blamebrampton: 15th century woodcut of a hound (Default)
blamebrampton ([personal profile] blamebrampton) wrote2009-01-27 07:40 pm

Dear Big Auto Twatface ...

Whose name I missed because the cat enclosure man appeared during Newshour (Australia's SBS has a wonderful news service that brings me Jim Lehrer among other gems). Here's a tip: the 'very small cars' that you say Americans are not interested in buying are the exact same cars that were selling gangbusters last year when your fuel costs were rising through  the roof.

They are the same cars that the rest of the world drives quite comfortably, which can be parked in normal-sized car spaces. You can even fit more of them on the road, because each of them is less than the size of my student flat. Miraculously, most of the rest of the world has lower motor vehicle mortality and serious injury rates than the US, even though we don't drive giant trucks. It's because we do up our seatbelts. (No, really, it works! Ask Princess Di's bodyguard!)

After 30 years of selling increasingly stupid vehicles despite promising the Carter administration that you had learned your ways and would produce smaller, more economical cars the LAST time your received a MASSIVE FUCKING FEDERAL BAILOUT (Oh yes, big auto, some of us are in our 40s and remember the last time this all happened.), you have spent the last 20 years selling cars that can only be described as stupid.

I have lived in Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya, where there were elephants, rhinos and hippos. A normal Jeep, RangeRover or, these days LandCruiser, is quite enough to survive a concerted attack, or at least make sure the people inside do. Funnily enough, concerted attacks from elephants, rhinos and hippos are rare, even in southern Africa. I believe they are unheard of in the Continental United States. No one actually requires a Hummer.

Okay, so maybe if you do live in South Central LA and are deeply worried about drive-bys. But then you should move rather than buy a car that says 'My penis is TINY! TINY I TELL YOU!!'

To sum up, oh twatface who has probably spent his bailout money on a new private jet: those very small cars are not actually very small. They are in fact normal. You just have ridiculous giant cars. The American public is not unified in its desire to drive giant cars, as the big downturn in their sales has shown. Petrol will again be priced through the roof in the very near future and you will be inundated by people wanting economical vehicles. Also, none of this is news. You were told this directly 30 years ago. You took a huge government payout then and promised you would change your ways. The cars you produce now are LESS economical than the cars you produced then. Moreover, during the last eight years as petrol costs in the US have crept ever upwards and people demanded more economical cars, you ignored Supply and Demand! You are meant to LIVE by supply and demand.

You aren't even wasting my tax dollars and I find you a repulsive, oleaginous creep. I hope someone parked you in while you were filming the segment. And I hope they were driving a Prius. Actually, no, I hope it was a fleet of Segways. Boo and hiss!

Meanwhile, if you are an American who is considering buying a car, might I suggest you buy European or Japanese? You might feel bad about not supporting autoworkers in Detroit, and I do sympathise with that, but apparently those poor bastards will be screwed no matter what, so you might as well prop up one of the other teetering global economies, giving them enough money to buy your grain and thus supporting American farmers. Thinking globally AND acting locally!

ETA PS: Saying that it was fine for you to spend the last eight years continuing to produce ludicrous cars because the Bush administration's environmental policies said you could is NOT the persuasive argument you seem to think it is.

PPS REC REC REC! Pop over to Leochi's lj for the most beautiful watercolour of a young Malfoy. It's my early birthday present and it is just lovely – human and touching as all her art is. Hurrah for birthday week!

[identity profile] pingrid.livejournal.com 2009-01-27 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Was this in a safer, more naïve days in days long past, or is it simply my prejudices that lead me to think this line of argument would not necessarily make you more palatable to immigration officials these days?

[identity profile] beatnikspinster.livejournal.com 2009-01-27 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Also with public transit light-rail: Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC, Miami, and even Los Angeles.

[identity profile] norton-gale.livejournal.com 2009-01-27 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, if you happen to have any extra ones lying around, feel free to ship them to me! :)

[identity profile] norton-gale.livejournal.com 2009-01-27 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Great commercial! It would never be shown in the U.S. And some of the comments on YouTube are hilarious.

I want the rabbit.

[identity profile] ant-queen.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
So have I mentioned that my boy currently has plans afoot to sell the environmentally evil Rodeo, buy a mighty boy and convert it to electric :) Warning he may get J in on the project.

[identity profile] uminohikari.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
*amused*

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
I have heard of the Saturn! Though wasn't GM threatening to kill it last year? I'm pretty sure it was being talked about, and I take my US news directly from US sources: Newshour, the SF Chron, the NY Times and the occasional spot of CNN ...

