What to expect from GM now the Gov owns them
June 2nd, 2009Volkswagen Jetta TDI
May 27th, 2009If I was buying a new car right now, I think it would be a Jetta TDI. I’ll let this video explain:
My Career Plans
May 7th, 2009My career goal is to make a bunch of money so that I can spend my time focusing on my passions:
- My religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
- My family
- My liberty
- Food (eating, not cooking) - My wife is a rock’n good cook.
- Recreation - particularly skiing, biking, and basketball.
- Cars
How the heck am I going to do that? Ummm . . . I’m not sure; but I am living by some principles that will help me get there:
- Spend less than I make
- Only use debt as an investment tool (education, home, business, etc.)
- Never use debt to buy a toy
- Tithe 10%
- Save 10%
- Continue my education (in and out of school)
- [I keep writing "I" or "me" but really everything I just listed fully involves my wife and family so I should use "we"]
My talents are:
- Teaching - my key is focusing on underlying principles.
- Long, hard, manual labor - keeping my head in the books for more than a few hours is taxing, but when I’m doing physical work I get in a zone where I become almost unstoppable. I HATE leaving a job undone.
- Fixing things - this talent really manifested itself when I competed in automotive repair. At the request of my teacher, I entered and won a competition at the local level. That spring-boarded me to state and national competitions where I took 1st and 2nd respectively. Before that point I knew I enjoyed it, but I had no idea how good at it I was.
Throughout the path of my career I would like to:
- Work in the automotive industry - I think market research would be a good fit.
- Work in the renewable energy industry - solar, wind, hydrogen, geo-thermal, and others fascinate me!
- Write a book - I have one outlined already. I should write a post to tell you about it.
Near term:
I am using my time at the Census Bureau to gain some experience working with surveys and data. I might even pursue a Master’s degree in survey methodology or applied economics. I think this will position me well to make a transition into market research. I hope to end up in positions where not only do I analyze markets, but I also develop strategies for capitalizing on them.
My current job, while not particularly fulfilling, has been a great opportunity for my wife and I to get on our feet. We both graduated from college last year. We followed that shortly with a new baby.
Blogging has introduced me to a whole new skillset. I am working to become proficient in:
- Basic Wordpress development
- Web writing
- Web Analytics
- Various forms of online advertising
- Basic web design using Photoshop and/or Illustrator
- My latest project was a blog for my mom: http://mamacrane.com
So, going back to the orginal question of how I plan to make a pile of money, I obviously don’t know. But I think I am positioning myself well to take advantage of opportunities that come my way.
What do you think? Am I headed in the right direction? Are there other essential skills I ought to be developing?
Note: I hate MLMs and am not interested in getting involved in one. I have to throw that out there because this last year, for some reason, has brought on a bombardment of MLM proposals. MLMs do not fall under my career goals.
I am Pressing Pause on My Liberty Rants
May 5th, 2009Because I am an employee at the US Census Bureau, I make sure not to blog about political debates or candidates. It would not be right for me as a public servant to do so. If I did I’m sure it would jeopardize my employment.
Instead, I have made it a note to focus on underlying principles—the philosophy of liberty. My thought in doing so was that these principles are simply *American.* I didn’t think that writing about these principles would involve me in any politics.
Looking back over my posts, however, it is clear that I have not successfully avoided *politics.* I criticized bailouts when they were a hot political topic, I complained about the 2 party system, and I’m sure there were some other violations along the way.
I have decided that as long as I work for the government, I will no longer blog about liberty. It is a subject that I love and am passionate about, but it will have to wait until a different point in my career. It is just too closely tied to politics.
I apologize to my readers who enjoy my rants about liberty. Don’t worry though, they won’t be gone forever. I am certain there will be other points in my career where I will be in a position to write about political issues without restrain. In fact, I think I will follow this post with one about my career goals.
In the interim, I will continue to write about cars.
Reason and Principle
May 4th, 2009Is anyone else fed up with the never ending Republican vs Democrat debates? I am really bothered that any successful politician has to fall into one of two thought camps. I am even more bothered that both camps ignore guiding principles, stomp on the constitution, and spend like Paris Hilton on a shopping spree.
Thomas Paine said of himself:
“He is unconnected with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the influence of reason and principle.”
From that *reason and principle* he wrote one of the most influential manuscripts in American history: Common Sense. He based it on true principles that motivated our young country to demand independence and freedom.
So next time you hear about a new political proposal, ask yourself a few questions about it:
- What is the underlying principle?
- Is it the proper role of government?
- Does it diminish any of our freedoms?
- What is a better solution?
If you get in the habit of asking this type of questions, you can join Thomas Paine in saying that you are guided by reason and principle. That’s much better than riding your party’s bandwagon down one side of the aisle.
Principle 5: Democracy is only a Means to an End
April 30th, 2009This is the fourth in a series of 5 posts in which I am trying to illustrate the basic principles of liberty.
- Principle 1: Stealing is Bad—Even for Barack Obama and Terrell Owens.
- Principle 2: Equality Sucks. . . . Literally
- Principle 3: Pride Leads to Captivity
- Principle 4: Teacher vs Cop
- Principle 5: Democracy is only a Means to an End
During my 2 years in the Air Force ROTC I noticed the common justification for America’s war in Iraq was “to spread democracy.” Sounds great, right? Only on the surface. Democracy in and of itself says nothing about a people’s freedom or level of justice.
