SUVs, Scooters and Survival

GM cut 15,000 jobs this week. Said nobody wants to buy sedans any more. That’s why they’re closing factories in Michigan and Ohio and Ontario, Canada. They have no market for their Impalas, Volt, etc..

Ford Motor Company is also getting out of the sedan business. They have no market for the Taurus, etc.. 

People want to drive big SUVs, built on truck chassis, and pickup trucks have always been a staple down here in Texas. 

I see a lot of super-clean pickup trucks—Ford F-150, Chevy pickups and Dodge Ram pickup trucks. These pickups with not a single scratch in the bed and a pristine paint job indicate a lot of white collar guys with no calluses on their hands buy pickups. Many of these wannabe cowboy wish to stay connected to their salt-of-the-earth roots. Just an observation…

But, now it seems soccer Moms need to a SUV to ride high and have enough steel to make mom feel safe. Kind of like the Cold War weapons escalation from the 1960s. Soviet Union has 50 nukes, we Americans need 100 nukes. 

Translate the Cold War to the Car War escalations of today’s consumer. You get a big car, I need a bigger car, now I need a truck (SUV).

However, I do seen sedans on the road—and most seem to be either European of Japanese. Toyota sells tons of cameras. High end sedans still have appeal. Look at all those Audi and Lexus sedans zipping down the highway. GM and Ford do not bother to address this side of the equation. Their strength is building pickup trucks and SUVs and they are sticking to it.

The scooter phenomenon is a counter-weight to the rise in truck popularity. The city streets are now littered with scooters—magically arrived from some corporate source—ad placed on the sidewalks for all to consider. A credit card app gets the scooter moving. The brave then stand astride the scooter and take their chances on transportation sans protection. 

This very interesting scooter development parallels the increased use of bikes, also a risky pursuit, on our fast-moving public streets. Bikers mostly feature helmets and some use proper illumination at night. 

Scooter and bike people may be making a grand effort to save the planet. They will give you alternative explanations but I think the core idea, “let’s pollute less,” exists behind their transportation choices.

The New York Times has been tackling global climate change as a major target of their publication. I immersed myself in the recent article, “The Insect Apocalypse Is Here.” 

Here is the link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/magazine/insect-apocalypse.html

Do not let the title fool you—this is a human apocalypse, generated by mankind and foisted on all living things. The numbers of insects has declined significantly. Many other species have declined also.

The decreased insect population saddened me. We have all experienced the plenitude of nature. Maybe you have been in an apple orchard at harvest time? I have seen massive pecan crops on good years in Central Texas. 

Nature is no respecter of modest bounds. The California wildfires show us Nature’s limitless strength. Yet we have managed to throttle nature and toss it into an emergency state, a state with the intensity of cars racing headlong down the freeway, hell bent to get to work on time.

Mankind’s ambitious, restless personality, set on survival and prosperity and domination, has dwarfed even the Eden we were born into it. Look at Mars for alternate housing. Not good!

If you love the planet and share even a modicum of goodwill for all the other species, the Times article should get your attention.

Trump versus The Great War (1914-18)

Donald Trump has conveyed a great respect for military men, except John McCain, and stressed the importance of a strong military to maintaining American hegemony. He speaks proudly of a bigger button and America’s unfathomed ability to strike our enemies.

Trump attended New York Military Academy and graduated in 1964.  His record with the draft board is well documented:

While in college from 1964 to 1968, Trump obtained four student deferments from serving in the military…. In October 1968, he was given a medical deferment which he later attributed to spurs in both heels and classified as 1-Y, "unqualified for duty except in the case of a national emergency."

Trump seemed inspired by the thought of surrounding himself with generals—savored the nickname “Mad Dog” applied to Marine General James  Mattis and made him Secretary of Defense.

Trump made John Kelly, another retired Marine general, the White House Chief of Staff. Kelly, reportedly, has reached the end of the line. Soon he will move through the spinning revolving door for cabinet members. Kelly seems rock-ribbed and stone jawed and had some success in reining in the President. 

Maybe military generals are not so much fun when you have to work with them in real life. 

Piers Morgan appeared on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s daybreak television program on MSNBC. Piers was a winner on Celebrity Apprentice and claimed to spend upwards of 100 hours around the conference table with Donald Trump. Piers observed that demonstrating respect for “Mr. Trump” was essential to succeeding as a contestant on the show. Trump looked favorably on those who accorded him a measure of success. That need may have been intensified by Trump’s reputation as hustler as much as a businessman. Respect matters more to the insecure more than anything else.

The question remains why did Trump falter in Europe at the Centennial celebration for the ending of World War, fought between 1914-1918. Emmanuel Macron represented France honorably at the dais. Angela Merkel joined them, though German soldiers fought against the Allies from the other side of No Man’s Land. Vladimir Putin represented Russia and Canada’s Justin Trudeau made the important gathering.

One pundit suggested Trump didn’t like going where he is not liked—Macron, Merkel and Trudeau have also suffered the slings and arrows of the mighty Donald.

But Donald Trump looked to be in a daze. Maybe the military gravesite and rainy conditions did not suit his preferences. The decision to no-go the ceremony caused shockwaves. The image of innocent lives cut short, infantrymen ordered to head out of the trenches through the razor wire and directly into enemy fire has been burned in our psyches. Mustard gas maimed and killed in a manner we seem unable to exorcize. Like now, technology leapfrogged ahead of man’s consciousness. We were unable to control the demons we had created from steel and chemicals, hot flying lead bringing down good men and ending lives before their human potential could barely be tapped.

Trump has been criticized for a lack of intellectual curiosity. He took a misstep this time—underestimating the world’s fascination for a war mainly recalled for the unusual outbreak with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and its terrible toll. Just the name, World War I, evokes thoughts of cannon fodder and human folly. By acknowledging this past, even 100 years later, we acknowledge the existence of our sins. In this battle The Great War (1914-1918) defeated Donald Trump’s political and public relations talents.

Piers Morgan made another observation on Morning Joe,commenting on Emmanuel Macron’s relative success in dealing with Donald Trump. Macron, said Morgan, shows respect for the office of President of the United States but does not hesitate to criticize policy. Macron stated that nationalism was the opposite of patriotism during the ceremonies, drawing Trump’s ire no doubt. But Macron gave Trump credit and that is always a smart policy, with friends and foes alike.