OT: Play regular MPEG on a DVD Player?

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Ok, here is my take on this...

As I understand it, there are like, 24 different companies here in California that are working on developing an electric car, with Tesla just being the one that gets the media attention. So, what if the government gave each of them a billion dollars (or, say, the top 10) and then said - "The first one to produce 10,000 viable cars that meets this specification gets two billion dollars!" and let them go. I am sure that there are companies in Mass. and Michigan that could get in on the competition.

Heck, I would love to get in on something like that. I have two friends who are car designers, and with the guys on this newsgroup, we could hack out the power electronics in a few weeks. We would create millions of jobs, these new companies could then buy the car factories GM and Ford are closing for pennies on the dollar, and the country would see a new revival of entreupenarial spirit!

Charlie Edmondson Engineering Inc.

A list...

...Jim Thompson

"very unlikely prospect" ... That's the problem. We bail them out, they just keep making the same upper management mistakes, and during the next economic downturn they are back in D.C. passing the hat around.

I think only the new business model will really work. I've seen too many "re-education" attempts fizzle. Tons of new wasteful bureaucracy, lots of money spent, most people still ending up in unemployment. Also, those "entirely new jobs" just ain't there unless someone creates them. They can only be created by new business.

American culture is probably the best there is when it comes to self-employment. Our country was built by entrepreneurial minds. When they came here there was zero in terms of traditional business. They built it from the ground up.

And yeah, our health care system, if you want to call it "system", is the pits in that respect.

That needs to be built back up. We've had all that before. Take a look at records such as the ones on Ellis Island. Many people came here with nothing. Hardly any money, no relatives, no friends. Yet they made it. I met a man who arrived here with his wife, one suitcase and about $50. At the time he passed away they had a house free and clear, several patents, plus some toys such as a Corvette. All fully paid for because they were old-school and didn't believe in debt. They also brought kids through college that weren't their kids. No student loans.

CCC can work but I have also seen the opposite in other countries. I am not a particular fan of enterprises run by bureaucrats. Unions are another matter, they'll fight anything that even remotely cuts into their turf or fiefdoms.

I believe it's larger than 1%. But consider the contribution of that group to society. Taxes, donations etc. Then the percentage is even larger. And a culture can be worked on, as a people we just need to have the will to tackle it.

The difference is this: Social security pretty much pays out according to what you have put in. Not a very efficient investment for the individual but at least somewhat fair. Legacy costs benefit a small fraction of the population, those who had large employers that nearly always fell over and played dead whenever the unions were grumpy.

Quote "... all with revenue of $5 million to $750 million and share prices above $5 as of Oct. 1 ...". That isn't exactly what Joel meant by "sole proprietors or even two-person partnerships".

But even when you lower that bar by 10-20dB: Other than stores it seems the majority of businesses in our community here are 5-20 employee mom-and-pop operations. And they are doing quite well. Went to dinner with one owner yesterday night and he isn't nearly as concerned about his business as the guys in Detroit. Not at all.

The real beauty of it all is that turds like MPM have to pay into the system so that the system can pay _me_ $3000 per month plus provide me with low cost health care, rub-it-in, rub-it-in ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Hear, Hear!!!

Thanks, Rich

Hey, the Repugnacons are no boy scouts.

Thanks, Rich

I've seen it. Not limos, but pimpmobiles and leather jackets. I was so broke once that I actually went and tried to apply for welfare. (what the hell, it's there, why not use it?)

The only two people in this waiting room of about 50-75 who actually looked needy were me and the other white guy.

I didn't get welfare. They were demanding a mailing address, and I said, "What part of HOMELESS don't you understand? I HAVE NO mailing address. Last night, it was behind that bush just outside your front door."

So they stonewalled me, and I got squat.

Thanks, Rich

Yeah, but: The rapid erosion of said snow pack is going to be hardly noticed because most of the media do not really want it to be measured. The yellowish pee-hole-in-the-snow, in contrast, is widely visible. Leaders must lead, and that includes visible belt-tightening in tough times. Regardless whether its financial impact is miniscule in the grand scheme of things and regardless of how much was screwed up by them and how much by unions or other influences.

Ah, yes, the great American fiction... image over substance :-(

...Jim Thompson

Agreed, but they're not the political branch of the unions.

IOW: electing on sound bites instead of a solid platform.

To some extent, yes. But it all has to do with leadership. In the same way that a sergeant can't send his troops into the heat of things while remaining in his command tent sipping coffee. A good leader would never even think of doing that.

No, not that your red herring has anything to do with the issue at hand. They did quite well on their union contracts.

Duh! ...and it has *NOTHING* to do with tariffs, nor "domestic" cars. Toyota, Honda, Kia,... , don't have those legacy costs (and they're built here too). The legacy costs don't "inflate prices" so much as allow the competition to make a better car for the same $$. Why buy $2000 less of a car? Few will, reducing the number of cars made, increasing the legacy cost per vehicle,... I'm sure even someone stupid enough to vote for Obama can finish the paragraph.

It's not a lot different. If you hadn't heard, (I know you leftists have fingers permanently installed in your ears) Social Security will soon be bankrupt too. GM, Ford, and Chrysler, up until now, haven't had had the power to print money. Though the DemonicRats will give them that power soon.

JimT doesn't much care what you want.

Of course, Marxists like you and Obama know *exactly* what that system is, right?

Right. A good leader would never let the sergeant stay back in the tent.

It was PROVEN, on November 4, 53% of the electorate are village idiots, and they believe in the tooth fairy and bail-outs.

...Jim Thompson

...and that the Demonicrats are the party of tax cuts.

Cuts? Huh?

...Jim Thompson