fmorriso

The stock market tries to anticipate 6-9 months ahead. It appears to me people invested in the market assumed an Obama victory and reacted according to what they believe (rightly or wrongly) will be a lot of anti-business, anti-job creation, punish achievers laws and tax policies passed by a Democrat-dominated federal government. Wall Street clearly doesn't believe President-elect Obama will govern from the middle given his past record of governing from the far left. Who was it that said: It is easier to believe that which has happened before will happen again (Obama governing from the far left) than to believe that which has never happened before (Obama governing from the middle) will happen for the very first time. Time will tell. I hope I'm wrong, for everyone sake.

The important thing to keep in mind is the motivation behind these ideas, not just the specifics of those ideas. There are people in this country who actually believe that by taking money from the rich (the ones who create jobs, invest in plants and equipment) in the form of higher taxes, the poor will feel better. Not that the poor will actually be better off in real terms of their daily lives, but that by sticking it to those rich bastards, the poor will feel better. Of course, this ignores the fact that when businesses are taxed at a higher rate they do one or more of the following: (1) raise the cost of the goods and services they offer to compensate for the higher taxes (2) reduce costs, which includes layoffs to compensate for the higher taxes or (3) go out of business because the higher taxes make it no longer cost effective to stay in business. Another motivation is the idea of controlling people by making more and more of them dependent upon one or more government programs through economic policies (which includes tax policies). The worst thing that can happen (in the minds of people who think this way) is to have people achieve economic success without the help of government. People who achieve success on their own can't be easily controlled, nor is there much prospect of luring their votes in elections. The last motivation is the idea of equal outcomes, not just equal opportunity. People of that mindset believe that achievers are to be punished by taking away some (a lot?) of the fruits of their sweat and labor and give it away to non-achievers. A good example of this can be seen in Cuba where everybody is equal - equally miserable. Attacks on private charity groups (especially religious ones) are part of the plan to make sure that all "charity" comes from the government. The problem the redistributors have with private charities is that there are the moral judgments that go along with such charity. In an era where traditionally abnormal ideas and behavior are increasingly pushed as normal while simultaneously pushing the notion that traditional values about lifestyle choices and family values are "intolerant", there is no room for private charity, so it is important to wipe it out wherever it exists. Notice any bell ringers from the Salvation Army in front of Target stores anymore? Another recent example is San Francisco vs. the Catholic church's adoption agency. The elected representatives of San Francisco could not stand the notion of the people of that adoption agency following their sincerely held (not to mention first amendment protected) religious views on adoption decisions, so they ended up shutting down the agency for all intents and purposes. Attacking the Boy Scouts because they have the audacity to actually believe in God and expect their Scout masters and members to do likewise is also a favorite pastime. Living one's values in public, especially ones based upon traditional religious values concerning lifestyle choices and the notion of what constitutes a marriage makes you the latest target of people who ironically claim to be "tolerant". In conclusion, once you understand some of the core beliefs of Mr. Obama and those who support him, you can understand why they would propose ideas like the ones that could affect your 401(k). The people who do this are not bad, nor are they evil. They are just misguided. They want us to ignore the history of actual results of their ideas and instead, focus on the good intentions behind those ideas.

I believe there are two ideas that Mr. Obama is listening to, although no firm plans have been announced: Eliminate the tax deductability of contributions to a 401(k), because the government is losing an estimated 80 billion dollars a year (notice the assumption is that all money belongs to the government, not the person who sweated and toiled to earn it). Eliminate the 401(k) completely by folding it into Social Security (with the restore to August 2008 level), which as was pointed out, is a worthless(?) pile of IOU's because the money was used to mask the true size of the federal deficit. Seems like a case of pouring good money in after bad. It's also about "control". If you and I are somehow able to fend for ourselves, that's fewer people that the federal government can control. By preventing people from becoming financially independent during their retirement years, the socicalists believe they can keep more and more people dependent upon the central government and thus insure votes for the party that perpetuates that concept as a central part of their governing philosophy. Hopefully, fiscal conservatives of both parties and the two independent senators will resist this latest money/power grab by the federal government.

I realize that a technical definition of what constitutes a recession means little to someone who recently lost a job or a house, but here goes anyway: Recession - a decline in GDP for two or more consecutive quarters. The second quarter of 2008 saw real GDP increase over the first quarter at an annualized rate of 2.8%. The third quarter of 2008 saw real GDP decrease from the second quarter at an annualized rate of 0.3%. If the fourth quarter sees another decline in real GDP, then we will technically be in a recession that began during the Bush administration. I hope that doesn't happen, not to protect the current president, but for what it would do to ordinary men and women. Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis.

