Charles A. Boy Jr.

There's Revolution in the Air

What's the chance that nobody is right and that western capitalism has driven itself over a cliff? I have lived in a pre-credit card, save then spend, post Roosveldt economy and it's not so bad after all ! My money bought more then. I saved more. Marginal tax rates were a complaint of the wealthy, especially the Hollywood types. They remained wealthy buy the way. as did the Brahmins. You could get a part time job at the soda fountain of the local drugstore, which were everywhere. Doctors saw you, when you needed them, out of their home offices.
We had "The Phone Company". Pay phones could connect you to the world. There came a time, in the 1980's when I felt I was on a financial treadmill. It's been one financial scandal after another since. "Greed is Good", but the real footings of daily life have steadily eroded. With all the great new ideas from financial geniuses, ordinary Americans are back in the shit. Congradulations to the business schools. You assholes, you have done what no foreign power was capable of doing. I feel like Charton Heston in the last scene of "Planet of the apes".

Will Obama Be Re-elected?

The kids of the baby boomers have no idea about living in a broadly based, equitable economy like the one their parents grew up in. Taxes are not important when prices of good and services are "affordable". What your take home buys is what counts. The Reagan Revolution changed the benefits of living in America, to fewer and fewer citizens and take home pay bought less. What do you want. Choose. Can't have it both ways.

Risk Management, Or Risk Manipulation

In the 1960's as computer systems became more available, manufacturing inventory management was an early, very large and important application. Over time mathematical models of all sorts were developed to attempt to "optimize" production. When we learned that the Japanese car makers were running their factories by exchanging actual "Bin cards" to stimulate a production order; using what we eventually understood as "Just in Time" inventory management, we balked at it in disbelief. Theirs was a world of the real ours a world of the abstract. Real won.

Warren vs. Treasury, Cont'd.

I hear the rational for confidentiality has concerns for competition. Don't know if that is actually justifiable. Furthermore, providing to the commission
is not a breach of confidentiality. E. Warren is speaking critically of complete secrecy and rightly so. If the recipients cooperated, that is what would be reported, sans strategic details. The recipients have no legs to stand on. This autonomy demanded by the culture of the financial class is way over the top. Choose. Can't have it both ways. I think we are overdue to do a lot of rethinking about "Free Enterprise" in an electronic world.

Detroit's Been in Trouble Before - Why This Time Is Different

The Smith story keeps reminding me that Detroit will face severe competition which it had avoided with its product strategy from 1973 up until today. They do not innovate. That is a culture shift I do not think their management traditions can handle. They are bean counters, marketing men, not engineers; Mallaly excepted; finally. People will not purchase their stuff out of patriotism. GM may not survive here, but their Shanghai investment levels indicates they will as a Chinese company exporting product to America. We are subsidizing that evolution. Their treatment at the hands of Washington will make it happen quicker.

Why Elizabeth Warren Is a Brilliant Choice to Oversee TARP

There is a lot of absurdity here today. Elizabeth Warren became quotable
as a result of her grad students participating in a 7 year, 13 university, interview based study. When put together and published it was titiled "The Poverty Study". Suddenly she is this wild consumer advocate? Bull shit. Facts hurt. Read the book.

Why Elizabeth Warren Is a Brilliant Choice to Oversee TARP

Re: Mr. Hattie:
I live in Barney's district. He needs no extra votes. Not one. Jesus himself couldn't defeat Barney.

Why Elizabeth Warren Is a Brilliant Choice to Oversee TARP

I can remember when it was risky to walk by a bank; you could get shanghaied and have a Master Charge, (w/ 30 day float) slapped into your hand. Credit cards evolved to the Apocalypse we so adore. I treat them as a pack of hungry wolves. The final straw was printing the contract on the back of the monthly statement in silver gray ink, virtually unreadible on white paper, in type so small as to suit a childrens joke. Done In plain site.
The Comptroller of the Currency was heard to say "So what?".

Reasons to Bail Out GM

As having spent 35 years in manufacturing management, I am aware of what the finished product says about what is happening within the company. Detroit Iron is trouble. Sloppy design details, loaded with reliability problems. Two nights ago Bill Ackman, on Charlie Rose, said a structured pre-bankruptcy process for all three would work best. He suggested having one company emerge from the three. Absolutely no cash bail out. Retrain the workforce.
Having listened to many opinions about Detroit's needs and much of the bailout debate, I favor the bankruptcy strategy Ackman sees as the best alternative.

Why the Detroit Bailout Should Include Bankruptcy

Good ole Elroy has his numbers wrong. Japanese parts suppliers are here.
Detroit has been buying parts from Korea and Mexico for the last 20 years. Assembly is mostly Canadian. Why? Among other things, Canada has a national health insurance system.
What's left are an overpaid few who make outrageous money compared with other industries doing the same kind of work. NAFTA has benefitted them enormously. What difference did it make? Look, GM and Ford have spent a fortune facilitating Shanghai with plant and equipment. They have Design Centers there! It was expected that both would become exclusively importers of vehicles into this country. How about ending this bail out insanity and get back to real business?

Ben Stein Watch: November 8, 2008

I am awed by people like Ben Stein with such clarity of vision that only they can see things in true color and perspective. I disagree with his choice of cars. As does Consumer Reports. No matter. Its the symbol that counts. I even know Cadillac employees who refuse to buy the junk they are building these days. Those insider facts are unnoticed by Ben.
Truth is, as far as I can research, GM & Ford will essentially be Chinese companies by 2015 whether we bail them out or not. Shanghai will be the largest concentration of design and production in GM and Ford's history. Seems that both are enjoying record profits overseas; Domestic markets are their downfall. Especially now that truck sales, their lifeline, are way down. Ford has, though, opened one shift to make the F150, sales are up again now that gasoline is so cheap. They have no domestic market left. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Hyundai, KIA,
even VW, will insure that. Since the Arabs turned off the spigot in 1973, seems like Detroit could not adapt. In 35 years, they could not abide the "Japs" ever overtaking them and kept putting out "Detroit Iron". We gave them NAFTA and that didn't save them. I will buy a Japanese TV made in China and not think twice about it. When I think back, funny how the Japanese have contributed more positive benefits to my consumer life than any American company. Does Ben care? No bail out for Ford or GM! Help retrain their workers, even help them relocate. We need nurses and doctors in rural areas. We need so many things they could be retrained to do. In WWII, surgical technicians were trained because doctors were in short supply. We can do the same kind of thing this time around.

Driven to Bankruptcy

Hummmm.. Lots of bad ideas here. Labor content has gone from 23% of content in the 1950's to 6% today. The union pensioners are mostly dead. The domestics did well, thank you until one day in 1973, when the Arabs cut off our gasoline. That introduced us to the small Japanese car. Before that the VW beattle owned the second car spot in the garage. The rest follows the old story about buying value and quality. Meanwhile, Ford and GM in every country other than here, where they have been producing and selling for almost as long, both make profits. What is wrong with your picture? Learn more. It is good for your mental health.

More Bad News for the Anti-Ethanol Crowd

Mr. Amory Lovins. Know him? You should. He knows energy.
Corn politics is most powerful among lobbies. Corn is King. The PNAC crowd loves BIG anything. No surprises here with corn ethanol. Numbers be damned.
Corn for fuel can be replaced with a wide variety of vegetable sources and even organic waste. That is not profitable enough. A pity. Is that what market forces really mean?