January 07 '06

                                                    

Volume 501

                   


Energy Crises And The Auto Industry

Cadillac PickupIn the seventies, this country experienced what was described as an energy crisis, or more specifically, an oil crisis. The price of gasoline soared to record highs when the oil producing countries of the Middle East curtailed crude oil production. The typical American automobile had, in better times, suited the American consumer just fine, but the sudden rise in the price of gasoline created an instant demand for more fuel efficient automobiles.

Long dependent upon foreign oil, the United States was incapable of producing enough crude oil to meet consumer demand. Some special interest groups pressured national legislators to fund research for alternative forms of energy, while others lobbied for more stringent regulations relating to fuel economy in the automobile industry.

American automobile manufacturers found themselves with a product nobody wanted, "the gas guzzler." However, Japan had plenty of fuel efficient automobiles that were smaller and cheaper. Before the American automobile industry could react to changing consumer demand, the U.S. market began importing Japanese automobiles by the droves. Automobile manufacturers, here, laid off thousands of workers. Recession and inflation, words unfamiliar in the post WWII economy, suddenly became buzzwords.

The American government reacted in predictable fashion and lied to the American people regarding the "energy crisis." Scientists were found who predicted there were only enough oil deposits throughout the world to last another few generations of consumers. That winter, thermostats in Government buildings were set at 68 degrees, and employees were told to turn off lights when not in use. Homeowners were encouraged to do likewise.

Somebody discovered that reducing the speed limit on our nation’s highways would save gasoline, and the Federal government reduced the speed limit on two-lane highways from sixty-five miles per hour to fifty-five miles per hour. To encourage state governments to follow the national example, Federal highway funds were withheld from non-compliant states. Motorists grumbled over the lower speed limits, and most of us kept driving at the old speeds until radar units became prevalent in law enforcement.

I listened with an unsympathetic ear to the cries of the CEO’s of Chrysler, Ford, and GM, when imports drove some of them to seek bankruptcy protection and Federal assistance. I might have felt differently had I been an unemployed automotive worker, but as it was, I felt the automobile industry had done too little for too long to improve fuel economy and provide consumers with smaller and lighter cars and trucks. Hindsight has shown that Americans and the automobile industry simply didn’t have the incentives to economize until the energy crisis came along.

This past year has reminded me of the energy crisis of the seventies, especially when gasoline prices rose above three dollars per gallon last September. Gasoline prices remain above two dollars per gallon, today.

The good times in the sixties and seventies for the American automobile industry produced heavy, steel automobiles up to nineteen feet in length, but the energy crisis forced manufacturers to re-tool and downsize to accommodate a new economy.

Over the next decade, the automobile industry addressed the issue with fuel economy, but only because the government and foreign competition forced them to acknowledge a problem existed. Some alternative fuels have been developed, but production costs keep them unaffordable for most of us. And, today, a smattering of hybrid cars can be found, but the average consumer isn't willing to pay more then sacrifice power and speed for the sake of the environment.

Eventually, the automobile industry became profitable again, but history has a way of repeating itself. The good times in the nineties saw the rise in popularity of a form of family transportation that had been only moderately well received in the mid-eighties, namely, the Sport Utility Vehicle or SUV. Set high above the ground on a truck’s frame the glorified, off-road, station wagon gained popularity, first among the young, upwardly mobile of the workforce, then the soccer-moms, and finally about half of the rest of us, so that today one of every two vehicles sold is an SUV or a pickup.

Manufacturers were a little slow to catch the new trend, but by the end of the nineteen nineties, every major, domestic, automobile manufacturer was producing an SUV. Even Cadillac made one. Cadillac, which had developed its reputation as the finest of American luxury automobiles, broke down and made a SUV. Rich folks could then lord it over the owners of SUVs made by Ford/ Lincoln and Lexus. Apparently, moderation is not a popular word when the economy is booming.

I should not have been surprised when Cadillac introduced its pickup truck, but I was. Somehow, I thought "Cadillac" and "pickup truck" didn't belong in the same sentence. Though introduced in 2002, I didn't spot a Cadillac pickup until late last year. However, in my defense, the truck looks almost identical to the Chevrolet Avalanche. Chevrolet AvalanchePersonally, I don't like the looks of either truck, but I won't dwell on that matter. Instead, I'll simply share what another wrote in 2002 about the new Cadillac pickup.

"I can’t imagine Joe Bob, Willie, Geezer, and the boys pulling up at Ida Belle’s Chat & Chew Cafe in their Cadillac pickups, can you? Of course, this is not what Joe Bob and them would call a "working truck," and Cadillac hasn’t designed it for such workaday riff-raff as us. It is, after all, still a Cadillac, so this pickup has a soft leather interior, a Bose sound system, and a $50,000 sticker price. Instead of plain pickup colors, this ritzy truck comes in hues that Martha Stewart must have designed: "sable black," "white diamond," and "silver sand." Cadillac’s pickup is so fancy that a trailer hitch is optional.

"In fact, Cadillac refuses to call its new vehicle a mere pickup. It’s an S.U.P — a Sports Utility Pickup, don’t you know. Cadillac’s truck has a soft and appropriately luxurious name, the Escalade EXT, and the company told the New York Times that its target customer is a man, 40-something, who lives in a $2-million home, and "might have inherited his father’s construction business." Apparently the target customer also is one who’s either clueless or doesn’t give a damn about keeping America tethered to the spigots of foreign oil and keeping our country gagging on the toxic pollution of gasoline, for the Escalade EXT is a hog. It weighs nearly three tons, has a toxic-spewing 345-horsepower motor, and gets a pathetic 13.5 miles per gallon.

