This Would Be Funny If It Were Not So Scary

6/17/9 | e-mail

[ignorancerunsrampant]

(From a senior level Chrysler person)

Monday morning I attended a breakfast meeting where the speaker/guest was David E. Cole, Chairman Center for Automotive Research (CAR and Professor at the Univ. of Michigan. You have all likely heard CAR quoted, or referred to in the auto industry news lately.

Mr. Cole, who is an engineer by training, told many stories of the difficulty of working with the folks that the Obama administration has sent to save the auto industry. There have been many meetings where a 30+ year experience automotive expert has to listen to a newcomer to the industry, someone with zero manufacturing experience, zero auto industry experience, zero business experience, zero finance experience, and zero engineering experience, tell them how to run their business.

Mr Cole's favorite story is as follows:

There was a team of Obama people speaking to Mr. Cole (Engineer, automotive experience 40+ years, Chairman of CAR). They were explaining to Mr. Cole that the auto companies needed to make a car that was electric and liquid natural gas (LNG) with enough combined fuel to go 500 miles so we wouldn't "need" so many gas stations (A whole other topic). They were quoting BTU's of LNG and battery life that they had looked up on some website.

Mr. Cole explained that to do this you would need a trunk FULL of batteries and a LNG tank at big as a car to make that happen and that there were problems related to the laws of physics that prevented them from...

The Obama person interrupted and said (and I am quoting here) "These laws of physics? Who's rules are those, we need to change that. (Some of the others wrote down the law name so they could look it up) We have the congress and the administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem. That's why we are here, to fix these sort of issues".

[jonrick46]

The Republicans who are near enough to the action are too blind to understand what they are dealing with. That's why they are kept in office. They are there to be the stooges to the Stalinist; so that the sheeple will think it is balanced.

[Jagman]

"Maybe you would be happy if David Cole was hauled off to the gulag."

Up against the wall (fill in the blanks)! ;-)

[Buckeye McFrog]

rider to repeal the Third Law of Thermodymanics to be inserted into the next Stimulus Bill....

[Saltmeat]

I can identify with this whether it is intended to be satire or not. While working for one of the largest electric utility companies in America, I was forced to sit in meetings and listen to wet-behind-the-ears consultants from McKinsey tell us how to run our utility company. The only credential that these bozos had was a MBA from some elite university. Our CEO had bought into McKInsey hook line and sinker. He followed their advice and bought electric distribution facilities in London and Australia. In the end he almost drove the company into the ground and ended up getting canned and his wife divorced him and took him to the cleaners. He apparently was forced into exile in his own home because no one wanted to associate with him afterward. Of course, McKinsey got their exorbitant fees and moved onto their next victim.

[Kenny Bunk]

(A)“Dave Cole is a horse’s ass who capitalized on his father’s reputation. Not even funny.”

(B)“You must really like these Obama people"

(B) does not necessarily follow (A)

Dave is an automotive engineer with 40 years experience , i.e., he has had a year's experience repeated 40 times. Technically speaking, definitely the south end of the horse jumping the north fence. And although he considers himself a regular laff-riot, (e.g., he's repeated this story about 500 times, changing the cast of characters to suit the occasion) he's neither very funny nor super-truthful.

Successful (due to very modest fees... or none) luncheon speaker, to be endured, like the rubber chicken..

[combat_boots]

Replace McKinsey with another consultancy starting at the beginning of the alphabet and the industry with higher ed. Similar results. Amazing how such people keep their jobs.

[astyanax]

It’s those pesky first two laws that are preventing me from having my perpetual motion machine!

[dearolddad]

It’s those pesky first two laws that are preventing me from having my perpetual motion machine!

Simple! Simply call Obummer and ask him to issue an executive order repealing those pesky laws. Be sure to enclose a generous campaign contribution.