Today’s Opinion bit in today’s LA Times is all about “China’s Wolf in Green Clothing,” all about Coda Automotive, that Los Angeles company what’s “assembling” Chinese car parts in Benicia, CA.
“A Los Angeles firm has quietly assembled a Trojan horse electric car designed to carry the Chinese military-industrial complex deep into America’s auto market. Detroit should be afraid, very afraid. And anyone in the U.S. unemployment line — along with American taxpayers, who are subsidizing this sham — should be outraged.”
Whoa, dude! All right, quietly? No, Coda Automotive crows as loud as it can all the time. Trojan horse? You mean POS Trojan horse that nobody’s going to buy so I don’t know that the CODA Sedan is going to go “deep” anywhere. Detroit doesn’t need to care at all. Coda Automotive has pretty much zero effect on American employment, but, yes, we are subsidizing it and that’s not good.
“The car is branded Coda and debuted at the L.A. Auto Show. While Coda Automotive salespeople were eager to portray it as “All American” — we got one of them bragging about it on camera — its entire chassis and battery system and most of the metal (apparently 65% of the car) come from China’s factory floors, which are not known for their high labor standards.
Salespeople say stupid things all the time so, I don’t know. (But I’ll add that the phrase “All-American” was used by Coda in marketing a year or two back.) Anyway, yes, the “glider” (the car except itself except for the drivetrain) and the main battery pack are made in China only to be shipped to the Bay Area for “final assembly” near the Port of Oakland. But the prime mover, the motor, is sourced in America, so you do the math. Oh, you did the math, but I don’t think you have all the data from Coda just yet. Let’s agree that this is a Chinese car or a mostly Chinese car.
“From a jobs perspective, the Coda’s arrival means this: American electric carmakers such as California-based Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors, along with the GM Volt and Ford’s Focus Electric, will compete on home soil with a company benefiting from all of the unfair trade practices China has used to bury so many other American industries — from toys, textiles and machine tools to electronic assemblers and, most recently, solar panels. These practices range from currency manipulation to reported illegal export subsidies, counterfeiting, pollution and widespread worker abuses.
Fisker Automotive is working on making its first hybrid cars and those GM Volts are, similarly, hybrids. Coda’s main competition would be the Nissan Leaf (made in Japan but they’re working on getting a U.S. factory going, FYI). “Compete on home soil?” Really? Shouldn’t you use motherland or fatherland or homeland instead? So you want the toy industry to relocate to the U.S.? That would take a lot of work, wouldn’t it?
“Taxpayers should be outraged because the Coda is eligible for the combined federal and state tax rebates on electric vehicles of $10,000 a vehicle, while China blatantly blocked the Volt from its Chinese green subsidy unless GM manufactured it in Shanghai and turned over design secrets.”
I don’t know, maybe. The feds are focused on getting electric cars on the road, for better or worse. You could make a similar case against subsidizing the Nissan Leaf.
“These economic considerations notwithstanding, a closer look at Coda’s supply chain reveals a darker truth. The “new” Coda is actually an updated variation on the 6-year-old Saibao from China’s state-owned Hafei Motor Co. Hafei is a division of Changan Automobile Group, which in turn is controlled by China Weaponry Equipment Group. This state-owned enterprise supplies China’s aggressively expanding military, and its parent, China South Industries Group, owns half of arms dealer Norinco, which reportedly tried to smuggle guns to Libya during the last days of the Kadafi regime.
Well, now you’re on the trolley. I’ll add that the 2005 Saibao III from Haifei was made from Mitsubishi “Carisma” (that’s what they called the car – they wanted a big trunk at the expense of a small back seat) tooling shipped over to China. The reason why the Coda looks like a mid-90′s Honda Civic is that it was designed all the way back in 1994 by a joint Mitsubishi / Volvo effort called NedCar. It didn’t work out so that’s why this vehicle wasn’t developed properly over the years. And actually, the Saibao III wasn’t even good enough for the Chinese market six years ago as a $12,000 gas-engined car.
