And Comcast founder Snider is a rabid GOP supporter, so I guess they are buttering both sides of their bread, no matter who wins the managed election, the corporation wins. It is a person too, my friend :shades:
If a corporation was a person, he'd be a psychopath. It knows the difference between right and wrong but just doesn't care. It only sees win or lose; profit or loss. It could care less about destroying the lives of men, women, or children. Its view toward them isn't love or hate, just blind indifference. They are pawns to be used and discarded as a means to an end.
capitalism is rapacious, which is why it needs regulation. I'm sure the Big Three would have gleefully allowed air pollution in America reach ghastly proportions had not the government intervened--and defended that with a shrug and a "well, we just give people what they want".
Wow, imagine that! People living within their means! I guess we'd be seeing people living in more reasonably-sized houses than 6000 sq. ft. cardboard and Tyvek McMansions and a lot more Cruzes, Foci, Corollas, and Civics on the street and far fewer SUVs and luxury cars.
...and more people like you with older cars, and me with virtually all of my cars drive to well over 100K miles, some of them to over 200K miles.... I'm only at 133K right now in my current drive, still a long way to go...
I can go for that, maybe adding fake private sector schemers like BAH and similar crooks below the government at least at the same level as the FIRE cabal, lobbyists and consultants beside them, and ranking the RIAA higher.
People can receive capital punishment, why not corporations? Not to mention giving it for financial crimes.
It's not really capitalism though, which is supposed to be founded as some kind of egalitarian meritocracy. It's more of a market oligarchy, with some of the business-government connections resembling fascism.
I wonder if any of this new economic reality has reduced the average size of new houses. Probably hasn't improved the quality. And all it takes is a small temporary gas price decrease to get the sheep back in big SUVs - then being the first to complain when reality sets back in.
Luxury cars are changing - I think 2014 will be the last year of a non-tuned V8 E-class.
You bought a V-12 BMW sedan 10 years ago, and it costs more and more each year just to keep it running. Forget "restoring it".
And now you want a new 7 series BMW--well, it's going to cost more than the original one did.
Would it really, though? I've found out that, when you adjust for inflation, most cars out there cost less today than they did in the past. For instance, my 2012 Ram was $20,751 out the door. Back in 1985, my Granddad bought a new C10/Silverado, and it was around $13,500 out the door. Adjust for inflation, my Ram would've been about $9,000 back then. The Silverado would be about $29,300. Yet, the Ram has the Hemi, 6-speed automatic, nice stereo with a CD play, Sirius, etc, ABS, traction control, airbags, remote entry, heated mirrors, etc. The only thing the Silverado really has over the Ram is two-tone paint, an upgraded interior with cloth and carpet on the doors, and those 15x8 Rally wheels. My Ram does have upgraded wheels, 17x8 instead of 17x7 I think, but they're still just cheap stamped wheels.
Similarly, my 2000 Intrepid was $22,389 out the door. That would be a bit over $31K today. My Intrepid was just a base model, although I did get the dealer to throw in a 12 disc cd player. Well, today, $31K would get you a Charger R/T, with the Hemi, and probably leather, sunroof, power seats, more airbags, ABS, traction control, alloy wheels, etc.
I've never priced BMWs, but I'd imagine that the phenomenon is similar with luxury cars.
I can go for that, maybe adding fake private sector schemers like BAH and similar crooks below the government at least at the same level as the FIRE cabal, lobbyists and consultants beside them, and ranking the RIAA higher.
I could agree to those modifications. The first ever Edmunds Forums Slimy Organization Rankings! Don't you think that should make it to "What's Hot"? :P
I wonder if any of this new economic reality has reduced the average size of new houses. Probably hasn't improved the quality
Around these parts, at least, it's put a definite slow-down in new construction. But, with the houses that are being built, I think they're about as big as they ever were. Unfortunately, what seems to have disappeared is the more entry-level single family home. It seems like houses are either these mammoth, imposing McMansions, or apartment-style condos and town-houses. The likes of the sub-2000 square foot single family home seems to have gone the way of the albatross. Sprawling styles like Ranchers, split levels, and split foyers take up too much of a footprint compared to a 2-story, I guess, so that's why they don't build them anymore. They're rather squeeze more houses per acre for profit, and in the more luxurious communities, I guess people think the 2-story colonials and such are more prestigious.
