97 F350

Neither does Russia. I on purpose left this plane out. First flight was what - three months ago? Still a very long way till deployment - if ever. Remember the Typhoon-class subs that were going to out-class everything. I think one might be in service still. Or the Buran - going to give the Soviet Union dominance in space. How's that going? Although that might come true now that we are deciding to not fly ourselves to space - but that is an entirely different discussion. Exactly. I think there are what 150-200 F-22's in service NOW. And if there was a threat to their superiority - given past history - they will be upgraded. Think how many F-15 and F-16 variants there are. The first F-16 can't hold a candle to the one produced now. Why would the US decide to sit still now on development?

Sound too much like the Ram "brand" that Chrysler is doing. Which completely smacks of desperation. And airplanes (I think) and lawnmowers. A neighbor around the block has an old Ford riding mower. I covet it so much!

So who pays for the damage? The manufacturer or the tester?

Think how much it would cost to police that long-a$$ border. Although if we did, maybe we could have kept Justin Beiber and Keanu Reeves out.

BINGO! First it was the Commies going to take over the world by force. (Anybody remember Red Dawn? WOLVERINES!) Then Japan Inc. going to buy the world (anybody remember when they bought Lincoln Center in NYC and Pebble Beach?) Then a few years later, everything was great again and housing prices were going to go up forever, the US was unstoppable, the Dow was going to hit 36,000. Now China is on the upswing. They have bought a few high profile companies. IBM's computers (never mind that it was a money losing division and IBM was glad to ditch it), Volvo - (See IBM), some natural resource companies and a lot of our IOU's. So a few guys who don't have a real job write a few hysterical books about the new end of the world as we know it and they are now the experts. Everybody reads them, panics, gets their knickers twisted up, and then in few years reality hits, China's flaws become exposed (there are plenty) and life still goes on. Meanwhile, the clowns who write this crap have already made there money, people will forget how wrong their predictions were and they will then write a sequel - Tata is taking over the World! And the hysteria will all start again. This paragraph alone is laughable. I have spent quite a bit of time in China. It is a big country with a lot of money. But it is also a grindingly poor country with a lot of papered over problems. There is a lot of unsustainable activity going on. Just like property here in the US - everybody was denying there was a problem until it blew up. China will not crash and burn, but there will be significant realignments coming. Then China will pick up the pieces and keep on chugging. Just like Japan, Great Britain, Germany, all the other large economies do. But "economic superiority" - where did this guy get his crack that he's smoking? If you believe the official numbers put out by the Communist Party, I have some Nevada beach from property to sell you. Everything is manipulated. And the "superior Russian aircraft developments" - more crack-smoking. We have both generation 4.5 and generation 5 fighters flying right now in service. No other country in the world has a higher than generation 4 fighter in service. I think Russia has a few prototype 4.5's flying - if it's more than a dozen in testing right now, I would be surprised. So for the US losing military and economic superiority to China within this decade - unless the movie 2012 happens only to North America - not a chance. And unless we as a nation do something even more stupid than the last decade of bubble-prosperity - I don't even see it happening this century. And it won't be China that overtakes us - they have way bigger demographic problems to worry about than we will ever face.

Why is M-B so desparate for a date? They shacked up with Chrysler, emptied the bank accounts and then kicked ditched then pimped them out to Cerberus. Somewhere in there they hooked up with Mitsubishi at the same time. Then came Mitsu's little set of scandals and M-B kicked them to the curb - I guess trying to keep up their "reputation". Now they are swapping spit - oops, equity, with Renault-Nissan who already have a long-term thing going on. It will be interesting to see how this plays out - the French don't like other folks moving in on their territory.

You had Jelly up until there. Might have to name it Cortina to get him to want it again.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-17/ford-bonds-rise-after-moody-s-boosts-corporate-debt-rating.html

I bet you could sell tickets for that.

What about Michael Jackson??? I LOVE Eskimo Pies!! :happy feet:

So would that mean the rebadge suceeded?

They'll find a Opel to rebadge for a (fill in target of the week)-killer.

That was Mitsubishi a few years back.

What about the ethical dilemmas of the Suburu WRX. Wasn't it around 300 HP? And what about the weight vs. any Mustang. Yet they were targeted directly at youth. (how many soccer moms are looking for hood scoops and big wings?) Where was the crying and moaning when they came out?

The only problem is what/how it gets reported. On the way in to work this morning, on the radio they were talking about the Toyota mess. And sequed (sp?) right in to the Ford brake update. The reporter even made a joke about maybe needing to be scared of all cars now. So it gets lumped in with the Toyota problem by the press even though it is totally different. In the environment right now - I don't think you want to get press of ANY kind of update/recall/fix. It all gets lumped in with the exploding Toyotas.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100204/ts_alt_afp/uscompanyautofordsafety Seems its more of a pre-emptive strike to fix the "feel" of the brakes vs. an actual safety problem. But it does go to show - no need to gloat TOO much over Toyota. Right now the press is smelling blood and any vehicle/maker could get caught up with the Toyota-chum.

I read an article the other day about where the NHTSA was looking at fining them. It said the largest previous fine in NHTSA's history was back in 2001 or so when it fined GM $1 million for a windshield wiper problem. Can you imagine if NHTSA gets pissed enough - they could nail them. Windshield wiper - meh - $1 million vs. Uncontrolled acceration and no brakes causing crashes that kill people - could be big $$$$$$'s.

Recall in .........3..............2..................1

So insteadof the Toyota Corolla being driven 45 mph in the fast lane, we will all be stuck behind Nano's now?

And English professors everywhere rejoice.

Saw another one in Mustang Monthly. The Iacocca Silver Edition or something like that. " I'll give them heroics. I'll give them the most spectacular heroics they've ever seen! And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so everyone can be superheroes! Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super, -- no one will be." - Syndrome

Don't know any to recommend in N.Houston, but don't go to Champion Ford in Katy. Used to take our Windstar there for service. It had the airbag light on (intermittant - but on most of the time) They never could find anything wrong with it they said. Don't think they tried too hard. Doesn't matter cause the van is gone now.

Interesting choice of words - confined. Isn't that list the bulk of all their vehicles sold?

Bingo. China has a middle class larger than the population of the U.S. While the wages aren't yet up to ours, cost of living is much cheaper there and their wages are increasing a lot faster. And they are buying junk like crazy. A lot of it is made there, but they also love imported stuff as it is a status symbol. Look at their auto market - bigger than ours now. And they are not all Nano's at $2500 a pop. I've been there three times in the last 5 years and the changes each time are mind-boggling. And their wages have already increased substantially. A lot of the factories in the south were closing due to not being to hire people at the low wages anymore - they had better offers. So the REALLY low wage manufacturing was already moving out of China to Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia etc.

I agree - once a guv-program gets started, it only going to grow indefinately. And the government also has a slight problem keeping funds segregated for their original purpose. (Social Security anyone?) I'm argueing more on a theoretical level - IF the money was truly segregated - then it would be a self-limiting program - as the sin taxes dried up - they would have to start cutting back. Of course that won't happen on many different levels - we all know how that will end up. I think joihan777's original post was more about taxing behaviors that cost $ - whether to the government or insurance companies. Raising $'s was a bonus that should be used to pay for the results of these behaviors. At least that's the way I read it. And sin taxes can be an effective tool - they have played a big part in the decline in smoking in this country - or in the vehicle buying habit in Europe (small, effecient, diesel). Much better than straight regulation - CAFE, illegal drugs. How's that working out for ya? :lol: