You are the one rewriting history. I'm no fan of the wasted decade in Iraq, but at least my disdain is based on facts and not what I want history to have been. Indeed the inspectors went in once, but they were expelled by Saddam Hussein. They did not remove themselves in fear of a US invasion. This is the problem with modern discourse. People have strong opinions steeped in their beliefs and incorrect recollections and not in fact. I probably stand with you on all things Iraq war. But the way it started and the reasons recited today are usually always wrong.
The UN demanded the inspectors be let back in and Iraq didn't abide, so the UN unanimously (not the US unilaterally) passed resolution 1441 giving Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations". Thus my comment that the UN having no teeth is completely valid. They are like parents who keep telling their children, "one more time and you are gonna get it!" and then they keep giving them more chances.
This is probably totally anecdotal, but my four years of living in Europe disprove your theory that "shelter is a human right".
I've always contended the reason Germany has such a great U-Bahn system is to provide a place for the homeless to sleep. Nothing smells better than the U-Bahn at 2 in the morning!
A large part of the US military spending goes to rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq, which is the real problem. The military is meant to blow things up and kill people. Spending military money on building schools and infrastructure is no longer military money. I suppose if the UN actually had any teeth and actually did things like, oh, follow up on their word when they say things like "let the inspectors in...or else!", then we wouldn't have things like Iraq (well, if there had been a different US President AND the UN did its job, I suppose).
This is a stupid argument. If you've ever been around Nike, Inc., the one thing you come away with is that they are serious about the science of exercise. Diminishing their contributions to cutesy "$100 price tags" is dumb, especially coming from what is probably a fat guy playing WoW in his mom's basement.
Is it just me, or is it ironic that the three best features all deal with recovering from system problems (fast reboot, revamped task bar, one-click system restore)?
Oil production in the US has increased four-fold since Obama took office and is at a historic high, according to an NPR segment on Tuesday. It is erroneous logic to think that drilling more will affect the price of oil. Even more egregious is to claim that Obama is restricting drilling, when he has actually increased drilling to the highest level in history.
I heard it on a local radio host's show. I think he was reading it out of Forbes magazine, but I don't remember. I do remember that the Malibu is the first American "American" car in third place behind the Camry and Accord.
You need to google "2008 Mazdaspeed 3 white smoke". Once you do that, you'll see that ALL of those units were bad, regardless of my vehicle's oil change intervals and service history. They recalled it, repaired it for free, and extended the warranty to 80k. That's their Mia Culpa.
Plus, changing synthetic oil every 10k is conservative. The oil manufacturers themselves err on the VERY conservative side of 7,500 - 10,000 miles between oil changes. Most engineers I know say no problem well beyond 10k.
In any case, my car now has 90k on it and I change the oil every 7-12k, and the white smoke problem has not returned, because, imagine this, synthetic oil with 10k miles on it was not the cause of the defective turbo design. Claims that I "killed my car" are a bit hyperbolic, considering.
When you don't have the time or interest, and the last 9 Toyotas have been good, what's the problem with buying a 10th without plodding through hours of magazine reviews and spec sheets? Obviously there's something right going on with Toyota's corporate culture. Until they give a brand loyalist a reason to not think the next version will be good, there's no problem with brand loyalty. And no, a few outlier bad steering mechanisms and the bad PR that came from that don't count.
You can't sit for hours and fret over spec sheets and miniscule differences between products. Well, you can, but for me, a branded product that is good enough for me, is good enough for me, irrespective if their might be a "better" option out there. My time is more important to me than figuring out if the GE dishwasher or the Westinghouse dishwasher is a better candidate for my $400. Same with cars.
Company cultures don't change overnight so it is unlikely that a brand that has been good to you will suddenly be crap on the next version.
I work in the car industry. That means I am a hell of a lot more qualified than most of you people to make an informed comment on the current state of the art in new cars.
Come back to us in about 6 months when the new Fusion comes out. The Focus is only ugly in the US market. The European Focus, as usual, is far more attractive. Ford is merely pandering to the Friends-of-Walmart crowd for the US market.
I think the meme stems from the notion that if gas prices followed the normal rules of supply and demand, gas would be more than twice as expensive as it is now. Thus the "artificially low" gas price meme.
Supply and demand are at an all time high. Why shouldn't prices reflect this?
You are missing the bigger picture, in that GM can finally make a car (Malibu, Cruze, Sonic) that at least competes with class leaders. In the past, choosing a Cobalt, Impala or a Cavalier was the sign of a very uninformed consumer and somebody with generally low critical evaluation skills. The difference between a Cavalier and a Civic were tangible to anyone who sat in both, drove both, and kept an open, skeptical mind about both.
