Re: GM Gives Up 2 Jets

Too funny.
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What are these ‘safety issues’ that required that the CEOs travel by private jet? Stalkers? Food poisoning? Who would want to hurt such nice guys?

Two jets. Two posts. Makes sense. But how big is the GM fleet?
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For anyone interested, KT stopped by Virtually Speaking in SL last night, for a conversation with Jay Rosen.
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<a href=”http:\\www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeakingVirtually Speaking

Link

I would pay good money to see the 3 CEOs sleeping head toe head at a Motel 6 one bedroom. Maybe they should pay some Hollywood types to come in and give them lessons on how to act poor.

KT here–

How about a Friday afternoon commenter contest? Top ways for GM execs to save money. My suggestion–skip the undercoating and interior scotchgarding when you buy your next corporate jet.

Commute by bicycle.

Hold the next “Vendor appreciation” gala at the Packard Hotel.

http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/images/motels/packard_motel_detroit.jpg

Best way for GM to save money? Stop making cars.

Tap water to make ice for the Jim Beam (down from Makers Mark) in the corporate jet wet bar…instead of Evian!

Top 5:

1. UAW salaries pegged to Detroit Lions point totals.
2. Snakes on a Plane II: Executive Boogaloo
3. Two words: Chevy Palin. Runs on air.
4. Euthanize Bob Seger and Toby Keith; use cheap generic music.
5. Return John Dingell for partial refund.

KT: Snark Is Us. I like it.

1. Fire the chauffeur that drives their pilots to the airport.

2. Sell rides on the planes on ebay and craig’s list.

3. Trade in their Cadillacs for Hyundais

4. Have them actually move to the state where the company headquarters is (no snark there)

5. Use their golden parachutes to pay for healthcare for the line workers

Tie executive bonuses to the proper exercise of sound business judgment.

lol pourme some how I knew you would have some good ideas

Salaries for all top executives at GM: minimum wage plus tips.

KT here–

u2blou: Tie executive bonuses to the proper exercise of sound business judgment.

Never work. Too radical a departure from current business practices.

New all-Ramen menu at cafeteria.

Request refund of campaign contributions made to all the congressmen now complaining about air travel.
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Call for repeal of the Thirteenth Amendment.
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Make local dealers pay a fee based on audio volume level in local teevee spots.
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Seppuku

Well then, fire all executives. Replace with chimps, dartboards, and plastice-tipped darts.

Three benefits:
1. Immediate salary savings.
2. Improved business performance.
3. Huge, HUGE revenues from new line of DVDs documenting HQ “strategy sessions.”

Change name of company to “G”, saving millions on printing costs.

Fire highest paid/experienced employees replace with new employees – hey, it worked for Circuit City!

Do whatever the hell Radio Shack is doing illegally behind the scenes to manage to stay in business.

Print more money, oh wait, that’s the government.

Culture of Truth at eschaton already won this:
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No more caviar cakes in the executive urinals.

Hire “Timmy – the Long Chevrolet Newsboy” as their #1 lobbyist.

Best way for GM to save money? Stop making cars.
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They tried that. Turns out their judgment regarding the value of financial instruments was as bad as their engineering abilities.

Top ways to save/make money:
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1. Fire all PR firms – obviously useless.
2. Install wind turbines on back of Pickup beds; sell to T. Boone Pickens.
3. Promote current fleet of gas-guzzlers as “the Future of GM” – sell to OPEC.
4. Have Freddy and Fannie offer homeowner trade of foreclose house for GMC Yukon (“You can sleep in a car, but you can’t drive a house.”)
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Top ways to get money from Washington:
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1. Hire Joe Lieberman to negotiate “tough” sanctions on Auto Industry.
2. Stop selling Black SUVs to all branches of US Gov’t – ship Chevy Cobalts instead (ouch!)
3. Demand “paybacks” from Oil Industry lobbyist for 18 years of SUV sales in US.
4. Turn GMAC into Bank to tap into bailout ca$h – (Oh, wait, DONE! Check!)

Nicely done kbang. This one makes most sense to me
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4. Have Freddy and Fannie offer homeowner trade of foreclose house for GMC Yukon (“You can sleep in a car, but you can’t drive a house.”)

Make the C-Level execs drive the cars they actually expect us to buy on limited warrenties. A few winter trips from Detriot to D.C. in a Aveo and Focus will help them learn how to put a business plan together BEFORE they beg for 25 billion dollars.

Use Dingell for firewood.
Sell tickets for Palin Dunk-Tank.
Throw keg-er, charge $5 per cup.
Make Hondas.
Have Rev Murthee remove all witches from assembly lines.
Marry beer heiresses.
New SUV: The Chevy POW, runs on hot air.

Merge with Boeing.

