Hank Paulson slapped the markets, lawmakers and the public silly today.  After first demanding and then begging for a free hand in dealing with the financial crisis, Congress gave the ok for the $700 billion bank bailout package, only to be told today that Mr. Paulson would rather spend the money taking an equity interest in banks. Paulson’s also gave his comments regarding his opinion on the ailing auto industry; he is not enthusiastic about the possibility of bailing out the auto makers to the tune of $25 billion.

Policy makers, Politicians and Pundits are conflicted: A bailout for the auto industry is seen as throwing good money after bad. The US auto industry has limped along ever since the first oil crisis in the ‘70 illustrated just how much the industry was out of touch with the market. It hasn’t improved much in subsequent years, and has continued to embrace gas-guzzling products. Others claim that the auto industry is too big to be allowed to fail; that the cost in terms of impact to our whole manufacturing chain would be overwhelming: affecting parts suppliers, service suppliers, and dealers.

As usual the truth is somewhere in the middle. While the ripple effect of the failure of the auto industry would be serious, it would not have the same effect as it would have 40 years ago. The auto industry no longer employs the vast numbers of US workers that it once did. In 2007, Ford and GM were the 13 & 14 largest employer in the US, behind companies such as Walmart, Home Depot, and Target; companies which did not exist 30 years ago.

Of course, the auto industry isn’t completely at fault for their lack of innovation. Every administration since the Carter administration has had an opportunity to address our energy infrastructure. In particular the current Bush administration missed a opportunity after 911 to call for a ‘energy-freedom tax’. An tax which would have established a minimum price for a barrel of oil. A minimum price which would have provided innovators with the confidence to invest in an otherwise wildly fluctuating market.

But, I would like to tell the US auto industry to take a powder. When the industry asks for $25 billion in order to “innovate”, I would suggest that they have had 30 years to innovate since the last oil crisis. No other industry comes hat-in-hand to the American taxpayer for funding for innovation. As Tom Friedman suggests: we ought to put Steve Jobs in charge of GM. Given a free hand, Mr. Jobs would build the next iCar, kick some ass to get it done fast, and done right! Of course, it is unlikely that Steve could be coaxed into such a task, but it seems like wild idea!

Seriously though, the current financial and economic crisis may provide an opportunity to innovate by addressing several concerns through one wide ranging initiative for the incoming Obama administration. The administaration should agree to a auto bailout with several strings attached:

• Current senior management must go.
• Immediate commitment to develop and bring to market a product line of all electric vechicles, and/or plugin hybrids.
• Product lines must be slashed. (Think Apple’s laptop product line not Dell’s)

The bailout would actually be part of a larger initiatve to develop an all electric energy infrastructure over the next 15 years.  Al Gore has proposed a 10 year program which will take an aggressive approach to energy independence by:

• Creating an alternative energy economy utilizing wind, solar, and geothermal sources
• Developing and deploy a intelligent electrical grid
• Encouraging energy efficiency
• Creating an all electric energy transportation system

Come to think of it.. Al Gore IS on the Apple board. Perhaps Al can convince Steve to get involved after all.

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WOW.

I am overwhelmed to see the pride and excitement on so many African-American faces!
In this moment I am truly proud of this country.

Wish I was back in Chicago at this moment… it’s quite the party in Grant Park

Tomorrow we can worry about what faces the Obama administration, but tonight is a historic event, one as a child I never thought I would have seen in my life.

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Today the FCC approved the use of the un-used frequencies between TV channels for use in Internet communication. This desirable set of frequencies has been greatly promoted as a means of greatly expanding broadband access throughout the country due to the ability of these frequencies to travel great distances and penetrate walls. This is bad news to the ‘Wireless (cellular) industry’ which lobbied against the adoption. Additionally,the frequencies will be available on an ‘unlicensed’ basis. It will take some time for devices to be tested to assure that there is no interference with TV transmissions and for providers to figure out business models. But once completed, white space internet has the promise of expanding broadband usage into rural areas which have been ill-served by other technologies and providers.

