Cash for Clunkers, GM & Chrysler

The "cash for clunkers" bill was modified and turned into an attempted giveaway to auto companies and unions which embarrassed its original sponsors -- but since trade treaties don't allow it, it couldn't favor domestic auto companies, so most of the new cars purchased were from non-domestic companies.

( Economic ignoramuses waste more money and damage the environment )

After the administration strong-armed bondholders and committed $70 billion in taxpayer funds to the two losers, GM and Chrysler, to pay off the UAW, it's clear not many customers want to buy the products of government management.

And now trial balloons are being floated to throw more good money after bad:

Pelosi said Democrats want automakers to "thrive," and she hasn't ruled out additional support for automakers if they show that they are "viable."

Prediction: either new bailouts or second bankruptcies, this time liquidating.

Tim Jones

I was on the phone with my mother, and she mentioned finding a newspaper clipping of the story about my not missing a point in math class one year, quoting my math teacher Merlin Baker. Idly Googled his name in the background and found a trove of photos from my high school -- someone got the domain name oakparkhistory.com and scanned in photos from the paper and yearbook.

Here's the first guy I ever fell for, prepped for his photo showing various scholarships and achievements. I wrote the equations on the blackboard behind him and told him (mistakenly) that the stain on his pants would be outside the frame. Oops.



I'm still a sucker for a unibrow. This site also reminded me of the coach we had named Dick Powers.

The chef's hat, BTW, is for winning the Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow award.

Tim went on to medical school at UCSF and did his internship at SF General tending AIDS patients. I haven't talked to him for a few years, but when last heard from he was working at Kaiser Oakland.