Category Archives: AutoInformed Editorial

The History of Lexus

Lexus launched in 1989 with two luxury sedans, one small and the other large aimed directly at the Mercedes-Benz S-class. The full size Lexus LS 400 was priced more than $10,000 under top of the line German offerings in the US. At the time, Lexus made bold claims of superior quality and durability, as well as several years without a marked decrease in the quietness, smooth ride, and exterior and interior finishes of the new luxury car line. Continue reading

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Energy Secretary Steven Chu Resigns after a Distinguished Four Years

The Department of Energy, oft mocked by right wing Republicans, in Chu’s mind actually serves U.S. taxpayers as a Department of Science, a Department of Innovation, and a Department of Nuclear Security. Continue reading

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Food Fight over Ethanol as Special Interest Groups Trade Charges

Two special interest groups are sparing in public over the cost implications of a long-standing federal energy policy that mandates the use of ethanol and ever increasing amounts of bio-fuels in an attempt to free the United States from importing oil sold by terrorist supporting nations. In 2012 about 9% of all transportation fuel used will be from so-called renewable sources. Continue reading

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Thanksgiving for Our Democracy

What is often called the most American of holidays, Thanksgiving, had its roots in pilgrim and other colonial celebrations of refugee and immigrant survival and bountiful harvests going back to the early 17th century. Continue reading

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General Motors Posts Q3 Profit of $1.5 Billion, off -$200 Million. Ideologues Out in Full Force for Halloween and the Election

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) today announced third quarter net income of $1.5 billion, a drop of -$200 million from the same period in the prior year. This works out to $0.89 per share including special items, which reduced net income by $100 million and cut earnings per share by $0.04. In the third quarter a year ago, GM’s net income was $1.7 billion or $1.03 per share. The results represent a turnaround especially in view of Q1 of 2009 when GM lost almost -$10 per share.

In spite of wild claims – critics say deliberately false – from the repudiated Republican right about the auto bailout, GM is not going bankrupt. GM’s debt-to-equity ratio is only 25% of the overall auto industry average, and it now has more than $37 billion in liquidity. GM in the context of the current travails of the global auto industry is performing reasonably well. Continue reading

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NHTSA Says Chinese Counterfeit Air Bags are a Safety Problem

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – NHTSA – has published a consumer safety advisory to warn vehicle owners and repair shops about the dangers of counterfeit Chinese air bags. NHTSA said it has become “aware” of a problem involving the sale of counterfeit air bags for use as replacement parts in vehicles that have been involved in a crash. Continue reading

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No Jobs Crisis Continues in May as Washington Dithers

The looming choices facing voters are clearly unpalatable. At the top of the ticket, you have the demonstrably job-destroying Harvard-educated Republican party 1 percenter Mitt Romney running against the demonstrably non-job creating Harvard-educated Democratic party 1 percenter Barack Obama. It is time to put the name “somebody else” on all ballots, which if somebody else wins starts another election with the other previously listed candidates disqualified from running again. Continue reading

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April Marks Third Straight Month of Declining U.S. Job Growth as Unemployment Remains at an Official and Understated 8%

The struggling U.S. economy added a measly 115,000 jobs last month, the third straight month of declines in job growth. More than 15 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed. This poor performance comes years after Washington declared the recession caused by the reckless and unpunished practices of Wall Street officially over. Continue reading

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December U.S. Unemployment at 8.5% Remains at Crisis Levels

The 200,000 employment increase is roughly half of what is needed each month to return the almost 20 million under-employed and unemployed back to full-time work as taxpayers in the still ailing U.S. economy. At this rate it will take a decade or more to return to pre-Great Recession levels. Since 80% of workers in the U.S. commute to work in a vehicle, the unemployment crisis hurts the auto industry’s prospects and its own fragile, mostly jobless, recovery that is underway. Continue reading

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Iran Threatens to Close Strait of Hormuz, Shut Off Oil Supply. Here We Go With Another Oil Crisis Caused by Despots?

The larger issue remains an amorphous U.S. strategy conducted and – alas – at times directed in Washington by big money interests that care not about the welfare of the United States or its citizens. U.S. energy policy going back to President Carter and the first OPEC oil embargo four decades ago has failed under one-term Carter and every successive President and Congress since – Democrat or Republican – to eliminate this security threat – as well as the corresponding national economic decline posed by oil imports and the resulting enormous transfer of U.S. wealth overseas. Continue reading

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Fuel Economy Regulations Risk Huge Job Losses, While Increasing Environmental Damage, CAR Study Predicts

This comes as the U.S. national unemployment rate hovers at an official 9.8%, which is an understated number since it doesn’t include under-employed, forced retirees or beaten down job seekers who are the victims of Republican ‘socialism and tax cuts for the rich’ policies.  Continue reading

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