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Mr. Vroom

Lambo Owner
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Posts posted by Mr. Vroom

  1. The US cut China some slack in the 80's and onward for geopolitical reasons. Those days are gone.

     

    China used to be a strait up commie country, billion people, nutty leader, and armed with nukes. The country was a destablizing force in Asia, a threat to Japan, and S Korea, not to mention making trouble in SE Asia. Nixon, to his credit opened the door to rapprochement, and every leader since has granted trade carrots/favors to the country, which has moved from being an economic basket case to the world's second largest economy.

     

    So today we can proclaim mission accomplished, its time to play by our rules. This means a free floating currency, respect for copyrights, intellectual property, labor rights, civil rights, property rights, enviroment, and even simple shit like following good manufacturing practices(we don't want contaminated dry wall, lead paint and so on!)

     

    If the yuan trades freely it will appreciate in value by at least 30%, over time less jobs will be exported, more captital will be invested domestically, the US economy will move from 70% consumption(we consume more than we produce, which is ultimately unsustainable and only possible because China and others lend/send our money back!) to a more reasonable figure, trade deficits will go down, wages stabilize, unemployment goes down, these are all good things. On the Chinese side, domestic consumption is only 35% of GDP, which is too low, so to prevent asset bubbles, inflation, its also good for them.

     

    For those interested(Wheels!) here is an article on the last IMF meeting, which speaks of a looming currency war, where other countries like India, Japan, Brazil are considering or actually devaluing their currencies to compete with the Chinese. Remember that since China pegs its currency to the US dollar, this is a tool the US cannot use! If we devalue ours, so do they!

     

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/business/global/10imf.html

  2. Talking about punishing a country that undervalues it´s currency when you yourself are doing the exact same thing(QE1, QE2 and there will be a few more to come, no doubt about that) and even massively so is just ridiculous!

     

    The US dollar trades freely on the open market, the Chinese Renminbi(yuan)does not, its value is artificially PEGGED to the US dollar, so if the dollar declines, so does the Renminbi, thus preserving the unfair trade advantage.

  3. The ad gets almost everything wrong and picks the wrong bogeyman to blame it ALL on.

     

    China is not the biggest holder of US debt, most US debt is held domestically, by individuals, banks, the FED, retirement funds, etc. China is the largest foreign holder of US debt.

     

    Besides low wage labor, few worker rights, limited civil rights, copyright infringements, one of the ways China sucks money out of our economy, and is prolonging the recession is by undervaluing it's currency. This goes against every free trade principle, the WTO, and also is against US law because it gives them an UNFAIR trade advantage. Unfortunately China has been getting a free pass, if the law were applied, and tariffs put up, more products and capital investment would be made in the USA, unemployment would drop, tax revenues increase, govt deficits decline, more exports, etc.

     

    The ad should be advocating sanctions on Chinese imports, not praising their model, which as Brian pointed out, is patently false anyway.

  4. BMWRACER, you are a lot smarter and wiser than I, can you explain why then our whole society seems to be going into "buy things to show off and portray fake image" mode? From fake breasts, hair extensions, pastic surgery, to 30k millionares, steroids, $300 bottles at the club that actually cost $25, mortgage crisis... etc

     

    You may call it posing but a $500 bottle(prices have been going up!) at a club is about renting real estate. If you are with your girl, no one will hit on her, if you are out with friends, you have space to socialize, if you are out with your buddies, a prime spot to pull chicks and plenty of booze to get them loaded. :icon_mrgreen:

     

     

    Brian Wilson I gave up on you after you went to Montreal looking for fcuking crepes....Got a feeling you spend most of your day living in your head. Also doubt you have done anything substantial in your life (parking your ass in China, listening to Sam Cooke records doesn't count!) So here is some unsolicited advice, contemplation is good, but to live a full life, you need to engage, make goals, then realize them, take chances, and ocasionally fcuk up. If you want respect, it takes action, not talk or talking out of your ass as you do so often.

     

     

  5. I find that very hard to believe, but I guess it is possible. But if sales are down 50% or so and they are still turning a profit they must have a very efficient business model, or shrewd asset management.

