Are you ready for a stark new future?

[daves87rs]

My stance is, customers will demand better fuel efficiency on their own. We do not need CAFE. Technology like diesel, and renewable fuels are the real answer... NOT picking an arbitrary average fuel economy mandate.

I agree with you ocn...

I really like the ideas floating around in this thread....

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Yes, yes I do.

I agree...

I don't live extravagant in any other way and I will ALWAYS have the option to drive a V8 until they take mine away. And the only way they'll do that is with guns and my termination.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I agree: scrap the CAFE laws and raise oil taxes up to 'European' levels. At $8 a gallon, everyone can buy and drive what they want. Congress can use the tax bonanza to plow into alternate fuel technology.

And destroy the economy.

Look, we will adapt. I ranted and raved against the mandatory seatbelt laws 20 years ago. Now, I wouldn't dream of driving a car without a 3 point belt. People do change. Change is good.

I've had a lot of change in my life and NEVER has it made my life better. ESPECIALLY when the change is forced instead of voluntary. If anything, that just makes people fight it more.

Every time I watch a program about the growing colossus, called China, my skin begins to crawl. We are like the Titanic, careening toward the inevitable iceberg, yet we are whining about our 'right to do this' and our 'right to do that.'

Why the hell should I 'reform' my life because China is too dumb to see the future. I'm so tired of my country having to whore itself out because of other countries actions. Here's a novel idea: Why doesn't CHINA change it's actions instead of us sacrificing what little freedom and pride we have left? As an american (yeah, right, to hell with this country) I'm so tired of being THE ENEMY, yet responsible for making sure the world doesn't destroy itself. Know what? It's gonna happen anyway!

Kiss good bye the ozone layer by the time that happens. As the 'richest' economies on the planet, our countries (Canada and the U.S.) need to start leading by example, or our children (well, YOUR children) will be scrounging for roots and bark.

1) Yes, we should lead by example... We should take the intelligence and creativity we had not even 20 years ago and show the world that we can once again pull our country together and INNOVATE. Show the world that ANYTHING can be possible if you have the will and talent.

By REGULATING this and sacrificing THAT (for the good of the people---BULL$h!, for the good of the wealthy is how that should read) we are leading by example... IF we were the Soviets. But, then again, this kind of leadership should come natural to COMMUNIST China.

2) This is going to sound bad, but I don't plan on having children and I don't really care about anyone elses children... THAT'S PART OF THE PROBLEM; people can't keep it in there damn pants and feel that it is their 'right' to continue to over populate the world. The planet will not sustain all of these souls forever and that point is closer than we think IMO.

Edited December 29, 2007 by FUTURE_OF_GM

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Decades from now, when we look back on the hysteria surrounding anthropogenic CO2 as the supposed cause of climate change, everyone will wonder how the vast majority (86%) of American’s were duped into believing this stuff.

Remember how everyone here whined about my rants on the power of the media to shape the ignorant consumer...

This is exactly what I was talking about. People believe anything they read, because they are too lazy to research the facts and the corrupt media plays to whatever source pays the highest price.

[Oracle of Delphi]

When it comes to GM, the worst enemy comes from within.

Now who would you be referring to here?

[ocnblu]

Based on what we know so far... Carl-Peter Forster and those who resist Bob Lutz.

[ocnblu]

Here's a snippet from an interview of Carl-Peter Forster on SAAB:

Is Saab making a worthwhile contribution to GM?

"In Europe it’s making a worthwhile contribution although shipping cars to the US from Europe is a difficult business. We believe Saab has potential. It needs a greater product line, which we are working on."

HEY... Carl-Peter... what is your problem with Pontiac and Buick? You'd hold onto SAAB, with its TINY worldwide volume, yet you want to KILL two great GM brands with worlds of history and future potential here in the US? You want to ship Buick out of its home base, the USA, and off to China.. .and you want to outright KILL Pontiac. Your plan SUCKS, Mr. Forster. You need to go to school and learn something about OUR country before you come over here and kill anything!

