patrick.net

Tail Fins, like on the late 50's early 60's cars. If you are going to be extravagant.......

I prefer conservative styling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Century

I see from the article they had a hybrid version of the Century in 1975.

Too bad Jet-A ain't cheap either. ;)

The diesel car to get is the 2008 VW Jetta TDI Bluetec with a 2.0L 4-cyl clean diesel engine. Too bad the launch is delayed from May to September. This baby will get 50MPG, maybe more if driven carefully.

The word "smug" came up yet again. I haven't seen nor talked to any "smug" Prius drivers at all. I have however talked to several that are pleased that they are driving an efficient vehicle, and wish that more would follow their good example in their next (or even better, previous) vehicle purchase.

This practice of denouncing people who are doing the right thing as "smug" has got to stop. I suspect it is rooted in guilt and envy.

Anyone who does something because he feels good about being right is "guilty" of being smug. This includes me "exposing" the aforesaid motivation. :)

Besides, there is nothing wrong about being smug. One is certainly free to choose this path. In fact, if a lawmaker tries to outlaw smugness, I will be the first to get upset.

IF high gas prices are to stay, demand for oil will have to fall. There is no need to pay a premium for the sake of "conservation." Have faith in the market. All will be fine.

After oil, what is the next bubble?

>Anyone who does something because he feels good about being right is “guilty” of being smug.

Peter, how are you able to tell whether someone feels good about their choices "for the wrong reason", namely "being right", as opposed "the right reason", which is wanting to do something right simply because it IS the right thing to do?

Methinks you are errantly assigning the wrong motives to people who are doing the right thing.

In any case, why does this bug you and so many other people to such a large extent? It makes no sense at all to me. Just be happy that they did the right thing, feel free to do the same yourself, and otherwise leave them alone. Don't have such a big bug up your ass about the imagined motivation of people who do the right thing. Sheesh.

Peter, how are you able to tell whether someone feels good about their choices “for the wrong reason”, namely “being right”, as opposed “the right reason”, which is wanting to do something right simply because it IS the right thing to do?

Does it matter? :)

The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.
-- T. S. Eliot

In any case, why does this bug you and so many other people to such a large extent?

It really doesn't. Honestly, I should be thrilled that smaller cars are making the road safer for me, right? ;)

If humanity insists on doing the "right" thing, the world will be in chaos as everybody exerts his own view of piety on the world.

If humanity remains selfish and delegate moral decisions to Free Market, at least we have hope.

Peter,

PWDTRT= People Who Do The Right Thing

You are changing the subject. The subject is why you label PWDTRT as smug. Now you are saying that it is ok to do so because PWDTRT are actually wrong (it will produce chaos) Then please concentrate on showing why and how they are wrong, rather than the lame "smug" label. And I will tell you my suspicion: PWDTRT are right, and you cannot prove them wrong to a general level of satisfaction, so you resort instead to the "smug" label. Am I WRONG about this?

Sometimes, I do things because I like to. This is something we should all cherish. You are free to disagree though.

BTW, why are you so concerned about the "smug" label? ;)

Peter,

Yeah, and I am free to point out how lame it is. And yeah, I am concerned about the smug label, because it is an attempt to marginalize PWDTRT as irrelevant. They are anything but irrelevant. I admire them for what they do,

That's enough for now, until the next time someone starts labeling people as smug for lack of a good argument against their thoughts or actions.

Here are some arguments:

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/Recorder/editorial/editorial_item.asp?NewsID=188

Labeling someone as being right is as rhetorical as labeling someone as being smug.

When I think of "smug". I think of it in terms of people are void of modesty or humility. That has nothing to do with right or wrong. I've known some very humble jerkwads and I've known some very smug philanthropists.

It is an overloaded word.

Peter,

Good article. Those are the things that car companies don't want you to see and are usually buried on page 30 of the sports section next to the Curling stats.

The article is biased though. However, the battery part deserves some research.

I would say the article is biased:

The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles.

In reality. we will see plenty of Prius cars with well over 100.000 miles on the odo. Doubtful you will see any Hummers reach 300,000 miles.

Hopefully the hydrid batteries are recyclable.

Hopefully the hydrid batteries are recyclable.

They are. At what cost (environmentally or otherwise) though?

Changing the topic a little bit here.

Let's take a stock (!) of what happened today -

1. Foreclosures making new highs
2. MBA purchase applications declines
3. Many Fed officials sounding warnings about coming bank failures
4. Dollar retreats and oil jumps 5%

What does the stock market do ? It celebrates the retail sales report. Which says that consumers have to pay more for the same food, gas etc and now shop mainly at the discount stores.

