Even Trucks Hit the Wall in an Erratic 2007 (NYT)
Yes, the car market in the US was that bad this year. Even truck sales stunk up the joint. Trucks, of course, have long been the on bright spot on the US scene, particularly for US automakers. Even back in the day, naysayers who said GM was nothing more than a big bank had to admit that they also made some money on trucks. Here’s a weird line though from NYT: “Even when sport utility vehicles lost their allure earlier this decade, pickups hung on, fueled by the need among builders and business owners to replace their workhorses, and by the need of some drivers to own the biggest wheels on the block.” Lost their allure? When? Maybe they’re just playing to the crowd with that one.
United Airlines says weather hurt December traffic (MarketWatch)
United Airlines says that the worst weather it’s seen in 80 years caused it to have twice the industry delays in the month of December. Plainly, the heavens are trying to play a trick on the company, by making storms happen right around United hubs that mysteriously only affected United, leaving its competitors unscathed. Not surprisingly, the union blames staffing shortages.
Americans late payers on most loans since 2001 (Reuters)
We keep hearing about how it’s not just subprime, that all forms of debt, from commercial real estate deals to credit cards is imperiled. Word is that Americans are getting really delinquent on their loans. Just curious: is it at all possible that people are just lazy about sending in payments? Speaking form personal experience, anytime we have a bill to pay that can’t easily be payed electronically, it often gets paid a few days late. If so, that could clear a lot of this up. SImple fix.
Europeans chafe under New Year ‘nanny state’ laws (AFP)
It’s not just New York and every municipality this side of the Atlantic. Back in the old country, the creep of annoying laws, banning all kinds of things that governments deem not good, is starting to pick up. Pretty soon you’ll have to travel to South East Asia to get Foie Gras and smoke a cig.
Gap names Kneen Banana Republic creative director (Reuters)
No really, this time, the Gap and its subsidiary Banana Republic are finally going to refresh its product line, making it appealing again. While the appointment of creative director Simon Kneen only applies to Banana, we really think they still need help at the Gap. Cargo pants in the window? Please.
Romney’s big investment in Iowa turns bitter (Salt Lake Tribune)
Well, a big loss for the private equity guy in the race last night. After spending untold millions in Iowa, Romney lost to a preacher from Hope, Arkansas — the man from Hope. Romney’s mistake: he should’ve sold pieces of himself to investors. Rather than invest so much of his personal fortune into the race, he ought to have invest about 1/10th that and got outside financing for the rest, so that other people would be holding the bag after he imploded. It wouldn’t have helped him win, but it would’ve eased the blow some.
2008 US Election (Intrade)
Okay, Intrade totally sucked yesterday. There I said it. Sure, it was right in the morning — Huckabee and Obama both pulled out very comfortable victories. But, there was a brief period, when the early reporting precincts had Edwards leading, that the Obama contracts really started to tank. Now look, these were like 15 percent of the precincts and everyone knew they weren’t going to hold up, especially the pointy headed experts on TV. But the traders freaked out for about 10 minutes. Then the contract turned around once Obama started coming back, but the market looked pretty reactive from our perspective. As for the race today: whole new ballgame. Hillary is down to 50 percent to win the nomination, while Obama is up to 47.5 percent. Obviously, that doesn’t leave much for Edwards. And your new Republican front runner is none other than John McCain, though at 30 percent, er, technically, $.30 on the dollar, it’s still a wide open ballgame.
Parent of Dating Sites Looks for a Match (NYT)
JDate parent Spark Networks up for sale.
Perhaps consumer creditors are going about it in the wrong way. As is, you almost always have a DISincentive to NOT pay late. Now, we know behavior always comes down to incentives, so what if they were to offer some positive incentive for actually paying early or on-time, say x number of on-time payments gets you a y% reduction on your interest rate, for example.
Wow, bad weather in Chicago. Their Decembers are usually so warm and sunny.
God I hate the airlines.
I went back home to Chicago in Dec… Yes, it sucked. Just so happened to land on Friday, and on Saturday there was a big ass snowstorm. Fun.
if the economy gets any worse and people get any more lazy, there may be a walk on the banks.
hhhhaaaaaaaaaaa!
Intrade has been close to retarded on the Democrat side, giving Hillary a 71% chance of winning the Presidency yesterday morning, and having her in the lead in Iowa for so long…
Maybe markets don’t know everything. Imagine that.
actually, the decembers in chicago have been pretty mild over the past few years ….can’t comment on this year as i now live in NYC, but after a brutal december 2001, the following decembers in chicago were surprisingly warm. sixty degree days, etc..
About the SUVs (NOT SIVs, for once) vs pickups: Yes, Joe, SUVs most definitely did “lose their allure.” It was easy to miss if you assume every rectangle that extends above eye-level (well if you’re my height anyway) is an SUV. They’re not. Have you heard the term “CUV”? It stands for “crossover utility vehicle” – as in Minivan, like the one I bought in ’04. They’re a separate category from SUVs, and steadily took share away from SUVs for several years. And guess which OEMs pushed fastest and hardest to make CUVs the core of their lineup? You guessed it – the Japanese.
@11:41 You bought a minivan and admitted it? I’m gonna puke. Do you have one of those magnetic soccer balls on the back? If its to carry your kids and their assorted detritus, my advice would be to put them up for adoption instead.
@ 11:41
If the industry just created a some new SUV-like cars and gave them a new name, then I’d still call that an SUV. Honestly, I hadn’t know about CUVs at all, so thanks for letting me know. I’ll be more precise in the future.
Ok gent’s, lets go through the alphabet-soup:
SAV – Sport Activity Vehicle, last preferred by BMW, and god knows who else, i.e. x5/x3
SUV – Sport Utility Vehicle, Pioneered by the Explorer, popularized by Tahoe, and everything else
CUV – Crossover, this could describe virtually anything (as could the other arbitrary names), but popular examples are the Lexus RX, Cadillac SRX, Ford Edge, etc. The real differentiator to whether one is a CUV is whether it is based on a car or truck chassis. For example, the RX is based on the Toyota Camry chassis, while the Tahoe is based on the Silverado chassis. Technically, a SUV can be a CUV, but its pushing the semantic limit to call an SUV a CUV in popular parlance.
Yes, the imports (European and Asian) were vastly ahead of the domestic manufacturers in realizing that most people do not need a Suburban/Excursion/etc sized land-yacht, and that they could keep much of the space and “utility” while increasing mileage (reducing weight, etc) by using smaller chasis, engines, etc.
I do enjoy how CUV owners who drive a vehicle styled a la station wagon do everything possible to defend that their vehicle isn’t a station wagon.
“Why did you buy a 535xi?”
“It’s easier to haul stuff around.”
“Your skis don’t fit in the back of a regular car with the seat folded down? When was the last time you drove more than you and your girlfriend to the mountains?”
“Uhhh…”
“It’s a station wagon.”
“It’s a BMW and has 300 hp and all-wheel drive”
“It’s a station wagon. You’re single, in your mid-30′s, have no kids or dogs and don’t need to carry around lumber. You bought a high-performance station wagon.”
“It has all-wheel drive and heated leather seats. Much better in the winter.”
“I’ve never had a problem with my rear-wheel-drive BMW in the winter and the majority of people drive front-wheel-only cars and most of them don’t seem to have insurmountable problems either.”
“Fuck you.”
I still like my Canyanero. It smells like a steak and it seats 35.
@ Calgary – I took a look @ some Scorpions album covers yesterday, seriously check out the Eye II Eye cover, it already looks like it has the heads of PE firms on it without any photoshopping!