Oh, here it is, from 2007:
(The thinking at the time was that it would be hard to sell a Chinese car in America, IIRC. Anyway, this Javlon morphed into Coda.)
So, I don’t know, you want the Chinese arms industry only making arms?
Norinco’s other bloody trade has included transferring missile technology to Iran, attempting to sell AK-47s to U.S. street gangs and selling nearly $70 million in arms to Zimbabwe’s Mugabe regime. So, before considering a Coda as a means of going green, remember all the red blood shed by Coda’s real backers.
I guess that’s a fair question. But I suppose you could ask it to the people lined up buying Christmas toys as well…
And speaking of backers, it is disquieting and disgusting that the Chinese government has been able to put so many prominent American faces on such a job-killing venture. Coda CEO Phil Murtaugh is the former head of GM’s China division, and the company has raised more than $300 million from banks such as Morgan Stanley and well-connected private investors that include former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty and former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson.
Disgusting? They’re bidnesspeople trying to make money, as many of these these same people were trying to make money with WebVan before it went belly-up a decade ago.
Paulson’s role in saddling up the Coda Trojan horse is particularly galling. As Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush, he repeatedly refused to brand China a currency manipulator; this inaction contributed to the loss of tens of thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs. According to Nobel economist Paul Krugman, China’s currency manipulation alone costs America up to 1.5% of its GDP every year, and Economic Policy Institute economist Robert Scott suggests this kills as many as 3 million U.S. jobs. Now, Paulson stands to personally profit from China’s currency manipulation and other unfair trade practices as an investor in a venture that would worsen the U.S. trade deficit and swell U.S. unemployment lines.
“Kill, killing, kills, blood…” – boy you guys really know how to op-ed.
“Finally, another Coda enterprise adds insult to injury: a planned Ohio battery factory to be built with more than half a billion in U.S. taxpayer stimulus bucks, including an Energy Department loan and incentives from the state of Ohio and the city of Columbus. Great, except that a Chinese-dominated joint venture with Tianjin Lishen Battery will really own it. That’s an enormously expensive way to create “up to” 1,000 jobs, with potential millions in profits shipped back to China.”
Well that’s a good point, the battery factory is a stupid way to employ a small number of people in Ohio. (But I’m sure Ohioans like the idea, and it is a swing state, after all.) Sounds as if you all don’t like international trade in the first place, but you’re assuming that there are profits to be had from that factory.
“When more than 20 million Americans can’t find a decent job and millions more don’t earn a decent wage, the last thing we need is China invading the U.S. auto market and getting U.S. subsidies under the false pretenses of helping Americans “go green and buy American.” Greg Autry and Peter Navarro are the authors of “Death By China: Confronting the Dragon — A Global Call to Action.” They teach at UC Irvine‘s Paul Merage School of Business and blog on the Huffington Post.”
Wow, you’re selling a book? “Death By China: Confronting the Dragon,” heh. Anyway, let’s agree that Coda shouldn’t be subsidized. And actually selling that Sedan to regular people, well, that’s going to be a tough row to hoe even after the $5000 reduction in MSRP (all the way down to “just” $41,000!) in a world that has access to the much better and less expensive Nissan Leaf. They’ll get some fleet sales though.
Oh, what’s that, you want to know who’s playing this year? Well, let’s look to the past:
2010 — Nevada 20, Boston College 13 2009 — USC 24, Boston College 13 2008 — California 24, Miami 17 2007 — Oregon State 21, Maryland 14 2006 — Florida State 44, UCLA 27 2005 — Utah 38, Georgia Tech 10 2004 — Navy 34, New Mexico 19 2003 — Boston College 35, Colorado State 21 2002 — Virginia Tech 20, Air Force 13
As you can see, sort of, there’s gotta be a Pac-12 team on the field – that’s current rule.
“Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl December 31, 2011 San Francisco, CA, 3:30 pm ESPN Payout: $1.675 million Pac-12 No. 6 vs. Army (WAC if Army not available)”
But it looks like their prediction has recently changed, based on this:
“Scout’s 2011 bowl prediction for the Illini has them heading out San Francisco to participate in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. There, Scout predicts, the Illini would take on the UCLA Bruins, who would be 6-7 on the season and also likely minus its coach as well. Two teams with a combined record of 12-13 and without head coaches doesn’t exactly sound like the most appetizing match up, but such is one of the downsides of the current bowl system.”