I do not expect stock market action to be logical, but every now and then, there comes a say, when all I say is "Wow".

On a related note - the Australian $ is quietly reaching parity with USD. Thank God for FXA - it is over 96 now.

Peter,

I said GOOD argument, not just argument. That link from CNW is pure bunk. Check out

http://www.slate.com/id/2186786/pagenum/all/

for the real story.

You'd be making more with AUD time deposit in Australia.

I have a batch to renew, right now Australian banks are offering as high as 8.7% for 2 years. The big 4 are offering ~8.2% for 12 months.

I am pretty sure AUD will reach parity by the end of the year, if Ben&Co doesn't do something drastic (aka, starting raising rates).

There is no such thing as a real story. A story is as real as it is convenient to you or me. It is pointless.

This is why the only "real" way to life is to embrace Free Market, which is the econo-behavioral manifestation of Nature.

The stock market was celebrating the fact that there are fewer people on unemployment.

Actually, can someone verify here, if drop in unemployment claims does not necessarily mean drop in unemployment? Won't people stay unemployed for too long and eventually they will have to drop out of the claims?

I am more inclined to believe that the latter is happening.

The market operates entirely according to human psychology, which dictates which and how news items are interpreted.

Not investment advice

Peter,

so now I have chased you into the truth-is-all-relative corner of your universe. When your arguments do not hold water, that is a convenient place for you to hide.

You have not chased me. I have always been there.

BTW, finding truths is not usually profitable.

Peter P,

Then why not stay in that corner, instead of coming out and advocating your "personal truth" all the time. If it is all about what truth is convenient, then the least you could do is NOT making judgment of other people's truth. Be consistent.

I believe in universal truth, at least in scientific matters. I'm under no obligation by my belief system to stay silent, but if all *you* think is that truth is whatever is convenient, then (to paraphrase Tom Lehrer) the very least you can do is shut up.

Then why not stay in that corner, instead of coming out and advocating your “personal truth” all the time.

Again, I am free to speak. You are free not to listen.

I believe in universal truth, at least in scientific matters.

Good luck. I thought Gödel had already disproved that possibility.

I heard that scores of scientists turn to God every year. We are a speck of dust in this world, which is a speck of dust in the galaxy, which is a speck of dust in the universe.

"Truth" is a marketing concept.

Perhaps universal truths exists, but only as a set of tautologies. I wonder how useful they are.

jobless claims: Not to forget we had an holiday in the week. Next week will shoot up to 400K.

Every time DOW comes closer to 12K, we see these rallies. I wouldn't put much into the rally. Ambac & MBIA got downgraded by S&P which could come back and bite later.

Peter, you are free to speak, and you are also free to be inconsistent. I am simply appealing.

As chairman of the House Banking Committee from 1989 to 1994, he relentlessly pressed for public scrutiny of what he called a secretive agency wielding enormous power, writes Robert D. Auerbach in his convincing first-hand chronicle of Gonzalez's battle, ``Deception and Abuse at the Fed.''

Auerbach, who teaches at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs of the University of Texas at Austin, did two stints as a staff member of the House Banking Committee. His time there spanned four Fed chairmen: Arthur Burns, G. William Miller, Paul Volcker and Greenspan.

None of these chairmen comes off well here. Greenspan, ``the master of garblements,'' fares the worst. His ``skill in presenting imprecise, sometimes near-meaningless, conflicting, yet learned-sounding views won him over-the-top adulation for his insights and abilities,'' Auerbach writes.

These evasions and deceptions allowed Greenspan to avoid accountability, which is the thrust of Auerbach's critique. The Fed has 19 decision makers -- seven governors in Washington and 12 regional bank presidents. They are accountable to no one.

I've noticed the 12,000 magic number pattern also. Every time it reaches that number or goes a little under, they do something extreme. Don't forget about the two extra "panic" points on the side. Inflation? We will see.

Yesterday I was notified that the FRB has archives available back to 1978-

http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc_historical.htm

Funny reading as there is some of the same language we hear today about concern of the weak dollar, etc..

Calling EBGuy the in-house Fed statement expert.

Sounds like we are $20B further negative with -$130B, compared to 2 weeks ago.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h3/current/

And yet the stock market rallied on.

OO

(O.T.)

Pimco's PCRIX is one of their commodity funds. It is based on derivatives backed mostly byTIPS. ( I also noted some MBS and other bonds. )

I know it can be volatile because of the nature of commodities, but any opinion on this fund in terms of safety?