A Nice Cup of Tea & a Sit Down

Today, American car makers Ford and General Motors announced that they have both incurred a drop in sales by around about 8%.   Toyota, the new number three car maker in the U.S., reported and increase in sales of almost 13%.   Ford and General Motors blame rising fuel costs and a poor housing market as the cause of their woes.   Toyota, operating in the same market, see sales rising however.   Everyone is asking: "How can this be?"

In order to redress the balance,  Ford is going to shed 38,000 jobs.   General Motors plans to cut 30,000 jobs; close several factories and sell off the majority stake it has in its successful GMAC financial arm.   Toyota meanwhile, plans to open six more factories within the next three years.   Why are the fortunes of these three car makers so very different?

The answer is that Ford and General Motors just don't get it.   They continue to churn out huge vehicles that cost almost as much as a house, and which nobody can afford to drive.   Filling up the average truck or other 4X4 costs around $100 these days.    Before George Bush came to power, filling up a truck or 4X4 cost on average $40.   Wages in the U.S. haven't risen in proportion to gas prices and there are people today, who unashamedly admit that they use money for mortgage and bills to subsidize their fuel costs; ultimately leading them into a downward spiral of debt.

Other car makers such as Toyota realized that change was in the air a long time ago, and set about producing more fuel efficient cars and, cars of a type which would appeal to the American market.   Ford and General Motors didn't do this, instead the continued to produce even more trucks and SUV's.   Today, we have a situation where Toyota and other foreign car makers have vehicles on the market that are smaller; lighter; more fun to drive; and, more fuel efficient.   These cars command a healthy price and the American public are prepared to pay for them.   Meanwhile, go into a Ford showroom and say that you don't want a truck or an SUV, and they pretty much point you in the direction of the ultimately boring Focus.   This model was fine when it was first introduced, but these days, it just looks like an old people's car.   Bizarrely, old people shun this model too.   Older people in the baby boomer generation are more likely to be found driving a PT Cruiser.   They may be old, but there is still that 60's young at heart in them; and so PT Cruisers, Matrix's, Vibes, etc., all find themselves with silver haired owners.   Such cars may have been initially designed for the youth market, but the car makers failed to put a youth market price on the vehicle, and so perversely, their perceived target audience cannot afford to buy the car specifically designed for them. 

Ford and GM, listen to me; it is time to stop making vehicles that nobody wants to buy.   It is time to pension off models that were popular 10-15 years ago.   Look at what people are clammering to buy these days.   People are looking to buy cars that are fun to drive; cars that are fuel efficient; cars that can carry a good bit of cargo; and, cars that embrace technology.   People want On-Star.   People want satellite radio built-in.   People want heated cup holders.   People want a chilled compartment.   People want GPS systems.   People want people want 115v built-in.   People want more than one 12v accessory plug (cigar lighter).   If the design of the car is such that they cannot see out of the back window to reverse safely, they want a rear view camera incorporated into the design.  People want child safety seats to be easy to fit.   People want a finish that does not scratch the very first time you drive through a car wash.   

Instead, you are offering me vehicles that do 12mpg and which can easily carry enough bricks to build half a house.   Yet all I want to do, is go to the post office and post a letter.    I don't need a huge monster truck to do that; neither do the majority of people.   We are tired of boring and expensive.   Give us vehicles that make sense to the average person.   If you do that, perhaps you wouldn't have to be cutting 38,000 jobs; perhaps you'd be in Toyota's position of creating new jobs.

Today, many people will be starting the New Year nursing very sore heads.   There will be those who do not have sore heads and who will be gloating at the suffering of those who do.   Meanwhile, there will be others who will be regretting the fact that last night they announced to the world that they would be giving up something that they enjoy considerably, as a New Year's resolution.   It also follows that there will be those waiting for these people to fail, and who will take extreme delight at reminding these people for the rest of the year of their failings.

As each year passes, it occurs to me that the people of the world in general, seem to get more mean spirited, spiteful, and vindictive than they ever have before.   The year 2006 finally bowed out on the lowest of notes.   On perhaps the most sacred of religious festivals in the Muslim calendar, Eid; ousted President Hussein of Iraq, was hanged.  

I am old enough to remember a time when capital punishment was practiced in the United Kingdom.   In those days, hanging was a very private affair.   Apart from the condemned person, the only people present at an execution were the prison governor; a handful of warders; a clergyman; a physician; and, the hangman.   Afterwards, a note was pinned to the prison door, stating that the named person had been executed according to law, at whatever time the event took place.   

In the case of President Hussein, nothing could have been more public or vulgar.   We were given graphic accounts of how Mr. Hussein was kept from sleeping and how he was denied a last cigarette.   We saw video of him being led to the gallows and the noose being placed around his neck.   Newscasters smugly announced how Mr. Hussein, in his final moments, had been stripped of all dignity and gripped by fear.   Personally, I think he conducted himself with as much dignity as anyone could given the circumstances.   At this point, thankfully, the news video ended.   We were told that a few moments later the 69-year-old senior, was dead.   If this had not already epitomized society today, worse was to come.   It was not enough that Mr. Hussein had been executed in the most public of fashions.   The world was now clammering to see the execution in its entirety.

Unsurprisingly, armchair ghouls got what they wanted.   Someone at the execution with a cellphone had recorded the actual moment of the execution, and it can now be viewed on You Tube and various other Internet video sites.   Along with the disgusting spectacle came more details of how some of those present at the execution, laughed, clapped, cheered and danced as Mr. Hussein dangled, dead, at the end of a length of rope.   Psychologists have opined that this sort of thing is a natural reaction to a sudden death.   I feel that they might be mistaken.   I have never seen anyone dancing at the scene of a fatal road accident.   Nor have I seen it on the battlefield; in hospices; or anywhere else that death occurs.

As we enter 2007, it is evident that we live in a society where there is scant regard for the sanctity of human life.   We are living in an age where vulgarity; bad manners; and dishonesty are seen as positive traits, and which should be warmly embraced.  

It is time for us to reverse this trend.   It is time for a return to integrity.   It is time to believe in the ideal of equality and respect for all.   It is time to practice peace, harmony and understanding.

For those insistent upon making a New Year's resolution; forget dieting and giving up cigarettes, etc.; let's give up being the most wretched generation the world has ever known.