Well the MSRP for a 2003 vs. 2013 BMW 7 series hasn't changed much but these calculations on inflation don't take into account how difficult it might be for you to earn that same amount of money in 2013.
Just like an empire has dwindling resources, so do WE as we age
but these calculations on inflation don't take into account how difficult it might be for you to earn that same amount of money in 2013.
Well, in my example, I could afford the $20,751 Ram more easily last September than I could the $13,500 Silverado back in 1985. Of course, in 1985, I was 15 years old, and made $3.50 per hour doing house cleaning and yard work for one of my grandmother's old-lady friends. :P Somehow, it seemed like I had more disposable income back then, too! :shades:
I could also afford the $31K Charger more easily today than I could the $22,389 Intrepid back in late 1999. I just don't want to spend that much on a car. And yeah, I do realize that there are many people who aren't as fortunate as me.
With something like a new 7-series though, I'd think those types of buyers were pretty well-off ten years ago, and are probably doing even better today, as economic ups and downs tend to benefit the elite, but not the masses. I'd guess that the poseurs who want to show off but can't afford a new 7-series are buying used ones, or if they get new, they're leasing a basic 3-series. Or, finding some way to write off a lease as a business expense.
Different Comcast. Comcast Spectacor is Snider's baby. I am talking Big time donors and buddies of Obama. The ComCast that is ripping off the public.
President Obama raised eyebrows this weekend when he visited Comcast CEO Brian Roberts’ Martha’s Vineyard home on Sunday. Comcast, beyond being a telecommunications giant, is also the parent company of NBC and MSNBC.
It turns out that Comcast employees are also the most generous organizational donors to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Comcast employees have donated nearly $200,000 to the fund, according to an Open Secrets analysis.
I gave Comcast the boot about 10 years ago. Very happy moment in my life.
It's also kinda fun to take pot-shots from my back deck at their trucks when they try to come on my property to mess with that damn wire that goes across my back field. :P (okay, just kidding about that part...fun fantasy though)
If a corporation was a person, he'd be a psychopath. It knows the difference between right and wrong but just doesn't care. It only sees win or lose; profit or loss. It could care less about destroying the lives of men, women, or children. Its view toward them isn't love or hate, just blind indifference. They are pawns to be used and discarded as a means to an end.
Boeing to the hilt! Glad ta be out of that quackery of a company. Bill Boeing is turning in his grave as I type. They're run by a bunch of money-grubbing bean counters and morons.
To bad the voters are blind to the reality, that you are known by the company you keep. Unlike Bush, Obama does not hang out with the little people. Just another one of the Limo Liberals. He is still revered by the UAW members as he should be. He kept their Pension fund good for another couple decades. Infused enough cash into the GM piggy bank to keep the factories open until he leaves office.
It's just a division, of which born on third base Snider (and an Ayn Rand lover, funny how those mix) remained the leader. He even held a special event for Dingbat Palin back in 08. Ripping off the public too, as virtually all pro sports owners do in the 21st century. No better than what you mention, and part of the Comcast family.
For size, I think houses have paced cars over the past 30 years. No doubt cheaper to build the new ones due to land - I also wonder if the penchant for overbuying is part of it too. Income vs mortgage is probably in a more dangerous place now than in 1958. Small new houses are rare here other than in small towns - everything is condo and townhouse if new and under ~500K, at least in my area.
Yes, GW Bush...the common man on his common ranch, with his common father, attending common schools. A regular Abe Lincoln---LOL!
Here, let me help about media.
All major American media, aside from a few battery operated stations in Berkeley, are owned by 6 major corporations. Their business model is to target a certain audience, play to them, and then collect them to sell to OTHER corporations. They divvy up the spectrum of politics as a product, and sell that spectrum. If that spectrum dries up (like say sexist radio), they pick another part of the spectrum. They do not CARE what they present on the airwaves. it is just a product and the object is to sell you to make money off your eyeballs or your ears.
That's about it in a paragraph. So don't ascribe "left" or "right" to media. It doesn't matter, they don't believe what they are telling you anyway.
This is why many Americans get their news from comedy shows.
