Well said. I love my Saturn Aura. It's as good as any other car I've owned in its price category (and my dad loves Toyotas, my brother owns a Honda, and my wife has a BMW so the Scobles have a good variety of cars). The Ford Flex I was loaned was a great car, albeit is too big and only got 17 MPG on average (which is good for an SUV). - Robert Scoble
While I don't think American cars are total junk, I am nowhere near willing to risk $40K and 5 years on it. The shocking thing is that they price their cars as much as their Japanese counterparts. That is just insane! The American manufacturers need to take the Hyundai route... sell them cheap and put a wicked sweet warranty on them. Then we could talk... - John Denver
John: the problem with US automakers is the labor costs and historical costs (pensions, health care, etc) are MUCH higher than in other countries. You really need to visit China to understand just how nice American workers have it. Very little pollution. Decent healthcare. Non-crowded cities. etc. So, when you say "lower prices to same as Koreans" then you really need to understand the impact of what you're asking for. More offshoring of jobs to countries where they mistreat their citizens. - Robert Scoble
I've owned 2 Fords, 1 Honda, 1 Nissan, and 3 Porsches. The Fords were by far the worst cars I've owned. In addition, almost all the rental cars that were American made were inferior to the Japanese or Mini-Cooper I've rented. - Chris White
Chris: my Saturn is 10x better than any American rental car I've ever gotten my hands on. Not even close. This is part of the reason why US brands have poor brands here: because they sell their cheapest products to the car rental companies. - Robert Scoble
Fords of old were bad. So were the rest. People don't realize how the Big 3 have changed. Which is exactly why I wrote the post - Erin Kotecki Vest
I doubt there are any US cars, at any price that I would prefer over what I drive now. I remember showing one of my cars to some people from GM, and they were just stupefied how so much power could be packed into such a small space. - Chris White
if the problem is not the cars, not the innovation, not the sales level, then what is the problem? pensions? healthcare? union job-padding? if so, then the auto makers shouldn't get my tax $$$. if the problem is legacy costs, then let's solve the problem - not give the auto-makers billions to keep making the same mistakes. - MikeAmundsen
they had started to turn it around, correcting many of the issues with quality and innovation. the problem Mike is the economy. - Erin Kotecki Vest
@Erin: yeah, econ has knocked them down, but they were pretty wobbly already. do they want a 'bridge loan' until the economy gets better? don't think so. UAW has to own up to a lot of this, too. i can't recall another industry that is still around that has this level of feather-bedding. finally, much of the legacy cost is due to no national healthcare and lame pension (SocSec) plan in the US. whole country has to own up to that one. - MikeAmundsen
Well, I've purchased Toyotas for most of my life and would again because they just keep going. I had a Daewoo which wasn't bad and now I have a Saturn Vue (though the engine is a Honda) which I absolutely love - but Saturn is modeled after Japanese automakers. US automakers suffer from two things - high overhead/labor and poor product line marketing and foresight. Quality - still an issue in my mind, whether it's reported or perceived. - AJ Kohn
I disagree. Auto industry takes care of it's workers - something I hold in high regard and should be a priority for all american industries. - Erin Kotecki Vest
How about this? All the people who like American cars, can vote to have extra taxes for themselves to bailout the Detroit car companies. All those opposed can keep their money for helping out relatives, friends, and poor people when the bailouts causes the dollar to crash. - Chris White
@Erin: i appreciate the sentiment about auto industry and workers, but clearly, the industry has not taken care of them. to allow the companies to get this bad off - for this long - is not taking care. and i still do not see good reasons for this nation to expect each business to continue to shoulder the burden of healthcare and pension for workers when all other industrialized nations have already relieved their industries of this cost. - MikeAmundsen
someone recently remarked that if the money went toward helping pay off our mortgages, people might be inclined to go spend on the economy. While possibly sounding simplistic, the principle is not unlike the Jubilee year, when all things reverted back to the original family owners. All family property was returned to each family, free and clear. Not unlike shutting down and rebooting with a clean, rebuilt drive. - Melanie Reed
Melanie, tell that to China, Russia, and the Middle East, who own most of the mortgages in the US by way of US treasuries. Maybe you'd like to see what would happen to the economy if they sell all those treasuries. - Chris White
Don't get me started on mortgages/foreclosures. If you bought too much house, you lose it an learn a hard tough lesson. The automakers are frankly in the same boat. If your family is counting on you (personal, or employees), it's up to you to make smart decisions and be accountable when you screw up. The only way these guys get a *loan* - no freebies - is serious green standards. - AJ Kohn
I just heard that Saturn has never made money. Never. It's never been in the black. Is this true? - Chris White
“Some of the comic book cover scanning I did involved covers drawn by Tom Lyle. Trivia fact: Tom was a friend of mine in the Augusta GA comic scene. For several years, my brother and I traded commissioned sketches of his for XMas. I have a Cerebus and Iron Fist he drew.”
If you ever look at Tom's artwork, he has a weird but consistent thing he does where the legs are roughly twice as long as the rule of proportion should put them. Kind of like Liefeld and tiny heads, this is just Tom's style. - Dave Slusher
Cool! I'm a huge Lyle fan. Starman, Robin, Comet... I enjoyed Venom because of him, not because of the character. - David Price
Tom was always a great guy. He was the "local pro" and when he was doing Starmasters and other small press stuff we thought that was awesome beyond belief. When he started doing Robin our heads exploded. He and his wife were caretakers at a camp, a good gig that included a place to live and had lots of drawing time. - Dave Slusher
"SAN DIEGO -- A man was convicted of second-degree murder today for killing a professional surfer with a single punch to the head during a scuffle.
Seth Cravens, 22, will be sentenced on Jan. 12. He could face 15 years to life in prison for the attack that killed Emery Kauanui (pronounced KOW'-ah-noo-ee)." - edythe
via Bookmarklet
From the page: "Authors Joshua Holland and Michael Schwartz point out that the dominant narrative on IraqâÂ"that most of the violence against Iraqis is being perpetrated by Iraqis themselves and is not our responsibilityâÂ"is ill conceived. Interviewers from the Lancet report of October 2006 (Censored 2006, #2) asked Iraqi respondents how their loved ones died. Of deaths for which families were certain of the perpetrator, 56 percent were attributable to US forces or their allies. Schwartz suggests that if a low pro rata share of half the unattributed deaths were caused by US forces, a total of approximately 80 percent of Iraqi deaths are directly US perpetrated. " - Summer
