We want to Invest in the Pickens Plan

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Comment by Richard Barnard on October 16, 2009 at 6:05am

Gen. Douglas MacArthur introduced Deming to Japan. Good American foresight you think? Not every American is stupid. We probably should have done a lot of other things MacArthur wanted to do at the time. Hindsight is 2020.

Comment by William Engwer on October 15, 2009 at 1:57pm

Deuceman, I agree in principle and specifics with most of what you've said, and I'm familiar with Deming's impact. Before the first gas crunch of the early 70s though, there just wasn't much reason to stray from business-as-usual in the American automobile industry. Gas was cheap. Though quality had indeed been slipping for some time, only a few years earlier American cars were, in their way, the equal of anything else out there. What amazed me was how long it took anyone in Detroit to actually wake up to the the fact that petroleum was a finite resource. I think a lot of the problem lies with the marketing people who were still trying to sell the big car sizzle, rather than letting the actual car guys put out some quality steaks. Pardon the mixed metaphor. The Europeans and the Japanese had been dealing with very expensive petro-fuels for a long time already, and had the engineering know-how to jump into the American marketplace with efficiency, while Detroit dithered. Interesting how so little of the expertise that was readily available to Detroit from their European partners came to these shores in time to have much effect. But, Detroit engineers and designers have ALWAYS been capable of turning out world class vehicles (the Corvette of the last few years proves it...performance equal to or better than Porsche's and Ferrari's best, at a fraction of the cost !!!), but short-sighted management has crippled their ability, going for the quickest buck. SUVs.
Bottom line in my view is that car guys passionately interested in cars need to be developing vehicles, not focus-groups and marketing morons.

The project I've been dumping my own time and money into is the icon for my name, and can be seen at http://push.pickensplan.com/group/cngassexy. I'm currently at a funding impasse and am scrambling, like a lot of the rest of the country, just to pay the rent. It's only recently that I've been trying to attract outside capital, and so far, not much interest. I have heard that it looks too much like the Aptera, which is interesting, because I designed the Solo in 1984, and its first public introduction was in 1996. Wonder who influenced who. William Engwer

Comment by DubleDeuce on October 11, 2009 at 9:06pm

Well William, I thank Paul for taking the time to TECHNICALLY spell out where you are possibly in error. I never said you were, only susceptical to error. And I applaude you for displaying an open mind to seek out what was told to you as fact. Maybe it is, maybe it ain't.

NOW, for the hammer. <<the standard business model has changed from "make a good product and the money will come" to "make or sell any old crap,">> Mr. Engwer, the "standard business model" you so blissfully refer to changed along about 50 years ago when the American car industry had the American car market all to themselves. This is called "lack of competition". The Big three were on a build tear to solve the great problem/issue of the day, how to get to the grocery store and back home with the milk in an ETA that would rival that of the local drag stirp. A TOTALLY unnecessary enterprize at the time. Since there was no credible counterbalance to the effort (VW, Cosmopolitan, and the Tatra were collectively a pimple on the butt of Detroit) Detroit had the market all to themselves.

It was not until the publishing and serious reading by the Japaneese, of a book by W. Edwards Deming, on Statistical Quality Control, that the Japaneese got the swing of how to beat us at the game of selling cars in this country. The American auto executive of the day thought it blasphemous to read such crap. But the japaneese read it, liked it, believed in it, and proceeded on a campaign of some 25 years to kick our ass.

GM's demise did not occure in the Bankruptcy court of of New York City this last summer. Its' demise had beed engineered in advance for some 25 years.

The comment about the Black and Decker battery on the back of a Prowler has about the same possibility of intrique in the REAL world as did Dr. Browns' attempt in Back to the Future when he upgraded the De Lorean to a Mr. Fusion machine. Nice idea. Great marketing concept. I sure would like to have one. But it is only a movie. And the splash of an e-Mail prospectus you passed along to us has about as much "intrique". Negative? maybe! But EVERY question has a yes or no answer. Better to get your No's up front so you can continue on to that very rare thing called a yes.

As Paul is so fond of saying, the "Light is Green". And now that you have a firm NO and the reasons for it, you can now speed away from the light onto the next prospect.

BTW, WHAT do you spend <<I've poured tens of thousands of my own hard earned $$ and thousands of hours into developing my own project, with my own two hands,>> your time and money on?

The Deuceman

Comment by Paul on October 10, 2009 at 4:26pm

Hey Bill,

Where is American investment??? That's the trillion dollar question! Uncle Sam has so polluted the playing field that no one with private $$$ is looking for anything right now. It really is a "why bother" phenomenon. The investemt community wants stability, while Presbo and the Left keep chanting "change for changes' sake" and all that clap-trap. There is no faith that there will be stability, and only a fool builds a house on quicksand.

We (S&T) has been trying so hard for so long... It's beyond comprehension that we've not been successful in the equity markets yet. Actually, the reasons were recently made clear to me -- since I'm unwilling to play the graft game, I've effectively been frozen out. It happened a while ago, and that was when my attitude took the major turn from optimism to "You gotta be kidding!" I'm all used up.

The Light is Green!

The Light is Green!

