The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

We might as well face it, all the companies we've taken for granted to supply us with the lifestyle we've become accustomed to (banks, energy suppliers, supermarkets, film producers, the BBC, etc) are all fucked and will collapse one by one in the next ten years as we sink deeper and deeper into recession. The darkest days are, surely, ahead. We are like Rome in 450 AD.

It's like the start of the dark ages all over again. But who, this time, will protect the knowledge of the past, to allow a renaissance of knowledge to blossom again in a few generations or so, once our children and their children have been decimated by plagues and only those who knew how to skin rabbits and keep livestock have emerged as the new and despotic rulers?

In the last dark ages it was the monks. This time, I say, it must be OTF.

[Kowalski]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Hear hear

[beak]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

we will need to start compiling our own scripture.

but where does this begin?

[Guest]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Surely the government can protect all our knowledge on one of their fabulous centralised computer systems?

[Crusoe]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Oh fuck, it's turning into Survivors. It'll end up with just us, Max Beesley, Johnson from Peep Show and probably anyone who's ever sung in a Halifax advert.

[Rory Bunk]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Who will tell our children of the correct expletive to apply to Sting (who will probably be ruler of the post-apocalypse)?

[Ginger Yellow]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

"In the last dark ages it was the monks. This time, I say, it must be OTF."

We'll need to pay Trevor Baylis to invent a wind-up web server.

[NHH]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Clay Shirky on the issue of how do you make information durable and built to last centuries in an era in which the media on which to store information and the format in which to store it have a shelf life of years?

[Eggchaser]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Don't worry, there will be a World War along soon enough to revitalise the economies. That's what happened last time it was the end of capitalism.

[The Exploding Vole]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Orla Guerin, BBC News.

[WOM]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Not the case. This is a temporary downturn like all the others. If I were you, I'd short your stock in Calamity.com and End of Days Corp. and be prepared to buy back in around May. The banks will recover. People will start buying new cars in about three years. Your children will still eat fresh vegetables.

Keep calm and carry on.

[Tactical Genius]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21661794/
We might be buying new cars in a couple of years but it wound be GM cars by the look of it.

It would be interesting to see the Crysler figures.

[WOM]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

I'd bet that Ford and GM will still be here, but GM will be much smaller. Saturn will be killed off. Apparently Pontiac, too.
For some reason Buick is to survive, although the age of their average buyer is currently listed as 'deceased'.
Chrysler will eventually be absorbed or merged with a consortium of perhaps Nissan/Renault or Fiat/someone else.
SAAB will survive only if the Swedes take it over.
Hummer's dead, except as a producer of military vehicles, like when it was AM General.
Honda and Toyota will emerge as global, dominant players.
That's all my predictions.

[Tactical Genius]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Hmm interesting predictions WOM.

I agree with you about GM and Ford.
Why would Reneult and especially Nissan merge with each other let alone Chrysler.
This is the same Chrysler that nearly bankrupted Mercedes Benz. It would kill Renault and Nissan within a decade.
Fiat are also a basket case which only sell small cars and accounted for a sizable chunk of GM's losses.

The Swedish government don't want to take on SAAB for political reasons as they know doing that will have to take on Volvo at a later date.
Do Honda make enough cars though?
I agree their cars are very good and reliable, but their range seems pretty limited to medium sized cars (various incarnations of the CIVIC)

[matt j]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Invest in levitating trains.

[Andy C]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Why would Reneult and especially Nissan merge with each other

They already have, sort of. There's this arragement called the Renault-Nissan Alliance whereby each company holds a significant proportion of shares in the other. It's a somewhat asymmetric arrangement, with Renault owning nearly half of Nissan. In the other direction, Nissan holds something like 15% of Renault's shares.

[Ginger Yellow]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Why would Reneult and especially Nissan merge with each other let alone Chrysler.

Nissan and Renault are already semi-merged. Carlos Ghosn is CEO of both companies.

[Tactical Genius]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Nissan and Reneult merged, when and why?

[Amor de Cosmos]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

I agree their cars are very good and reliable, but their range seems pretty limited to medium sized cars (various incarnations of the CIVIC)

In the New Dark Age OTF's secular inquisition will persecute manufacturers of large vehicles with extreme prejudice. Offenders will be forced to live inside an immobile Porsche Cayenne with no windows while watching old DVDs of Jeremy Paxman 24/7.

[Andy C]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

Nissan and Reneult merged, when and why?

Ten years ago, and it was mostly a matter of Renault bailing out Nissan. There's now a lot of activities that are integrated to some extent across the two companies.

[WOM]

The decline and fall of the capitalist empire

TG: My take on Chrysler is that someone overseas will use it to tap into the US market. Yes, I know that MB tried, but that was a bad idea from the get-go. Poorly planned and poorly executed.

Regardless, they have some great vehicles that are dominant in their categories (the minivans) or have strong brand presence (Jeep). They also have a few good factories and a real need for the kind of small cars that an overseas manufacturer is already building.

It's entirely possible that a Chinese builder could use them as a cloak of respectability to enter the US market, the same way Mitsubishi did in the early '70s. The dealer network is already in place and the brand is established, so it could work.

I think Honda is more prominent here than it is in the UK. They are pretty much a full-line brand, from pickup truck through to high-end minivan. Their Acura brand has been really, really poorly managed over the past decade, but it could be brought back to Lexus status with the right guidance.