American Dream

What is your definition of the "American Dream"?

I saw a lottery winner on tv the other day and he said "Now I can start living the American Dream."

Is the American Dream just to have a lot of money? Is it to have a big house and lots of cars and not working and just having things? Is Paris Hilton living the American Dream?

I grew up in a Middle Class home (single parent of 5), we had a house, a car, we never "wanted" for anything (except for non-necessaties just to keep up with the Fritz's). But I really think my mom had the American Dream. She was a hard working woman, who made her own way in the world, she saved her well earned money and invested in her future. She owned her own home, she raised her family (quite well, I might add), sent all of her children to parochial school and when she was ready, she was able to retire on her terms. After retirement she did quite a bit of travel both domestic and abroad.

The American Dream is what I think of when I think about what is going on with the Auto Industry right now. There are hundreds of thousands of folks trying to live the American Dream in Michigan, but for circumstances beyond their control, it may all come to an end.

I don't think of the Auto Industry going to the Government for a loan right now as a Bailout. It is a loan. It is not the first time it has happened.

From ProRublica:

In 1979 Chrysler suffered a loss of $1.1 billion. That year the corporation requested aid from the government. In 1980 the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act was passed, which provided $1.5 billion in loans to rescue Chrysler from insolvency. In addition, the government's aid was to be matched by U.S. and foreign banks.

By 1983, seven years earlier than the scheduled deadline, Chrysler had paid back its loan with the aid of the guarantees from the U.S. government. The corporation bought back the 14.4 million stock warrants. A security entitling the holder to buy a proportionate amount of stock at some specified future date at a specified price, usually one higher than current market. This "warrant" is then traded as a security, the price of which reflects the value of the underlying stock. Warrants are usually issued as a "sweetener" bundled with another class of security to enhance the marketability of the latter. Warrants are like call options, but with much longer time spans -- sometimes years. (Washington Post) given to the government in exchange for the loan guarantee. Because Chrysler's finances had improved and its stock had bounced back -- it reported $1.7 billion in profits for the second quarter of 1984 -- the government netted a profit of more than $660 million from its bailout investment.

Can anyone reading this say they have never needed a loan? A bailout if you will? Did you take out a loan to go to college? To buy your car? Your house? Shit happens and sometimes you need someone to come by and give you a hand.

Am I biased because my roots are in Detroit and in the Auto Industry. Possibly. Am I treating this completely differently than I thought of the Wall Street Bailout (or Rescue)? Yes I am. As far as I know at right this moment, the Big 3 have not sent their highly paid executives on a multi-million dollar retreat recently. Do I think the Wall Street Bailout could have been handled differently? Oh boy do I ever! I think instead of giving a hand out to the banks to loan out even more money, I think the Government should have made one payment on each of the outstanding loans. That would have helped Main Street and got Wall Street a little lift as well. Grassroots. That's where things begin, you have to start from the bottom and let things grow, not start from the top and let shit roll down hill.

Back to the Big 3. There are many reasons given why people are leery of buying American cars. Taj refuses, he thinks they are completely unreliable and will not last half as long as a Foreign made car. @GoDOTchris watched her Honda Civic reach 200,000 miles this week. That is quite a feat. But it happen in Ford's and Chevy's as well. When are we going to stop looking elsewhere, for the cheaper or better? And start finding a way to make cheaper and better here? This is not the first time an American industry has been threatened.

From Wiz Bang Blue:

The American television industry ran into similar problems as well with better and stronger and more innovative foreign competition from Japan, where American brands like Magnavox, Emerson, General Electric, RCA, Quasar and Zenith all failed. While RCA was purchased by an European company, Zenith continued as the final holdout in the American television industry until they owed so much money to a South Korean bank to finance their losses in business that they were taken over by the bank and became a South Korean brand, and no American television brands exist today.

Is that where we want to head with the Auto Industry? What is left in America that we manufacture? Are Levi's the sole holdout?

What do I think should happen with the Auto Industry, well, I don't know for certain. I know that whatever happens, there needs to be something that forces them into the 21 century here in the US. There are many more Hybrid and alternative fuel cars made by the Big 3 that are sold overseas. They need to bring them here. If there is a loan made, there need to be terms and concessions from both the Industry and the Unions.

When you have a family member in trouble, do you not rush to their aid? I do and I know my family does. And when you broaden your perspective aren't all Americans family?