I prefer the one about how Obama Promises To Stop America's Shitty Jobs From Going Overseas because it includes a factory worker who lost his job of screwing seats onto riding lawn mowers when it was outsourced overseas.

I purchased the Husky cargo liner (23143 - Tan) from a local truck parts shop for my white suede 2009 FEHL and it fits perfectly after it relaxed. If you have a hybrid, make sure you get the 2314 series (last digit is the color where 1 = black, 2 = grey, 3 = tan). The non-hybrid series is 2316 (plus extra digit for color, same as the hybrid).

I hear you on the price of gasoline. The attached PDF shows what's been happening to gas at the local Costco where I live in the Virginia suburbs of DC. You have to go back to late 2006 to early 2007 to see prices as low as they are now. What's striking is how fast it has dropped since the beginning of October. Normally, it goes up a lot faster than it comes down (if it ever does). This time, it's like it fell off a cliff. We can all take solace in knowing we drive a fine American vehicle made by fine Americans. Gasoline_Price_History.pdf

With all the great electronics in the Nav system to get used to, I didn't realize there is a way to turn off those sensors. Let me do some more reading in the owner's manual to see how it's done. If it's an easy toggle-type of switch vs. a complicated drill-down through five screens to find it, then you may be on to a great suggestion.

Thanks. I guess duct tape won't work either ..... for the sensors, not the wife.

I have a two car garage with two separate doors. After opening the door on my side, when I put my 2009 FEHL into Reverse, but before the vehicle even begins moving, the sensors immediately begin chirping their warning signal. They continue chirping until the rear bumper clears the door opening. Is there a way to "detune" just the outer pair of sensors to make them not do this? I realize that there's going to be a trade-off that could result in a parking lot fender bender from those detuned sensors, but my wife refuses to drive the vehicle because of this "feature". Oh wait a minute, maybe that's not so bad after all. :happy feet:

Sirius was already working on my 2009 FEHL when I took delivery on October 21rst. I don't know if the resident Sirius/Sync expert at the dealer turned it on or if it came that way from the factory. All I did was change the presets. I listened to Steelers-Giants football game today on the way back from Warrenton, VA. It cut out a few times for about 20 seconds, but otherwise was clear. The same Sirius/Sync expert paired my bluetooth cell phone with Sync and made it the "favorite" the night I took delivery of the vehicle.

Thanks. I found one that is velcro based at Top Of The Line Motoring and Travel Accessories.

I'm looking for advice on cargo organizer "systems" for the floor of the back of my 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid Limited. I'm looking for a system with removable, adjustable anchor points that can lock down the containers to keep them from sliding around. The ones in the back of the Ford brochure and the few I've found on the internet specifically exclude the hybrid editions. I'm going to take a SWAG that it has to do with the fact that a set of 330V batteries sit just underneath the cargo floor and that such "systems" might compromise the heating/cooling dynamics of those batteries.

After test driving a 2008 FEH in March, I said my good byes to the dealer and then quietly wandered around the lot in areas where there were no salespeople, looking for any Ford vehicle with a window sticker that said the exterior color was White Suede. It didn't take me long to find a big honkin' 2008 Ford Expedition with that color listed on the window sticker (and a couple of Fusions, I think), so I knew in advance what that color would look like. Same thing for Ice Blue. Anybody curious why there are two "Black" colors and no "Red" (Torch Red, anyone?) color available for the hybrid models? Did the paint inventory guy mess up and order too much of one color and not enough of the other? Not all that important. Right up there with when did the first human decide to pry open a clam and eat the insides. Self-inflicted inserted.

It is terrific. The folks at KCAP did a great job of building it. Six pictures I took of it can be seen at 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid Limited 4WD

