Looking for a mid-size domestic car recommendation

To tell you the truth, I'm not bothered by my insurance premiums. I
live in an area with a huge population and a lot of crime, yet my
premiums are still affordable with decent coverage and low deductables.
I've got no problem with how State Farm or Allstate or AAA spend their
money. Why do you?


For somebody who's not against W, by the way, you sure sound like a lib
to me.

--Geoff

 

Look, the world changed in the 1970s, and America's borders started to
open up. You expected GM to retain the market share it had in the 1960s
when there was virtually NO foreign competition worth mentioning?

Like I said before, what they make and what they do to get it is none of
my damn business, and I think it ought to be viewed as same by everyone
else. That said, I posited some *really good* reasons why the people on
top make the money they do. Debate those, whydontcha?


However don't forget another place and time ("let them eat

Good Lord, 'class divide'? Horsepucky. The 'class divide' is being
manufactured by the American Left. It's a complete fabrication!

Everyone else seems to realize that you get what you want in this country
through creativity, dedication and effort.

There's no danger of a return to feudalism in America. And I
tire quickly of comparisons between (socialist) Europe and the United
States. Of course Europe's economy sucks and the U.S. people get paid
better and have a higher standard of living. This comes as a surprise to you?

Europe's problem is that it has been seduced by socialism and leftist
policy. Things will get far, far worse there before they improve.

I appreciate the distinction.

--Geoff

 

I think the older Dynasty and New Yorker share the same dimensions.
The car feels very very roomy, and delivers a lot of bang for the buck
for such a budget car (New Yorker of course more expensive). Looking
for a replacement in the same category.

 

Oy, vey! You're a collectivist! Look, I don't 'own' anything that
belongs to my insurance company, my bank, or any other company I do
business with. That's the essential difference between socialism and
capitalism. Read the above a few times until you understand it.

Companies charge what the market will bear. Period. They are in
business to make a profit, not to provide me with the benefits they get
from their investments. What a convoluted mess your thinking is!

--Geoff

 

Hmmm. I'm pretty sure Windsor is part of southern Ontario, and it has
just as big a stake as Toronto does, proportional to its size.

Are you a disaffected Canadian? No wonder you're confused with
socialist ideas.

--Geoff

 

This thread is a prime example as to why one should not reply to
a post after about the sixth or seventh post. The original
question concerned information on an automobile purchase LOL


mike hunt

 

I don't know how it works in the US but in the UK there is often little
connection between top executive pay and share-price performance. To think
that a plummeting stock-price always results in overpaid execs getting pay
cuts is a pipe dream. It's become an issue in the UK and, indeed, the CEO
of GlaxoSmithKline (world's second-largest pharma company, an Anglo-American
corporation) was recently forced to take an emoluments cut because of a
shareholder revolt.

It may not be my business what a specific CEO gets if I am not a
shareholder, but it CAN BE viewed as a social issue. To think that
remuneration committees and executives are not in a back-scratching society
is naivety. In Europe many executives from, e.g. German and Dutch financial
institutions were shocked at the salaries in the Anglo-Saxon companies they
acquired in London. In fact, it has been rumoured that one reason that
Daimler-Benz was so keen to get involved in the USA and be listed on the
NYSE was so that its CEO (Juergen Schrempp) could have a vastly-inflated
US-level salary.

Sorry, but NO person is worth a salary of 14 million dollars a year to run
even GM. Bill Gates and Steve Balmer are 'worth' their zillions because
they are owners/shareholders of a cash-manufacturing machine they started,
and good luck to them.
Does anybody honestly believe that a GM CEO would do the job less well if
paid a quarter of the present salary??? People at that level do that job
for many reasons, including power.

DAS

 

Absolutely right, but it makes for a pleasant diversion (without having to
seek out another discussion forum), does it not?

DAS
--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[....]

 

You are very ready to accuse somebody of 'socialist thinking' when they
don't agree with you on economic matters.

DAS
--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[.......]

...........

 

BUT we have access to McDonald's, Wendy's (occasionally), Dunkin Donuts
(occasionally).

US police might like to follow the German motorway police and drive BMWs,
Mercs and Audis...


DAS

 

You'd be surprised at how much of Europe's mobile population tries to end up
in Britain, that little group of little islands off the coast of the
mainland...

(A lot also heads for Germany.)


DAS
--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[....]

 

Insufficient reliability and durability.

 

Ah. Everyone ought to think just like you do. Understood.

Sure. So then there's no such thing as Americans who lack access to basic
healthcare, for instance?

 

Windsor? Oh right... The Michigan Casino location...
See I was looking at it on a tax dispersal basis. Seeing as most
government offices, Major Hospitals & quite a number of Auto plants
absorb money within a 30 minute drive of the GTA that the GTA was
where the sucking sound originated.

Infact unless I'm mistaken Bill Ford (Grandson of Henry Ford) came to
the Oakville plant to get his $100 million corporate welfare cheque
the other day. Not a Windsor Plant, not a St. Thomas plant. Sad I
know, but.... Reality.

Don't worry about my dis-affection with any nation state. My
disaffection would be more trans-global & structural in nature.

As for confusion with socialist ideas....If only. The past is the
past, socialism, capitalism and communism are dying or dead around the
world. Look to the future young man, don't fasten your ambitions to
a sinking ship.

