A clothing store chain called Steve & Barry’s filed for Bankruptcy protection today. They have two locations in our area, at the Block of Orange and at Buena Park Downtown.
Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido recently said that the high gas prices we are experiencing are absolutely fantastic, but check out why Steve & Barry’s filed for bankruptcy protection: “High costs of materials and fuel prices have increased the company’s goods and operating costs. Customers are feeling the pain of high food and gas prices and declining home values, and many of them are being forced to shop closer to their homes and cut back on discretionary purchases,” according to the O.C. Register.
Does Pulido understand what the high gas prices are doing to our economy? Most everyone knows that prices at the supermarket have skyrocketed. Everything that has to be transported has gone up in price. Airlines are going out of business and are failing to do required maintenance. But Pulido says high gas prices are fantastic. What a complete ass!
Steve & Barry’s should be jammed packed. They have the BEST prices and reasonable quality stuff. They should be the last guys on the chopping block simply because they have the best values in clothing. With the decreased discretionary income they certainly should be the go to guys for the biggest bang for your buck. I do understand why they would have to raise prices however.
Miguel certainly is out of touch with reality for most of the folks that live here in Santa Ana. We need new leadership that actually leads. We need leadership that will actually makes the attempt to clean up the city and city government.
The artcle about the donated BMW was intended to point out how the Mayor is contributing to energy conservation.
In reality it contradicts the Mayor’s conservation message.
According to the Mayor the donated BMW needs to be driven to Oxnard for refueling with Hydrogen and back. The traveling back and forth to is done with gas ( fossil fuel).
The Mayor also stated that to his knowledge hydrogen is produced with oil as the energy source.
Considering the last to points, where is the fossil fuel conservation?
It seems that the only benefit here is economic for the Mayor and a appearance of conservation for political manipulation by the Mayor.
The statement by the Mayor “The high price of fuel is fantastic” is an example of how he is out of touch with reality and his city.
Using donated items like the BMW result in this fantasy way of looking at the world.
The article points out the contradictions and hypocrisy by the Mayor. Similar to how the city as a whole is managed. Fair management of all nieghborhoods is not applied. This is accomplished through contradictions and hipocrisy.
Good article Art. You nailed it.
Milton Friedman would be proud of you.
Prediction – you will vote for McCain.
He get’s his car and fuel covered, so he’s doing his part? And he gets to gloat, on top of it….
Classy.
Art. Based on your picture you can’t say that the mayor doesn’t work out.
Hydrogen is certainly not the panacea. But in certain areas, like Iceland, where there is “naturally occuring” geothermal energy, it may make sense. Here in California, though, it doesn’t make sense because we would most likely produce clean hydrogen output with dirty coal input because it is the cheapest short term way of production.
What scares me is that we could be lead down the “nuclear energy” path to destruction. And we don’t need to create more waste because it is cheaper to do so than hunkering down and sacrificing for a long term goal of cheap clean energy like wind and solar.
Maybe it is no more of “my way or the highway” and it is more likely “Mother Nature’s way for the highway”. California has an abundance of natural energy sources being harnessed and studied like solar, wind and wave technology. If we hang in there, we can reach a long term goal of a clean world.
Here is a “2006” 3-page nutshell from Popular Mechanics:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4199381.html?page=1
Here are more recent articles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/16hydrogenwe.html?ref=science
http://climateprogress.org/2008/03/05/this-just-in-hydrogen-fuel-cell-cars-are-still-dead/
http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/hydrogen.html
Art,
High gas prices are leading people to think about alternative ways to conduct their lives. And that is a good thing.
The problem is that it is hitting the middle class harder. The poor already live a sustainable life and the rich can afford to pay to make the “green” changes easy. The middle class is facing a necessary lifestyle change if it is to survive.
The solution is to devise ways that make the transition easier. It is probably why we are latching onto hybrid technology. Baby steps with giant leaps.