It was a diversion. As you know auto making by the D2 has become political because of all the tax dollars wasted to keep them afloat. So if you buy American cars from GM or Chrysler you are pushing that sort of lame agenda. If you are one for Nationalizing our corporations you would probably be Happy, Happy, Happy and buy from Government motors.
>Here, let me help about media. ... >All major American media,...They do not CARE what they present on the airwaves. it is just a product and the object is to sell you to make money off your eyeballs or your ears. ... >That's about it in a paragraph. So don't ascribe "left" or "right" to media.
I just can't let that stand.
I hope you're kidding with that. The main stream media have taken up a political viewpoint and essentially do push-polling on that. There definitely is a "left and right," mostly left. :shades:
They broadcast a viewpoint and try to convince the "little" people that is the way things are. Then they do polls to test whether people are falling for that. This is true whether talking about saving the Big 3 or saving Detroit City is the goal. The proof is the change of being a not compliant media with the earlier administration to the current political viewpoint. "Yes, Dorothy, there is a left and right."
One subnetwork of a major group even said they aren't a news station/source anymore. They are essentially just a propaganda outlet.
I hope you're kidding with that. The main stream media have taken up a political viewpoint and essentially do push-polling on that. There definitely is a "left and right," mostly left.
I agree the MSM is mostly left. But you do have groups like Fox News and Rush, Sean, etc. So there is some balance.
What's a shame is that organizations which used to be a lot more objective are all now more "agendized" than before.
And American Association for Retired People is right there too. I heard recently 75% of their income is from government. I trust CU about as much as MSNBC to be honest. This article is old but documents AARP's getting subsidy from public monies during the Bush Administration.
As for new Impala, I figure it's just so CU can say they actually liked one of the Obama-rescued GM offerings. Then they'll turn on GM again. They'll decide some BMW owner doesn't think the Impala meets the standard set by his Honan5 BMW in the position of the cupholder in the center pod: his is 5 inches from the steering wheel and Impala's is 7.5 inches. Just doesn't make the high standard set by some, some foreign owners when comparing. :P
NAH! --Any "news" you get of the auto industry, unions, economic trends---- It is all slight variations of the corporate centrist viewpoint. It couldn't be otherwise if you think about it.
Even the UAW and GM and Chrysler management have spent the last 20 years or so being very close and cosy. There they stay, to this day, as we speak, right in the center--about one chair to the right, or one chair to the left. They seem to have "kumbaya-ed" their way right into bankruptcy.
There is no possibility of a genuine "right" or "left" major, highly visible media in America, as the system as evolved.
All American media..ALL of it...is owned by 6 giant corporations, who cater to their advertisers who are also corporate, and whom they simply will not offend.
Radio Host X offends the network's advertisers, and they start to bail---well, goodbye host!
Oh sure, the WSJ might tap the UAW on the fanny and scold them in a motherly kind of finger-wagging way, or MSNBC might mildly object for 30 seconds against "right to work" laws, but that's about it.
They are all as radical as a church quilting party.
There is no major corporation advocating the overthrow of the US government--LOL!
There isn't a snowball's chance in hell of you or I hearing about, or seeing, an actual "leftist" viewpoint in America anymore.
What you are hearing is a product slightly tailored to your needs. Take in the sleeves, let out the waist---there you go. :P
I am absolutely dead serious carnaught! When I hear MSNBC described as "leftist" I literally start laughing out loud. I'm sure the average European would find the concept most amusing. Like when someone calls an American politician a "socialist", I suspect the average Dutchman might hoot and holler and pound his knee as tears stream from his eyes.
BESIDES---what's the point of hurling these meaningless epithets at automobile workers' unions? The union movement is practically comatose in America anyway.
Talk about beating a dead horse. The percentage of private sector workers in unions in the US is now what...about 6.5% and dropping?
Ironically, more than a just a few UAW members vote republican even though it's assumed they are all democrats. I think people sometimes confuse leftist with democrat and right winger with republican. There are some conservative democrats in Congress and some republicans that aren't far right.
As for the media, granted the political programming part of MSNBC seems primarily democrat, while Fox is republican. But I think overall media is fairly straight forward in the US and more than a few network and local news people vote republican. If you doubt that, spend a little time overseas watching their news.
