It certainly wouldn't be the first time that companies have made this sort of colossal misjudgment. It wouldn't even be the first time an auto company has done so. (Remember the Edsel)? March and April sales volumes should be telling: gas prices are high, and the Leaf is supposed to hit 4,000 production units this month. If volumes remain low, we may be looking at green elephants.
Ah, conservatives. McArdle sneers at electric cars because they are green and therefore liberal. But if the cars become hip, McArdle will probably camp out in the street overnight or fly out of state to get one.
11 comments:
Thinking for yourself is hard and risky. Best not try.
/MMcA
~
Maybe Apple will come out with an iCar. She'd love that.
"It wouldn't even be the first time an auto company has done so. (Remember the Edsel)?"
Not to be a pedant, but she doesn't know how to punctuate either.
But if the cars become hip
Paint them pink and say that they're made in the Himalayas.
You just have to know how to market to yuppie right wingers.
"Himalayan Motor Works presents the new Pink Leaf" and it's all over.
(Remember the Edsel)?
Why she was born the very year that Bob Hope made an Edsel joke that was stale by years.
In her defense, she's never gotten along with cars very well. You know? That whole business of buying, registering one, fixing broken mirrors, paying tickets, etc.
Maybe I'm just slow, but I'm trying to understand her position on new technologies. I realize that as with most everything, her position is dishonest and irrational, but I'm not sure I really understand what her deal is on this topic. Of course I assume that she's opposed to hybrids and electric cars because of a knee-jerk support of Big Oil. But as others have pointed out, she's a blindly devoted early adopter when it comes to any electronic gadget that comes down the pike.
And of course at the heart of her whole incoherent kitchen rant was the need to prove to Krugman et. al. that there have been advancements in kitchen tech since the '50s. I'm also reminded of another seemingly meaningless post where she credited "modern technology" with the uncovering of an art forgery. If you clicked through to her link of the article she was referencing, it turned out that this "modern technology" consisted entirely of a loupe and an "antiquated Kodak enlarger."
So if she's willing to lie about that (or maybe she just doesn't know what a loupe is?), then she obviously has some personal investment in championing new technologies. Does she see technological advancement as proof of her free market theories? I'm genuinely trying to understand the thinking behind all this.
Thinking? It's not thinking, just apply the 3 laws of Megbotics:
1) Governments & Liberals are always wrong
2) Big corporations are always right
3) Progress is our most important product
It's as easy as guessing how John Roberts will rule if all you know is who the litigants are. Mocking anything Green is Rule 1, and she can skate on Rules 2 & 3 by assuming that the products are only being produced due to Government Incentives polluting the pure spirits.
She's reactionary. If someone or something ever slighted her, she forever holds a grudge against said object or group.
I was googling around trying to find her post on how she came about her Jane Galt handle. I don't know if you can find it Susan, but basically she came up with it in a fit of pique online at someone else.
Oh here is some fodder:
http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/6919.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_McArdle
The irony is that the Edsel didn't sell well because people were moving to more fuel efficient cars like the VW bug:
By the time the first Edsel hit the showroom, the country was in a recession. (For comparison, 1958 DeSoto sales were down 54% from 1957. Buick was down 33%, Mercury 48%, Oldsmobile 18%, Dodge 47%, Pontiac 28%; (probably the worst year since World War II to unveil a new car line!) Car-buying habits had turned toward smaller and more fuel-efficient cars.
From the comments at Anon's Sadly, No link (insert [sic] as needed):
"When I read mccardle all I get is the navl gazing and opinionatering of someone maybe not quite as bright as I am talking about fairly mundane shit. In other words, I’m not entertained, I’m not more informed. Basically, I’ve just wasted a few minutes reading the inane maunderings of some random randite."
Megan to a tee. I wish I'd spelled it better myself.
Post a Comment