Tell me what is your idea of the American Dream?

Added Wednesday after posting:
Before you get your panties in a bunch over the Ford CEO travelling to Washington in the company jet, chill your jets. On page 46 of the Ford 2008 Proxy Statement (from the shareholders meeting) it clearly states:

Perquisites and Other Benefits (page 46)

We provided certain perquisites and other benefits to senior management in 2007, the most significant of which are summarized below. The Committee periodically reviews our policies on officer perquisites.

Company Aircraft: During 2007, Mr. Mulally was required to use our aircraft for all business and personal air travel for security reasons. The family and guests of Mr. Mulally were allowed to accompany him on our aircraft. In addition, in order to ease the burden of Mr. Mulally moving to Southeast Michigan and away from his family in Seattle, Washington, the Compensation Committee clarified that his arrangement covers travel by his wife, children, and guests on Company aircraft for personal reasons without him at Company expense, at his request. Except for the Executive Chairman, no other executive is permitted to use our aircraft for personal reasons. In addition, for retention purposes the Company pays the costs, including first class commercial airfare, for personal travel for Mr. Fields to and from his home in Florida. The Company continues to provide tax relief as a result of the imputed income associated with Mr. Fields’ arrangement. We believe the cost to the Company in providing this relief is significantly outweighed by the security and retention benefits we receive.
The incremental cost for personal use of Company aircraft, including our valuation methodology for such use, isincluded in column (i) of the Summary Compensation Table on p. 50 and footnote 5 on pp. 51-52.

Best Laid Plans...........

Initially in this post I was going to compare and contrast the two Hybrid cars I drove over the last couple of months. The GM Malibu to and from BlogHer and the Ford Escape I used this past weekend.




To be fair it wouldn't be a true comparison as one is a mid-sized sedan and one is a CUV. The handling is different the ride is different the spatial environment is totally different. And most of all because of the vehicle types the mpg's are going to be different.



So I set out to just form my opinion on the Escape and give you the down low on that for a ride to and from Oakland Ca. an approximate 750 miles. Best laid plans............ (more on that later).




The car is delivered and was beautiful, I have never liked the color green much but this was a pretty “kiwi green” according to the person dropping it off (wonder if he liked the fresh baked cookies I gave him?). I didn't want my initial drive to be at 4am so I took Kiwi for a spin up to Burbank. I took the side streets there and the freeway back to try and gauge any difference in the handling and ride of the Hybrid. I was very impressed with both. Of course on such a short drive I couldn't properly average out the mpg.



At 4am the next morning, Adam, his friend Luis and I ventured out to the open road. The back back was spacious enough for our three bags and a cooler and we even experimented with putting half of the back seat down for easy access. Since Luis was the king of the back seat area the configuration was totally up to him. I asked him many times during the trip if he had enough leg room and such and he always replied yes. Since he is such a polite kid (what's up with teenagers these days?) I climbed back there myself to see if he was telling me the truth. He was. While I don't know that I would want to have someone else back there with me for a “road trip” it was fairly comfortable.



We made great time and mileage. Although I could have probably made it into the city before running low on gas, I didn't want to take the chance and filled up while we had breakfast. We ate at the Apricot Inn (or something like that), almost everything on the menu had apricots in or on it. The décor was fabulous tons and tons of old lunch boxes on the walls and matching thermos' in plexiglass dividers between booths.



The boys concert (Matches and Wombats were the two bands they most wanted to see) ended in the early evening so we opted to run up to San Francisco to hit a great record store Rasputins. Guess what running up to SF consists of? Yep that Damn Bridge again, ugh. Of course I did it and I didn't even cry this time. But coming back was on the lower level and very very freaky. Shopping for cheap cd's, hole in the wall pizza and a scare where I thought I was pick pocketed (Adam put my money in a different spot of my wallet) and some Cold Stone ice cream set us on the road again.



Luis and I wanted to find the “crookedest” street in SF. We were certain it was Lombard but the Sync took us only to parts that were straight. We drove around a lot. And all of it was at under 30 mph so for almost an hours worth of driving around on the hills of SF we used less than 1 gallon of gas. It was great. BTW we never did find that crooked street.



