6 Responses to “Bad carma”

1. Tregonsee Says:
   March 30th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

   Obviously you have no experience with the Federal Unionized Bureau of Car Repair, which is now going to handle all Government Motors warranty work!

   Ed: I’m going to alter the name of that bureau slightly and claim half the credit for a great acronym: the Federal Unionized Bureau of Auto Repair: FUBAR.

2. Ralph Gizzip Says:
   March 31st, 2009 at 5:42 am

   But will their “carma” still run over the dogma?

3. FUBAR Says:
   March 31st, 2009 at 6:19 am

   [...] Bob Krumm’s commenter’s have gleaned the new name of Obama’s auto warrantee department: From a comment below.  The name of the new agency is going to be the Federal Unionized Bureau of Auto Repair.  FUBAR is the future of the American auto industry! [...]

4. Dennis Says:
   March 31st, 2009 at 7:01 am

   I spent a lot of years selling financial services to companies in various manufacturing industries. I can tell you from experience that every industry looks rather simple when you are on the outside looking in. The complexities of any industry are hidden from view for most outsiders and the institutional knowledge necessary for success can be staggering. This most certainly is true for something as complicated as the automotive industry. People with decades of experience in the industry will tell you it is impossible to know it all. It is frightening to watch team Obama make the calls when their combined automotive experience is only several months. It is not possible that they know what they are doing.

5. The Monster Says:
   March 31st, 2009 at 10:03 am

   I can tell you from experience that every industry looks rather simple when you are on the outside looking in. The complexities of any industry are hidden from view for most outsiders and the institutional knowledge necessary for success can be staggering.

   This is the fundamental knowledge problem with central planning. The market system works because the prices for commodities transmit information and incentivize the actors to collect that in-depth knowledge that permits them to do their jobs better than their customers could do for themselves.

   When government agencies are established to regulate an industry, the most competent people to staff those agencies are people with experience working in the industry itself, who then are in the position of policing the behavior of their colleagues.

   Meanwhile, the do-gooders who mobilized the political support to create the agency in the first place have moved on to the next Great Cause. This leaves a very cozy situation wherein the incumbent players in the industry can use the agency to beat back any upstarts. The regulators, even if scrupulously honest and able to put aside any biases toward their friends, will naturally approve of the methods that were generally accepted when they worked in the industry, and disapprove of innovations coming from the smaller firms.

   Which is how we got here. The more regulated an industry is, the less competitive it is. It’s like a law of physics.

6. William Says:
   March 31st, 2009 at 6:12 pm

   So, will Obama now become the Service Manager in Chief?