Yesterday: the Government Motors IPO; Today: The 8-Ton Beast

This must be the day for "I Can't Make This Stuff Up."

The 8-ton "Beast" -- I'm sure there's a back-up and they both get flown around the world in a huge military cargo plane.  I'm talking about the automobiles. I assume the horsepower in the engines of these two beasts could provide the entire power necessary to run the electrical grid of some small developing countries. I assume the "Beast" is a GM hybrid modeled after the ChevyVolt.

Years ago when I was temporarily assigned to the Gambia (a very small country in western Africa), the nation's electrical grid failed. It was "happy hour" in the local bar where I was staying. Two American engineers working for some US industrial company, left the bar and were gone for about 30 minutes, when the power came back on, and they returned. They had gone out and started up two diesel generators that provided electricity not only for the entire hotel (and bar) but for the entire town.


IThe Great Pretender, The Platters

Yes, I'm the great pretender,

Pretending that I'm doing well,

My need is such, I pretend too much,

I'm lonely, but no one can tell.

Ohhhh ... yes, I'm the great pretender.

Adrift in a world of my own,

I play the game, but tomorrow you will say

You left me to dream all alone.

Too real is this feeling of make believe

Too real what I feel my heart can't conceal

Yes, I'm the great pretender,

Just laughing and ache like a clown,

I seem to be but I'm not you see,

I'm wearing my heart like a crown,

Pretending my base is still around. 

To real is this feling of make believe

To real what I feel what my heart can't conceal

Yes, I'm the great pretender,

Just a laughing and ache like a clown

I seem to be what you see,

I'm wearing my heart like a clown.

Pretending that my base is still around.

Nobel Peace Prize President? By the way, as long as we're on the subject of pretenders, President Obama just signed off on the largest arms sale to a foreign nation in the history of the United States.

The Obama administration has quietly forged ahead with its proposal to sell $60 billion worth of fighter jets and attack helicopters to Saudi Arabia unhampered by Congress, despite questions raised in legislative inquiries and in an internal congressional report about the wisdom of the deal.

The massive arms deal would be the single largest sale of weapons to a foreign nation in the history of the U.S., outfitting Saudi Arabia with a fully modernized, potent new air force. 

President Obama did this while Congress was in recess. Wow, he is an enigma. But, hey, why not. If the US didn't sell Saudi the fighters and the helicopters, Russia would. This is a non-story.

Speaking of General Motors. Coming out of bankruptcy and on the heels of its IPO, GM has a $45 billion carry-forward tax loss. Along with that $45 billion and other carry-forward debt, it is unlikely that GM will pay any federal income tax for at least 20 years. (I used to think Ford had a better idea by issuing stock instead of debt; now that GM has the advantage of no taxes for 20+ years, and Ford will have significant corporate taxes, I now wonder who made the smarter deal.)