Preaching the ET Gospel

At one point during the evening, an elderly man said Thomas Friedman reminded him of an evangelist. In a good way, I hope, because last night at Lake Michigan College, Friedman tried to convince 3,000 people to testify and convert to his Green Religion.

I had the good fortune of hearing Friedman speak once before, at Eastern Michigan University, when his latest book had just been published. Listening to him is an experience, because it's not like listening to most journalists or even heads of state. It's a lot like listening to a distinguished professor give a semester-ending lecture, but he has such worldly knowledge that one is compelled to hang on every point.

"In 2007 and 2008, mother nature and the market hit a wall," said Friedman bluntly.

One has to understand that the reason Friedman gives this speech everywhere he goes, is because he's trying to help reverse the vanished legacy of the greatest generation, a legacy left for us, but we in turn "ate through the greatest generation like hungry locusts," said Friedman.

Much of his material can be found right in the pages of his book, but there are some worth being pulled onto this page.

The overall metaphor for what Friedman envisions is twofold. (1) picture of a billboard he showed onscreen. It was a car advertisement in South Africa, claiming "German engineering. Swiss Parts. American Nothing." (2) The Doha & Dalian condition -- meaning there are little Manhattans sprouting up all over the globe, and two of those are in Doha, Qatar, and Dalian, China.

All these forces and variables are clashing together, toward a situation where energy consumption, population growth, and climate, converge and produce a world that is far different than our current world.

Friedman is opportunistic. That is, if America seizes all these "megaproblems" as said opportunity, to find a way to produce clean electrons, at scale, and transfer from the Information Technology Revolution to the Energy Technology Era. Simple, right?

The large problem thus far of American efforts to get in on this trend, is this. "If it's a revolution, why is no one hurt?" Friedman asked rhetorically. I take that to mean our leaders have not been aggressive enough, and if we as a country truly wanted to end addiction to oil and bad energy habits, why are those bad habits allowed to still operate?

Friedman wants palpable change, not just 192 signatories on some vague legislation that puts loose regulations on carbon emissions. The secret lies within costs and scale. Figuring a durable price on carbon in turn leads to scale, and once scale is achieved, the revolution begins. By that he means the market begins to respond to the scale, and things can be produced for the masses. Its what Friedman calls being "Democratically Chinese."

Job's Done. The Bitch is Dead.

I'm tremendously proud of our Senate here as the clock strikes 11:30 pm on Thursday December 12th, 2008. It is on this day that the immient implosion of the U.S. automobile industry may become a reality. I truly hope this is the last time I ever have to write about this crap, other than when it's reported that Detroit has been sold to Canada or something.

Approximately thirty minutes ago, I was flipping channels waiting for Jon Stewart to come on, and all the cable news channels were at commercial breaks. Until I flipped across Fox News, and noticed the text on the screen had nothing to do with the rerun of Bill O'Reilly's show that was on. It said:

"Alert; Auto Bailout Loan Dies in Senate, 57-32"

After I was done giggling, imagining the three auto CEO's being awoken in their beds by a phone call from some assistant, saying that this happened, I thought, "Wow, this government actually allowed this thing to fail." And then I thought about Speaker Pelosi fainting in her living room. And then I envisioned President-Elect Obama spouting profanities. Haha

By the way, notice that the vote does not total 100 members? Who were the eleven senators that didn't even vote I wonder??

It appears the big issue that caused such a lopsided vote, was the UAW. The NY Times explains:

The automakers would also have been required to cut wages and benefits to match the average hourly wage and benefits of Nissan, Toyota and Honda employees in the United States.

It was over this proposal that the talks ultimately deadlocked with Republicans demanding that the automakers meet that goal by a certain date in 2009 and Democrats and the union urging a deadline in 2011 when the U.A.W. contract expires.

I didn't even know that the U.S. automakers paid more than the two big Japanese companies. How could they afford to do that if they were on the edge of bankruptcy? And why would the damn union come out and say "Yea, you know how we were willing to do anything to save these jobs? Well, we'll do anything but that." It just breeds a climate of distrust, and there already was quite a bit of distrust leading up to the vote on this bill...and now the average American can look at UAW Chief Ron Gettlefinger, and lump him in the same breath as Wagoner, Mullaley, and Nardelli.

Thomas Friedman once again rails against the bailout in his Wednesday column

Here's what each company submitted as their reformed plans for the second testifying session:

General Motors:  Request $18 in loans, reduce its $60 billion debt by half, explore selling Saab, Ponitac, and Saturn, break even in 2012

Ford: $9 billion in reserve loans, launch hybrid and electric cars in 2010, convert truck plants to small car ones, become profitable in 2011

Chrysler: $7 billion in loans at low interest (just to make it through 2009), cut work force and health care benefits, CEO Nardelli will take a salary of $1 (Ha !)

This has turned (wrongly) turned into a political battle, with people in Detroit trying to point fingers at the GOP for killing the industry -- just because Mitt Romney writes a blunt editorial a month ago -- and the fact that no one in Detroit batted an eye when the White House decided to pull the proposed funds from legislation marked for making more fuel efficient technology! And watching Gettlefinger this morning, he is dodging the question coming from a smart reporter. The reporter is repeatedly asking him, "So, are wage cuts an option?" and Gettelfinger just spouts off something about how they're working hard and they love their country.

If the only casualty in this mess is that the UAW is dissolved (fat chance) I would dance in the street. But don't worry, the all-powerful Henry Paulson will step in and just hand these guys a check because Bush told him to.

a TARP to cover the shame that is Detroit

Democrats are proposing tacking on another financial bailout, in the form of $50 billion in loans for the Detroit automakers. Well, $25 billion now and another $25 billion after the new year.

Jenny Granholm and Carl Levin are the main proponents of the legislation, but of course Speaker Pelosi and the Auto companies themselves are also pressing for the cash. I found this internal GM email that illustrates just how desperate they are. More importantly, a few notable journalists have written some pretty pointed arguments against this idea, and I am in accordance:

Thomas Friedman wrote a brilliant column berating the bailout plan. His hatred for General Motors is so biting that it's funny. However, it was preceded by the excellent Paul Ingrassia in the Wall Street Journal. And Charles Krauthammer brings up the union argument.

Friedman was all over the place this week, appearing on the Daily Show, and then on CNBC this morning (Part 1 & Part 2)

And finally, the clearest signal to me that General Motors deserves to die, are the private comments of Vice President Bob Lutz at a private dinner in January:

"–Hybrid cars like those made by Toyota “make no economic sense,” because their price will never come down, and diesel autos like those touted by Chrysler are also uneconomic. The only place in Europe that diesel-driven cars are big, he said, is where diesel fuel is half the cost of regular gasoline; in most places there, the costs are comparable and diesel has little market penetration.

– Global warming is a total crock of shit. I’m a skeptic, not a denier. Having said that, my opinion doesn’t matter." (With the battery-driven Volt), “I’m motivated more by the desire to replace imported oil than by the CO2 (argument).”

– With more and more good-quality cars on the market these days, “you’ve got to look at the business artistically, too. Part of our business is creating blockbusters–just like the movie business–yet we never think of ourselves that way. A car is an exciting mobile sculpture that you want to own, drive and be seen in. That’s why (auto-industry) comeback stories are always design-driven.” One GM car that fills that bill, he said, is Cadillac’s CTS."

*Source

I find it shameful that the Democrats want to spend taxpayer money on rewarding incompetence in an industry that America should have no excuse being the laughing stock of the world in. How much longer can General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler survive on a dead business model? The answer: as long as they keep getting handouts from the government to make bad products.