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For a guy who went to the school of Graphics and Photography at RIT, and working for 25+ years in Graphics/Technology industry, I have certainly gotten away from photography in recent years. For many years I harbored a desire to get into panoramic photography with a Fuji GX617 camera, but I could never cough up the dough. Ten years ago when I worked for Scitex (with it’s Leaf digital cameras subsidiary) at the time, I had my first exposure (forgive the pun) to High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.

So, I am looking into combining HDR and panoramic photography. Maine offers a lot of excellent opportunities to showcase this style of photography. Sadly, the GX617 is a conventioanl film camera and not satifactory for HDR. I have an old (first genreation) Canon EOS film body and lenses. So, I am looking most likely to get a digital EOS body (40D?), and panoramic head for stitching frames.

But I am looking for any opinions on comparable setups.

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Ahhh, These are the days of Wine and Roses...when a Liberal can look to the future with pride and satisfaction. The economy may be down and retirement ever further away, but we now have HOPE for the future. Hope that sanity will once more return to our national politics; and it comes in the guise of a Joe Cool: confident and hopeful, a multicultural intellectual:

Seriously though, I AM looking forward to the new administration. Not because of some wide-eyed optimism of a left-leaning political junkie, but because our sudden national realization of the serious issues confronting us will be met by a president to-be who epitomizes everything that a 21st century President ought to be. With the anticipated victory of Obama, we will finally put to rest the culture wars of the 60’s. The multicultural, intellectual and centrist aspect of Obama is an opportunity for the US to rebuild it’s stature in the international community. His promise of restoring our international credibility will be vital for building the cooperation necessary in rebuilding a global financial system, fighting fundamentalism abroad, and advancing containment of states such as North Korea, Iran, and Russia. His refusal to to fully embrace a radical agenda of the Left will hopefully permit bipartisan negotiations in the discussions to come on the economy, health care, Social Security, Medicare, Energy, Global Warming, and National Security.

Obama’s belief in pay-as-you-go government will be familiar to both economic conservatives and Clintonites alike. His position on utilizing every form of energy production including clean-coal, nuclear, and limited offshore drilling, while pursuing a comprehensive alternative energy program is seen by many as reasonable and vital. Much more so than the simplistic drumbeat of “Drill, Baby, Drill”. His long standing belief that we need to extricate ourselves from Iraq, while seeking a solution for a worsening situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan is practical. And finally, Obama’s fiscal position of increasing taxes for those with incomes above $250k/yr is likewise seen as reasonable in this age of bank failures, bailouts and over-the-top AIG sales meetings.

Soon, our long national nightmare will be over. As a nation we have already put the jingoistic, and hawkish policies of the Bush administration behind us. With the election and inauguration of Barak Hussein Obama, a new more mature chapter in the history of the US will unfold. The racial, religious and culturally reactionary forces of our nation have been deposed. While Obama is human and will have his policy critics, his election none the less represents a sea-change in so many respects that it is hard not to be proud to be an American once more. 

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Going on the record now...I’m thinking Obama landslide, 339 vs 200 electoral votes.

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...who’s the man who would risk his neck for his brother man?...SHAFT.....Yeah, Can you dig it?

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Obama on the current economic conditions:

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While I don’t always agree with David Brooks, the conservative New York Times commentator, I do respect his opinions:

Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness.

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The frantic game of rumors prior to each anticipated Apple conference is somewhat comical abeit generally harmless. While it is often possible to gleam what might be possible or likely based on these rumors, I don’t place much faith in any particular rumor at the time. My crystal ball fails me quite often however this weekend’s rumor that Apple will not only be adding a user facing video camera for use in video ichat, but will also be releasing a Window’s version ichat strikes me as a good idea!

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Since Maureen came down with one, it seems like I hear of GBMs all the time now. When I heard that Ted Kennedy had an unexpected seizure the other day, this was my immediate fear. It’s Too bad for Ted. He’s the last of this tragic generation of Kennedys.

I hope he can get though this with dignity.

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An excellent with an only slightly facetious title by David Heinemeier Hansson of 37 Signals.

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Me Thinks, Gruber has it right.
The SDK is too complete and comprehensive to have been rushed to the development community as many had pre-supposed. Apple has been laying ground-work for this for some time.

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