It's funny in a way because you will never completely avoid personal bias in anything. How many posters in these blogs lean either Detroit, Asia or Germany? Then they can break down further into GM or Ford bias, or Honda v. Toyota v. Korea bias, etc.
One cannot ascribe a political bias merely because one does not like what one hears.
If a media outlet presents a study that claims to prove that global warming is man-made, the response must be "Prove It!" not "liberal bias" and then plug your ears.
Tagging things as "right" or "left" merely oversimplifies them and renders them meaningless, especially in America, where 99% of our information is delivered in a form that is quickly digestible and not too hard to understand.
We also love to scapegoat in the media, for example, finding simplistic answers to the 40 year decline of Detroit.
Talk about beating a dead horse. The percentage of private sector workers in unions in the US is now what...about 6.5% and dropping?
Corporate profits? AT A 60 YEAR HIGH
I agree with you. However the public are fed up with Unions. Because Public employee unions are raping the tax payers in so many places. So to most people Unions are bad whether private or public. The UAW gets a lot of flack over the $billions dumped into their very generous Pension fund. While most people are lucky to have a few bucks in a 401K. Corporate profits are up because the job creators went where labor was cheap. So you have Apple making obscene net profit and most of their war chest is stashed outside the USA. Obviously the American public could care less if their iPhone was made by slave labor. I would bet they would not pay the difference to buy one made in the USA.
I am absolutely dead serious carnaught! When I hear MSNBC described as "leftist" I literally start laughing out loud. I'm sure the average European would find the concept most amusing.
And you've got me laughing . Things are relative, and relatively speaking, to me MSNBC's O'Donnell, Chris Matthews and Rachel Madow are to the left of the middle.
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.....
Nothing in the US is really "left", at least on the Euro standard which created being left. Media is controlled by corporations, corporations control government.
And these corporations create media movements to whine about unions (what percentage of American workers are unionized? cut out the bloated public sector systems and it vanishes) to distract from real issues, especially the theft and deceit practiced by the leaders of the corporate world.
Both US parties are right, the donkeys just off center (corporatist, but socially moderate - not liberal by any definition), the elephants more right (in wing, not correctness), in some ways a parody of what right should be.
The EU is smoke and mirrors. People complain about American mistakes, I still can't find a superior system out there, even with the socio-economic mess (which is fixable). The EU is doomed so long as it has second world members with the requisite corruption and lack of forethought. China is an unsustainable house of cards just itching for social turmoil and bloodshed. Where else is one gonna go? The dollar may depreciate via QE, but think of the alternatives. Other than a few pseudo-nations kept safe by American funded defense...nothing beats it.
The EU is smoke and mirrors. People complain about American mistakes, I still can't find a superior system out there, even with the socio-economic mess (which is fixable). The EU is doomed so long as it has second world members with the requisite corruption and lack of forethought. China is an unsustainable house of cards just itching for social turmoil and bloodshed. Where else is one gonna go? The dollar may depreciate via QE, but think of the alternatives. Other than a few pseudo-nations kept safe by American funded defense...nothing beats it.
Good synopsis.
And against THAT background, we have auto companies trying to make lots of cars and make profits. Of course what's good for the companies is bad for the earth, etc. Those of us who are loyal to some brand or geography seem (on this forum) to largely buy used or keep a long time. We're all a disaster for the auto makers, who would much rather we get with the 3 years cycle of buying/leasing and then replacing frequently!
The companies aren't that dumb - someone has to buy those lease returns. As a first time new car driver, I can see the attraction, but I am not certain if I will repeat the experience.
The key is keeping the economic miracle alive enough to keep people prosperous enough to both buy new cars and buy depreciated lease returns. I'd buy a lease return from someone as careful as myself.
"But it is always tendentious", and that FAIR's "target invariably is bias on the right."
Odd, since there is no left nor right in the media? To use a parable: I'm reminded of a long ago "reading head" on the OSU NPR radio station in Columbus who was getting negative feedback from listeners about his bias in talking about topics and his liberal (left) slant. He said that he looks to the other media surrounding him at that time, Columbus Newspapers, Cleveland, TV, etc., and found that he was in the "middle" of them so he wasn't liberal... He couldn't see that he was liberal because of the liberal bias in the media by which he measured his own position.