[CARBIZ]

Remember how everyone here whined about my rants on the power of the media to shape the ignorant consumer...

This is exactly what I was talking about. People believe anything they read, because they are too lazy to research the facts and the corrupt media plays to whatever source pays the highest price.

Call it propoganda or call it education, but we do need to change our ways. People will not 'keep it in their pants.' I agree with you on that point: why should we sacrifice when the elephant in the room is that ALL of the 'developing' world has outrageous birth rates? However, part of the over all probem is that nobody has yet figured out a way to grow an economy without growing the population. It's all a giant pyramid scheme anyway: if you want to retire at 65, you will need X number of younger people in the work force to sustain your way of life throughout the 20 or 30 years that you remain alive after retirement.

Hyperbole is part of the equation, I am afraid. Even at sales meetings, we are told that '97% of the customers will buy within a week.' Well, of course that is bull$h!, but if a marketing agency said '35%' they wouldn't be able to charge $2,500 for their seminars, would they? The same goes with climate change. I remember when I was a kid, it was all about 'pollution' and 'litter.' The Canadian government went on a big campaign against litter, and it worked. My parents generation would have thought nothing of burning their garbage in the backyard or throwing litter out the car window, but that has all changed through education. Look at the anti-smoking lobby: I don't smoke, yet some of the tirades and laws against smoking annoy me - but there is absolutely no denying that filling your lungs (and the people around you) with smoke has got to be BAD. Common sense. Thirty years ago, people smoked on airplanes and in elevators. We look back at that and laugh, but people have become educated.

$8 a gallon will not 'destroy' the economy. Look at Europe and Brazil, they are doing fine at $2 + a litre. Of course, it couldn't be done over night, but a gradual rise over a period of 3 or 4 years would change people's habits and (eventually) their attitudes. The challenge is, I would like to see the raise in taxes used toward alternate fuels and transportation infrastructure; whereas the reality would be the money would just get dumped into general revenue and disappear.

[A Horse With No Name]

Ditto on alternate fuels and transportation infrastructure...

Chris

[Camino LS6]

Here's a snippet from an interview of Carl-Peter Forster on SAAB:

Is Saab making a worthwhile contribution to GM?

"In Europe it’s making a worthwhile contribution although shipping cars to the US from Europe is a difficult business. We believe Saab has potential. It needs a greater product line, which we are working on."

HEY... Carl-Peter... what is your problem with Pontiac and Buick? You'd hold onto SAAB, with its TINY worldwide volume, yet you want to KILL two great GM brands with worlds of history and future potential here in the US? You want to ship Buick out of its home base, the USA, and off to China.. .and you want to outright KILL Pontiac. Your plan SUCKS, Mr. Forster. You need to go to school and learn something about OUR country before you come over here and kill anything!

The man should stay on a continent he understands.

Or better yet, find other employment.

[Camino LS6]

If CPF gets his way, it will be the end of GM - and it won't take long.

[thegriffon]

Where has it been reported that Carl-Peter Forster wants to kill Pontiac and Buick? The man is a manufacturing guy like Cowger with a long history at BMW. What cars get built in NA is the joint decision of a group of people in the NA Strategy board, not just Lutz, his eventual replacement as "car guru", or the head of GMNA (which is a more likely a post for Forster).

[Camino LS6]

Where has it been reported that Carl-Peter Forster wants to kill Pontiac and Buick? The man is a manufacturing guy like Cowger with a long history at BMW. What cars get built in NA is the joint decision of a group of people in the NA Strategy board, not just Lutz, his eventual replacement as "car guru", or the head of GMNA (which is a more likely a post for Forster).

Stay tuned.

[Robert Hall]

Where has it been reported that Carl-Peter Forster wants to kill Pontiac and Buick? The man is a manufacturing guy like Cowger with a long history at BMW. What cars get built in NA is the joint decision of a group of people in the NA Strategy board, not just Lutz, his eventual replacement as "car guru", or the head of GMNA (which is a more likely a post for Forster).

PCS wants to kill Pontiac, though. But who knows if he has the power to do it or is just delusional.