Why GM could have succeeded if it really wanted to, and why it should fail.

There are past successes at GM.  The relative success of GM’s Europe and Asian subsidiaries shows that.  One such article from three years ago shows that GM, given the correct direction, can indeed make small efficient vehicles that people want to buy.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/08/business/van.php
Unfortunately, it chose to continue researching, developing, producing, and selling behemoth guzzlers that no […]

The “twenty-year rule”.

It looks like i’m not the only guy to have figured out that the world works in cycles.  Just look at the fashion industry—bell-bottoms have come and gone……….and come again.  I’ve seen acid-wash jeans twice now.  What’s next?–shoulder pads for womens’ jackets again?
Patrick Bedard is one of the old-hands at Car&Driver.  This is one smart […]

Why democracy can’t be exported to Iraq.

The one thing we don’t have in the developed world, is corruption.  Having spoken with people who have sold everything and moved to Canada, the one thing they comment on (for example, back in the Phillipines) is the rampant corruption that exists.
This is a mentality that is much like democracy, or the lack of it.  […]

Wave-theory. How cycles manifest in real life—such as traffic jams

 
Approximately five years ago, i read an article of how one researcher was applying wave theory to traffic jams.  The simple premise being that traffic jams could be define with a formula describing a wave.  This is a micro-example of my premise being that long-term economic forces shape human behaviours and thoughts over a period […]

JFK assassination. Conspiracy? Coup d’Etat? Other? And what it means for the next thirty years.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-jfkfade_22met.ART.State.Edition2.4a60df2.html
Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the assassination of JFK in Dallas.  Networks aired the 1991 feature film “JFK” by Oliver Stone.  I remember when it was released that it was draped in controversy, and accused of being a less-than-accurate rendition of what really happened.   To this day, I don’t think anyone really knows what […]

Why Vancouver is the poster-child for the world, for better and worse.

The new urbanism is spoken about frequently, in the same breath as Vancouver.  It is more than real-estate and shiny new condos, it also includes all the little things that have been part of Vancouver for a much longer period of time.
This just-published article delves into some of the challenges experienced by other cities as […]