I have to say that most of my time in America (as in some 95% of it) has been spent on the East and West coasts where it is very easy to believe that people only drive SUVs, BMWs and Mercs (or in taxis), because that's almost all you see.

But I think the international concept that those are the cars you all have comes less from TV and more from people like Big Auto Twatface (BAT). We KNOW that people in the US want to be driving sensible cars, because our news shows us interviews with Americans bemoaning their cars' inefficiency every time there is a surge in petrol prices. Bt then we see people like BAT, and his Big Auto leaders at the Senate hearings, declaring that the American public only wants giant cars. The only conclusion that we can draw is the same one you do: Big Auto are Greedy Bastards.

I do know what it is like to read criticism of one's country at every turn, when the UK and Australia went to war in Iraq I had both of my nationalities under attack. But in terms of the Global Financial Crisis, I think that you need to distinguish between the sentiments most people bear towards Americans and those they hold towards big American companies and the Bush Administration. The American people themselves are worried about; we know that you are already have many people on low wages and conditions with some really high expenses. We fear that things will get worse for them before it gets better. No one wants that.

Business like investment banks and the big car companies, as well as the previous administration's deregulation-based policies are criticised broadly. And I don't think you can be surprised at that. Their greed has caused a crisis that brought down the government of Iceland, will probably topple Brown as well, has seen tens of thousands of people outside the US lose their jobs and seen multiple billions wiped off our share markets. I think that a certain sense of Schadenfreude when bankers and the heads of GM and Ford start complaining about their lot is only to be expected.

As to the rumours of runs on banks, etc, the French tabloids may be running amok, but you'll be happy to know that the UK, Aus and NZ media seem to have kept their heads ;-)

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU about LA. Mostly because I have never found it, and have the six-hour walking day horror story in that city (it would have been three hours, but the smog was so high that day, I had to stop and breathe a few times. In the interests of fairness, I should point out that I can normally breath in LA, but there were fires nearby.)

Glad to know about Philadelphia and Washington DC, my list of places I could survive grows!

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
I don't really have a problem with people who use big cars having one. At my grandparents' farm there are two Range Rovers for pulling horse floats, and they do hard duty. But there are then small cars, bikes and horses that are used for getting in and around town, the city and for small runs; much the same way you do things, I imagine!

It's the SUVs marketed as domestic vehicles that makes me crazy, and the general upscaling of American cars. Your country is SO GOOD at innovation, yet the car companies seem to have gone backwards with everything except cupholders. Sigh.

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
I do feel simply horrible for the workers there. The problem that I have arrived at is that they are being buggered by the companies they work for more than they are being buggered by the economic downturn.

Would that The Governator had his carbon schemes up and running at full pace before the GFC hit and all those tooling shops could have turned their efforts to making parts for wind turbines and solar converters! I just hope that the Bill Gateses and Warren Buffets, and hell, the Governators of the US are in the ascendency over the next 10 years so that the US attacks this with the ingenuity and innovation that the rest of us expect.

The thing that kills me is that 30 years ago, the car companies all promised they would change their ways. If any of them actually HAD, you would have a country that was cleaner, greener, and in far better economic shape because all that money spent on oil would still be in the coffers. America deserves better!!

[identity profile] jadzialove.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
Seriously, have you been listening to my conversations, because I've had this very same rant with Paige nearly every time I get in the car and some stupid ass big ridiculous Hummer, driven by a middle-aged, bleached-blonde woman (who is talking on the phone and barely fitting in the lane) somehow gets in front of us. Certainly you said it much better, but we agree point for point.

Paige and I share a small Kia sedan. It's about 4 years old, we bought it new, it's really cute, still runs beautifully and gets good gas mileage. Not only was it affordable to us, the working poor, it had all sorts of included bells and whistles, like A/C and power windows & locks.

Buying American is great in theory, but I have no need for a humongous pick-up truck that requires steps to get into it. Who does really?

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 03:30 am (UTC)(link)
Bugger, I've revealed my cunning spy techniques!

The thing that makes me angry about people like Twatface is that he and his ilk could have saved thousands of jobs if they had faced up to reality at the time of the last auto bailout. Instead, they have screwed everyone because they SUCK!

[identity profile] jadzialove.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Yes exactly! They've been chasing their tails for 30 years, throwing money at lobbyists and consultants just to keep the status quo. Idiots.

They're not alone it the blame though, because some asshole is buying that stupid useless gas-guzzling Hummer.

