold out of hybrids????

Corn Ethanol Can Never Replace Meaningful Quantities of Motor Fuel

At least someone is thinking. Now convience the Feds and Ag lobby and you might get somewhere. Oh, what you forgot in you calcualtions is the energy cost to produce all of the ethanol... Some estimates it is a break even proposition in terms of ethanol BTU. If so, then the ethanol net BTU value/benefit should be near zero. The bottom line is we need to conserve, build more nuclear, convert coal to liquids aka South Africa, and allow offshore and ANWAR oil field developments. And annex Canada...(Just joking. Canadains are very good friends and allies and they produce good hockey players)