I want your crystal ball so I can pick tomorrow’s lottery number.

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061201/FREE/61127019/1054/FREE

1. Oil is infinite. It is created by sun energy. Call it “Liquid Sunshine”. Oil can also be synthesized with enough energy.
2. CO2 is not “bad” for the environment. It is “good”.

In Fact what is “bad” for the environment is the O3 generated from the hybrid’s electric motors.

More than 50 years after harnessing the energy of the atom, we are still oxidizing hydrocarbons for energy. It is quite primitive.

E=MC^2

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061205/NEWS99/61205024/1014/BUSINESS01

After you work your way to 400-level college physics you will realize that “running out of energy” is physically impossible

THATS funny

Sorry to be so “ignorant” Luther, but I think when people say “we’re running out of energy” it is the short-form of saying “we’re running out of cheap oil on which our entire way of life is based.”

Some plain facts.

The oil underground is NOT infinite. Nobody in the oil industry even thinks this is the case.

The Saudis are pumping increasing amounts of sea water down their wells in an attempt to get as much oil out as they can, from the biggest fields on earth, but they know it is going to end some day. They even have a saying “my father rode a camel, I fly a private jet, my son will ride a camel.”

As for your comment about Hummers on the autobahn being more environmentall friendly than putting around town in a Prius, I’m presuming you were making some kind of joke.

If you are referring to some B-S seen on the web stating how the “lifetime footprint of a Hummer was less than a Prius” then you’ve been scammed. It has been proved to have been totally biased AND false (the life-time of the Hummer being “assumed” to be way beyond that of the Prius, for example).

There are lies, damn lies and statistics. And, cooked figures (just ask the SEC about cooked GM books, for another example).

Related point – And green et al recently broke the diesel speed record: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/5279268.stm The engine is based on the agricultural block. Zippety-zip indeed!

There is no excuse for this. Unfortunately, excuses seem to be the only things they’re full of…. well, maybe they’re full of a few other things.

After you work your way to 400-level college physics you will realize that “running out of energy” is physically impossible. You also start to realize that purchasing a Hummer H1 and flooring it down the autobahn is actually better for the environment than putting around in a Prius or Citroen Duck.

I’d rather live in communist Russia with electricity, a well built apartment…

They were not well built appartments during the communist era. They were cheaply built and falling apart almost as soon as they were finished. Big cracks from shifting foundations, etc.

You should NEVER trade personal freedom for economic or personal security. At least in India they have a chance to develope a middle class and rise out of poverty, something they could never do in Soviet Russia.

Hopefully though we have more choices then that. One of the greatest thinkers I’ve seen is the guys who wrote the bottomless well, why we’ll never run out of energy. One of the guys who wrote that is a lawyer, and his bachelor’s degree is in mechanical engineering. Now there is a powerful combination!

I wouldn’t want a government dominated by engineers either. However, I really don’t enjoy having a government dominated by lawyers, which is what we have. A balanced representation of the various professions would be great, but I don’t see it happening.

To anyone who cares about the wellbeing of the citizens and residents of the US. Winning international competitions of various kinds is fun. Loosing them is generally not fun at all on many levels.

AKA – Tribal Warfare.

Chilling for whom?

People that place individual freedom, free markets, and property rights above all.

Wheres my Prozac…..

Private companies are very different animals than governments. I wouldn’t want engineers to dominate the U.S. government. Democracy is built upon the principle of citizen involvement and compromise among competing factions. The engineers I’ve worked with tend to be very impatient with political processes.

Chilling for whom?

For example, consider the short bio of Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee: “Born on August 17, 1926, of an intellectual familyin Yangzhou, a culturally famous city in east China’s Jiangsu Province,Jiang received his higher education in the prestigious Shanghai JiaotongUniversity and his major was electrical engineering.”

http://www.people.com.cn/english/leaders/cpcdir/jprofile.html

China is being led primarily by engineers while the US is being led primarily by lawyers. The long term implications are bone chilling.

I also think the engineer managers at Honda must laugh at how stupid the management decisions at their NA competition are. And I am a finance guy. But I understand my role.. I invest peoples money for a good return. If you look at the valuatiosn of the companies the finance guys are quite good at that. Honda worth 80 billion, DCX worth 50, Ford and GM just under 20 each. But managing part of an auto company I would not be a good choice. Why choose me over a mechanical engineer for product design and purchasing management.. or an automation engineer for the manufacturing side?

In my position I have to deal with MBA hucksters all the time (I to am an EE). Sometimes I think retarded children are more aware of what is actually happening around them. If I hear the phrase “Perception IS reality” out of their mouths one more time I think Im going to smack um… Wheres my Prozac…

Maybe after the 2.5 chapter 11, 2.5 will rise from the ashes with a Soichiro Honda or Ferdinand Porsche at the helm…. Hahhhh.

I’m sure your column contains several valid, well-put, and interesting points. However, last year I took a vow which prevents me from reading your Death Watch.

You see, whenever I read an automobile article and come across the phrase, “The answer to a question no one asked,” I am compelled to hit the back arrow button on my web browser.

I suggest you (and Mr. Farago) Google the offending phrase and take a quick scan of the results. With luck, it will never return.

And with more luck, I’ll never again suffer TTAC interreuptus.

The beginning of the end of American competitiveness seems to be highly coordinated with the rise of the MBA. Once you put the finance and flim-flam people in charge, the end is brutal and certain. Only the timeline is up for questioning.

The engineers running Honda and other great manufacturing companies must shake their heads about how easy it is to knock off these overpaid lightweights who “run” American manufacturing companies.

By way of disclosure, I hold a BSEE which was very hard to get. The business school is where those who couldn’t hack a difficult major went. Check with your local university and compare the difficulty of real Calculus 101 with Calculus for Business Students.

I live a few miles from a huge autopark and even the Toyota back-lot is filling up. The Dodge dealers lot is not only overflowing into the street but is backing all the way to the main enterance road. When Toyota lots are filling you know 2.5 are in deep trouble.