Rock Johny

GM Liquidates Two Employee Benefit Plans

Not one of the Big 3 ever stepped up to the plate and offered REAL economy cars. In the 70's you could find one but progress in MPG stalled as Big Oil obviously saw that as a threat to consumption rates. Yea, i see a conspiracy. Obviously, they quit thinking 'outside the box' and just followed consumer trends while ignoring the reality of the oil chart's trend to the benefit of short-term interests.

And the fact that it seems necessary for GM to merge with Fiat in order to acquire their 'small-car technology' says it all. American ingenuity fell asleep decades ago and is now sucking hindtit.

I thought it quite amazing when spending 3 weeks in Wales back in '01 that while such a small country and yet they drive such small cars, while we in a vast country like America drive heavy behemoths. How many degrees does it take to realize that disparity couldn't last? Who did these 'Big 3' promote into decision-making positions? Oh, of course; only those who proved themselves 'good ole boys' with a 'don't rock the boat' mentality.

Anyway, it's high-time for a shake-up in this bloated industry. Too many brands with their incumbent multi-level overpaid executives and managers that manage too little and squash innovation.

And nationalize health care, just get it over with! Companies have to be allowed to get that monkey off their back so they can focus on doing what they do and better compete with foreign entities.

Lithium-ion Batteries: 9 Years of Price Stagnation

Are we meant to have cheap energy? Tesla came up with a really cheap way to broadcast energy but JP Morgan shut him down after realizing it wasn't profitable. I happen to believe the conspiracy theory that any real leap in technology is immediately pounced on by the establish corporations that depend on the current pricing model for energy. Even some researchers bury advancements because there is more money in having a problem than not having a problem. They don't want to cut their own throat by cutting off the need for research dollars. Just like the banking sector, greed rules the day!

Not until we have Armageddon and all the greedy are swept away together will we be able to enjoy the real fruits of human technology.

Stunning Improvements at Sears.com

i recently picked up a 19volt Crafstman cordless drill set, one of which was a right-angle drill which are extremely needed at time but not so many other brands have them......any way, those 2 and 2 batteries and the charger and all for $119 .......and the replacement batteries are $35, not $80 as is common elsewhere. So yea, that's one small example of Sears quietly beating the pants of the competition. Just about all the other brands are made quite cheaply so i'm not worried about reliability. Don't buy Bosch cordless, i know that much!

Big Banks: Pulling Off the Ultimate Bait and Switch

Subterfuge Spin is the name of the game, man!! While USA is getting more involved in the Opium Wars Part IV, (Russian involvement there was Part III) having to spin that in a tenuous but politically correct (at least to the ears) way, you have other self-gratifying 'leaders' doing their own spin in whatever way suits the current need.

Fed Intervention, Market Response Confirm: We're on the Path to Hyperinflation

inflation or no, imo, we're witnessing the closing chapters of the Great Raping of America by multi-national players...even so much of the bail-out money is being diverted overseas under the guise of CDS.

Why do you think Bush's first bailout proposal wanted all that money with no oversight at all.
Cuomo said "CDS contracts were at the heart of AIG's meltdown. The question is whether the contracts are being wound down properly and efficiently or whether they have become a vehicle for funneling billions in taxpayer dollars to capitalize banks all over the world."
this comment says it all:
"funneling billions in taxpayer dollars to capitalize banks all over the world."

The end result of this won't be pretty whatever label you want to put on it.

Just like the markets have been massively shorted the last 10 years, the best way to cover would be to break the entire American financial system. I have a feeling that the top of the top players justify their deeds based on concerns of over-population and the perceived need to chop America off at the knees in order to quell it's self-indulgent polluting lifestyles and recompense for fomenting war all over the world and meddling in so many sovereign governments' affairs.

Does anyone ever get the sense that the old guard English bankers & royalty has a desire to punish the upstart America and reassert it's authority?

Even culturally, you have these Brits on TV judging and telling us 'ugly Americans' how pathetic we are, i.e.; Simon Cowell & Gordon Ramsay or how to act: Sharon Osbourne. Thank goodness Anne Robinson didn't last. Does anyone see a link?

Are there any American hosts on British TV telling them how to act? They'd be laughed off the air, no doubt.

Did i get off subject?

Who Will Win the Economic Battle for Ukraine?

Russia loves it's 'buffer' zones. They invaded Finland to get Karelia to move the border a big further away from St. Petersburg. As well, they like buffer states like Poland, Afghanistan etc to be relatively weak for an even bigger buffer zone.

So here you have Ukraine, the home of Khruschev, Brezhnev, Trotsky, Chernenko and other leading Soviet politicians. Russia and Ukraine have such a common history that any overt possessiveness by the West might be seen as polly annish. Like Georgia, Ukraine has historically been more like a willing partner, joined at the hip with Russia than an independent entity and much more than a mere buffer zone.

With this latest hiccup in capitalism, some turmoil in these areas is to be completely expected.

Bernanke's Words of Encouragement: Did I Miss Something?

I wonder when business and government will (if ever) come back to living with the reality of normal capitalist expansion and retraction. The greedy corporate board members of our business and banking world help fuel these bubbles to fill their pockets and create the need for heroic government intrusions to patch up the destruction in their wake.
These foxes in the hen-house need to be trapped and defenestrated. I don't think our economy will be on sound footing again until executive compensation is back in line with historic norms...how nuts is it that so many banking execs received bonuses last year with their businesses LOSING money?!! The sad truth is that has become standard practice in all sectors of business.
One solution would be to limit how many boards one person can belong to. All they're doing is voting each other golden parachutes and shameful compensation packages.
Their party needs to be crashed.

Evidence That Big Inflation Is Coming

I subcribe to the notion that most of the TARP money is falling into a black hole, 'good money after bad' and that unless major discipline is levied on all levels of corporate and banking management> making many heads roll, no real change will take place and the true end of this mess will be nothing less than the destruction of America. No amount of economic theorizing can pick up the slack created by entrenched & institutionalized thievery with even government bodies (governed by corporate cronies), such as the SEC, in full collusion. That fact alone means no real change will take place.

The system is broken and the rotten fruitage of our Gordon Gekko- minded elite will have to be eaten by all levels of society. Stimulus checks and tax rebates only buy time for these elitists to run for cover before the roof falls in.ciety. Stimulus checks and tax rebates only buy time for these elitists to grab their bonuses and run for cover before the roof falls in.

Spansion: Trouble on the Balance Sheet

great points Jobu, i'm wondering if IBM has included Spansions' EcoRAM on their new 'green' servers they're advertising now. IBM took a $5mn Equity stake in SPSN in liew of payment with another $10mn due IBM in a couple years.......but for what. I don't think it's really been made clear. It was a 'patent cross-license agreement' but what technology was shared? At least it does prove they're in cahootz on something.