"Meanwhile Cadillac is in Washington lobbying against any toughening of the fuel economy standards."

By Jim Hightower - www.HightowerLowdown.org

I've shared my frustration with America's infatuation with the gas-guzzlers of the seventies and the SUV's of the nineties and now the SUP'er trucks in the "aughts," in order to illustrate my lack of sympathy for the American automobile industry. I keep hearing that GM is in financial trouble, and I can't help wondering how much of their trouble is due to competition and how much is due to the syndrome that afflicts the industry, "trying to be all things to all consumers." Yet, until the automobile industry learns to say no to the American appetite for bigness, then future energy crises will continue to catch the industry ill-prepared to cope.


Piano Recital Just Before Christmas

The Christmas Season seems an unlikely time for a piano recital, but perhaps I’m ignorant regarding such matters. My daughter, Rayanne, is the organist for FBC, Belmont and, Georgia, a friend of hers is the church pianist. Both ladies teach piano, and since each of them have a daughter old enough for piano lessons, they each teach the other’s daughter. I believe Rayanne has six students and Georgia has about twelve to fifteen.

I thought by taking off the week prior to Christmas I would have plenty of time to do the chores I wanted to do, make the last-minute shopping trips I needed to make, and slice the country hams I’d bought the week before and get them distributed to family and friends well in advance of Christmas Day. Being a guy, I failed to consider I might also be asked to adjust my schedule to include a trip to Belmont for a piano recital.

Rayanne brought Merilese and Katherine over Sunday afternoon and left them with us for a couple of days and asked we return them on Tuesday afternoon. With Barbara and the girls making cookies on Monday and me having to go to Belmont Tuesday afternoon, there wasn’t much counter space or time for me to work on my ham project either day.

"Rayanne wants us in Belmont by four o’clock," Barbara shared.

"What time’s the recital?"

"The recital’s at six o’clock."

"Why do we need to be there so early?" I questioned.

"The girls have to change clothes, and I’ll need to help Rayanne with a few last minute things," Barbara stated.

One may well imagine my surprise when we arrived, and my daughter’s first words to me were, "Here Daddy, I need you to unwrap these Rollos and put them on these pretzels."

It was a simpler task to perform than the next one I was assigned. Rayanne wanted the Rollo candy and pretzels heated on a cookie sheet long enough to soften the candy so that a pecan half could be pressed atop each treat to create a snack, one of many different snacks to be served to folks after the recital. The not-so-simple task I was assigned involved using the computer to align the names of piano students and the selections each one would be playing.

"Just make sure they’re spaced evenly. I’ll run off copies of the program when we get to the church," Rayanne stated.

I can do about anything I need to do using Microsoft Word, and I quickly realized I could retype the entire document using columns more quickly than I could reformat what Rayanne had been working on.

Copiers and printers have different personalities than computers, so I was glad to learn that Rayanne knew how to operate the office copier and was able to quickly produce the fifty programs she needed for the recital.

Merilese At The Nursing Home

Watching the youngsters performing, I was reminded of the fear and dread I had in performing in school plays during my childhood. And, while I wondered whom among the piano students might have been the most nervous, I couldn't detect any apprehension once any given student began to play. I think the teachers were more nervous than their students were.

I had asked Rayanne earlier why so many students were playing the same songs. She explained that the students were allowed to choose whatever Christmas Songs they wanted. As a result, I heard Jingle Bells and Silent Night played several times with varying degrees of success. Had I been judging the piano students, I wouldn't have given high marks to very many of them. Nonetheless, Rayanne and Georgia expressed their satisfaction with the performances of their respective students.

Following the recital, the audience was encouraged to stay for refreshments in the fellowship hall, where a vast assortment of dips and finger foods begged to be chosen. Rayanne's in-laws, Charles and Beckie Adams, and Barbara and I were among the first adults to follow the students in the serving line. All the selections I chose tasted good, especially the Rollo and pretzel treats.

I failed to ask Rayanne when the next recital is planned, but with my luck it will be when I'm not away on a fishing trip.


Bodock Beau The Truth About Dogs

Dogs may be the only possessions that Americans are fonder of than their automobiles.

The Truth About Dogs

The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue. -Anonymous

I Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. -Ann Landers

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. -Will Rogers

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. -Ben Williams

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. -Josh Billings

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. -Andy Rooney

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made. -M. Acklam

Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate. -Sigmund Freud

I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. -Rita Rudner

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. -Robert Benchley

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog. -Franklin P. Jones

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. -James Thurber

If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise. -Unknown

My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money. -Joe Weinstein

Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul -- chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! -Anne Tyler

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. -Mark Twain

You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!' - Dave Barry

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. -Roger Caras

If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then give him only two of them. -Phil Pastoret

If you own a dog, your goal in life should be to become as good of a person as your dog already thinks you are.

Submitted by Vickey Murphree

Jay Leno: The Energy Department's Argon National Lab has determined that Beethoven died from lead poisoning. Now when did he die, 1872? And you thought you had to wait a long time for your lab results.


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