Democracy is nothing more than *majority rule.* It can be just as coercive, monopolistic, and exclusive as any dictatorship. It’s not hard to imagine majorities exploiting minorities.
Democracy must be founded on guiding principles. These principles provide limits to what a majority can do. In the case of our country, The Constitution was intended to provide those limits. This *limited democracy* is known as a *republic* or *rule of law.*
Democracy is not an end goal; living peacefully and free from coercion is. Principle based democracy is a means for getting there (certainly not the only means.) One of my motivations for this blog is to convince you that principles of liberty are the foundation that made this country great but they are not an inherent part of democracy. If we don’t carefully abide by and protect our liberties we lose them. The irony, though, is that liberties are rarely taken from us. More often than not we use our democracy to give them away—think Patriot Act.
Tesla is Over-Promising with the Model S
April 28th, 2009
Tesla Motors recently revealed their up and coming Model S. It’s beautiful, luxurious, and if it lives up to all of its promises it will be a certain hit. They received over 500 orders the first week. It seems to me, however, that some of their promises are a little too grandiose—the $49,000 price and the late 2011 delivery date just seem too optimistic.
To frame my opinion and argument correctly, it is important to note that I have nothing against Tesla. In fact, they are impressing me more than any other automotive start-up. They delivered their 250th car last month while most companies are still toying with prototypes. Last year I called Tesla an “American car company to be excited about” and I predicted that they would end up benefiting from the recession. I’m still excited about this company.
Tesla promises Model S will be an amazing car at an amazing price:
- 4-door Electric Sedan (manufactured in-house)
- Seats 7 (back 2 seats are for children and dwarfs only)
- 0-60 in 5.9 seconds
- 160, 230, or 300 mile range
- Base price: $49,000 (after federal tax rebates)
- Deliveries start in late 2011
Now compare those promises to what they are currently delivering in the Tesla Roadster:
- 2-door Electric Coupe/Convertible (manufactured by Lotus)
- Seats 2
- 0-60 in 3.9 seconds
- 244 mile range
- Base price: $101,500
Delivery Date
To fulfill these promises Tesla has 2.5 years to raise the needed capital; build, buy, or lease a factory; set-up all its tooling; hire and train its workers; and start producing cars. Keep in mind that this all has to be done by a company that has never built a car from the ground up. Until now, they have only been building and installing electric power trains in specialized cars built off site by Lotus. In the meantime, this small company has to continue fulfilling orders for the roadsters (already well behind schedule). I predict that as 2011 approaches, Tesla will announce delays and push back delivery dates.
Price
I was shocked to see that Tesla is promising a price for the Model S that is half what they are charging for the Roadster. I knew that subsequent Tesla cars would become more and more affordable but I never anticipated such a quick dive in price. The batteries are by far the most expensive component of these cars. While time and technological advances will certainly bring the prices down, I can’t imagine that 2.5 years is enough time to see that type of reduction. I predict that Tesla will be forced to raise the price as they get closer to delivery.
I hope I’m wrong
Over promising seems to be in style with automotive start-ups. I hope they don’t do it on purpose, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they do; maybe it has become a necessary evil in order for the companies to generate hype in hopes of attracting investors. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I am ready to see an automotive start-up live up to its claims and promises. Will Tesla be the one?
100mpg Hummer H3 by a Provo Utah Company
April 23rd, 2009Raser Technologies, based in Provo, UT, is a company I’ve been keeping my eye on for a couple years. They caught my attention because they have been working on some uber-cool technologies that have huge potential. They have held my attention because they are so close to where I grew up. A couple of my family members even bought a few shares of Rasor stock (RZ).
Until last week the company was not very well known. That all changed this week when they debuted a 100mpg Hummer H3. It is a 700 volt electric vehicle with a 4 cylinder gasoline engine that acts as a “range extender.” The gas engine has no mechanical connection to the wheels. All it does is turn a generator that charges the batteries, powers the electric motor, or even provides power for off-vehicle electric devices (should be nice for construction workers).
Check it out:
I love cutting edge technology. Stuff like this is paving the way for a whole new generation of automobiles. I do however, have to throw in a warning. Don’t expect to be able to afford one of these, at least not for a few years. This Hummer has 3 large (and expensive) lithium ion battery packs. Even if the Raser components (motor, generator, and controller) can be cost effective when mass produced, the batteries are not—at least not yet. Mobile devices (mostly cell phones) have pushed battery technology to a point never before seen, but it still has further to go. I wonder how far away we are from having vehicles like this in our driveways. 3 years? Maybe 5? Maybe more? I’m excited to see.
Our National Wallet Full of Credit Cards
April 16th, 2009I like to compare the government’s spending habits to me or you living off a Visa card. So when I stumbled on to this illustration by Jess over at WallStats.com I had to share. He made it for a blog post called Visualizing Uncle Sam’s Debt at mint.com. It basically illustrates what the Federal Government owes to our top 7 foreign lenders, but on a household level. Check out the original post if you want a little more explanation.
Jess has an amazing talent for taking complicated piles of data and presenting them in beautiful, simple layouts. Well done!
Principle 4: Teacher vs Cop
April 14th, 2009This is the fourth in a series of 5 posts in which I am trying to illustrate the basic principles of liberty.
Generosity should be measured by what you do with YOUR money. It should NOT be measured by what you advocate doing with other people’s money.
Where freedom exists, philanthropy is educating and encouraging others to give (think teachers and missionaries). Where freedom is missing, philanthropy is requiring or forcing others to give (think police and soldiers).
Enough said.
