@VDCdriver Yes, he actually practices what he preaches. On the other hand, the director of UNICEF, the UN agency that “cares” for need y children, is chauffeured around New York in a Rolls Royce and makes one million dollars a year.
The amount of your UNICEF donation that actually reaches those children is … ONE CENT out of every dollar you donate!!!
^
@Docnick–I have no doubt that most CEOs of most charities are richly compensated, but your info–which undoubtedly came from a spam e-mail is–at best–outdated, and–at worst–highly inaccurate.
Here is some reality on that situation:
The moral of the story is that one shouldn’t trust the veracity of everything that comes in via e-mail!
“The moral of the story is that one shouldn’t trust the veracity of everything anything that comes in via e-mail!”
There, I fixed it!
In retrospect, I think that you are right, texases!
Almost weekly, an old friend of mine forwards right-wing e-mails that are so transparently bogus as to boggle the mind. When I systematically prove the total falsity of everything that he forwarded, he does admit that he was wrong to believe what had been forwarded to him. And, he then usually adds…But I wanted to believe it!
And therein lies the problem, IMHO.
When people want to believe something because of pre-existing prejudices, they will believe almost anything–without any attempt at verification. I attempt to verify whatever somebody forwards to me, whether I agree with the message or not, but I think that I am in the minority in that respect.
That type of agit-prop worked really well for Joseph Goebbels in the '30s & '40s, and it apparently still works with some people today.
I have many intercontinental friends, now I have heard the car as citrone (as in drone) or crtroen (as in moen like the faucet) also heard nissan (as in sands ) and nissan (as in sauna), hyundai (as in sunday) or (hi yun day) how do you prononce the names?
Me citroen (like moen) hiynday like sunday, and nissan sands
When will the 2CV go back into production?
French (roughly): see-trow-EN (gutteral “r”)
British (from Top Gear): SIT-trin
Me: SIT-troy-en
"For those who did not get to see The Holy Father’s arrival in DC this afternoon, it was noteworthy for many reasons. etc.
His humility is simply amazing, IMHO."
No disrespect intended, but as a Lutheran he just does not speak for me. He is a breath of fresh air but I think his social/political agenda is off base. He complains about the failure of capitalism to help the poor but just compare how well off the general citizens are in capitalist countries compared to socialist or communist countries. Socialism and Communism is certainly not a way to lift the poor out of their poverty.
I worked for a nun for about 8 frustrating years until it was explained to me that she took a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and expected the same from everyone. No thanks. So would the poor be better off if we all just sold everything and gave it all away to the poor of the world? Or in a couple years would we all be back to where we were again only with all of us poor?
I’ve been to the Vatican twice and the riches are astounding and the management is quite capitalistic, especially in money and asset management. So physician, heal thy self.
Back to cars.
He is sticking his nose in our foreign and our domestic affair in areas he knows absolutely nothing about. I have zero respect for this fraud. His #1 job should be to clean up the Catholic Church’s numerous problems and bring people back to the church. Instead he’s meddling in our climate change policies, Cuban relationship (and being led on that subject by Putin), our policies regarding immigration of refugees, our states’ policies on gay marriage, and other areas. Other than religious studies, his entire education ended with a two year diploma to be a chemical technician. Those are insufficient credentials to qualify him as an expert on climate change. Therefore, he should keep his schnoz out of the issue. And he clearly doesn’t know anything about our Cuban relations… he should keep his schoz out of that too.
IMHO his interference in areas he doesn’t belong is not indicative of humility. It’s indicative of arrogance.
And now, as Bing said, back to cars.
Who started that, anyway?
Everyone is entitled to their opinions on any subject they choose. I’m sure that our elected officials will give the Pope’s opinions all the consideration they are due. Then they’ll get back to their own agendas on those subjects.
He is sticking his nose in our foreign and our domestic affair in areas he knows absolutely nothing about. I have zero respect for this fraud. His #1 job should be to clean up the Catholic Church's numerous problems and bring people back to the church
I don’t know if you’ve read anything on the Pope…but he has done more in cleaning up the Catholic Church then the last 4 Popes COMBINED…from cleaning up the Vatican Bank to the Pedophiles…the list goes on.
Therefore, he should keep his schnoz out of the issue.
The Pope is the Moral Leader for the Church…Popes have taken political causes for centuries…always have …always will. I don’t think any of his speech was Political…it was speech on Morality. Popes have denounced the Holocaust…is the Political or Moral? Denouncing poverty…is that Political or Moral?
“Popes have denounced the Holocaust…is the Political or Moral? Denouncing poverty…is that Political or Moral?”
The records during the War have still not been made public by the Vatican but there is significant evidence that the Pope at that time not only turned a blind eye to the death camps but also assisted in the relocation of Nazi leaders as they were trying to escape Germany. I agree that that’s water under the bridge though and this one is certainly taking actions against pedophiles in the church that has not been done before. As a Lutheran though it wasn’t too many centuries ago that the Pope had ordered the arrest and execution of Martin Luther, so we listen to the Pope with a grain of salt.
