We had a relative easy day with Noel sorting out his photos from yesterday and catching up with the Blog and then a short trip downtown for a walk and to look at some restaurants for an idea of where we would eat with Adrian & Joyce when they visit us tomorrow.
We arrived home after an early lunch so Noel spent a little time checking out the insides of his eyelids before a quick look at the news which was quite interesting today. Apple introduced their new I-Pad tablet computer and the shares went up immediately. On the other hand, Toyota America has a really serious problem. Just about all it's recently, US only, manufactured cars are suffering with a problem with the throttle pedal stuck in the on position. Not funny when you are doing 65 on a highway. They have tried to resolve it but so far have been unsuccessful and they will have to recall over 4.5 million cars to retrofit when they find a solution. And now the big news, they have had to stop and close all manufacturing plants in US and not release any more new cars from sales showrooms to customers until this matter is resolved. This decision has been taken by Toyota and nobody else but it will do their reputation some considerable harm. Needless to say all cars that are manufactured elsewhere in the world of similar models are not affected. There will be some ritual bloodletting over this once they find out who was responsible. Is it sabotage? I doubt it but their shares dropped 20 per cent over the last couple of days whilst the US car manufacturers are rubbing their hands with glee as their stock market prices increased and their dealers are overloaded with rubbish cars.
And now for something completely different!
We watched the US Government investigation into the failure and handling of the AIG Insurance company debacle where the US pumped in billions of dollars to save the company and combat an Armageddon in the financial markets. All this took place whilst on the Bush baby watch and so there is a certain partisan approach to the questions but they all keep saying we are all in this together and then make a statement which is the complete opposite. Timothy Geithner is the ex Financial Government whiz kid who seems to be getting all the blame for throwing away this cash to help keep this company and its global associated companies alive. It also becomes fairly clear that many of the congress persons (Senators) also have used this opportunity to appear on nationwide TV to berate the offenders- gee what a good guy I am. It makes you a little upset as there are about 50 Senators all asking the same or similar question and often rephrasing it so it looks like a new question but dear old Mr Geithner has to keep on repeating the same old answers while also keeping his head. They are all looking for a scapegoat and nobody wants to admit that all the hundreds of Senators sat in power for many years allowing lax controls over mortgage lending and the selling of bundles of loans around the world assuming that the housing prices would always go up and never down. Oh what fools men are!!!Who said that?
Actually Mr Geithner has in my view handled the questions well but then it's not my vote that counts. I also saw on the news today that the UK Attorney General at the Iraq enquiry seems to be implying it was Bush's legal men that changed his decision that the war was legal after all. It is very comforting to know that the UK relies on the legal profession which resides outside the country and so I will remember this when I get caught for speeding to be asked for my case to be held in Calcutta.
The Obama 'State of the Nation' speech lasted about seventy minutes and was not what many of the political forecasters had indicated. There was a view being expressed that he would try to take the middle ground a bit more and focus less on the health policy and more on jobs and the economy. They were sort of right except towards the end of the speech he really attacked the opposition for delaying programs for the sake of politics rather than the need to implement and so he called for them to work together on some of the financial and economic and environmental concerns. We understand there was clapping on 82 occasions during the speech although we did not count them and he used the 'I' and 'ME' many times which some correspondents did not appreciate.
But the speech contained all that was required and gave Washington and the various houses a kick up the arse and saying let's work together for the American people and not to satisfy your own privileged status. All of this appeared to be done without notes and was in our view a great and interesting speech and he came out fighting and kicking his critics. In our view, well done Mr Obama and he makes Gordon Brown look like a bloody idiot, which of course he is. So much for this special relationship that Brown talks about and was there a mention of UK, of course not, but Obama did mention India, China, Brazil and many others but not 'Little Britain'
