Gas and Electric

So from the desk of the Big, Bald, Beautiful, Brother I ponder this question.
Will the Chevy Volt, which does not go into production until November of next year, be the start of real Mass produced electric cars? So for the next year to two years we will continue to spew carbon monoxide into the air with our combustion engines. Are the car makers going about this electric thing the wrong way? In my opinion, yes they are. There are several manufacturers that have hybrids that are available and there are a couple that have full electric cars. But the problem with them is that they are expensive especially if you have a mortgage, car payment and other bills to pay. The best you can do in this case is maybe add to your bill every moth by trading in your car for one of these. That helps the economy but it really does not help the Earth or you very much. I think that companies like Tesla need to license their powertrain out to specialty shops that can convert cars that people already own. I would like to see.....a Toyota Scion xB converted to electric. Yes the boxy shape probably will not help in its mileage but.... there is now room for a few more batteries. By reusing vehicles that are already on the road we should not be adding more junk to landfills. What do you think?

The Dawn of a New Day

In a few hours from now a it will be the dawn of a New Day. Today we will see the old administration out and the new one in.  With that many hopes are rising.  President Elect Obama will have some very tough days ahead. I hope that many give him the necessary room to do what must be done.  Do not think that his taking office will mean that people will immediately get jobs or that the economy will suddenly turn around.  For that it will take time, patience and a little less greed.  

In my opinion the economic downturn in the US, which sparked the rest of the world, was largely a symptom of greed.  This did not happen overnight nor did it just suddenly start in 2008.  I think that this started much earlier.  It started with jobs being outsourced to foreign countries, creating a trade deficit that continued to grow.  The US at one point in history, that spanned many years, actually manufactured goods.  These goods were used by everyone here in the US, now almost everything is imported and look at where that has gotten us.  Chinese toys made with lead.....

Outsourcing to Mexico because of the cheaper labor and signing NAFTA only made real sense to Mexico in the long run because it created jobs there.  When the cost of doing business in Mexico came up to close to US costs the next new outsource location was found......China.  China with its HUGE workforce of cheap labor and methods of manufacturing facility layouts.  Well look at where they are now, #3 on the largest economy and #1 and #2 are struggling.

Oil......I once heard the outgoing president of a major oil company say "I really don't care if the people are upset about the high price of gas. It could go to $5 a gallon for all I care."  That same president was retiring at the time when the Oil companies had profits in the Billions range in one year.  The Government of Saudi Arabia, who are our allies when it suits them, along with the rest of OPEC were raking in the cash with gas at $130-$140 a barrel.  These countries were building economies on those numbers, did they think that American's or anyone else would not slowdown the consumption?  We did and their prices fell.  Now the US automakers are getting bailed out but why?  Because of the only real manufacturing of large goods in the US is in the Auto business and those companies put all of their money into SUVs.  So if we bailed out GM....can I stop making my car payments now.... cause to me it seems like they are double dipping in my pocket.

The world economy is like a complex ecosystem.  You can not damage one part without affecting the entire system.

So President Elect Obama will try to return balance to the ecosystem and he will not be able to do it alone.  It will take everyone.

Good Luck and Good Day.

11 Days after our new President has been elected.

I am very proud of President Elect Obama.  He and his team along with a numbers of supporters of American's in our country have helped break the glass barrier.  It shows not just African Americans but all Americans that there is nothing that you can not do.  I am very sad to hear about the racial attacks and malicious acts of vandalism because some people who are not ready to deal with the world moving on. 

There are people who think that their entire way of life is going to change because the new President is not White.  The way of life that their forefathers, who built this country, started.  To them I will remind them of just a few items of history and then a little bit of Civics.

1.  The ForeFather's that they so hold up so high.  Committed a form of treason against the government.

2. Those ForeFather's families are all from somewhere else.

3. They did not so much as build rather than supervise the work of African's brought to this country against their will.

4. The President is not a Dictator, the Government is build on checks and balances. So the  President needs to get full support of the Congress, the Congress can't make a law that is unconstitutional thanks to the Supreme Court.

So get over it.  The new President is not going to send the Army to your house to take your Guns.  Your children are not going to suddenly be held back because of the color of their skin. 

All this means is everyone Black, White, Yellow, and Purple are going to have to do better. You are going to have to work harder because there is no BLAMING anyone else.

So leave the children alone. Stop burning churches and making the rest of the world see us as not as advanced as we think we are.  Remember there is the fact that we are ALL Human.  We are all one.