Business

Elon Musk’s Self-Driving Snake Oil?

This won’t come as a surprise to those who appreciate that Elon Musk is ethically challenged: A German publication received reams of data from a whistleblower that revealed customer complaints about Tesla’s self-driving Autopilot technology allegedly are far more extensive than regulators and critics are possibly aware.

Tesla has a strategy to ensure these complaints don’t find their way into lawsuits.

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Ford, GM: Symbols of America’s Decline

Sorry to be a spoilsport, but Ford’s ballyhooed announcement that buyers of its electric vehicles will have partial access to Tesla’s Supercharger network is yet another reminder of the sorry state of America’s once proud and mighty automakers.

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Why Ford’s “Very Gay” Badass Truck Isn’t Woke

A marketing storm is possibly brewing for Ford Motor Co. as a year-old corporate video featuring the company’s Raptor pickup truck it promoted as “very gay” is making the internet rounds, prompting calls for a boycott. Here’s why Ford’s promotion of gay rights and culture isn’t an example of wokeness but rather an unwavering decades-long commitment even when it contributed to the biggest annual loss in the automaker’s history.

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The Night the Lights Go Out in America

Americans have developed an expectation that when they flip a light switch, the lights come on. Thanks to Biden Administration policies and legislation in various states, Americans had best prepare themselves for repeated periods of blackouts.

On the reliable energy front, China’s citizens are being served much better.

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America’s Unsustainable Wealth Disparity

Some thoughts on America’s growing wealth disparity, why the reported looming bankruptcy of Envision Healthcare merits consideration for the return of guillotines, and the NHTSA’s demand for the recall of 67 million airbags manufactured by Tennessee-based ARC Automotive is potentially a very, very, big deal.

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UAW: Rodney Dangerfield of American Labor

The UAW increasingly and deservedly commands little respect, even among its own members. The insulting and instantly rejected contract the union negotiated for workers at a suburban Toledo battery plant is an example of the UAW better serving management interests.

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San Francisco: The Detroit of California

If Detroit’s economic history is a guide, the closing of Nordstrom’s massive department store in downtown San Francisco possibly means San Francisco has reached the point of no return. The two cities already share much in common.

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Democracy Stands Trial in Marshall, Michigan

The City Council of Marshall in rural Michigan on Monday is scheduled to vote whether to uphold or reject a decision by a Joint Planning Commission to deny a rezoning request that would have allowed Ford Motor Co. to build a lithium battery plant on fertile farmland. A Michigan economic development person is on record as saying it doesn’t matter what the elected officials decide, the plant will get built.

So much for all of Ford’s talk about “building trust” with the communities where it operates.

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CEO Hall of Shame: Andi Owen & James Clarke

Social media was aghast last week as leaked videos of Zoom calls revealed the lack of empathy the CEOs of MillerKnoll and Clearlink showed their employees. Observers uniformly blamed the disparity of CEO pay for the insensitivity, but research shows that lack of empathy is among the psychopathic traits that land CEOs their corner offices.

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