So, as recently as yesterday, some people were thinking it could be this squad…
Click to expand
…versus this one, the crew from Illinois. (You know, they’re looking for men, as always.)
Oh, what’s that, you want to know who’s playing this year? Well, let’s look to the past:
2010 — Nevada 20, Boston College 13 2009 — USC 24, Boston College 13 2008 — California 24, Miami 17 2007 — Oregon State 21, Maryland 14 2006 — Florida State 44, UCLA 27 2005 — Utah 38, Georgia Tech 10 2004 — Navy 34, New Mexico 19 2003 — Boston College 35, Colorado State 21 2002 — Virginia Tech 20, Air Force 13
As you can see, sort of, there’s gotta be a Pac-12 team on the field – that’s current rule.
“Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl December 31, 2011 San Francisco, CA, 3:30 pm ESPN Payout: $1.675 million Pac-12 No. 6 vs. Army (WAC if Army not available)”
But it looks like their prediction has recently changed, based on this:
“Scout’s 2011 bowl prediction for the Illini has them heading out San Francisco to participate in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. There, Scout predicts, the Illini would take on the UCLA Bruins, who would be 6-7 on the season and also likely minus its coach as well. Two teams with a combined record of 12-13 and without head coaches doesn’t exactly sound like the most appetizing match up, but such is one of the downsides of the current bowl system.”
So, as recently as yesterday, some people were thinking it could be this squad…
Click to expand
…versus this one, the crew from Illinois. (You know, they’re looking for men, as always.)
Uh, gee, maybe your place isn’t so hot for lunch. Why not work on that instead of crying like a baby? Perhaps you should shut down or move?
To “San Francisco merchants, property managers and restaurant owners”:
This is America, Land of the Free, right? (Cough, you’re just a bunch of rent seekers, cough)
To “opponents [who] complain that the law doesn’t limit the number of food trucks that can operate in a specific location”:
Tough cookies!
To Rob Black, “a lawyer and executive director of Golden Gate Restaurant Association”:
Lo-ser! (You gotta say that one the right way, as if harrasing Darryl Strawberry from the bleachers. I mean, c’mon, do you think that a nerdy, downtown-backed lawyer out of U.C. Hastings College of Law would ever have a prayer of becoming Supervisor of District Six?)
FUCK YOU. Oh, wait a second, that’s not my line, that’s a direct quote from Chris Daly’s wife back in 2006. And at the time I thought, “Gee, what an odd thing to say.” But I’m starting to understand what she was talking about.
For example, Chris Daly wanted letter grades from the health department posted outside of San Francisco restaurants but the GGRA put the kibosh on that. Mmmm. Now, let’s take the time to explore this.
“An overwhelming 83% of San Francisco surveyors say they agree that restaurants should be required to conspicuously post a letter grade reflecting the results of their health department inspection (as recently passed in NYC, taking a cue from LA).”
Consumers want this, but the GGRA doesn’t so guess what, we don’t have it. You know what GGRA? The bottom 20% of your members shouldn’t even be in business, so why do you spend so much time defending them?
“Sales at restaurants receiving an A grade rose 5.7 percent, or about $15,000 a year. B-level restaurant sales increased 0.7 percent, and sales at C-level establishments decreased 1 percent.”
So you don’t want that* for your members, huh, GGRA?
I don’t know why restaurant owners in San Francisco expect so much. I don’t know why they don’t expect to ever have any competition.
Remember this earlier in the year, when a struggling restaurateur went apeshit and starting parking her SUV specifically to block a food truck?
I’ll put a credit in if you want, but I don’t think you do. She’s still out there.
Oh, different day, different street, different truck, different obstructionist but the same purpose of parking vehicles in spaces to kick food trucks out of San Francisco.
I’ll put a credit in if you want, but I don’t think you do. That owner is still out there.
