patriotaxe

GM's Lutz Fired Up Already

Good grief, one of the architects of the new Camaro - the gas-guzzler GM poured money into as it ignored the Volt - is now in charge of design and marketing? Lutz's brain died in 1966. He's a boat anchor on the new GM.

The FCC Jumps into the Journalism Fray

If Congress/FCC bring back the Fairness Doctrine, will Fox News have to relocate to Moscow?

Journalism and television have been strangers on cable for over a decade. It would be refreshing to find a way to help keep real reporting alive at a more local level. These are the same small markets where there's been a upswing in "citizen journalism," which, at it's most immature level, couldn't be any less professional than cable "news."

How $30/Barrel Oil Could Save the World

Strangely enough, we can achieve the same lofty goals by weaning our nation off fossil fuels completely, and adding benefits such as decreased pollution. Consuming more fossil fuel because it's now cheaper? 1950s thinking. You dinosaurs should hasten your crawl to the tar pits.

Will Water ETFs Be 'Blue Gold'?

I really think it would be a mistake for shareholders anywhere to get involved with what appears to be a privatization of what is widely believed to be a public commodity. There are several reasons for my belief:

"Although Earth is often referred to as the water planet, only 2.5% is fresh, and three quarters of that is locked up in ice at the North and South poles."

Yes, but remember that shareholders blindly supporting the fossil fuel and automotive industries are, for the most part, directly responsible for the fact that those ice caps are not only meting but also thinning, leaching into a saltwater sea where that fresh water cannot be affordable retrieved.

"In places like China, with a quarter of the world’s population, up to 90% of the fresh water is already polluted, some irretrievably so."

Agreed. But once again, that pollution is a direct result of shareholder apathy about the environment, pushing companies to profitability goals achievable only by cutting corners on pollutants and sustainability.

Does anyone truly believe that the citizens of a water rich region will stand by while shareholders of a water corporation suck off a community resource available to all?

Those days are gone. They disappeared during the financial crisis. The people are armed, angry and not likely to part with their water.

Who Defines Journalistic Narcissism?

"But why do we need anyone to tell us what’s important? We decide that. What’s important to you isn’t important to me. Why must we all share the same importance?"

That statement troubles me. It is an echo of the philosophy of Fox News - no other news source is giving you the "truth" you want to hear, so we will.

Tailoring news gathering and delivery to suit narrow audiences is a dangerous trend. Blogs do that, cable networks now do that, and the "mainstream media" (and why is that phrase now uttered with a sneer?) respond to the narrowly targeted sound bites by repeating them, word for word, without further exploration or challenge.

Yes, a newspaper or a news magazine can be just as narrowly focused. What we're losing are the regional and local newspapers that offered a wide variety of viewpoints on a breadth of international, national and local issues.

I firmly believe that our democracy is best supported and sustained with a highly-informed citizenry, voters who understand several different facets of an issue. It requires trained and ethical journalists to found and operate newspapers like this - we are watching it all slip away.

PIMCO's Bill Gross Sees a Bleak Future

PIMCO/Gross are a self-fulfilling prophesy, a deep well of deliberate pessimism not far removed from Lard (I hope Obama fails!) Limbaugh and his drooling minions who would rather fail (and feel righteous) than succeed (and be forever painted as ignorant). There's no denying that we are going to be in this rut for several quarters, but the free enterprise system and the American people (many of whom have not a penny invested in the markets) are resilient. I did not fail to notice that the first concern of Gross was "regulation." Those who constantly get their hands slapped are always the first to complain about the need for rules.

Barney Frank Wants to Regulate Your Pay

"Massachusetts is the East Coast version of California and Franks and Pelosi are far to the left of communism."

"Frank is the poster child of pure human trash."

Thank you for those highly researched and professionally presented facts.

Barney Frank Wants to Regulate Your Pay

Spelling errors. Punctuation errors. Capitalization errors. Typos. I don't know how long recess is at your school, fireball, but maybe you should spend your time playing on the swings with the other kids rather than rushing through vacuous retorts on the school computer. You might also try bringing some real content to the discussion.

Barney Frank Wants to Regulate Your Pay

"mr frank should stick to limiting the pay of young male party boys."

fireball is flirting with a libel charge, as he/she has not provided any proof that Congressman Frank has any interest in "young male party boys." In fact, I recall that the last two representatives with a penchant for lovers of the same gender were both upstanding "family values" Republicans, one from Florida and the other from Idaho.

Barney Frank Wants to Regulate Your Pay

I agree with Congressman Frank 100% There isn't a pencil/paper-pushing CEO in America today worth more than $200,000 per annum; the same applies to professional athletes. The people who make the products (if they still have jobs) are the foundation of our economy. The real achievers in this nation are teachers, police officers, fire personnel, factory line workers, union members - they are the people who inspire, the people who are the keystone of our way of life. That's where our investment should be placed.

As for "how about cutting former presidential perks and pensions to," I couldn't agree more (with the exception of the spelling). Let's start by removing the Secret service protection for Bush/Cheney. I give them 20 minutes, tops.

WSJ's Social Media Rules for Journalists

I'm sorry, but I find the name "Rupert Murdoch" and the words "rules" or "news" used in the same context to be laughable.

Bob Young