Comment by William Engwer on October 10, 2009 at 4:07pm

I'll look into it myself. If this is in fact the case, I'm wrong for opening my mouth without taking the time to get all the facts. In this, I've learned well from my contemporaries. Thanks for pointing it out. So, where is American investment in American innovation? The stock is still probably a good position to achieve long-term capital gains, and manufacturing facilities are to be in the USA, providing American employment, but I have no knowledge of how profits will be distributed, and what the economic benefit to China would actually be at this time. Rather a shame it's not a wholly American owned anyway, if that's the case.

As far as the "outlook for meaningful optimism" having gone out the window, the moment those of us who are working towards rationalizing some very screwed up things quit, the screwers win, permanently. Talking blame isn't going to cut it. I agree that Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize in the same sentence is a little bizarre, but all it really points out is the West's complete abandonment of substance in favor of marketing style. Is this really a surprise?
William Engwer

Comment by Paul on October 10, 2009 at 11:31am

Ya know Bill, I was about to defend your arguments... We do need a solid manufacturing company that makes LI-ion batteries... until I looked closer.

A123 got $249 *MILLION* taxpayer dollars and look at this:

from http://ir.a123systems.com/management.cfm

{Dr. Zheng is President of A123Systems China where he is in charge of the various operations and manufacturing facilities which produce the company's proprietary materials. Prior to joining A123Systems, Dr. Zheng was President and co-founder of Changzhou PowerGenie, a producer of advanced materials serving some of the top Chinese Li-ion battery producers. Prior to founding Changzhou PowerGenie, Dr. Zheng co-founded Voltix Technology, a Li-ion battery manufacturer in China. Between 1997 through 2000 Dr. Zheng was a Post Doctoral Fellow and Member of Technical Staff at Bellcore where he performed work in Li Ion Polymer batteries. Dr. Zhang obtained his PhD in Physics from Simon Fraser University in Canada in 1996 under the guidance of Prof. Jeff Dahn.}

So, WTF???

A123 looks like an IP company -- after all it says it holds the patents. WOW -- I'm so excited I could just defaecate. It's not negativity for negativity's sake, but with Presbo winning the Nobel Peace prize the outlook for meaningful optimism has pretty much gone out the window.

The Light is Green!

Comment by William Engwer on October 10, 2009 at 8:21am

You know, I'm curious about what purpose is served by the constant negativity? Somewhere along the line, Americans need to stop the whining and waffling and conspiracy rants and get to work making a difference. I've poured tens of thousands of my own hard earned $$ and thousands of hours into developing my own project, with my own two hands, and I'm really getting sick of all the negative posturing that seems to predominate on this site, by people who actually do nothing but talk.

An American battery producer is a good theoretical long term investment, and an alliance with Chrysler makes sense at this point, because the guy from Fiat who's calling the shots is actually a CAR GUY and not a total technically-ignorant management type that seems to make most American business and government decisions these days.

One of America's crippling problems is that the standard business model has changed from "make a good product and the money will come" to "make or sell any old crap, made somewhere else usually, to make the most money in the shortest time, and to hell with the future". Americans need to invest in American companies making American products in America to ensure America's future as something other than a third world country. William Engwer

Comment by DubleDeuce on October 10, 2009 at 6:47am

YEP! That's what this country needs, a Prowler with a Black and Decker Lithium battery stacked onto the rear deck---right next to the Mr. Fusion machine. Ohhh Dr. Brown, we hardly knew ye lad.

The Deuceman

Comment by William Engwer on September 24, 2009 at 6:09pm

An interesting company you all might like to look at gained 50% today following its IPO. It's an American company manufacturing batteries for Chrysler's new line of electric vehicles, Black and Decker, GE, and others. This is probably a good long term hold, and it's only at $20 per share now. The company is A123, nasdaq symbol is AONE. http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/24/news/companies/a123_ipo/index.htm?cnn=yes

Comment by Gary Fosburg on September 24, 2009 at 1:21pm

If the Pickens plan (which I support) supported a National Energy Lottery (see blog below) proposal and the 4 million followers donated 5 bucks a week for this Energy Raffle, there would be 800 winners a week or 41,600 winners a year of a $25,000 voucher good only for Renewable products, ie; solar, wind, hybrid, energy green appliances, etc...and be fully transferrable as well. Take advantage of the Fed's energy credit and it would buy around $32,000 worth of Green product/s.

If the Pickens Plan ran this program and retained 10% for operations, not only would it generate further income for the cause but the donators would have some fun with the potential of winning this voucher and 25,000 to 1 odds. Better than a money lottery that doesn't promote going green.

At $20,000,000 a week @ 10%, that's $2,000,000 for the Pickens Plan for operations. Would certainly be enough for expanding the mission. That's over a Billion for the year! Maybe take that money and invest in a windmill anufacturing company that is owned by the workers. Spread the prosperity and have it Made in USA by the owners/workers. see entire plan at: http://nationalenergylottery.blogspot.com/
Also an inventor who has developed a prototye called Road Power. Will convert downhill vehicle traffic 24/7/365 to electricity alongside the highways of America. No Sun, Wind, Water, Land required. One unit will power approximately 3 homes per year. Looking for Angel Investors to take to next level. Would be a great asset to the Pickens Plan to get us off foreign oil even faster. Thank you, Gary

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