Make flying cars (don’t require wheels)
Stop printing owners manuels (does anyone read them???)
Don’t paint cars (steel silver is the new ‘in’ look)
Lobby for pre-emptive war against Japan (they’re building WMDs)

Top ways for GM execs to save money.

Pretend they are AIG execs and take huge bailout sums from the government and dump that money back into their companies while simultaneously pulling a Palin and pretending to sell their jets on eBay.

And then hold a press conference at a turkey slaughterhouse.

KT
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Have you heard about the letter Mitch McConnell sent to Harry Reid basically telling him the Republicans are gonna b!tch slap him of he doesn’t bow to their will? Funny thing is, I think he will do it.
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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/21/134447/20/413/664723

One word; Holograms.

KT here–

SG: That’s kind of his job as minority leader. Here’s how Daschle did it:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984296,00.html

Market is rallying from Andrea Mitchell reporting on MSNBC that Tim Geithner is going to Treasury.

KT here–

SG: You guys are probably getting sick of my old war stories, but that’s what you get for hanging out with an elderly blogger.

KT
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Not at all. Hell I LOVE the stories you tell. By the way how is the book coming?

Well, Huff Post was saying that McConnell refused to talk to Reid for over 9 days after the election, because he was mad that the DSCC put so much money into his Tennessee race to get him unseated.
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All he has to do is return the favor in 2010 when Reid is up.

KT here–

SG: Speaking of which — The funniest part of the Waxman ashtray story in my earlier post today is that when Nina Burleigh and I spotted it in the offices of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the press guy there tried to tell us the ashtray was off the record. We explained that comments can be off the record, but furnishings cannot.

Also, I think Geithner is good news. He’s scary smart.

KT
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Great story on Daschle, but ill bet he never sent Newt a letter telling him he was going to bust him upside the head if he got out of line and had the nerve to want to pass some conservative legislation. Also its remarkable to see that back in 96 people had the same historical view of Democrats as they do now, that is as spineless jerks.
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OT I hear SNL is audtioning people to play the role of Barack Obama. If you have any juice with NBC you should tell them to give this guy a chance. He had me falling out my chair the first time I saw this youtube clip
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Completely OT but it is looking more and more likely that Franken will end up winning in Minnesota.
A high ranking elected republican in the state is telling people that the recount will be fair and that “statistically it doesn’t look hopeful” for Coleman.

sgw, I second your vote for the SNL Obama. That guy is great.
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As for McConnel and the GOP, Benen has some thoughts, that start with: In the 110th Congress, the Senate Republican minority, with 49 seats, filibustered more legislation than any Senate minority in congressional history. Can the GOP break its own record in the 111th?
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Reid has to force them to do real filibusters. But that does seem unlikely, doesn’t it. Because it would be rude. Yesterday we got to see that senatorial comity went so far as standing ovations and two hours of stirring oratory praising a convicted felon.

wvng
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EXACTLY!

Correction: Kentucky, not Tennessee. Whatever.

KT
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A storm is brewing over John Brennan potentially being named CIA director. Have you heard anything?

As for KT’s wonderful contest, my brain is tired from filling in federal financial forms. Funny has flown. So I’ll say something serious. US automakers and US corporations in general will do better if they start caring more about their employees than their shareholders.
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As far as the GM execs, they could give up their bonuses, sell their extra homes to John and Cindy, and have Townesend’s criticisms of fat-cat management tattooed on their foreheads.

Reid has to force them to do real filibusters. But that does seem unlikely, doesn’t it.
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On this one, i say wait and see. I really believe that Reid was letting the Republicans hang themselves for the last two years. If they wanted to vote in a bloc with Mr. 24% and stop good, popular legislation, well, fine with him.

KT: Question: How many pre-1994 Dems are still in the House and Senate? Is this number too high to help enable change?
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I ask because back in the late 80′s and early 90′s, I remember feeling that the Dems had overstayed their welcome. Guys like Wright, Foley, and Mitchell seemed to be the embodiment of the “old boy network”. At the time, I was happy (as I am now, only more so) to “throw the bums out”.
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Seeing the Dems back at the helm and these unsightly “seniority” catfights, I can’t help but wonder…have we voted the foxes back into the hen house? Sure, they’ve had 12-14 years in the wilderness to find religion, but this “settling in” period has the smell of a bunch of cronies getting fired up for more of the same-ol’, same-ol’. (Except maybe Waxman.)
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Thoughts?

jay, you are right we’ll have to wait and see. But have you ever seen a hint of badass in Reid? The repugs never fail to throw their weight around, even when they don’t really have any to throw. He’s got to stomp on them so they pay attention. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he apologized to McConnel for the campaign against him.

My suggestion?
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1. Stop paying royalties on 70′s and 80′s rock songs for their stupid commercials.
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2. replace all executives with Wall-E.

