Not Their Fault!!!???

I have no idea how people can either lie or be so deluded that they can't see the obvious. Among the sources reporting the UAW's view on the crisis in the US auto industry, USA Today has this alarming quote from United Auto Workers president, Ron Gettelfinger:

"We're here not because of what the auto industry has done," he said. "We're here because of what has happened to the economy."

I'm not blaming the UAW for what's happened to the Big Three, but they have certainly contributed to what the industry has done to itself -- not what some nefarious, external action has done to it. If the financial crisis was to blame, auto makers worldwide would need government bailouts or be in similar dire straits because the economy is global.

For instance, on October 29, 2008, The New York Times reported that, "During the third quarter, G.M. sold 1.28 million vehicles outside of the United States, accounting for 61 percent of its total sales compared with 56 percent a year ago." So if you believe that the financial crisis (domestic or global) is to blame, why is it that only US auto manufacturers are in such bad shape?

The thinking, tactics, and strategies that have gotten the Big Three into such bad shape are not peculiar to the auto industry. US businesses in general need to re-think how they creating value in a global economy.

Speaking of Global Warming

I wonder how the current Southern California firestorm affects global warming?

I wonder if the weather conditions that led to the current Southern California firestorm are a product of global warming?

By noon today is was 90ºF with less than 10% humidity with wind gusts over 25 MPH -- prime brush fire weather. Of course you need an ignition source to start the fire. I heard that a smaller fire today on Palos Verdes peninsula was started when a power pole transformer exploded. It definitely doesn't take much though. Someone thoughtlessly throwing a cigarette out of their car window will do the trick for starting a brush fire that will burn thousands of acres and dozens of homes.

Why Commute by Bike?

There are a lot of ways that all of us can help save the planet. Here is one.

They're Fixin' the Road

A couple of days ago I was driving to work (late -- long story) and I got stuck in traffic on PCH because of some road work. It looked like they were re-striping the road so the only thing that I really thought about was that it took me 30 minutes to drive 1 mile.

A day later I was riding on the same stretch of road when I noticed that part of the shoulder on the northbound lane was "chewed up" in the way that they normally do when they are going to repave the road. For those of you familiar with the area, this is the stretch of PCH north of 2nd Street / Westminster Blvd up past Loynes Drive.

By coincidence, I found out at a (Long Beach) city forum that CALTRANS decided to repave that section of PCH. My question is, "Why!!!???"

I can think of a lot of other roads of sections of PCH over which CALTRANS has jurisdiction that need repair much more than that section of road. Is this really the best use of our tax dollars? Doesn't California have a significant budget problem?

Of course, this is all water under the proverbial bridge since they already started chewing up the road. I just wish that somehow the would do a better assessment of the roads so that they can set better priorities.