How very odd of them; it must mean that the aren’t terribly bright, and/or haven’t been reading The Economist religiously enough.
Yeah. Put that in your vibrator and plug it right into the wall.
From the bathtub, bitches.

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Constitutional Law, Economics, Freedom of Speech, Industries, Obama Administration, new media, politics 3 Comments »

David Murphy has a write-up of the conference call we had with Chevron a few weeks ago. I was on the call, but headed out to Phoenix that same day for the NRA convention, and never got a chance to write a formal article about it.
We had a pretty good mix of energy bloggers on [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Business & Management, Economics, Energy Issues, Energy Policy, Golden State, My Webloggers, Myself, Offshore Technology, Southern Comfort, new media No Comments »

Brink Lindsey takes on Paul Krugman and “nostalgianomics.” With delightful results:
The increasing focus on individual fulfillment means, inevitably, less deference to tradition and organizations. “A major component of the Postmodern shift,” Inglehart argues, “is a shift away from both religious and bureaucratic authority, bringing declining emphasis on all kinds of authority. For deference to authority [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Economics, Industries, Media, Obama Administration, Transportation, politics No Comments »

other than in the Ford Motor Company / UAW relationship and the product lines of Toyota and Honda (hint: produce a few midsize sedans; consider stealing a few styling cues from American cars of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s) will be in the used car market, and the parts market. A lot of people like [...]

Posted in Around the 'Sphere, Art and Technology, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Cultured, Like Yogurt, Drive-By Media, Economics, Editorial Endeavors, Energy Issues, Highway to Hell, Hot Rods, Hot Bikes, Industries, Media, Obama Administration, Organizing, Patriotism, People, Small Planet, Transportation, new media, politics, self-help/entrepreneurship 3 Comments »

though in point of fact some of us did believe him.
And if Zombie Chrysler thinks it’s going to eat the Cruiser’s flesh, it’s got another thing coming. I’m studying up on how to fight it.

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Cultured, Like Yogurt, Drive-By Media, Economics, Energy Policy, Industries, Media, Obama Administration, Organizing, Patriotism, Upper Midwest [U.S.], new media, politics 1 Comment »

Also, he hasn’t thought this through: if Obama picked experienced people for his automotive task force, how would that make him look, by comparison?
Also, if we’d been to business school ourselves, we’d see the wisdom in how this is being handled. Or something.
Imagine you had to pick someone to shepherd a gigantic multinational corporation through [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Cultured, Like Yogurt, Drive-By Media, Economics, Energy Policy, Industries, Media, National Debt, Obama Administration, Transportation, new media, politics 2 Comments »

Red State has another Anti-Chrysler update.
And my hand hurts like a mopar . . .

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Economics, Industries, Obama Administration, Transportation, politics No Comments »

Milvena Dean died today. She was the last living survivor of the Titanic. Two months old when the ship sank, she was 97 [at the time of her death].
Goodbye.
And . . . onward we go.

Posted in Around the 'Sphere, Business & Management, Cultured, Like Yogurt, Industries, Transportation No Comments »

Oy gevalt.
Via Dan Collins, who points out that the Chrysler spokeswusses are doubling down . . .
The White House and Anti-Chrysler management should either disclose the methodology used to make these decisions, or they should shut up; they bore me.
UPDATE: And is race a part of the pattern in the closings? (If, indeed, there [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Constitutional Law, Economics, Industries, Obama Administration, politics No Comments »

[D]espite the claim that each dealership was evaluated at the individual market level, at least four major, connected Democrat contributors will end up with more dealerships in the aggregate than when they started.
These four Democrat dealer groups own 40 Chrysler dealerships. One of those owners is already in all sorts of legal and financial hot [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Drive-By Media, Economics, Industries, Media, Obama Administration, new media, politics No Comments »

is that a news organization with some resources is finally looking into the Chrysler-dealership issue.
The “bad” news is that the scutwork has fallen to Fox once more.
We don’t have any real indication yet where the decisions are actually being made, unless one wants to treat the denials of the WH Press Secretary as a serious [...]

Posted in Americana, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Drive-By Media, Economics, Industries, Media, Obama Administration, new media, politics 1 Comment »

We’re getting closer to mainstream acknowledgement that this has to be looked into: the Examiner is on the case, and Glenn Reynolds has suggested that it’s time for some scrutiny from the Public Integrity Section at the Department of Justice.
If we don’t get answers soon, it might be time to start writing letters.
After all, we [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Drive-By Media, Economics, Media, Obama Administration, new media 1 Comment »

Director Blue has a statistical analysis that appears to suggest that the political contributions from dealer owners played a part. Obviously, I’m not trained to evaluate the figures on that, so I’ll just provide the link.
Meanwhile, Gateway Pundit has a master roundup/update, including a list of the players in the White House Task Force [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Economics, Obama Administration, new media, politics 1 Comment »

Which, again, wouldn’t be a bad strategy if all the ones being cut truly were poor performers, but there’s no evidence that that is the case.
Furthermore, contra Christophe’s glib comparisons to Starbucks and Apple, the immediate effects of this action—supposedly undertaken by Chrysler and GM management, but apparently dictated by the White House—will be [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Constitutional Law, Drive-By Media, Economics, Industries, Obama Administration, new media 17 Comments »

Well, let’s just say we’ve got a pond full of duckshit right now with respect to the Chrysler-Dealership shutdown scandal.
This is where a lot of the analysis is being performed; you might want to blogroll it.
Jim of Gateway Pundit asks “Are we looking at the biggest political scandal since Watergate?” But I don’t remember Nixon [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Economics, Industries, Obama Administration 2 Comments »

D: Hey! You stole “Peoples Chrysler” from me! I demand compensation!
J: But I . . . I LIKED it. So I just TOOK it. Isn’t that the American way these days?
D: Not without saying “Suckaaa!” or some other social nicety. . .
H: But you’ve been so loyal to me and to my blog, that I [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Economics, Industries, Obama Administration, new media, politics No Comments »

. . . and its odd, incomprehensible methodology (or, perhaps, non-methodology) regarding which dealerships are being shut down, and which are being allowed to stand.

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Economics, Obama Administration, new media 1 Comment »

Hooray!
Be Moe reports from the Protein Wisdom Pub about just what that boot feels like against that human face:
On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Constitutional Law, Economics, Industries, Obama Administration, new media, politics 1 Comment »

According to Gabe at Ace’s place, the Indiana pension funds have lost their appeal of the Chrysler sale:
To review: the Indiana police and teachers pension plans are secured creditors in Zombie Chrysler who are trying to hold off the sham sale of the company which has been concocted by President Obama. They sought a stay [...]

Posted in Americana, Around the 'Sphere, Automotive, Business & Management, Constitutional Law, Economics, Obama Administration, politics No Comments »

The Truth About Cars is skeptical, to say the least, about the wisdom of the “slash and burn” the Big Two are conducting:
GM and Chrysler, under orders from the PTFOA, are decimating their dealer network in the perverse expectation that doing so will lead to higher sales and/or profits. The word decimate comes from the [...]

Posted in Americana, Automotive, Business & Management, Economics, Obama Administration 7 Comments »