Chrysler Ownership/bankruptcy

Chrysler filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and now the fun begins. Why it took so long for us to get to this point is beyond me. I mean really, who in their right mind thought Chrysler could avoid bankruptcy?

So, the details are a little fuzzy to me but this is what I think is happening. There is going to be a cooperative ownership between Fiat (an Italian company), the US government, and the Canadian government. I'm in the process of looking into whether this is unprecedented or not and will update later.

All very interesting stuff.

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Classic News...

Via CNN.com

"Number of Confirmed H1N1 Cases Soars"

"Emergency Rooms hit With Fu Hysteria"

"Number of H1N1 cases Jump to 615"

Compare these headlines, all found Saturday morning to this simple, and much more reliable source, Reuters.com

"Mexico Sees Flu Stabilizing, but World on Guard"

And then today on Monday CNN posts these two headlines on the front page of cnn.com

"Mexico lowers swine flu alert level"

And

"Hysteria over the swine flu is the REAL deal"

Contradictory headlines?!?!? Hurray CNN!

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Pooh and the Swine Flu

Found on digg.com via http://www.city.com/forums/topic271_post471.html#471

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GM's sales Plummet but Headlines turn it into a Positive

Ford announced today a larger than expected drop in its April sales. Sales were down over 30 percent. GM's sales also dropped over 30 percent but CNN's website has a headline that reads, "GM Posts Better-Than-Expected Sales." Is this an insane headline for a 30 percent sales decline or is it just me. Sure it was projected that sales would drop more than 35 percent but that shouldn't justify a celebration. Let's inflate our projections so we can beat it every time! It's a full proof plan until you run out of money...oh wait, GM ran out of money months ago. Major changes need to take place within the auto industry. They need to reevaluate their business model to align it with the future US and global market. GM's US auto sales will not return to the 2007 peak of 15.1 million units. Many experts predict sustainable auto sales for GM will be around 11 to 12 million units. Plants need to be closed, dealerships need to be closed, and advertising needs to become more aligned with the new sales numbers, revenue and profits. GM's US sales are expected to be around 8 million units this year. Here's where the real rant begins....i've been thinking about this for a couple days now. If GM or any company for that matter has become too big that they can not handle an economic downturn, no matter how big or unseen it is, isn't it part of the price they pay for being that big? Put another way, when a company becomes huge it benefits from economies of scale, better credit terms that smaller companies don't get to enjoy. On the other hand, a smaller company benefits from the fact that it is nimble enough to cut costs quickly or contain debt exposure easier or even change the product line quickly to meet the changing market needs. So, with this being said, why is the government (ie. you and me) paying for a behemoth of a company to stay afloat when we didn't see any of the real benefits of it's size (Japan made more reliable and cheaper cars for years).

I had an economics teacher once tell me that one of the US's most powerful economic tools is our labor forces mobility along with our ability to retrain and integrate our workforce into new fields of work. The old idea of a single job for your entire life is a distant memory. Today, the average person spends only 4 years at a job. Compare this to Greece where they spend an average of 13 years at a single job. With this being said, why is there such a fear that we won't be able to integrate the thousands or even tens of thousands that would lose their jobs with a GM bankruptcy?

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2 Opinions, 1 Product

I had the same simple conversation with two different friends this week about cell phones, "Do you like your phone?"

One of them had the relatively new Blackberry Storm; you know, Blackberry's self proclaimed iphone killer with the gimmicky touch screen you can actually press. He couldn't stop complaining about the software glitches and lack of applications. He said it was slow and unresponsive and that he was going to get the iphone.

Here's what makes this interesting. The other friend has the iphone and complained about the same things minus the lack of applications. He was fed up with the software bugs and overall unreliability of the phone. Cell service reception was another one of his complaints. He claimed that he is getting rid of his iphone and going back to the Blackberry.

2 people with completely opposite opinions of the phone.

I personally have the iphone and love it. I can't get to a stop light or check out line without checking email or reading the news. It's like having a mini computer in my hands. I even take notes of random thought for blog posts.

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The Most Interesting Man In the World

Dos Equis has an interesting ad campaign featuring a man they call, "The Most Interesting Man in the World." The ad campaign was created by Euro RSCG/New York and I find them brilliant for one main reason. The self proclaimed most interesting person in the world is a figment of Dos Equis' imagination. There's no real person and therefore they don't need to pay an absorbent amount of money for the actor (Imagine how much the actual most interesting person in the world wold cost! $$$$). Think about it...Gatorade pays millions for Michael Jordan to sponsor their drinks. There's a Gillette Mach 3 commercial with Tiger Woods, Roger Federrer AND Derek Jeter. Just imagine the cost associated with that getting those three athletes together. This is why I find the "Most Interesting man in The World" campaign so brilliant. They have created the aura of an important person from nothing....Plus the writing is pretty clever too. Here are some examples:

"His Shirts Never Wrinkle"

"He is left handed AND right handed"

"He has never lost a sock"

"Even if he forgets to put postage on his mail, it still gets there"

"His blood smell like calogne"

And possibly my favorite...

"He once punched a magician. That's right, you heard me."

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Get out of Work Free Card

I'm pretty sure the Swine Flu is turning into the ultimate get out of jail and go directly home, do not pass go but still collect $200 (paid vacation time). Now is the time to sneeze or cough at work and tell your boss that you are feeling under the weather. You might want to set it up a couple days in advance but that's up to you. Citigroup professionally disinfected it's NY office after an employee reported flu like symptoms. All I'm saying is that one man's (or world's) problem can turn into your advantage.

Let's just keep this all in perspective. Over 36,000 people die a year in the US from the flu. I'm going to hold off on the panic button until there is a legitimate death in the U.S. from the swine flu (I'm a big fan of the name). The news agencies were looking for any way to sensationalize and spread panic and fear. After all, fear sells papers (and the newspapers need all the help they can get at this point - (Internal meetings...BRING ON THE SWINE FLU!) The only death from the swine flu in the US was a Mexican boy visiting relatives in Texas. Call me when a 26 year old from Colorado dies (was that too cynical?)

My classic plan if shit really hits the fan is to move the the Caribbean. Just thinking about the perfectly white sand beaches and crystal clear water with colorful fish puts a smile on my face. It's hard to find someone who lives there that isn't happy and willing to chat. So I'm expanding my reasons for packing up my stuff and moving to include a worldwide swine flu pandemic. I'm not crazy enough to leave for a couple 100 measly deaths. I'm talking about a million plus deaths. This isn't completely unrealistic. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic wiped out over 20 percent (a conservative estimate) of the worlds population. Put into perspective, 20 percent of the worlds population is over 1.3 billion people. And the flue wasn't just a European problem. Over 600,000 people in America died. So, with that being said I certainly hope that the swine flu doesn't become a serious pandemic BUT in the event that it does, I'm out of here. Carribean/British Virgin Islands...(maybe Virgin Gorda in particular) Here I COME.

P.S. Thanks Pat and Matt for calling me out on the lack of posts! I needed it.

Update: 4/30/2009 2 confirmed cases in Colorado were reported - i'm starting to pack my bags.

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