These days, the difference between an Elantra and a Cruze are minuscule. Pick one based on its looks, if you must, but most cars in the same class, like this article is saying, are roughly the same in features, cost, performance, and reliability these days, with a few outliers, of course.
I drive a 2008 Mazda 3. You couldn't pay me to buy a new Mazda 3, because simply put, they are ugly. All other things relatively equal, I'm buying a Chevy Cruze over a 2012 Mazda 3.
And my next car will be either a Ford Fusion or the Hyundai Sonata 2.0T. Most likely I'll end up with whichever one's dealership is a lesser pain in the ass.
Nothing wrong with Brand Loyalty until they give you a reason to stop being loyal. For the most part, devices like microwaves, tvs, blenders, fridges, and even cars are all pretty similar in quality-per-price-point. In the case of cars, one of the reasons US cars were cheaper than their import counterparts in the past was because they were cheaper (as in cheaply built). A 1997 Escort was not comparable to a 1997 Civic in quality and thus the Escort cost a lot less. Now that Ford is making similar quality cars as Honda, is it no wonder that a Focus costs as much or even more than a Civic? Improve the quality of your engineering and the quality of the components and the costs go up. Seems pretty simple to me.
What is really lost on the whole "American Cars Suck" argument is that it should be "American Consumers Suck" because they were the ones demanding cheap, poorly built cars. In America, it seems we are enamored with "cheaper is better". Personally I was thought it was pretty obvious that "better is better", but then again, I don't eat at chain restaurants, buy crappy cheap general motor trucks, or shop at Wal-mart. Evidently I'm in the minority.
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You are the one rewriting history. I'm no fan of the wasted decade in Iraq, but at least my disdain is based on facts and not what I want history to have been. Indeed the inspectors went in once, but they were expelled by Saddam Hussein. They did not remove themselves in fear of a US invasion. This is the problem with modern discourse. People have strong opinions steeped in their beliefs and incorrect recollections and not in fact. I probably stand with you on all things Iraq war. But the way it started and the reasons recited today are usually always wrong.
The UN demanded the inspectors be let back in and Iraq didn't abide, so the UN unanimously (not the US unilaterally) passed resolution 1441 giving Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations". Thus my comment that the UN having no teeth is completely valid. They are like parents who keep telling their children, "one more time and you are gonna get it!" and then they keep giving them more chances.
And when exactly did the US declare war on Iraq?
Ummm, an iPad in a cover with a built in bluetooth keyboard, how is that different from say a netbook at 1/3 the cost?
iPads will still be around next year?
This is probably totally anecdotal, but my four years of living in Europe disprove your theory that "shelter is a human right".
I've always contended the reason Germany has such a great U-Bahn system is to provide a place for the homeless to sleep. Nothing smells better than the U-Bahn at 2 in the morning!
A large part of the US military spending goes to rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq, which is the real problem. The military is meant to blow things up and kill people. Spending military money on building schools and infrastructure is no longer military money. I suppose if the UN actually had any teeth and actually did things like, oh, follow up on their word when they say things like "let the inspectors in...or else!", then we wouldn't have things like Iraq (well, if there had been a different US President AND the UN did its job, I suppose).
Do stupid people know they are stupid?
This is a stupid argument. If you've ever been around Nike, Inc., the one thing you come away with is that they are serious about the science of exercise. Diminishing their contributions to cutesy "$100 price tags" is dumb, especially coming from what is probably a fat guy playing WoW in his mom's basement.
Innovation deserves credit. Most sane people don't associate the words "innovation" and "Microsoft".
Is it just me, or is it ironic that the three best features all deal with recovering from system problems (fast reboot, revamped task bar, one-click system restore)?
Oil production in the US has increased four-fold since Obama took office and is at a historic high, according to an NPR segment on Tuesday. It is erroneous logic to think that drilling more will affect the price of oil. Even more egregious is to claim that Obama is restricting drilling, when he has actually increased drilling to the highest level in history.
Oops, sorry, found it. It's from cars.com.
Here's a link:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/06/ranking-the-two-most-american-cars-are-from-japanese-makers/1#.T0WyUhwZ09k
I heard it on a local radio host's show. I think he was reading it out of Forbes magazine, but I don't remember. I do remember that the Malibu is the first American "American" car in third place behind the Camry and Accord.
You need to google "2008 Mazdaspeed 3 white smoke". Once you do that, you'll see that ALL of those units were bad, regardless of my vehicle's oil change intervals and service history. They recalled it, repaired it for free, and extended the warranty to 80k. That's their Mia Culpa.