I choose facts and pick them out of the stories, source has little effect on the facts, other than many omit them. And a big example is the facts presented about the GM/C bailouts and to whom the money went. Indeed the UAW was the big winner. The IUE the big loser. The lack of proper treatment of bondholders, probably including many of the mutual funds people held at the time as well as the pension funds at many companies at which people worked were hurt by the unfair treatment and the giveaway to the UAW.
But the fact is that was payback to the UAW for their shoes on the ground during elections and their support of undercover operations in support of political campaigns.
But that's over and done with, along with the overall topic of GM bailout. It ain't changing except for who gets credit. I've been corrected and told that the previous administration did the GM bailout. But, to get back to automotive terms, Axlerod (that's automotive) said on Meet the Press that the current administration did a great job on the bailout and has saved a humongous number of jobs [for the UAW].
Swerving to the center of topic, that means that we have people who can buy American company cars, such as the new Impala, Malibu, Cruze, XTS, that have been improved with what limited funds GM has under the control of the government. They can buy those instead of the union built cars from BMW, Mercedes, etc.. But still some eschew buying from an American union so they can buy from a Korean or European union.
There is no "leftist" journalism in mainstream American media, anywhere. Nada. "Leftist" isn't "liberal" anyway (hardly!)
In the case of reporting on the UAW, there could be BAD journalism from any side---carelessness, lack of fact-checking, etc.
One cannot treat the concept of UAW voters voting in their own interest as some sort of unusual event, conspiracy, corruption or scandal in American politics. That's not "journalism", that is speculation, hearsay, and pathetic mudslinging. Walter Cronkite would spin in his grave.
Do chickens vote for or against Colonel Sanders?
Nor can one presume that one commentator's "blog" on the UAW, or the car's effect on global warming, represents the views, or the beliefs, of the network he gets his paycheck from.
If the automobile editor in your local paper doesn't like the new Impala, can we say that "Hearst Publications are biased against American cars!"
Of course not.
Corporate media delivers what 'sells'. Corporate media does not have a "point of view".
Mostly, the reason American media botches most stories is that one bad original story gets re-gurgitated through other stories. Sloppy fact-checking gets passed off as being factual.
In other words, readers never go to primary sources.
The current news stories on Detroit, its bankruptcy, and its tie-ins to the auto industry are a perfect example of the swamp into which American media has sunk IMO.
The automobile magazines do a much better job of covering the industry than mainstream media---head and shoulders above.
Comments
...and more people like you with older cars, and me with virtually all of my cars drive to well over 100K miles, some of them to over 200K miles.... I'm only at 133K right now in my current drive, still a long way to go...
... or you will just try to maintain the appearance while indebting yourself to death....
I sort of see the slime ranking (descending order) like this:
US Government willing to be bought off
The banking/financials industry
The telecom industry
Music/Movies/RIAA
D3
Other industries
It's not really capitalism though, which is supposed to be founded as some kind of egalitarian meritocracy. It's more of a market oligarchy, with some of the business-government connections resembling fascism.
Luxury cars are changing - I think 2014 will be the last year of a non-tuned V8 E-class.
And now you want a new 7 series BMW--well, it's going to cost more than the original one did.
Would it really, though? I've found out that, when you adjust for inflation, most cars out there cost less today than they did in the past. For instance, my 2012 Ram was $20,751 out the door. Back in 1985, my Granddad bought a new C10/Silverado, and it was around $13,500 out the door. Adjust for inflation, my Ram would've been about $9,000 back then. The Silverado would be about $29,300. Yet, the Ram has the Hemi, 6-speed automatic, nice stereo with a CD play, Sirius, etc, ABS, traction control, airbags, remote entry, heated mirrors, etc. The only thing the Silverado really has over the Ram is two-tone paint, an upgraded interior with cloth and carpet on the doors, and those 15x8 Rally wheels. My Ram does have upgraded wheels, 17x8 instead of 17x7 I think, but they're still just cheap stamped wheels.
Similarly, my 2000 Intrepid was $22,389 out the door. That would be a bit over $31K today. My Intrepid was just a base model, although I did get the dealer to throw in a 12 disc cd player. Well, today, $31K would get you a Charger R/T, with the Hemi, and probably leather, sunroof, power seats, more airbags, ABS, traction control, alloy wheels, etc.