Struggling restaurateurs go after food trucks for the same reason they go after Yelp, IMO.
Speaking of which, maybe this is the kind of thing what fuels the wrath of legacy restaurant owners?
Foodwise:Salads = 3 stars, (Mixt Greens / Working Girls/ Sellers Mkt and even Portico or Lee’s are better though).Sandwiches = 1 star (this has become an office joke. $8+ for two pieces of meat, 1 teaspoon of sourkraut, and 1 piece of cheese. Not prepared to order, sitting in a cooler behind the counter!
Service:meh.
Atmosphere: Awkward flow from left to right , pleasant enough tables outside
Price:Crap. My salad was smaller than any of the choices above but cost more. And I went simple.”
Could be.
In closing, let’s all give thanks to SFoodie Jonathan Kauffman.
Congratulations, JK, on winning MSM Media Smackdown of the Year, 2011.
*”This study examines the effect of an increase in product quality information to consumers on firms’choices of product quality. In 1998, Los Angeles County introduced hygiene quality grade cards to bedisplayed in restaurant windows. We show that the grade cards cause (i) restaurant health inspection scores to increase, (ii) consumer demand to become sensitive to changes in restaurants’ hygiene quality,and (iii) the number of foodborne illness hospitalizations to decrease. We also provide evidence thatthis improvement in health outcomes is not fully explained by consumers substituting from poor hygiene restaurants to good hygiene restaurants. These results imply the grade cards cause restaurants to make hygiene quality improvements”
University of California President Mark G. Yudof moved on two fronts today (Tuesday, Nov. 22) to address policing issues in the wake of the pepper spraying of UC Davis students and other incidents involving law enforcement officers and protesters.
Acting in response to a written request from UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, Yudof agreed to conduct a thorough review of the events of Nov. 18 on the Davis campus.
As a first step, Yudof reached out to former Los Angeles police chief William J. Bratton to undertake an independent fact-finding of the pepper spray incident and report back the results to him within 30 days.
Bratton, who also led the New York City police department, now heads the New York-based Kroll consulting company as chairman. He also is a renowned expert in progressive community policing.
“My intent,” Yudof said, “is to provide the Chancellor and the entire University of California community with an independent, unvarnished report about what happened at Davis.”
Assembly Speaker John A. Perez also had made a request to President Yudof and UC Regents Chair Sherry Lansing for an independent investigation.
Under the plan, Bratton’s report also will be presented to an advisory panel that Yudof is forming, again at Katehi’s request. The panel will consist of a cross-section of students, faculty, staff and other UC community members.
The advisory panel, whose members will be announced at a later date, will review the report and make recommendations to Chancellor Katehi on steps that should be taken to ensure the safety of peaceful protesters on campus. She will present her implementation plan to President Yudof.
On a second track, Yudof appointed UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley Jr. to lead a system-wide examination of police protocols and policies as they apply to protests at all 10 UC campuses.
This effort will include visits to campuses for discussions with students, faculty and staff, and consultation with an array of experts.
The review is expected to result in recommended best practices for policing protests across the 10 UC campuses.
“With these actions,” Yudof said, “we are moving forward to identify what needs to be done to ensure the safety of students and others who engage in non-violent protests on UC campuses. The right to peaceful protest on all of our campuses must be protected.”
“NBC Bay Area Expands Investigative Reporting Capabilities - Award-Winning Investigative Reporter Tony Kovaleski To Lead New Investigative Team - Jenna Susko Joins Station As Investigative Reporter
SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 11, 2011 — NBC Bay Area today announced that it has added two investigative reporters to the station’s news staff, significantly increasing the station’s investigative reporting capabilities in advance of launching a new unit early next year.
Bay Area native Tony Kovaleski joins NBC Bay Area to lead the station’s investigative team after working at television stations in Phoenix, Houston and Denver. While in Denver, Kovaleski exposed problems with emergency services at Denver’s airport and uncovered inappropriate gifts given to government appointees. Kovaleski’s reports resulted in significant changes in airport operations and in tighter regulations governing gifts and travel. As the winner of the prestigious Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia award in 2010, the national Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Journalism, the Sigma Delta Chi award, the National Headliner award and more than 26 Emmy Awards including this year’s Emmy for Investigative Journalism, he is considered one of the country’s premiere investigative reporters. Kovaleski is a graduate of San Jose State University with a degree in Journalism.