A nice relaxing night and some internet issues in the morning got us ready for a very yummy breakfast at the Marriott. Noon was check out time and also the opening time for the record stores in Berkeley so off we went. What a beautiful town. Walking up and down College and Telegraph where there were sidewalk sales and fun people watching. The boys shopped at Rasputins and Amoeba and then we were on the road again.



About an hour into our drive we are doing about 70 on the 580 just past Livermore CA and we start hearing a repetitive clicking noise. At first I thought it was Adams cell phone vibrating against the center console, but it was too loud and lasted too long, so I pulled over into a turn out.



Picture this if you will. Brown rolling hills, windmills and dead donkeys. Yes, that is all there was around us other than cars whizzing by at 70 mph. The boys get out and look to see if something is stuck in the tire but see nothing, so thinking whatever it was is now gone we get back in and start off again. Oooops nope, there's that noise again, pull over again. Thank goodness for turn outs.

I make a phone call to the Ford Reps from Page One and depending on who's side of the story you hear (and since this is my side that is the one you will hear), I calmly explained our predicament and requested assistance. (of course some of that calm may have included loud voices and mild hysterics but eh, there was a dead donkey nearby!) Long story short (too late for that) and the wonderful AAA guy Mike from Reed & Son Towing found us a Ford dealership to drop off poor Kiwi and deposited us at a Denny's to wait for a replacement car.

The replacement car was being arranged by Stuart from Page One who faced the brunt of my calmness throughout this entire ordeal and did a fabulous job of listening, empathizing and solving my problem. Awesome customer service.

The boys and I had a leisurely dinner and dessert at Dennys (which Page One picked up the tab for, thank you again) and 4 hours after the first noise was heard we were on the road again in our new 09 Mercury Mariner Hybrid.

The Mariner and the Escape are identical twins. Although the boys liked the comfort of the supple leather seats in the Escape as compared to the cloth seats of the Mariner.

Again on the ride home, good time and good mileage was had by all and we made it home just after midnight.

For the entire trip we averaged 27 mpg. Not a great number, but again a Hybrid is not meant for highway driving, so when you take into account that the cars are CUV's that mileage is pretty good.

As far as comfort and drivablility, I have one major complaint for both cars. I could not see out of the rearview mirror unless there was no one sitting there and I removed the headrests from the back seat. Thankfully the side mirrors were large and awesome, because that is all I used.

The navigation system (other than Lombard street, but to be fair, I didn't have an exact address) was great and the bluetooth ability was very handy in the SYNC. Although in neither car could we get the voice activation to work and the owner's manual said to see the SYNC manual which we didn't have.

What conclucions have I come to driving these three cars?
A. Hybrids are great for city drivers, not so much for highway
B. I am ready to move out of the “mommy” cars and into a sedan.
C. Whatever car I get next will definitely have satellite radio!

I have to give proper shout outs to Dan Smith of PCGCampbell, Stuart (I'm sorry I don't know your last name) from Page One Automotive and Jason Camp of Ford.

BTW the noise? Was due to some packaging material still on the drive train that started hitting against the heating vent with each revolution. Something completely harmless and insignificant. Thank goodness!

Saga I

I should have been updating all weekend instead of saving it til the end. When you mix my memory and my ability to procrastinate you get a lethal cocktail.

Thursday, July 17, 2008
I woke up late and was on the road by 7am. I made the decision to take the 5 and not think about the bridge on the way. I would cross that bridge when I came to it (Pun totally intended).

Getting in and out of the Malibu has been a slight problem for me. First of all it is a low sitting car and my knees do not care for that. The other is that being a person of stature (ok fine tall and fat, but stature sounds so much nicer) I usually have to put the seat as far back as possible in any car I drive. In the Malibu I didn’t have to go all the way back but I did have to put it pretty close. The seat being back that far actually puts it behind the door jam, so when entering and exiting, my hip bangs against it and I am now the proud owner of a beautiful purple and black bruise on my left hip. That is the only complaint I would have about that car.

Does everyones front passenger seat look like a techie threw up? Other than that the ride was wonderfully smooth. I am not completely certain of the actual gas mileage, I will figure that out on the ride home, but I can say I made it from Glendale to the hotel without running out of gas. (*now that I am home it looks like I averaged about 38mpg) I don’t see a close gas station so I hope I can make it a little farther when I leave.

