November 2008 Archives

I do believe hindsight is 20-20, but here's what GM CEO Rick Wagoner should have done for his Congressional hearing on Thursday...

He should have flown commercial to Dulles International Airport.  At the airport, his team should have had a charged and ready prototype Chevy Volt, the plug-in which can travel 40 miles without using the internal combustion gas engine.  He should have arranged with Congressman Dingell to alert the Capitol police that he was going to pull right up to the steps of the Capitol building.  Since it's only about 30 miles from Dulles to the Capitol building, Mr. Wagoner could have driven the whole way there without using a drop of gasoline.  The Chevy Volt is designed to handle the average American's commute without using the gas "backup" engine.  The guy running shotgun (Mr. Wagoner should drive himself), should have taken the car and plugged it in while the boss is giving his testimony and Mr. Wagoner should have driven it away back to Dulles where he would have caught a commercial flight home.  If he had done this, the press would be talking about nothing  else, and GM would probably have thousands of Volt pre-sales with a renewed faith in its ability to be the leader in the automotive industry.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to bash GM.  I grew up in a Chevy town (Buffalo NY) and went to school with many kids whose fathers worked for GM.  My Dad has mostly owned Chevys.  Back then GM made quality passenger cars.  In the decades since, GM and the rest of the Detroit crew has lost sight of the passenger car market.  I would like to see the "Big Three" recover and thrive, but I think they've been very sluggish to recognize trends concentrating instead on trucks, SUVs, and other gas guzzlers.

There's a book which was written in the late 1980s called Fumbling the Future by Douglas K. Smith and Robert C. Alexander.  The subtitle is "How Xerox Invented Then Ignored the First Personal Computer."  As the subtitle indicates, the book describes how Xerox PARC failed to realize the potential commercial value of the personal computer.  I suspect someone will soon write a similar book, with the title, Fumbling the Future: How GM Invented Then Ignored the First Electric Car.  They could have owned the hybrid and plug-in market, but they squandered their lead in the electric car market by never bringing one to production.  It's sad really.  GM has good technology, R&D, and people, they just don't seem to put it all together any more.

I received yet another unilateral "Notice of Change in Terms and Right to Opt Out" from my credit card company yesterday.  As you can probably guess, it doesn't "lower" my rates.  So as of December, my rates increase, and the "default" rate on the credit card goes to Prime+23.99% (oh, don't worry this can't EVER EXCEED 29.99%!)  Now, of course, most of these card companies have "Universal Default" provisions, so if I'm even one day late on any bill (not just with my credit card company), my rate becomes the default rate.  And for people who do get in trouble with credit card or mortgage debt, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005 which these same lenders lobbied for makes it harder for consumers to get out from under that debt (even though most personal bankruptcy when the bill was written was due to medical bills -- particularly for those without health insurance).

So here's what I propose:

In that, the recipients of the $700 billion bailout Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) economic rescue funds include banks and  financial institutions which have already defaulted,
 
In that, you (and indirectly I) as the lender can send a unilateral "Notice of Change in Terms and Right to Opt Out" letter to those who have already stepped up to the window,

Be it resolved that, these banks and financial institutions be declared in "Universal Default" and,

Be it further resolved that the interest on those loans be raised to 29.99% (did I mention that the highest rate is also the current rate?).

Now I know that the credit card companies (many of whom are the financial institutions which are stepping up to the trough here -- Bank of America, CitiBank, etc.) calculate rates compounded daily, but my calculator only does monthly compounding.  Even at monthly this is a $659 billion profit for us the taxpayers over the terms of a 5 year loan.  Sweet! that's a 19% annual return for the U.S. taxpayers. By the way, financial institutions, isn't compound interest great?

OR

Perhaps, you as our representatives could...

• require those institutions who take advantage of this program to suspend or end their provisions for "Universal Default" for the term of the loan or loan guarantees.
• roll back many of the anti-consumer portions of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005 (have you read my post about NewSpeak?) with the advice of consumer advocates, bankruptcy judges, and bankruptcy attorneys.

I think it's pretty obvious that people as well as these financial institutions will be hurting in the next few years... Let's try to make it better, not worse for all of us.

Your loyal constituent,

Jim

I've been testing out the T-Mobile G1 phone.  It's the first U.S. implementation of the Google Android operating system for phones (I really will report out more on this phone later).  Included on the phone is a application called the "Android Market" which is a link to various applications for the Google Phone.  Many of these applications are free of charge (but not really "free") and utilize the mobility as well as the built in GPS and data capabilities of Android.

One of the really cool applications on the G1 is called "Shazam" which identifies music based on an "Acoustic Signature or Fingerprint."  The application is free on the G1 as well as the iPhone because the identification page links to on-line music stores (Amazon MP3 for the G1 and the iTunes Store for the iPhone).  Shazam works for songs on the radio, in movies, and from someone else's playlist.

While I won't give up my Blackberry anytime soon, get back to me in 6 months.  Shazam and the G1 are making me reconsider what my "next phone" will be.

I've been off the air for a while, catching up for being out of town for so long.  Hopefully, I've migrated my "old" blog correctly so that you (my one reader) will not notice the interuption.

So, I largely remained quiet during the recent presidential campaign.  Those of you who know me, know where I stand.  BUT, in the waning days of the campaign something struck me as completely outrageous.  I was watching TNT several nights before the November 4th election and an ad came on (actually almost every commercial on TNT for the last two weeks of the campaign seemed to be political) which was very clear to say that it was sponsored by National Republican Party (and not any candidate -- more on that in a minute).  The ad explained how "extreme" (then) Senator Barack Obama's views on immigration are and why we shouldn't vote for him. 

Warning:  You have to couch this whole entry with the realization that I'm a total C-SPAN geek.

I thought to myself, "immigration, that's one of the areas where there's the least difference between Senator McCain and Senator Obama."  The things the ad was suggesting were things that I know were included in the McCain-Kennedy Immigration Reform Bill.  I read the small print and it said that it "sourced" Senator Obama's positions by the fact that he supported  S.2611.  "S.2611," I thought to myself, "That sounds familiar..." (Did I mention that I'm a total C-SPAN geek?).  S.2611 -- that's the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 the direct decendent of the McCain-Kennedy Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (S.1033) of 2005.  S.2611 was introduced by our own Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter and immediately co-sponsored by Sen. Hagel [NE], Sen. Martinez [FL], Sen. McCain [AZ], Sen. Kennedy [MA], Sen. Graham [SC], and Sen. Brownback [KS]. Let's see... in addition to the Republican sponsor, Mr. Specter, I see five Republican co-sponsors including the Republican Senator from Arizona and Senator Obama's opponent, John McCain. And by the way, you don't need to be a C-SPAN geek to figure that out.

I'm glad Senator McCain didn't "Approve this message."  How stupid does the national Republican Committee think the Pennsylvania voter is?  I'll leave that answer to you...  Someone should be ashamed.