Oracle of Delphi

I also think Saturn should become Opel, think of all the money we could save in badges alone! :AH-HA_wink:

Mags, you out of school yet?

Plenty of them from where I sit!

Really? Hmmmm!

Hate, is such a strong word! Dislike immensely, would be more accurate. :AH-HA_wink:

All this whine, and no cheese?

Funny we are at opposite ends of the poles. I could use that same sentence to reflect how I feel about the Pontiac Holden relationship. The alternative is that GM continues to build cars I would never buy, so with Holden rebadges, I have a hard time caring.

I'm not wishing GM dead, after all that will affect me in a big way. However, what is about to happen with the Zeta Platform will be critical for either GM's survival or utter destruction as a company. Once we take the leap, there is no going back. Are you ready?

I disagree, I think you will see Pontiac gone between 5-7 years, if the G8 bombs as I think it will, maybe sooner. If the buying public turns it's collective nose up at the Zeta Platform as a whole in North America, I think you will be looking at Toyota buying GM within 15 years and if GM is lucky, it will survive as as a division of Toyota. Let's see where we are in 15 years, shall we?

I'll pass!

How do you get that, all we do is trade jabs these days it seems! My shocked and dismayed was in reference to the post before Camino's.

Shocked and dismayed!

Hey I like purple! But I like yellow more.

GM gave Oldsmobile new product in 1997 and guess what they did in December of 2000? GM announced the closing of Oldsmobile. The 2004 model year was Oldsmobile's last. The phaseout was conducted on the following schedule: Late 2001: The 2002 Bravada becomes the company's last new model June 2002: Production ends for Intrigue and the Aurora V6 sedans May 2003: Aurora V8 sedan January 2004: Bravada SUV production ends March 2004: Silhouette minivan production ends April 2004: Alero compact car production ends As far as Pontiac goes! Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock! :AH-HA_wink:

I suggest instead of getting a wife or GF, just get a dog. They are always happy to see you, and unlike a wife or GF they only live 10 years or so, not a lifetime!

Normally we see eye to eye on things, but giving the Kappa to Chevrolet would not have been feasible, at least in a high volume mode as you want it to be. GM is restricting the line speed to a certain number of vehicles per hour, I'm not permitted to tell you what that number is, but it is low. GM has it's own corporate reasons for doing this. So even if Chevy got the Kappa, it would not have been able to sell it in much higher volume than what is being sold now.

Austin or Vandan Plas it's all the same difference! You know like Holden VE and Pontiac G8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanden_Plas

That's not camping, that's called exile.

"Warning" Call your doctor promptly if you have a rigid stock quote that lasts more than 4 hours. ... :AH-HA_wink:

Now, now, Bob, don't hate. Just because I'm younger, have more degrees, and got them at a younger age than you did, not to mention GM has sent me to more places than you have been to. Is no reason to hate me! Psssst, I won't mention the better schools I attended!

Welcome to C&G! :AH-HA_wink:

I thought you had been getting hot Granny loving for years, and doesn't she have a glass eye she can pop out for you, should the need arise? :AH-HA_wink:

By Jonathan Adams and Max Hirsch Newsweek International Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue - China's recent rise has brought with it a new conventional wisdom: that everyone must learn Mandarin. But no one's told South Korea yet. Though Chinese is increasingly popular here, the nation seems to be suffering a profound case of English fever. South Korea now boasts at least 10 "English villages"—mock Western communities complete with post offices, pharmacies and the like where kids can practice their language skills. An entire English-only town is due to open on Cheju Island in 2010. And one Internet-based company here even offers English courses for fetuses in the womb. Next door, mighty China itself seems to have caught the English bug. Beijing guesses that more than 40 million non-native speakers now study Mandarin worldwide. But that pales next to the number of those learning English. In China alone, some 175 million people are now studying English in the formal education system. And an estimated 2 billion people will be studying it by 2010, according to a British Council report last year. "The impression is that 'Mandarin fever' is rampant and spreading, but a close look shows this is an exaggeration," says Stephen Krashen, a second-language-acquisition expert at the University of Southern California. "The dominance of English as an international language is growing." To be sure, Mandarin has become increasingly useful, particularly in Asian business circles. And its utility will rise as China's clout grows. But English is—and, for the foreseeable future, seems set to remain—essential for those hoping to compete in the globalized world. From Brussels to Beijing, English is now the common language spoken in multinational firms, top universities and the scientific community. A recent survey by the San Francisco-based firm GlobalEnglish found that 91 percent of employees at multinationals in Latin America, Europe and Asia believed English was "critical" or "important" to their current positions. And the consulting group McKinsey warned China in 2005 that fewer than 10 percent of its college graduates were suitable for employment at multinationals—primarily because they couldn't speak English. "Any nation that ignores English learning does so at its peril," says James Oladejo, an expert in language acquisition at Taiwan's National Kaohsiung Normal University. In recognition of this fact, numerous countries are starting to teach their kids English at ever younger ages. According to the British Council, the prevailing model is to ensure that students gain basic English proficiency in primary school and then use it as a language of study in secondary school. This model is much evident in Europe; Eurydice (an EU education unit) reports that more than 90 percent of primary-school students in Austria and Norway study English, as do more than 80 percent in Spain. In South America, Colombia and Chile have implemented ambitious programs to boost English skills. And the Philippines mandated in 2003 that English be the medium of instruction for math and science beginning in the third grade, and for all subjects in secondary school. But no country compares with China, which has the world's largest number of English students. In 2001, Beijing ordered that English classes start in the third grade, rather than in high school as before. In big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, such instruction now begins in grade one. And many Chinese parents try to accelerate the process by sticking their kids into English buxiban—cram schools—as early as possible. New Oriental, one company that runs such programs, says it alone has enrolled 4 million students, including 1 million last year. In total, China's English-language training market is now estimated to be worth $2.6 billion annually and to be growing at some 12 percent a year. Driving that growth is China's rising standard of living. Middle-class parents feel intense social pressure to enroll their offspring in buxiban so they can keep pace with their peers. And the long-term benefits of English acquisition are widely touted. According to New Oriental, medium proficiency in English now gives a Chinese child an almost 25 percent salary boost when he or she enters the working world; advanced English provides a more than 70 percent boost. Of course, companies like New Oriental have a vested interest in making such arguments, but many outside experts echo them. Asians who work at multinationals but speak broken English are likely to bump up against a linguistic "glass ceiling" and be passed over for promotions. Wei Yun, a professor of English as a second language at China's Suzhou University, points to two former students who are now software engineers. The one who passed a key English exam is making double the salary of the one who failed. Article continues: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20216718/site/newsweek/