remember that the next time I use personal experience in describing my emplyment situation in the late 1990s --- because it's usually discounted as mere anecdotal evidence; that somehow it's not valid --- I'll consider your personal experience the same.

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"Free people are not equal & equal people are not free." --- Mackinac Center for Public Policy

I'm sure that I can get numbers for it. I just haven't pulled together the research. I haven't just pulled it out of my rear and proving wouldn't be difficult if I were so inclined.

However I AM on vacation and really don't think I'll be getting around to it in the next couple of weeks.

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How can actions that are wrong lead to a greater good? - Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek)

Your offering a meaning of "is" argument. You proposed an adverse market scenario for Ford if the Dear Leader hadn't nationalized GM and Chrysler, supporting Reid's statement. If that's not defending Reid's statement, what is?

Your assuming GM and Chrysler would be shut down. Most probably they would have been broken up with the most profitable model lines bought up by other investors. New Jeeps or Chevys would be manufactured to sell profitably rather than under a government overseer motivated by union appeasement.

I am surprised at your inflexibility. Someone who claims to be so open-minded ought to readily accept the notion of a business lifecycle. Chevy is a brand name, it doesn't have to be manufactured by GM particularly if the only way it can be is via nationalization. Propping up zombie car companies with the taxpayers dime will lead to the same rotten results as Japan's propping up zombie banks, economic stagnation.

3. Leaving FEW leads to a false inflation in price as competition is the only thing driving the price DOWN. [/QUOTE]

Really? Go down to your local Walmart looking for price increases compared to price cuts. Funniest thing, after all the dire warnings Walmart would jack up prices after the wiped out mom and pop stores the opposite has happened.

Ford would still have to compete with Nissan, Toyota, etc. in the near-term and new manufacturers in the future. Let's say your non-competition scenario is somehow true so Ford books huge profits thanks to price increases. What do big profits attract in a free market? Anyone? Anyone? It begins with "c" and ends with "n".

I am saying that such a market situation IS possible. I am NOT saying that I agree with Reids assertion that Republicans wanted anyone to fail, but there is a logical argument to be made in support of Reids statement IF it is qualified. The statement however was not qualified and without the qualification is merely wrong. You obviously fail to see the nuance.

This didn't happen with Saturn which was one of the more financially sound brands in the GM lineup, so it begs the question "If it didn't happen with Saturn or Hummer, why would it happen with Buick or Chevy?"


You obviously know very little about the current GM situation. The head of GM oversaw SBC's acquisition of AT&T and grew the business. He has changed the basic operating principles of the business and is actually growing the GM marketshare through improving customer relations and negotiating better contracts with the unions.

Again, false assumption. GM is no longer a "zombie". It is a growing business concern with the potential to surpass all past accomplishments. That is hardly a "zombie".

Actually yes, it is a false inflation. Walmart increases the profitablity of items while reducing the costs to produce items and forces it's vendors to do the same. This means that though the product isn't "worth" as much as it was before, Walmart is still charging the higher rate for the product.

The point is that Ford wouldn't book massive profits because people would be more willing to spend money on the cheap GM/Chrysler products that flooded the market PRIOR to spending money on Ford.

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How can actions that are wrong lead to a greater good? - Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek)

see red

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ΜΌΛΌΝ ΛΆΒΈ (come and take them)

Al Gore didn't invent the internet, but he did invent global warming

Then I'm sure you'll be willing to cite examples where I push the "Reid Agenda".

Go ahead... don't be afraid.

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How can actions that are wrong lead to a greater good? - Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek)

I beg to differ. d-man's agenda, were he a congresscritter, would be FAR, FAR, FAR to teh left of Reid's.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Leftists and very small children don't seem to be able to understand that the Government isn't there to "fix" the economy, anymore than a tick is there to fix your dog.~Oftencold