     

    Exotics, like all luxury goods, have high gross profit margins, at most a G costs a few k more than a R8 to manufacture, yet it lists for 80k more. That may explain part of the profit, also it wouldn't surprise me if Lambo R&D and back office expenses are shifted/buried in the Audi account ledger.

     

    The good news is that since Audi is sharing platforms with Lamborghini, making a fat buck on the Lambo side doesn't seem to be a priority.

  6. People buy Bimmers often for the name, they deal with the BS because the cars drive well, but they are never trouble free ownerships.

     

    Bought a new 750i a little more than year ago, its been in the shop twice, total down time of nearly a month, started off with a fuel pump isssue then computers started frying, its great driving/handling boat of a car, but a month downtime blows!

     

  7. I can't figure out why people still buy an SL, the car is outdated. The only good looking SL is one from 2005 (2nd/3rd facelift I think).

    Then it went downhill.

     

    The new SL will be sitting on the same chassis as the SLS, plus have a TT V8, so I can't figure out the purpose of the SLS conv.

  8. I see a number of you saying that there needs to be more training or licenses given for certain speeds. This is ridiculous as who will give them out? How many people can teach how to drive a street car at 250? Its called uncharted territory. Richard likely had more experience and gone faster than anyone else on this forum many times. Its a risk that everyone should be aware of but stop the training crap. In regards to the safety equipment standards I couldn't agree more. Also a safer track that has ample shut down room and lacking concrete curbs would be a great start too.

     

    Not sure how the Mile runs, but it seems like a free for all, with few rules, lots of swagger. Say the event organizers used one day as practice/elimination/systems/safety check day where the high speed cars and drivers do a few 200 mph runs, demonstrate the ability to accelerate smoothly, deploy chutes, brake and stop in a strait line. Do these runs with out losing control of the car, and you are good to go for the record runs on the remaining two days of the event. Also, any track I have been to, drag strip or road course will kick you out if you spin/lose control more than once. Regarding weather, I am not sure how bad the xwinds were, or how gusty it was, but both can fcuk up traction; at some point someone has to call it, and it shouldn't be the competitors.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  9. I'm agree with everything you'v said except for the first part. Why do you say that Miami couldn't hold the event. The facility is just that, a facility. It is the organizing body that will determine how the event is run, timed, scored, etc. There's no reason why the Texas Mile people couldn't hold a stellar event at Miami. I believe that the short stopping distance at Goliad was the largest contributor to that crash.

     

    Miami would be perfect, but as I said, w/o any safety standards the length of the runway is immaterial. For example, many people mentioned high crosswinds. I am a pilot, if the xwind is more than 20 knots I will find another runway to land on. Why did the organizers allow the particpants to make a 250mph pass in these conditions? Last year Holt drove his G for the first time at the event, also w/o a roll cage I believe......

  10. If you want to run these events professionally and with integrity Miami is not the answer(although a longer runway will definitely improve safety margins!) What's needed is mandatory safety equipment(basically everything thats on a race car) and also MANDATORY driver certification for speeds in excess of 200mph. Holt was lucky LAST year(watch the vid, he was all over the runway), this year he was foolhardy. Its time for the event organizers and tuners to realize it takes more than a combo of cash and horsepower to pull off a 250+ mph run. Without the right equipment and driver training, the next guy will crash and burn for sure!

  11. I'm a fan of Empire of the Sun. Not many people know of them. Not feeling that remix though. It sounds like they just took the vocals and put some stereotypical dance music over it.

     

    Have you heard the orginal version of Walking on a Dream, Vroom? Sounds way different. Better imo.

     

    Not a fan of the band Brian, but Walking, original or remixed rocks. Lately I have been into remixes of older songs, but HEY, been listening to this one straight up this morning.

     

     

  12. Interesting to note that this case was resolved around a woman protecting her assets.......males can temporarily rejoice, but in the long run women will be the beneficiaries. I say this because of a demographic trend happening today(in the US, possibly Europe as well); there are more females enrolled in higer education than males, this applies to grad schools, law and medicine as well. In 20 years these female grads will be dominating their fields of expertise, accumulating wealth, branching out into politics, the judiciary, controlling the levers of power at all levels. Many will be the top earners in the family. When this happens, don't be surprised if family law gets revised, making it easier for a woman to kick her man to the curb, flat assed broke.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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