Plus, changing synthetic oil every 10k is conservative. The oil manufacturers themselves err on the VERY conservative side of 7,500 - 10,000 miles between oil changes. Most engineers I know say no problem well beyond 10k.
In any case, my car now has 90k on it and I change the oil every 7-12k, and the white smoke problem has not returned, because, imagine this, synthetic oil with 10k miles on it was not the cause of the defective turbo design. Claims that I "killed my car" are a bit hyperbolic, considering.
When you don't have the time or interest, and the last 9 Toyotas have been good, what's the problem with buying a 10th without plodding through hours of magazine reviews and spec sheets? Obviously there's something right going on with Toyota's corporate culture. Until they give a brand loyalist a reason to not think the next version will be good, there's no problem with brand loyalty. And no, a few outlier bad steering mechanisms and the bad PR that came from that don't count.
You can't sit for hours and fret over spec sheets and miniscule differences between products. Well, you can, but for me, a branded product that is good enough for me, is good enough for me, irrespective if their might be a "better" option out there. My time is more important to me than figuring out if the GE dishwasher or the Westinghouse dishwasher is a better candidate for my $400. Same with cars.
Company cultures don't change overnight so it is unlikely that a brand that has been good to you will suddenly be crap on the next version.
If you are doubting the reliability of Toyota and Honda over the past 30 years, you haven't been paying attention.
I work in the car industry. That means I am a hell of a lot more qualified than most
of you people to make an informed comment on the current state of the art in new
cars.
Spoken like a true used-car salesman.
Come back to us in about 6 months when the new Fusion comes out. The Focus is only ugly in the US market. The European Focus, as usual, is far more attractive. Ford is merely pandering to the Friends-of-Walmart crowd for the US market.
Or an American built VW Rabbit....
...Pickup. Yep, I had a VW Pickup (Rabbit), except I think it was built in Mexico.
A lot of it was bias. Honda somehow had a reputation for good cars...
Thirty years of anecdotal evidence of good quality stops becoming anecdotal after a few years.
How much more is it to finance four to five grand with a 48 or 60 month loan?
I think the meme stems from the notion that if gas prices followed the normal rules of supply and demand, gas would be more than twice as expensive as it is now. Thus the "artificially low" gas price meme.
Supply and demand are at an all time high. Why shouldn't prices reflect this?
You are over-analyzing the entire issue. All Pontiacs are bad, regardless of the original poster's anecdote.
You are missing the bigger picture, in that GM can finally make a car (Malibu, Cruze, Sonic) that at least competes with class leaders. In the past, choosing a Cobalt, Impala or a Cavalier was the sign of a very uninformed consumer and somebody with generally low critical evaluation skills. The difference between a Cavalier and a Civic were tangible to anyone who sat in both, drove both, and kept an open, skeptical mind about both.
These days, the difference between an Elantra and a Cruze are minuscule. Pick one based on its looks, if you must, but most cars in the same class, like this article is saying, are roughly the same in features, cost, performance, and reliability these days, with a few outliers, of course.
I drive a 2008 Mazda 3. You couldn't pay me to buy a new Mazda 3, because simply put, they are ugly. All other things relatively equal, I'm buying a Chevy Cruze over a 2012 Mazda 3.
And my next car will be either a Ford Fusion or the Hyundai Sonata 2.0T. Most likely I'll end up with whichever one's dealership is a lesser pain in the ass.
Saturns never rated high on quality lists. They were only marketed as such, because they were marginally better than GM's other products.
Sure my soul will die a little with each bite of the high-calorie burger, but they have beer so hopefully my soul won't outpace my liver.
Your soul already died when you bought the Toyota. ;-)
Nothing wrong with Brand Loyalty until they give you a reason to stop being loyal. For the most part, devices like microwaves, tvs, blenders, fridges, and even cars are all pretty similar in quality-per-price-point. In the case of cars, one of the reasons US cars were cheaper than their import counterparts in the past was because they were cheaper (as in cheaply built). A 1997 Escort was not comparable to a 1997 Civic in quality and thus the Escort cost a lot less. Now that Ford is making similar quality cars as Honda, is it no wonder that a Focus costs as much or even more than a Civic? Improve the quality of your engineering and the quality of the components and the costs go up. Seems pretty simple to me.
What is really lost on the whole "American Cars Suck" argument is that it should be "American Consumers Suck" because they were the ones demanding cheap, poorly built cars. In America, it seems we are enamored with "cheaper is better". Personally I was thought it was pretty obvious that "better is better", but then again, I don't eat at chain restaurants, buy crappy cheap general motor trucks, or shop at Wal-mart. Evidently I'm in the minority.