betting against VW costs $38b

In the most eloquent of ways, Porsche thanks short sellers for driving down the cost of VW shares, whom they have been slowly acquiring.

Schadenfreude was not the driver of that car, basic economics was. When the value of an asset drops below fair market value, someone will step up to the plate and buy. I feel as much pity for those short sellers as they felt for me when the value of my shares declined. Which is to say, none at all. 🙂

vw reliability?

I have always wondered why Consumer Reports and other rated VW’s below average for mechanical reliability when my experience, and that of my TDI owning friends like Michael Surls who owns two of ’em, has been nothing short of splendid reliability. Today I read this:

While Volkswagen has had a somewhat spotty record with the mechanical reliability of some its gas-engined cars over the years, the diesels are generally considered to be almost bulletproof. – Autoblog, 2009 VW Jetta First Drive

That would explain it. And that means that I really should not be going to test drive the 2009 Jetta this afternoon. Especially not knowing that my Jetta will still get me a very nice trade-in value. Don’t do it Matt. Don’t do it.

conservatives revolt, en masse

As a conservative, I am pleased to see the many conservatives revolting against McCain and the Republican party. Even Chris Buckley, who owns 1/7 of the National Review. Colin PowellConservative papers that endorsed Bush. None have said it better than The Chicago Tribune:

This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.

Wow.
Continue reading “conservatives revolt, en masse”

rectangular milk jugs

We’ve eliminated 11,000 delivery trips to Sam’s Club by moving to this jug. The one big challenge has been that it’s different to pour. If you tip it and put it into the glass, it works fine, but if you pick it up and pour it like the old jug, you’ll miss. So we’ve had a lot of people crying over spilled milk.  — Sam’s Club CEO Doug McMillon

putting two and two together

After explaining the necessity of the $700 billion economic rescue plan, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson goes on to say, “I wouldn’t bet against the long-term fundamentals of this country,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “But this is a humbling experience to see so much fragility in our capital markets, and ask how did we ever get here.”

May I propose a suggestion?