 

I was referring to global market share. Market share that was, in
part developed by bombing (or benefitting from the bombing) of other
motor vehicle manufacturer's plants thereby destroying competitors
production capacity (UK, Germany, etc)

So you are failing to acknowledge that you are part of the worlds
upper class and that collectively; through Charity we have destroyed
the garment production industry in Africa? Through subsidies we have
destroyed the profitable sustainable farming in South America?
Through embargo's and subterfuge we have destroyed the Soviet block's
standard of living and environmental sustain ability as well as their
secure hold on their weapons? Through the world bank we have forced
open immature markets and flooded them with consumer goods destroying
their developing manufacturers.

Here's the crux of the question: How much did YOU personally do to
guarantee these actions took place? How much more productive do you
feel you are than an East Indian University graduate working for
pennies on your dollar?

Now take that relative comparison and transpose it onto any American
CEO's wages relative to any other cultures CEO's wages. Still think
that American CEO's are exponentially better?

Compare Standard of Living per hour worked Norwegian to American.
Might come as a bit of a shock to you. Many Europeans only work 35
hours per week v/s 45-55 hours per week in the US and England
(I should specify that hours worked apply for men primarily).

I wasn't inferring that there would be a return to Feudalism, merely
that as an aging and fractionally small percentage of the worlds
population we should be thinking of a way of increasing everyone's
wealth not just the wealth of a few.

If things continue as they have been the past 10-20 years the US will
be looking to China for Aid and support in the Future just as England
now looks to the US.

 

If you bought State Farm "MUTUAL" insurance or any other Mutual
insurance (as do well more than 30% of all Americans) you do own what
belongs to your insurance company. If you have any funds in a Credit
union... again, your money. You must understand that if you drive on
any road that isn't a toll road (say the road from your home to the
toll road for example) you are taking part in what you disparagingly
refer to as "socialism" There are no true capitalists. Your 401K
and Social Security..... again... "socialist" notions. The largest
Comany in the US, the largest employer... the US government, do you
feel that you do not own any portion of the country in which you live?

Your statement that Companies charge what the market will bear is
incorrect. Enron proved that. The California market could bear much
higher electricity rates. Companies charge "what they can". Hence
sometimes they make money, sometimes they lose money. And
sometimes.... (for example 1950's/60's Cuba) Capitalists understand
that capitalism is just a tool used by the people in power. Otherwise
Greenspan wouldn't even think of the consequences of his actions on
the poorer folks and yet that is one of his main considerations.

Just for shits & giggles I've attached a dictionary definition of
company: (personally I like #4's example)


company noun
1 association between individuals especially on pleasant or
intimate terms <we always enjoyed his company>
syn companionship, fellowship, society
rel camaraderie, comradeship, consociation
2 persons visiting especially in one's house <invited company
for dinner>
syn guests, visitors; compare VISITOR 1
3 syn GATHERING 2, aggregation, assemblage, assembly,
collection, congregation, crowd, group, muster, ruck
4 a group of persons associated in a joint effort or for a
common purpose <a company of thieves lay in wait by the highway>
syn band, corps, outfit, party, troop, troupe; compare GROUP 1
rel crew, gang, pack, team; circle, clique, coterie, set; association,
club, order, society; crowd, horde, mob, throng; group
5 syn ENTERPRISE 3, business, concern, establishment, firm,
house, outfit


©1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster

 

however ya gotta admit that it's kinda fun.

my initial response was "midsized buick"

 

Irony is that for an "insult" to carry any weight it must both bear
some % of truth & the recipient must have some ego identity tied up in
the label. I think that Capitalism should have died with Cromwell's
Republican England along with the later notions of Socialism and
Communism.

I've got no lost love for any of those systems. Though I must say
that I'm still quite enamored with the automobile after all these
years. If only they could design a cheap, high capacity, super
efficient fuel cell.... I'd love a Rolls Royce that would do 150 MPH
for 600 miles per fill of cheap hydrogen.

 

What year New Yorker? There was a time when New Yorkers were larger cars
(back when they were based on the Aspen/Volarie chassis). However, I
specifically asked about the particular Dynasty that was being replaced
and got the size specs for that model (the one based on the stretched K
Car chassis). The numbers I posted for the other cars are for the latest
models (except the Dynasty of course).

Regards,

Ed White

 

Yes I do have a problem with how State Farm Spends it's policyholders
money. When I worked there there were drawers full of cellphones on
monthly plans that no-one was using. Lap-top computers that were
changed bi-yearly when they were never used within a tenth of their
capacity. Lots full of "company cars" that were used rarely, and
traded for new often. and on and on and on. It would make the
Capitalist in you sick to see the Capital & potential being wasted.
Want to see SF money at work? Take a trip to Bloominton Ill.

To put your mind at ease I'm not a Capitalist, Or a Communist, or a
Socialist. To put it in easy terms here's my perspective:
Economically I tend to lean in the direction that the British
protectorate of Hong Kong prior to the present rule. From a Society
perspective my views tend to be more like the Northern Europeans.
I.E. generous welfare @ $20K per person per year is cheaper and safer
than cheap prisons @ $40K per person per year