Investigative reporter Jenna Susko comes to NBC Bay Area after working at television stations in the southeastern United States. She has built a reputation for quality investigative reporting with stories about poor oversight of FEMA funds across the Gulf Coast, mismanagement in a court system allowing criminals to easily get cases dismissed and security flaws at a local school system. Susko has a degree from Florida State University in Communications and English Literature.
“As we increase our investment in high-quality local journalism, we are very pleased to welcome these two investigative journalists to the Bay Area and into our newsroom,” said Richard Cerussi, President and General Manager of NBC Bay Area. ”Tony and Jenna are the first of many new team members who will allow us to bring Bay Area viewers more of the kind of in-depth investigations that result in positive change.”
About NBC Owned Television Stations
NBC Owned Television Stations is the division of NBCUniversal that includes 10 local television stations and their digital channels and websites, as well as a group of out-of-home properties and a production company. The 10 stations produce and deliver compelling and unique local news, information and entertainment programming to viewers in the communities they serve, which include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., Miami, San Diego and Connecticut, with a goal of connecting to their audiences anytime and anywhere.”
(I don’t think car dealerships and oil change places will like this one bit.)
Anyway, CalRecycle is coming to town tomorrow to pay for free parking for motorists who pledge to increase their oil change intervals. (But don’t anybody tell StreetsBlog SF about the free parking reward – they won’t like that at all. Srsly.)
“MASTERCHEF will travel to San Francisco to uncover the country’s very best amateur cooks. Chef Gordon Ramsay will once again give talented amateur cooks the chance to prove to him, and to fellow judges, restaurateur Joe Bastianich (Del Posto, Eataly) and Chef Graham Elliot (Graham Elliot, Grahamwich), that they have what it takes to make their mark on the culinary world.
In the series, Ramsay, Bastianich and Elliot coach and critique the amateur cooks in a series of challenges designed to test their palates, knowledge and determination to follow their dreams of making a mark in the culinary world.”
STEP 1: You are strongly encouraged to PRE-REGISTERand pick your open call location in advance.
STEP 2: Attend an OPEN CALL (you are strongly encouraged to pre-register). Please bring the following with you to the open call you choose:
Your completed application (CLICK HERE to download) A current photo of yourself A photo of your plated dish. Your dish to impress us!
IMPORTANT NOTE: IF YOU CANNOT MAKE IT TO AN OPEN CALL, PLEASE FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW TO SEND IN YOUR MATERIALS.
OPTION 2
STEP 1: Make a VIDEO. You only need to do this if you CANNOT ATTEND AN OPEN CALL.
CLICK HERE to view the video submission instructions
STEP 2: Save a current picture of yourself, and a video of yourself to your computer, so it is ready when you apply online.
STEP 3: Completely fill out the online pre-registration form and upload your video and picture HERE.
STEP 4: If for any reason, you’re not able to upload your video, please mail your application, picture, and video to:
MasterChef Season 3 Casting 1741 Ivar Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90028
Please note that any videos and materials submitted by mail will not be returned.
DEADLINE: Completed applications and video submissions must be received by December 12th, 2011* at 11:59pm, EST to be considered, BUT REMEMBER THE SOONER THE BETTER!
*We reserve the right to extend the application deadline at our sole discretion.
Please note these audition instructions are subject to change as determined by the producers. All those considered for the series will be required to submit and sign additional documents (which may include, without limitation, a participant agreement, waiver, and series rules) in order to be considered to participate in the series. If there is any conflict between the information on this website and the foregoing documents, the foregoing documents shall control.”
[Apparently, these things will remain in production after all. I had thought the line shut down in the summer of 2011. This model was supposed to die in 2006, 2010, and 2011, but it still keeps chugging along...]