[identity profile] sarcasticpixie.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 09:14 am (UTC)(link)
Darling, I must respectfully disagree! I drive an American car, and my whole family does the same; at this point, it's more of a moral guilt attempt for my completely unionized family to show support for the autoworkers. (I'm still fuming about the "UAW members make $70 an hour" thing. Dude! That's including retirees' pensions and after monetizing health benefits! You do that and I'm making a cool $150 or some madness. They make $28 per hour, which is perfectly reasonable, Jeebus.)

However, we drive the smaller models -- for instance, this is how I get around. 38 MPG highway, and adorable to boot! :D The mummy drives an older model of the same car, and the daddy drives a smaller midsize model. All of us get over 30 MPG highway, and when my dad brings them all down to the car wash in succession, the guys there all make cracks about his "little Chevy fleet." Which, you know, bonus.

As soon as the Chevy Volt comes out in 2010 (God willing Detroit is still standing), I will be first in line for one of those little electric suckers.

But my God, do I agree with your point about the gas-guzzlers -- for God's sake, I live in Boston. I know that four-wheel drive is a fantastic invention and completely reasonable for the climate in which I reside. But whenever I see a Hummer, I want to ask: what's wrong with a Jeep Liberty or a Chevy Tracker, people? They make little baby SUVs for this exact reason -- four-wheel drive without the gas or size commitment. Of course, no one knows how to drive in snow ANYWAY, so....

(Perhaps I am a bit annoyed at having to drive to work in driving snow-sleet this morning. I keep checking our weather closings, and the university at which I slave away remains open. BLAST.)

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 09:42 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, I am please to learn that Twatface was LYING MORE and that there are some small cars made in the US. He did DIRECTLY say that there was no market for them and all the car companies would have to totally retool for them. Lying to Jim Lehrer is a SIN!

And my outrage at the Big Auto crew has grown today as I read about bills not being paid so that small companies are going under while they keep their $22 million salaries (when one of your Senators asked one of the automafia if he would be happy to work for a dollar this year, taking the bailout into account, his reply was 'No, I'm right where I am. BASTARD!!!)

You family, BTW, is gorgeous. I know I have said this before, but you prove it again and again.

And yeah, I could probably cope if people were driving toy SUVs and just think they were a bit silly, not froth at the mouth outraging ;-)

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 10:08 am (UTC)(link)
It's like herion and crack, though, isn't it? I mean, you think the end user is a fucking idiot, but the real moral culpability has to be laid at the feet of the supplier ... XXX

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 10:09 am (UTC)(link)
I rant when over-heated ;-)

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 10:10 am (UTC)(link)
They have such a bromance when it comes to knackery and geekitude ... That sounds deeply cool!

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 11:00 am (UTC)(link)
That is a wonderful ad! It does make the whole medium worthwhile!

Twatface makes me so angry. I want to run him over on my bicycle!

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 11:05 am (UTC)(link)
Hee! It was actually about eight weeks after 9/11. But before Bush turned his war to abstract nouns into a war on all furrhners.

Funnily enough, a friend of mine was knocked back for a visa to visit her boyfriend the other year, even after she gave the same reasoning.

'But you're in Australia,' she said to the consulate official. 'Why would I leave this for the US?'

'Everyone wants to live in America,' was the reply.

'In BOULDER?' she exclaimed in disbelief. Deluded, I tell you.

[identity profile] grey-hunter.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, this will be totall OT (it's your fault) but I always wanted to read a H/D fic in which Harry and Draco live/work in Africa (in a non-urban area)... *puppy-dogrhino eyes*

On topic: YES. No one could have said it more beautifully!

[identity profile] grey-hunter.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh

Nowadays, we have this (and this) "don't let the television raise your child" commercials (yes, on TV).

Entirely unrelated as well! *G*

[identity profile] grey-hunter.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't have a car either. :) (Um. And I don't even travel by public transport that uses petrol, now that I think about it.)

[identity profile] pingrid.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Ha! I love those, and especially the first one because it actively challenges some really ingrained stereotypes. Hm, hang on, maybe the second one does as well and it's more ingrained and thus less shocking? Too late to think. ;)

Unrelated schmunrelated, we're all friends here, right! :D

[identity profile] pingrid.livejournal.com 2009-01-28 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
The comments are scary and fun! What's wrong with the woman? Is she ill? :D

I can whole-heartedly reccommend the Rabbit! Though if you can get a type that have ... Oh GOD, I lack the sex toy vocuabulary! Scandal! Well, anyway, the "seamless" speed adjustment rather than the set modes, that's better. To me, anyway! :D

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