Its just a matter of extremes though. We all are against poverty and we all are for good stewardship of the our natural resources. We just have different opinions on what that means. He believes in employee ownership for example. So do I but that’s not always how businesses can effectively operate. They can all buy stock though but it would be highly unusual for 30,000 workers to get together and put together a major company that works. Some of us see capitalistic finance and business development as a key factor in reducing poverty. And what is the key factor in business development in the third world? A stable government without war and with infrastructure. I wish he would have addressed ISIS and the chaos being created too. So to effectively denounce poverty and so something about it requires economic development which is capitalistic. Think Cuba before and after.
I do find it interesting though the number of pastors we have had that know little about balancing a budget and every 10-20 years we have to have a hard reality check and get the finances back in order again. They are good spiritual leaders but terrible at business and finance.
I can only hope Renault does not follow.
I disagree about worker ownership. Presumably it would be part of the retirement system. By the time an employee retires, it will be a very large part of their retirement benefit. If the company value drops, the retirement money pool could drop disproportionately to the market. If the company is publicly traded, maybe the employee or retiree can sell their stock on the open market. If it is privately held, the market is captive and illiquid. My former company was not publicly traded and our 401k matching was in company stock. After 12 years of maxed out contributions, my share in the ESOP was about half my 401k holdings. We lost a huge contract that accounted for over half of our revenues. If we had not been bought by a white knight for around the estimated value before the contract loss, the company probably would have gone out of business. This is an extreme example and it had a happy ending. Not all losses are this extreme, but this illustrates the high risk associated with employee ownership. I prefer employee ownership of a broad range of companies as is typically the case with defined benefit or defined contribution retirement programs.
The records during the War have still not been made public by the Vatican but there is significant evidence that the Pope at that time not only turned a blind eye to the death camps but also assisted in the relocation of Nazi leaders as they were trying to escape Germany.
I never mentioned Pope Pius. But Pope John Paul I and II both have PUBLICLY denounced the Holocaust.
We all are against poverty and we all are for good stewardship of the our natural resources. We just have different opinions on what that means
True…but I also NEVER heard the Pope say we should follow his socialistic views. His only remarks was to show that there IS poverty.
Some of us see capitalistic finance and business development as a key factor in reducing poverty.
I’ve studied Economics when obtaining my MS in mathematics…and I don’t have a problem with capitalism…I do have a major problem with the trickle-down theory…which has been PROVEN OVER AND OVER again it DOESN’T WORK. Never has worked…never will work.
Quoting @VDCdriver
“The Alfa signs have already been erected at the local Fiat dealership.”I saw an ad in today’s paper for an Alfa at what had been only the Fiat dealer. They are offering a model 4C at $4000 under the $67,795 MSRP. Does that mean they’re in trouble already?
A blurb on Alfa’s web page says "The new mid-engine, direct injection, 237 HP, 1750 Turbocharged I4, entirely made of aluminum, brings extraordinary performance with a peak torque of 258 lb-ft of torque - 80% of which is available at 1,700 RPM. The Alfa Romeo 4C has a top speed of 160 mph and accelerates from 0- 60 mph in 4.1 seconds*.
I didn’t find any reference to the asterisk. It may mean *right before it blows up…
If it’s “entirely made of aluminum” will it be like a Vega and burn oil at 20K miles? Does that include the crankshaft and connecting rods?
Quoting ok4450
“It’s difficult for me to see stand alone Fiat dealers surviving especially when your yearly sales totals are sub 40 thousand nationally.”
I recall that Suzuki only sold 4500 cars in the month before they pulled the plug.
I wonder if the Pope’s riding in a Fiat will help their sales here. I noticed that the Popemobile is now a Jeep, another FCM product.
I have to take some responsibility for having missed this thread over the last few days, but thanks to MG for bringing it back to cars.
The Vega bad an aluminum silicon alloy that was only used until the cylinder problems were recognized. Then Chevy put cast iron sleeves in to reduce wear. And then they stopped using the alloy altogether. Couple that with the vega problems occurring more than 40 years ago, and I wonder how that could possibly relate to Fiat. I don’t expect them to sell many in Montana anyway. I suspect if they are a success, the market will be more likely in the Northeast Corridor and Coastal California.
One more thing: I don’t understand how anyone’s experience with cars 20 or more years ago is important to bring up as often as it occurs. This is not germane to anyone’s purchasing decision but the guy that owned the lousy car. I understand that it poisoned your opinion of a brand. I have the same feelings about Ford because of cars I owned from the 1980s and 1990s, but I don’t try to dissuade anyone from buying a Ford because I had problems. A lot has changed in the las 19 years since my 1996 Windstar was built, and I’m willing to allow that Ford has gotten better.
Then Chevy put cast iron sleeves in to reduce wear. And then they stopped using the alloy altogether.GM only did that for ONE year...by then they lost too much money so the abandoned the Vega...then came out with the Manza with a different engine lineup.
Last time I looked, this was still a free country
We’re free to tell our horror stories about brand x
Whoever’s listening is free to make up their own mind. Nobody’s forcing them to accept what we say as the final word on the matter
If they’re halfway smart, they’ll do some research, before throwing their money on the table. Maybe the research will show that brand x is now a reliable and respectable brand, and that the car they’re considering is considered a good bet.
I think we would be worse off if we stopped telling our entertaining stories.
Just because I’m telling stories about a crappy car doesn’t necessarily mean I think the entire brand is worthless