I've never priced BMWs, but I'd imagine that the phenomenon is similar with luxury cars.
I could agree to those modifications. The first ever Edmunds Forums Slimy Organization Rankings! Don't you think that should make it to "What's Hot"? :P
I could definitely go for that. Line up the banks and break them up.
Around these parts, at least, it's put a definite slow-down in new construction. But, with the houses that are being built, I think they're about as big as they ever were. Unfortunately, what seems to have disappeared is the more entry-level single family home. It seems like houses are either these mammoth, imposing McMansions, or apartment-style condos and town-houses. The likes of the sub-2000 square foot single family home seems to have gone the way of the albatross. Sprawling styles like Ranchers, split levels, and split foyers take up too much of a footprint compared to a 2-story, I guess, so that's why they don't build them anymore. They're rather squeeze more houses per acre for profit, and in the more luxurious communities, I guess people think the 2-story colonials and such are more prestigious.
Just like an empire has dwindling resources, so do WE as we age
Well, in my example, I could afford the $20,751 Ram more easily last September than I could the $13,500 Silverado back in 1985. Of course, in 1985, I was 15 years old, and made $3.50 per hour doing house cleaning and yard work for one of my grandmother's old-lady friends. :P Somehow, it seemed like I had more disposable income back then, too! :shades:
I could also afford the $31K Charger more easily today than I could the $22,389 Intrepid back in late 1999. I just don't want to spend that much on a car. And yeah, I do realize that there are many people who aren't as fortunate as me.
With something like a new 7-series though, I'd think those types of buyers were pretty well-off ten years ago, and are probably doing even better today, as economic ups and downs tend to benefit the elite, but not the masses. I'd guess that the poseurs who want to show off but can't afford a new 7-series are buying used ones, or if they get new, they're leasing a basic 3-series. Or, finding some way to write off a lease as a business expense.
President Obama raised eyebrows this weekend when he visited Comcast CEO Brian Roberts’ Martha’s Vineyard home on Sunday. Comcast, beyond being a telecommunications giant, is also the parent company of NBC and MSNBC.
It turns out that Comcast employees are also the most generous organizational donors to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Comcast employees have donated nearly $200,000 to the fund, according to an Open Secrets analysis.
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0811/plugged_in_985b456d-f954-4c0d-b285-- a7735f459b72.html
If it's any comfort, Comcast was rated the most hated company in America.
It's also kinda fun to take pot-shots from my back deck at their trucks when they try to come on my property to mess with that damn wire that goes across my back field. :P (okay, just kidding about that part...fun fantasy though)
Boeing to the hilt! Glad ta be out of that quackery of a company. Bill Boeing is turning in his grave as I type. They're run by a bunch of money-grubbing bean counters and morons.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Reasons enough to buy anything but GM.
Here, let me help about media.
All major American media, aside from a few battery operated stations in Berkeley, are owned by 6 major corporations. Their business model is to target a certain audience, play to them, and then collect them to sell to OTHER corporations. They divvy up the spectrum of politics as a product, and sell that spectrum. If that spectrum dries up (like say sexist radio), they pick another part of the spectrum. They do not CARE what they present on the airwaves. it is just a product and the object is to sell you to make money off your eyeballs or your ears.
That's about it in a paragraph. So don't ascribe "left" or "right" to media. It doesn't matter, they don't believe what they are telling you anyway.
This is why many Americans get their news from comedy shows.
Chill, it's the weekend, have another cuppa.
Or post something topical and move the thread along.
>All major American media,...They do not CARE what they present on the airwaves. it is just a product and the object is to sell you to make money off your eyeballs or your ears. ...
>That's about it in a paragraph. So don't ascribe "left" or "right" to media.
I just can't let that stand.
I hope you're kidding with that. The main stream media have taken up a political viewpoint and essentially do push-polling on that. There definitely is a "left and right," mostly left. :shades:
They broadcast a viewpoint and try to convince the "little" people that is the way things are. Then they do polls to test whether people are falling for that. This is true whether talking about saving the Big 3 or saving Detroit City is the goal. The proof is the change of being a not compliant media with the earlier administration to the current political viewpoint. "Yes, Dorothy, there is a left and right."