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Funny…I don’t recall such scrutiny of Halliburton, Exxon-Mobil, or many other companies that went to DC asking for government assistance. Freakin’ grandstanding on the part of Congress and by a bunch of other people who have no idea what it takes to build a car or run a global corporation.
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KT: Topic: Top ways for GM execs to save money.
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One: Cut advertising in media outlets that keep pushing this non-story.
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I understand that this post is supposed to be lighthearted in tone, Karen, but I’ve seen too much hyperventilation over inconsequential crap like flag pins, how much someone’s outfit cost, etc…I’m exhausted, and would rather see speculation on how the automakers – and other companies, for that matter – should fix things…like a federal mandate requiring, say, 50% of the parts in a vehicle to be made here in the US. Or a $1600 tariff on non-US car manufacturers to sell their vehicles here ($1600 being the approximate per-vehicle cost of healthcare that US automakers have to add to each vehicle produced. Stuff like that, so the domestic companies don’t have as much of an uphill fight.
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Two: Renegotiate existing labor contracts. From the previous link:

If an assembly plant with 3,000 workers has no dealer orders, it has two options. One is to close the plant for a week and not build any cars. Then the company still has to give the idled workers 95 percent of their take-home pay plus all benefits for not working. So a one-week shutdown costs $7.7 million or $1,545 for each vehicle it didn’t make.

It’s not just the management, it’s the business environment.
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alaskanturkey: Change name of company to “G”, saving millions on printing costs.
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Oddly enough, GM has done studies on ways to increase productivity…one of the conclusions was to drop the second ‘e’ from the end of the word ‘employee’…Turns out that additional typing of one character in a frequently used word could create a small but measurable savings. You can still see signs that say things like ‘Employe Development’…

We explained that comments can be off the record, but furnishings cannot.
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Good to know.

Funny…I don’t recall such scrutiny of Halliburton, Exxon-Mobil, or many other companies that went to DC asking for government assistance.
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Maybe there should have been.

Keep in mind, kbang, that the most senior members are frequently in safe seats, which tend to be left of center. This out of date, but should give you an idea.
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Agriculture (46 members) Chairman: Collin C. Peterson (D-Minn.)
Ranking Rep.: Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.)
Appropriations (66 members) Chairman: David R. Obey (D-Wis.)
Ranking Rep.: Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.)
Armed Services (66 members) Chairman: Ike Skelton (D-Mo.)
Ranking Rep.: Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.)
Budget (39 members) Chairman: John M. Spratt, Jr. (D-S.C.)
Ranking Rep.: Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
Education and Labor (49 members) Chairman: George Miller (D-Calif.)
Ranking Rep.: Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.)
Energy and Commerce (58 members) Chairman: John D. Dingell (D-Mich.)
Ranking Rep.: Joe Barton (R-Tex.)
Financial Services (72 members) Chairman: Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
Ranking Rep.: Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.)
Foreign Affairs (49 members) Chairman: Tom Lantos (D-Calif.)
Ranking Rep.: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.)
Homeland Security (34 members) Chairman: Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.)
Ranking Rep.: Peter King (R-N.Y.)
House Administration (9 members) Chairman: Robert Brady (D-Calif.)
Ranking Rep.: Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich)
Judiciary (40 members) Chairman: John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.)
Ranking Rep.: Lamar S. Smith (R-Tex.)
Oversight Government Reform (41 members) Chairman: Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.)
Ranking Rep.: Tom Davis (R-Va.)
Resources (52 members) Chairman: Nick J. Rahall II (D-W. Va.)
Ranking Rep.: Don Young (R-Alaska)
Rules (13 members) Chairman: Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-N.Y.)
Ranking Rep.: David Dreier (R-Calif.)
Science (44 members) Chairman: Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.)
Ranking Rep.: Ralph Hall (R-Tex.)
Small Business (36 members) Chairman: Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.)
Ranking Rep.: Steve Chabot (R-Ohio)
Standards of Official Conduct (10 members) Chairman: Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio)
Ranking Rep.: Doc Hastings (R-Wash.)
Transportation and Infrastructure (75 members) Chairman: James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.)
Ranking Rep.: John Mica (R-Fla.)
Veterans’ Affairs (28 members) Chairman: Bob Filner (D-Calif.)
Ranking Rep.: Steve Buyer (R-Ind.)
Ways and Means (41 members) Chairman: Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.)
Ranking Rep.: Jim McCrery (R-La.)

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Apologies for the Palinization of this sentence: “Turns out that additional typing of one character in a frequently used word could create a small but measurable savings.” Should read:
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Turns out that not typing one character in a frequently used word could create a small but measurable savings.

Excellent idea from Mrs. Coffee: melt down their trophy wives for raw materials.