I must admit the part of the Malibu that I was most pleased with (well, besides it being a free rental) was the XM radio. It was so nice to A: not have to search for a station; B: have so many great stations to choose from; and C: be able to do it all from the steering wheel. I listened to Robin Williams comedy act (uncensored) and kept switching between the 70’s and 80’s stations. I heard “The Streak”, “Spill the Wine” and “Convoy” within a one hour span of time. I almost called a sister. “Ethel! Ethel! Is that you Ethel? Put your clothes on Ethel!”

Traffic slowed down just over the halfway point so I pulled over for lunch hoping to wait out the traffic. Nope, an hour later they were all still sitting there. Seems somebody had the bright idea to put all the cars in one lane at some point down the road. Idiot! No worries, I have my XM to listen to.

Ok, ok, now to the part you all have been waiting for, I have begun to see signs that point me towards THE BRIDGE (dun dun dun)! At the first sight, my hands tighten on the steering wheel. My pulse races and my breathing is quickly catching up to my pulse. I can see the BRIDGE now and it is looming in front of me. It is not 10 lanes side by side as I had envisioned, but 5 lanes going one way. I maneuver my car to the middlest lane and just go trying to concentrate on keeping the eco light lit the entire time and gauging the distance via the On Star (Oh, did I forget to mention the On Star, yeah I used that for turn by turn navigation and it is so much better than a GPS system because mainly it breaks into the radio and announces you next move). Anywhoo, I made it and was very proud of myself. I immediately made the obligatory phone calls to those that would be proud of me and they dutifully were.

Upon arriving at the hotel there was a mix-up with the reservation (since I was a late addition to someone else’s room) but it soon was straightened out and I was happily ensconsed in a room that made Erika’s Chicago room look like a shelter, oh wait, nevermind it looked like a shelter before mine mocked it. After a quick relax and freshen I am whisked from my room by Erin (@QueenofSpain) and taken to socialize in the lobby. I so don’t socialize.

I did find my way to the momCentral party and picked up my first bag o’ schwag. BOOKS! Lot’s of them! I am such a material girl. I can’t approach someone I read everyday face to face, but stick a table of schwag in front of them and I can talk my head off. I head back upstairs to lighten my load and meet my room mate Karoli. We head out to the Newbie reception which is on the 32nd floor to which the only access is an outside elevator that shimmies and shakes. And did I mention the outside part?! Ugh. But hell, I did the Bridge I can do some stupid elevator. The intent (or so I thought) of this reception was to bring together a bunch of people who had never been there before and try to give them an orientation of sorts. I didn’t get that feeling from it at all. It was a bunch of people milling about. There was no facilitating, no orientating, no nothing, from what I saw. It was hot and crowded and loud so we each picked up a free drink and headed downstairs to The People’s Party. Guess what? It was hot and crowded and LOUD! But it had a great schwag bag and free drinks (alcohol is plentiful, water and diet soda not so much. More on that at Macy’s). A little networking and meeting of people was happening but really how can you network inside a frikkin’ woofer? It was way to loud for me and I headed back up to the room for a well deserved sleep after a very long day. Did I mention the Heavenly beds?

GM Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid

The Malibu has arrived! w00t! w00t!

Ain't she pretty? I'm calling her Brid, as in Hy Brid!

She is not only beautiful on the outside, but on the inside "where it counts".
This is her lovely Temperature Control Panel and her darling XM Radio and iPod outlet.

And would ya get a load of how trim and slim everything is, she definately takes good care of herself.

I'm taking her out on some errands so we can get to know each other a little before we "do the big deed" together tomorrow. Maybe I'll even buy her dinner first.

In one Week

In one week I will be here and I will be staying here and I will get there in this. ANd even she is excited about it



That's right I am all set for BlogHer now. I have a roommate (ty Karoli), I was going to carpool with Karoli and Suebob, but that would have meant me driving up to Ventura in my car and then taking off from there. So instead, GM is giving me a Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid to drive up to San Francisco. So far I am driving alone, but if someone from LA needs a ride, let me know. I have been reading up on all the blogs from previous attendees with their sage advice. I have created my own business cards, I have a sweater (they say it is cold in SF in July), and comfy shoes. I am bringing my laptop, the Westin has generously waived the wireless fee for all attendees and making it available throughtout the conference areas as well as the guest rooms, so I will keep in touch throughout. I will twitter when the car is not in motion and maybe even join bright kite (does anyone have an invite?).