One subnetwork of a major group even said they aren't a news station/source anymore. They are essentially just a propaganda outlet.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I agree the MSM is mostly left. But you do have groups like Fox News and Rush, Sean, etc. So there is some balance.
What's a shame is that organizations which used to be a lot more objective are all now more "agendized" than before.
Steve - don't you know? - CU is a biased sham operation.... unless their opinion agrees with yours!
Maybe they were having a liquid, smoky lunch with some Chrysler guys when they wrote that Impala story.
And American Association for Retired People is right there too. I heard recently 75% of their income is from government. I trust CU about as much as MSNBC to be honest. This article is old but documents AARP's getting subsidy from public monies during the Bush Administration.
As for new Impala, I figure it's just so CU can say they actually liked one of the Obama-rescued GM offerings. Then they'll turn on GM again. They'll decide some BMW owner doesn't think the Impala meets the standard set by his Honan5 BMW in the position of the cupholder in the center pod: his is 5 inches from the steering wheel and Impala's is 7.5 inches. Just doesn't make the high standard set by some, some foreign owners when comparing. :P
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Even the UAW and GM and Chrysler management have spent the last 20 years or so being very close and cosy. There they stay, to this day, as we speak, right in the center--about one chair to the right, or one chair to the left. They seem to have "kumbaya-ed" their way right into bankruptcy.
There is no possibility of a genuine "right" or "left" major, highly visible media in America, as the system as evolved.
All American media..ALL of it...is owned by 6 giant corporations, who cater to their advertisers who are also corporate, and whom they simply will not offend.
Radio Host X offends the network's advertisers, and they start to bail---well, goodbye host!
Oh sure, the WSJ might tap the UAW on the fanny and scold them in a motherly kind of finger-wagging way, or MSNBC might mildly object for 30 seconds against "right to work" laws, but that's about it.
They are all as radical as a church quilting party.
There is no major corporation advocating the overthrow of the US government--LOL!
There isn't a snowball's chance in hell of you or I hearing about, or seeing, an actual "leftist" viewpoint in America anymore.
What you are hearing is a product slightly tailored to your needs. Take in the sleeves, let out the waist---there you go. :P
I assume this is being said tongue-in-cheek :confuse: .
I don't buy that - I think they get most of their income from selling insurance to overly trusting old people.
Meanwhile, the EU auto recovery is all smoke and mirrors, especially compared to ours.
Europe's car market comeback not as close as it may seem (Detroit News)
BESIDES---what's the point of hurling these meaningless epithets at automobile workers' unions? The union movement is practically comatose in America anyway.
Talk about beating a dead horse. The percentage of private sector workers in unions in the US is now what...about 6.5% and dropping?
Corporate profits? AT A 60 YEAR HIGH :surprise:
As for the media, granted the political programming part of MSNBC seems primarily democrat, while Fox is republican. But I think overall media is fairly straight forward in the US and more than a few network and local news people vote republican. If you doubt that, spend a little time overseas watching their news.
It's funny in a way because you will never completely avoid personal bias in anything. How many posters in these blogs lean either Detroit, Asia or Germany? Then they can break down further into GM or Ford bias, or Honda v. Toyota v. Korea bias, etc.
If a media outlet presents a study that claims to prove that global warming is man-made, the response must be "Prove It!" not "liberal bias" and then plug your ears.
Tagging things as "right" or "left" merely oversimplifies them and renders them meaningless, especially in America, where 99% of our information is delivered in a form that is quickly digestible and not too hard to understand.
We also love to scapegoat in the media, for example, finding simplistic answers to the 40 year decline of Detroit.
Corporate profits? AT A 60 YEAR HIGH
I agree with you. However the public are fed up with Unions. Because Public employee unions are raping the tax payers in so many places. So to most people Unions are bad whether private or public. The UAW gets a lot of flack over the $billions dumped into their very generous Pension fund. While most people are lucky to have a few bucks in a 401K. Corporate profits are up because the job creators went where labor was cheap. So you have Apple making obscene net profit and most of their war chest is stashed outside the USA. Obviously the American public could care less if their iPhone was made by slave labor. I would bet they would not pay the difference to buy one made in the USA.
