January 31st, 2010
After telling owners for several years that the reason for the sudden, unexpected acceleration issues is caused somehow by the floor mat, the truth comes out for Toyota (and Toyota owned Lexus) that it is indeed a major issue with the gas pedal system. The Wall Street Journal yesterday described a tragic scene in San Diego where a CHP officer driving a Lexus had this sudden acceleration occur, causing a massive accident that killed him and three other people.
Toyota has been focused intensely on overtaking GM as the biggest automobile producer in the world and has sacrificed the simple, yet vital basis for their success – quality.
Toyota/Lexus has halted sales of a long list of products and is facing a recall that could top 10 million vehicles worldwide.
This did not just happen overnight, as Toyota’s quality had been slipping for some time, though the perception of many folks had yet to take notice.
Readers that know someone who drives a Toyota or Lexus should urge that person to check with their dealer about the recall and what to do if this type of unexpected acceleration occurs. This is serious and could save not just their lives, but those of innocent bystanders…
In fact, guess who Consumer Reports now ranks ABOVE Toyota in overall quality? Ford Motor Company!
This I can attest to, as I have owned a Ford Escape Hybrid for just over two years and had literally zero issues with it. A friend who owns a Lexus has had it in for several repair problems in the same time-frame.
The days when Tokyo dominated Detroit on quality are over. Though Ford is shinning, all three American automakers have made great strides in quality improvement.
Another great reason to buy American-made vehicles, especially a Ford!
Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com, a source for American-Made items.
Posted in Uncategorized |
December 31st, 2009
The UAE (United Arab Emirates) recently announced that a Korean Team had beat out American, French, and Japanese bids to build a large four station safe nuclear power plant.
Expectations had been for the cost to be roughly $40 billion, but somehow the Korean team managed to come in with a bid of only $20.7 billion, drastically below competitor’s bids.
How can they be that much cheaper? I wish our media would be smart enough to ask such questions without having to be spoon fed, but there is not magical way for a $40 billion facility to suddenly cost $20.7 billion. It had to be extremely heavily subsidized by the Korean government. Their government at least had to put $10 billion of loans, support, and direct cash into this project, if not more.
Ironically, the USA is paying indirectly for the costs on several fronts. For instance we subsidize the defense of both South Korea and the UAE. We allow open access of goods from South Korea, though it is very difficult for American companies to export there. Also, we spend tens of billions of dollars on oil from the UAE. Without America this ridiculous bid could neither be made or paid for, yet our companies lost out on a deal that will put hundreds of thousands of Koreans to work for a decade.
Korea is taking a long-term view of this nuclear energy market – The world needs energy that does not burn oil or coal and is relatively “green” because of the lack of polluting via putting carbon in the air (by burning coal, oil, etc.). Wind, solar, etc. have potential, but to generate power on a large scale without heavily polluting there is only one choice for much of the world the next few decades, nuclear power. Korea is out to develop a single type of nuclear power plant it can build not just in the UAE, but all over the world. Hundreds could be necessary, and all will be showcased by this project. That is why it is worth a $10 billion+ bet on their government’s part.
We need to take a closer look at our supposedly “closest ally in the region” the UAE. Why did they throw the American bid out if they are such a close friend?
I don’t blame the Korean govern for trying to take care of their own people. Unfortunately, it is at the expense of American workers . We need to keep this in mind not just on a government level, but also when we make any purchase.
Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com, a source of products made in the USA
Posted in Uncategorized |
November 20th, 2009
According to an AP article cited on Yahoo.com (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091117/ap_on_bi_ge/us_toxic_toys), dangerous levels of lead were found in seven randomly separate toys sold at Walgreens, Target, and Wal-Mart by The Center for Environmental Health out of 250 tested. That is 2.8% of those tested.
The toys included Mattel , and one each labeled with Barbie and Disney. You can see the article for specifics. None of the toys cited as having high lead are made in the USA. All of the toys mentioned are foreign produced, mostly from China.
A total of 83 million toys were recalled in 2007 (all foreign, 80% from China), at which point toy importers and large retail chains promised to do take ownership of this issue. How little things really change…
Companies like Mattel are toy importer, not really a maker since they contract out production to foreign suppliers, mostly in China, who in turn farm out production to subcontractors and so on. At the subcontractor level, quality control becomes less of an issue than cost. Yet another dangerous side effect of allowing our industrial base to be shipped abroad.
Is 2.8% of imported toys really significant? Simply put, a family with three kids that receive a total of 10 toys each would have nearly a one in three chance of getting a toy with dangerous levels of lead in it. If three such families live on your street, statistically one would have a dangerous, lead tainted toy in their household. That one toy could expose lead to all three children in that household and any child that visits!
Unfortunately, or perhaps I should say inexplicably, no one is at the border or ports opening cargo containers checking for dangerous toxins. This study only checked for lead, ignoring Mercury, etc. that could also pose a health threat. When will we put our children’s safety first?
Naturally, 2.8% becomes zero percent if USA made toys are given.
Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com
Posted in Uncategorized |
November 6th, 2009
CIT is probably the largest lending institution hardly anyone seems to have heard of. It is not a bank with branches on every corner like, Bank of America or Citibank. However, it is a very large lender to small and medium size businesses. According to last Monday’s Wall Street Journal, CIT is a lender to nearly a million such businesses. It provides vital liquidity that allows many to purchase inventory, invest in equipment, even make payroll during off times of the year.
Before I continue, let me clarify that MadeinUSAForever.com, which I founded and own, is not affected by the CIT bankruptcy. It has no debt, and is fully funded by myself and revenue generated from product sales. My concern is for the hundreds of thousands of other business affected.
CIT filed for bankruptcy last Sunday. The good news is it is expected to survive and emerge from bankruptcy a much smaller, but at least viable firm. The bad news is thousands of businesses have already been frozen out of normal lending, and hundreds of thousands of others will shortly find themselves without a willing lender.
Credit is still very hard to get, not just for people but also for businesses, as financial institutions react to the economic downturn. CIT going into a coma and shrinking drastically means many businesses will suddenly face much higher interest rates if they can borrow at all. For example, for a business considering a factory expansion that wants to borrow $10 million, they could easily see an extra $500,000 in interest expenses in this climate without CIT. That is a high hurdle that few will make it past, meaning new jobs associated with such projects will not be created.
Worse yet, those business already facing hard times with revenue dropping in this economy may find themselves facing layoffs or even closures.
Since small and medium sized businesses create 70% of new jobs, this is a very serious issue for the economy and our nation. The media has not caught on, but the shockwave from this situation could easily destroy or put off more jobs than the 600k+ supposedly “created or saved” by the government’s stimulus plan.
Cash availability is vital to small and medium sized businesses, which in turn are the only real option for creating enough good jobs to pull us out of recession. This issue must be addressed.
Todd Lipscomb
Founder of www.MadeinUSAForever.com, your source for made in USA products.
Posted in Uncategorized |
