[URL]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27571540/[/URL]

2 pages to copy paste so im just linking

UAW and Auto exec's meet with the single most incompetent member of gov't not named barney frank.(pelosi) so see what they can get to survive

umm how bout saying this to the UAW ppl

1. either you can all have jobs at lower wages or you can shaft each other and take the high pay,
2. try competing and offering higher quality, better fuel
3. to the exec's. think about trying to lure some asain or german car designers over here
4. your plants are capable of producing something other than 18mpg trucks right?

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

let em fail.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

Don't you love how the entire American economy hinges on cars? And many of our problems are because of them?

economy:

• oil industry: pipelines, tankers, refineries, trucks, gas stations
• manufacturers: factories, dealerships, advertising, logistics
• infrastructure: roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, drainage, signs, lights, tolls
• auto maintenance: repair, auto body, car washes, auto glass, auto detailing, car stereo
• trucking industry: trucks, depots, truck stops, weighing stations
• administration: licenses, inspection, driver ed, permits

problems:

• war over oil
• pollution
• suburban sprawl
• noise
• increased pressure on the police because of: auto accidents, auto theft, road rage, drunk driving, parking violations

Can we please get rid of automobiles entirely? Fuck you Henry Ford!!

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

^ i hope you're being sarcastic.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

not at all.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

I would argue that the invention of cars have had the most positive impact on the civilization of mankind than that of any other product you could possibly name, except for the internet and the birth control pill.

I'm a little disturbed that you think the car is, well, an evil thing.

That you attribute all of those 'problems' to the car is laughable. Utterly, uniquely, and absurdly laughable.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

[quote=88Mariner;673472]I would argue that the invention of cars have had the most positive impact on the civilization of mankind than that of any other product you could possibly name, except for the internet and the birth control pill.

.[/quote]

different conversation, but its refirdgeration. think about it. food, travel, hell cars dont work without it, shipping, computers, everything, even the machines that drill, process and filter oil need to be cooled.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

You know you are fucked when its Pelosi trying to figure out how to save it.

Sightless said it best "your plants are capable of producing something other than 18mpg trucks right?"

Most of these companies dont get with the times. They were all in trouble well before the recent market crash.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

[QUOTE=88Mariner;673472]I would argue that the invention of cars have had the most positive impact on the civilization of mankind than that of any other product you could possibly name, except for the internet and the birth control pill.

I'm a little disturbed that you think the car is, well, an evil thing.

That you attribute all of those 'problems' to the car is laughable. Utterly, uniquely, and absurdly laughable.[/QUOTE]

I'm sorry to tell you the truth but those problems directly stem from the foundational position that automobiles hold in our economy, not to mention our imaginations.

And the fact that you find it laughable is sad. I will not say that you are hopelessly tied to your ownership of a vehicle, but it seems like you're pointing in that direction.

I'm not saying cars are a bad thing. I was exaggerating and being a little facetious that I wanted to get rid of them entirely. However, their overwhelming domination of the US economy and transportation mindset has resulted in extremely unhealthy developments, many of which I've just listed. Besides the obvious resource conflicts and environmental hazards caused by cars--which should be enough to get people's attention--there is the issue of sprawl.

Sprawl is the development pattern that results from widespread automobile ownership. That, and a greedy developer mindset, turns the whole country into this:

[IMG]http://www.socnw.org/seatac1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.wolvgroup.com/images/projects/proj_cascade_retailmall.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Wal-Mart_in_Madison_Heights.jpg/800px-Wal-Mart_in_Madison_Heights.jpg[/IMG]

I don't want to live in these types of places.

If we had developed the country with rail systems and had stuck to smaller centralized communities, such as in Europe, we'd be better off.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

then go live in a feckin cave and return to the primitive. leave the rest of us alone?

smaller centralized communities? whatever dude. i shouldn't even be responding to you you're comments are so laughable, so take what i'm saying here as a bonus.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

if businesses cant adapt to their changing market, they should fail, end of story.

if they get a bailout, they will continue to run through that cash in a matter of months and we will be back to where we are now... running low on cash and looking for a handout again.

its sad that politicians are even having meetings with them.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

the greatest invention of all time is antiseptics, the whole sanitation thing. joseph lister 1895, before antiseptics there was no sanitation, especially in medicine. the best thing about soap is that it's the only thing on earth that can never get dirty. no matter what crap you throw on it, it always rubs off.

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

where's the love for sliced bread? I thought that was the gold standard for great innovations?

:not me:

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

[QUOTE=88Mariner;673693]then go live in a feckin cave and return to the primitive. leave the rest of us alone?

smaller centralized communities? whatever dude. i shouldn't even be responding to you you're comments are so laughable, so take what i'm saying here as a bonus.[/QUOTE]

I'm hitting a nerve I can tell. :) First, your defense misconstrues my position. Second, you're saying that the only alternative to our current development strategy is Luddism. Please, hold on and consider this argument, don't get carried away by emotion. Have you stopped and considered American development at all? Do you like nature?

Re: i would love to be in this meeting.

I would describe our current, all-out-greed development strategy quite primitive, don't you agree?