(no subject)

[rain_gryphon]

How badly does it suck to live in Zimbabwe? The BBC decided to find out. Under Ian Smith's government that country fed much of sub-Saharan Africa. Now they can't even feed themselves and there's not enough economic activity to calculate inflation anymore.

I love the line: "Government officials are denying claims that at least 20 people in the past fortnight have died from starvation in Masvingo province, saying the figures are exaggerated." It's like something from 'Yes, Minister'.

What amazes me is that the people haven't staked Mugabe out to an anthill. About half of modern Zimbabwe is what used to be Matabeleland. A century ago, the Matabele were anything but a patient and long-suffering people. I keep waiting for them to go berserk.

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Meijer's now has Mexican candles, the tall glass cylinders with religious pictures on the outside. Most are about what you'd expect: Jesus and Mary and the various saints, common and obscure. Two of them freaked me out, though. Both are 'Good Luck' candles, which look (at least to me) like something one might expect to find in a voodoo practitioner's home. Both are covered with a variety of symbols, numbers, etc. Whatever they are, they're most assuredly not Christian.

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It appears that the Senate is now our last line of defense against the Detroit bailout. I hope they manage to stop it. The industry (including the union) is absolutely incapable of reform from the inside - nothing is going to help short of having a Chapter 11 judge impose non-negotiable reform upon them. The fact that they're claiming that no-one would want to buy a car from a bankrupt company shows that they haven't learned a single thing from their troubles. They still think people buy cars to define themselves, rather than as practical vehicles. That's why they're bankrupt, and the Asian companies aren't.

Edit: Mitch McConnell says it best, ""We will not let taxpayers spend their hard-earned money on ailing carmakers unless these companies are forced to reform their bad habits—either inside or outside of bankruptcy, This means that workers won't be paid not to work. This means a final bill would not interfere with pending environmental lawsuits in a one-sided manner. And it means that struggling car companies will have to rationalize their cost structures—because a company that does not respond to market conditions is a company that is doomed to failure anyway."

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Wal-Mart's going to be selling iPhones. I'm sure the adherents of the Apple religion are horrified.

Comments

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

What I don't understand about the carmakers is that at least two of them (Chrysler a bit less so) have huge European operations. Ford in particular has a hugely successful European arm, which consistently produces cars that win design awards and top the sales charts. Yet their American parent companies don't seem to look at this.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

There's an obsession among American car companies with image. Their commercials aren't even about the cars they're selling anymore - they're filled with images of cars from the 40s and 50s.

[maxgoof.livejournal.com]

What amazes me is that every single country in Africa which had racist rule and has eliminated it, has suffered as a result. This isn't to say that racist rule was good, only that eliminating it did not make it better, as promised. Quite the contrary.

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I always thought of those candles as Catholic candles.

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You have seen the fake ad that says, "You wouldn't buy our cars, so, we're taking your money, anyway." Yes?

[xolo.livejournal.com]

What amazes me is that every single country in Africa which had racist rule and has eliminated it, has suffered as a result.

Nigeria and Kenya did quite well after their independence, and a lot of other east African countries only slightly less well, It's only recently that the black hole of the Congo has started to drag them in. I think the important factor is whether or not violence was responsible for independence. In the Belgian Congo, and also in Rhodesia, it was. Those are the two cancers that are destroying Africa, primarily because their governments were and are composed of revolutionaries rather than bureaucrats. Had it not been for the Congo being prematurely made independent, I think Africa would be a reasonably prosperous place today. You can see the same phenomenon at work in the Gaza.


I always thought of those candles as Catholic candles.

Most Mexicans are Catholic. They're pretty plainly Mexican, with their text in Spanish. Also, they're displayed in the Mexican food aisle.

I've seen the ad that Ford runs, in all seriousness, about how with their 'employee pricing' scam, "you pay what we pay!" Except that we have to pay $14G, whether we want a car or not.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I thought the idea was that people wouldn't want to buy cars from a bankrupt company because parts and service would be impossible to get once the company went away.

The service could be replaced by private mechanics, most likely (although that's not easy -- most private mechanics are no-talent thieving scammers) but the parts could be a real killer.

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

I don't see why, really. MG Rover, a much smaller company than any of the US Big Three, went bust several years ago, and parts for those cars aren't particularly hard to find.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Bankruptcy doesn't mean the company will go away. It means it'll be reorganized. That's what both the UAW and the Big Three are hoping to avoid. A Chapter 11 will mean the end of million dollar bonuses and private jets for the executives, and the end of making $30 an hour doing unskilled labour for the union.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

From what I've read, that's not likely to be true for the automakers -- most big companies that have gone into bankruptcy since the credit crisis have ended up being sold for parts, and even a moderate loss of consumer confidence further eroding their sales would make sure the same thing happened for them.

The optimistic analysis I saw was that their suppliers would be able to retool quickly to serve other manufacturers, so it'd only be the people directly working for the auto companies who'd be out of work, and not a huge vertical chunk of the entire industry.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Since they're not getting bailed out, I hope you're right, though.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I hope I'll have the chance to see. That scoundrel W's talking about giving them money now...