NASA Chief Under Fire For Personal Shuttle Use

Where did you get that?! I see a Wikipedia tag on it, but not a link. (BTW, I've sent it on to my friends at NASA)

 

The Onion is a nationally syndicated newspaper and also a radio and web information. Lots of funny stuff there. Recent article claimed Ford was going back to basics and scrapping all model lines to start manufacturing the Model T as it was their biggest success....
BT

 

LOL! I'd love to see if any of them took it seriously! If so, I think they need to be retired ASAP...

 

That is great!

I did read in a book, that some of the Apollo astronauts put in a mileage claim for their trips to the moon. It was returned with a statement that deducted recovery costs of the capsule from the ocean, together with a cheque for about 25c!

 

That may sound like a joke but it sure is a better solution than producing the crap they do right now. I sincerely hope that there will be several car manufacturers that will go broke soon and the government will let them go bankrupt without coming up with some excuse that the US economy will suffer. Garnish the wages and possessions of those CEOs that rode the company bankrupt and stuff it into the 401Ks of the employees. Then call Toyota and ask if they want to buy a manufacturing facility and employ some skilled workers. They can make it profitable AND build a good car that is not a gas guzzling monster.

 

Gotta chime in on this one. I know we are all exotic snobs on this board, but both GM and Ford look as if they've finally pulled their head out. Ford actually has some very nice bread and butter cars now. And they are getting better all the time. The quality has gone way up also. Plus the fact that Ford is FINALLY going to leverage their EU division's expertise, I think they may make it. However, Chrysler is toast. Between a crappy product line and a bunch of union goons trying to bleed it even dryer (Ford and GM face the same challenge in the next couple of years) I don't hold out much hope. All of the "BIG 3" need to pull the hell out of Detroit and head south like the Asian and German companies have done.

Also, letting one of our largest manufacturing sections go under is not exactly a smart idea. Much like letting our intellectual capital (or our financial sector?! Can anyone say NASDAQ) be sold-off or out-sourced. But don't worry Martin, the government won't bail them out, they are the ones who want to sell the US to the highest bidder.

Oh, and please check the fuel figures of Toyota's trucks against the US trucks. They are just as gas guzzling. Toyota is NOT the end all and be all of (or greenie savior) of the car biz. But they do have a hell of a marketing and PR division. Look at all the moronic congressman and media types that by into their hype.

Now as far the CEO thing is concerned, I have to agree. Has anyone figured out yet the Golden Parachute age should be over?! Treat the CEOs like the employees, expendable...

Now lets all have a good gas guzzling, road hugging, engine screaming, Italian day!

 

Latest figures: (and I quote them out of my head so they may be off by a point or two)

GM loss 6%
Ford loss: 12%
Chrysler loss 7%

I think Chrysler was actually the one losing least.
Ford is a gonner. Their product line is too late too little and their bad decisions made will finally catch up to them. Their qualikty improved yes, it went from total crap to only crap. I just drive a Mustang rental for 3 days and....they need to go bankrupt. The sooner the better.

As for losing this part of the US economy, we would not because we still buy cars. There are skilled workers here that can build them and factories that can produce them along with suppliers that can supply. They would simply not be run as your typical US car manufacturer and their small thinking.

Toyota may not be the answer for everything but they grow at times when the rest is shrinking. That shows they are doing something right. Instead of lobbying the government to change laws they go and develop Hybrid Technology no matter what and win. GM lobbied to get rid of the electric car they produced and then crushed them to make sure nobody gets any benefit from their development. They buy the patent that would enable a battery to power such cars for a multiple of the current batteries but instead of using it they scrap the electric cars and sell the patent to Texaco. Like they need batteries....
That thinking, along with "if we can't sell cars becasue people want them, we simply give them incentives." is the reason why they are where they are. Beaten by the competition. True capitalismn.

 

I'd have to check also but I believe Ford and GM made money the last couple of quarters. Yes, I know, only the last couple, however, it is a start on the road to recovery. I've rented a 'stang also and did not have a problem with it. A buddy's wife had a 500 for a year as a company car and experienced no problems with it. I wish I could say the same for my BMW.

And Toyota has been lobbying just as hard to curb the new CAFE standards too. This I will give Toyota, they know how to work a room. They can have a bunch of recalls and still smell like a rose!

Plus, you are assuming the companies or lines will be picked up intact. Maybe, maybe not. But in a bigger picture type of thing, I don't think we should be dependent for all our needs in one sector on another country or countries. Hell, from a security stand-point along it isn't smart to give away a huge section of manufacturing capability.

I'd say our view points are so out of kilter that we would be clogging up the forum fighting back and forth. But, boy would this be fun in person!

 

I am always up for a good discussion Besides hijacking this thread completely....those numbers were the production numbers. Making money is an accountant fitment of numbers. Selling off assets and then including them in the positive of the statement is one of those CEO tricks they get paid the big bucks for. The real bottom line, nothing has changed in plus because the asset is gone. Also simply relinquishing a liability like a pension plan is another one of those CEO tricks. We get rid of a $10B liability and carry that into the plus side of our books...

Hey, I am sure one of these days we will get together for a nice discussion. I think we are not that far away from each other when it boils down.

 

Oh, that is easy. Martin was just spouting off his incorrect opinion and I had to correct him! ;-) (OK, how do you get the flipping imoticons pictures into the text!)

Hadn't thought about the liability/pension aspect, you may be correct. (I assume you mean the sale of Aston Martin) I think I ask about that one.

 

funny....

I remember driving by a plant somewhere and it said in big letters outside: "Ford Taurus is being built here" and all I could think of was: I would not put that in big bold letters but hide that fact from the world. I think there was a garbage dump right next to it as well....now that is where the sign: "Please dispose of your Ford Taurus here, if it makes it this far.." should have gone!

 

Good one! BTW, how do you embed the smiley faces?

 

A regular smile is ":" then ")"
A big smile is ":" then "D"
Or you can hit the quote button from someone else using the smileys and see what they types.


BT

 

Thanks. I've been putting the noses in all them. That is why they wouldn't work.



Hey, we're geeking now.

 

The perfect way to get back to the NASA thread
"We are geeking now"