And thus was my point in another thread that the miniscule costs of a jet in comparison to really large problems was merely a distraction. It was the shiny little object to keep folks from recognizing the obvious…the bailout emporer has no clothes!!! Granted, if GM did cut excess costs (like the jet, gym memberships, etc.) it would make them more cost efficient, BUT IT WILL NOT SAVE THEM. Nothing will…short of taxpayer funded handouts so that they can pay their workers to build cars which nobody either wants to or can afford to buy.
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Exhibit A: http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/viewed_from_afar_its_lovely.php
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The reality is that whether the Big 3 go through a bailout or bankruptcy….those jobs, those communities, the UAW as people know it is toast.
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Further, we in this country from the top politicians on down have a real problem with cognitive dissonance. The economics (and what a dismal science it is) of the situation dictate either state-run auto companies or a massive (by MASSIVE, I mean at least 1/2 of all production, management, car lines, workers and facilities let go!!).
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Just like a jumbo airliner that stalls on takeoff, the only hope of salvation is to dump the cargo that weighs the plane down, and even then you had better have a parachute. This is one of those situations in life where something starts down a chain and all you can do is sort of watch in horror, say oh $hit, and pray to your Creator.

Sure Bryan, but this kind of thing calls their judgment into question, both in dealing with the difficulties in the last decade and with their tone-deafness. It in fact hurts that they’re selling the planes now. If they really were essential, then they should have explained why, persuasively, and kept them. Dumping means they are conceding that they have failed to cut fat that could be cut–whether from inertia or whatever, it’s still wrong. And to have closed a plant, or laid off a thousand workers while retaining a fleet of private jets (which means pilots, and mechanics, and bevy of bollinger bearing beauties and fuel and landing fees and on and on). It’s hard to justify giving them tax payer dollars on the basis that it will preserve jobs if preserving jobs is not their first priority.
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This is especially galling to people who run a small business. Staff gets paid first. Before the owner’s salary. Certainly before his bmw lease.

I wouldn’t be quote the jolly ol’ elf there, either. her track record is not so hot on stuff involving numbers.
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@g_crush: I co-op’d at GM back in the early 80′s. Took me a while to get used to being referred to as an “employe”. Go figure.
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jay
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From the story I heard they were actually already well into the process of selling the planes but they announced it again today just to try to turn around some of the bad pr they have been getting

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jayack: I wouldn’t be quote the jolly ol’ elf there, either.
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McCardle, the Frequently Clueless.

Oh you know I clicked through, too. I promised to never read her again.
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Libertarians. Contracts, sacrosanct. Courts, torts. But not when shareholders in joint stock companies sign contracts. Those dirty workers don’t deserve to have those contracts honored, because, well, we made a bad deal.
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Infuriates me.

From the story I heard they were actually already well into the process of selling the planes but they announced it again today just to try to turn around some of the bad pr they have been getting
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And in the meantime, the operating hours are free, aside from depreciation? If this were serious, they woulda fired the pilots, dumped stewardess, terminated their jet fuel forward contracts and leased hangar space in Biloxi.

Oh, it’s moot anyway.
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Too many smartypantses and not enough dumbasses.
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A dumbass would said, “Duh. What about the WTO? Do you really think Renault is gonna let you do this.”
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via atrios.
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http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=az43Y55hmZhY&refer=home
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There’s no way than structure a bailout that would conform to the wto regs regarding subsidies.
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What is it Bette Davis said in All About Eve?

KT
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This has to get an honorable mention from kbang
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2. Install wind turbines on back of Pickup beds; sell to T. Boone Pickens.

jay
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They have 5 planes. I would assume they didnt fly in either of the 2 that they are trying to sell but I could be wrong

@winners: Congrats!
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@SGW: Thanks for the Honorable Mention and vote for Fannie/Freddie!
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@SGW+Pourmecoffee: Your posts in the previous thread about “I need to pee and I hate Joe Lieberman”, or vise versa, have kept me giggling all afternoon. I keep having this mental image of my wife busting into the loo’ at 4am to find me chuckling uncontrollably…”What is it?” she asks…”Nothing,” I say, “just something I read on Swampland.”

I was heartbroken having lost the contest, but feel better after seeing that there are no prizes. My own vote goes to Pourmecoffe.

I will not be happy until a Chevy Volt pulls up to the Capitol, and the entire board of directors of GM pours out of it dressed as clowns.

Late to this party, but: these guys could save us all a lot of money by making cars that run on blood.

[...] spóroljanak az amerikai autógyártók? (fun) http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/11/21/re-gm-gives-up-2-jets/ « előző | bf79 — 2008. 11. 22. [...]

Whether they fly coach or first class on their next trip to DC for hearings, they ought to bring Oprah along. Here’s why:

http://saturdaymorningpost.com/2008/11/12/an-oprah-bailout/

[...] one of the CEOs is driving to DC from Detroit and the other two are eschewing company jets (both GM and Ford have announced plans to sell several corporate aircraft). Much of this week will be an [...]