Ask your dealer to tap into the Ford Vehicle Visibility/Tracking System and send you the output in an email. I've uploaded a PDF with example output from the system near the end of the six months (April 21 to October 21) that it took to order and receive my 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid Limited. Once that report showed a rail car number on it (for those that go by rail - not all do), I was then able to track the rail car progress from Kansas City, MO to its final destination, Jessup, Maryland via a toll-free, voice-activated system. I was amazed that Norfolk Southern's tracking system was updated pretty close to real time. I would have been OK with a once a day update. There was no visibility for the short time period after the train arrived in Jessup, the vehicle was being unloaded from the rail car, loaded onto a car carrier and transported to the dealer (with stops at other dealers along the way, no doubt). I waited for a call from the dealer to come pick up my vehicle, which lasted from a Friday (rail car arrived at final rail destination) to the following Tuesday (when I picked up the vehicle). Hopefully, someday, Ford will provide the type of system you described. If Norfolk Southern can provide us a way to track something as huge as a rail car in near real-time, one can hope that Ford (and the other auto makers) will find an affordable way to let buyers use a self-service web portal to track their vehicle from the point it enters the system (Order Receipt Date) to delivery date. Dealers will want to have a say in what is/is not shown on such a system, especially if Ford is smart enough to write one web portal that provides information to both dealers and consumers rather than create two separate systems. For example, I could see such a system providing dealers with access to all their vehicle orders vs. consumer access to a single vehicle. Then there is the usual question of security, which can be thought of as an "opportunity" more than a "problem" if the consumer has to get an access PIN (not a VIN, which doesn't exist initially) from the dealer to access the tracking system. That way, the dealers don't feel like they're being bypassed completely, replaced by the thing they probably fear the most: "direct ordering". Keep in mind the cost of providing such a system will be reflected in the price of Ford vehicles, just like Norfolk Southern rail road and overnight delivery services like DHL, FedEx and UPS no doubt factor the cost of providing their online tracking systems into the price they charge for their services. From what I've read and been told by others, if competitive pressures mean squeezing every penny of cost out of the production of vehicles, I would have to believe the per vehicle cost of providing an online vehicle tracking system would be at the top of the list of things to cut out to keep Ford productive. It all boils down to return on investment. If Ford doesn't believe they can attract more customers by providing such a system, it won't happen. Ford_Vehicle_Tracking_System_Update_Example.pdf

I had a nearly identical experience with my 2009 FEHL 4WD: Receipt Date: 4/21/2008 Serialize Date: 8/14/2008 Segment Date: 8/14/2008 Sequence Date: 8/28/2008 Blend Date: 9/4/2008 Produced Date: 9/10/2008 Gate Release Date: 9/15/2008 Ship Date: 9/15/2008 Arrival Date: 10/20/2008 Sold Date: 10/21/2008 Six months to the day, almost identical to your experience.

Here's my final post (<<insert mp3 sound of wild cheering by my many detractors here>>) for this thread: The vehicle arrived at the dealer the evening of October 20. I picked up the vehicle tonight, October 21, exactly six months to the day from when I ordered it. The dealer completely caved on the price. :hyper: He admitted they were going to file the price protection claim and pocket the difference until they received a phone call from the Virginia Attorney General's office suggesting that might not be in the best interest of the dealer. Special thanks to AG Robert F. McDonnell (actually, it was probably one of his assistants that provided the necessary "persuasion"). The dealer offered (but I declined) employee pricing on the extended warranty, worth about $700. The finance guy beat my credit union by a couple tenths of a percent on financing, which saved about $100 in interest over the life of the loan. Unfortunately for one of my more vocal detractors, the vehicle failed to catch on fire on the drive home as he had hoped and therefore, nobody died. I hope this one victory will provide others with the courage to show a little backbone in the face of adversity, even when many tell you it's impossible to win, or you should back off and take your (financial) beating rather than fight back, or that you are just plain crazy for even trying. Don't give others the power to control what you say, think or do. Never give up. Never surrender. Happy motoring.

And may God bless you too.

They are welcome to discuss their concerns here or over in their own employee-only forum. My issues are not with Ford assembly line employees. Specifically, the ones at KCAP are to be congratulated for building quality vehicles that Americans want. I'm going to make a guess Ford assembly line employees are more concerned about how many of us are buying Ford products so they can stay employed than what one customer says in this section of the forum about a dealer. You are correct in one sense. Once I take delivery of the vehicle, this thread ends. FYI: today is the 6-month "anniversary" of when I placed the vehicle order.

Price Level=915. If I read Ice-Capades' many posts on price level codes correctly, the post-August 1 price level would be 920, which is not the case for my 4/21/2008 order.

It's real simple. Just don't visit this topic if it upsets you so much. While it's certainly your right to do so, nobody is forcing you to complain about me and future imaginary issues that don't even exist.

Yes.

Congratulations and I do hope you mean "cruising", not "cursing" in your new vehicle. I think you mentally were thinking of "cursing" me and got so excited your fingers got a little ahead of your thought process.

Did you notice that Norfolk Southern railroad already has a toll free number to track railcars? Once I had the value of the rail car carrying my vehicle, it was self-service all the way without needing to take a salesperson away from selling cars, his/her main function. The service was completely automated using voice recognition software. That tracking service is included in the price Norfolk Southern charges Ford and others for shipping which is in turn passed along to consumers. It's not free by any stretch of the imagination, nor should it be. FedEx, DHL, and UPS provide similar consumer-oriented tracking systems. It’s time for Ford to join the 21rst century like everyone else by providing an open, transparent ordering process, even if current franchise laws means keeping the dealer in the transaction loop.