And you've got me laughing
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.....
And these corporations create media movements to whine about unions (what percentage of American workers are unionized? cut out the bloated public sector systems and it vanishes) to distract from real issues, especially the theft and deceit practiced by the leaders of the corporate world.
Both US parties are right, the donkeys just off center (corporatist, but socially moderate - not liberal by any definition), the elephants more right (in wing, not correctness), in some ways a parody of what right should be.
Good synopsis.
And against THAT background, we have auto companies trying to make lots of cars and make profits. Of course what's good for the companies is bad for the earth, etc. Those of us who are loyal to some brand or geography seem (on this forum) to largely buy used or keep a long time. We're all a disaster for the auto makers, who would much rather we get with the 3 years cycle of buying/leasing and then replacing frequently!
The key is keeping the economic miracle alive enough to keep people prosperous enough to both buy new cars and buy depreciated lease returns. I'd buy a lease return from someone as careful as myself.
Mr. Shiftright stated:
>the Fiscal Times is often condemned by the advocacy groups such as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting as propagandistic and highly inaccurate,
FAIR is mostly critical of anything right of center. So anything from them is essentially a leftist criticism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_and_Accuracy_in_Reporting
"But it is always tendentious", and that FAIR's "target invariably is bias on the right."
Odd, since there is no left nor right in the media? To use a parable: I'm reminded of a long ago "reading head" on the OSU NPR radio station in Columbus who was getting negative feedback from listeners about his bias in talking about topics and his liberal (left) slant. He said that he looks to the other media surrounding him at that time, Columbus Newspapers, Cleveland, TV, etc., and found that he was in the "middle" of them so he wasn't liberal... He couldn't see that he was liberal because of the liberal bias in the media by which he measured his own position.
I choose facts and pick them out of the stories, source has little effect on the facts, other than many omit them. And a big example is the facts presented about the GM/C bailouts and to whom the money went. Indeed the UAW was the big winner. The IUE the big loser. The lack of proper treatment of bondholders, probably including many of the mutual funds people held at the time as well as the pension funds at many companies at which people worked were hurt by the unfair treatment and the giveaway to the UAW.
But the fact is that was payback to the UAW for their shoes on the ground during elections and their support of undercover operations in support of political campaigns.
But that's over and done with, along with the overall topic of GM bailout. It ain't changing except for who gets credit. I've been corrected and told that the previous administration did the GM bailout. But, to get back to automotive terms, Axlerod (that's automotive) said on Meet the Press that the current administration did a great job on the bailout and has saved a humongous number of jobs [for the UAW].
Swerving to the center of topic, that means that we have people who can buy American company cars, such as the new Impala, Malibu, Cruze, XTS, that have been improved with what limited funds GM has under the control of the government. They can buy those instead of the union built cars from BMW, Mercedes, etc.. But still some eschew buying from an American union so they can buy from a Korean or European union.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
FAIR is not "leftist". Fair is fair. :P
There is no "leftist" journalism in mainstream American media, anywhere. Nada. "Leftist" isn't "liberal" anyway (hardly!)
In the case of reporting on the UAW, there could be BAD journalism from any side---carelessness, lack of fact-checking, etc.
One cannot treat the concept of UAW voters voting in their own interest as some sort of unusual event, conspiracy, corruption or scandal in American politics. That's not "journalism", that is speculation, hearsay, and pathetic mudslinging. Walter Cronkite would spin in his grave.
Do chickens vote for or against Colonel Sanders?
Nor can one presume that one commentator's "blog" on the UAW, or the car's effect on global warming, represents the views, or the beliefs, of the network he gets his paycheck from.
If the automobile editor in your local paper doesn't like the new Impala, can we say that "Hearst Publications are biased against American cars!"
Of course not.
Corporate media delivers what 'sells'. Corporate media does not have a "point of view".
Mostly, the reason American media botches most stories is that one bad original story gets re-gurgitated through other stories. Sloppy fact-checking gets passed off as being factual.
In other words, readers never go to primary sources.
The current news stories on Detroit, its bankruptcy, and its tie-ins to the auto industry are a perfect example of the swamp into which American media has sunk IMO.
The automobile magazines do a much better job of covering the industry than mainstream media---head and shoulders above.