Akkam’s Razor

In October 2008, there was a moving article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about Scott Eckenhoff’s dealership’s valiant yet futile attempt to save his family business through individual sacrifice by the entirety of the dealership’s employees:

Eckenhoff’s business [link], a General Motors dealership that had been relatively healthy just months earlier, was suddenly a credit-squeezed enterprise holding on for dear life.

So two weeks ago, after praying with his family and pulling an all-nighter in front of his computer, Eckenhoff drew up a rescue plan. Half his employees, including a stepbrother, would have to be let go. It was awful.

The day of the layoffs, though, something unexpected happened: The mechanics who had not been fired marched into Eckenhoff’s office. “What can we do to help?” asked the men in grimy work gear.

With that, the lines that had long separated manager from minions, khaki-clad salesmen from grease-smeared mechanics, vanished. The survivors - the salesmen, associates and receptionists spared the ax - had become a single crew trying to save their ship.

At the time, I instinctively knew he was only delaying the inevitable. 

I had written previously on automobile manufacturer embargoes and print versus online media in Metafilter some time ago.  Challenging embargoes is becoming relavent again, as Chrysler - and particularly Chrysler PR man Rick Deneau - snubs the autoblogs, who then post the ‘embargoed’ material [see Jalopnik and Autoblog] received from ‘informants’ in attendance.  As print is ‘in its last throes’, some techblogs are also throwing down the gauntlet, with Mike Arrington at Techcrunch declaring that all embagoes will be broken with impunity.

• GOOD » Books Are the New Cars» - Another day, another imploding industry…
• Economist’s View: “Capitalist Fools” - Was there any single decision which, had it been reversed, would have changed the course of history? … The truth is most of the individual mistakes boil down to just one: a belief that markets are self-adjusting and that the role of government should be minimal. … The embrace by America—and much of the rest of the world—of this flawed economic philosophy made it inevitable that we would eventually arrive at the place we are today.

After the atrocious sales figures for the month of November with sales are at their lowest point in 26-years with per capita sales at their lowest levels since the 1950s, its fairly easy to forecast what comes next - widespread dealer liquidations.

Long story short?

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Yes, bail them out.

• William Gibson: Undecided Voters - I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?

  To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with broken glass in it?"

  To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.'

A couple of semesters ago, I read a Businessweek article on Home Depot then-CEO Bob Nardelli’s plan to turn around Home Depot.  BW glowingly reported on Nardelli’s personnel changes and differing style, with his strong preference for hiring former-military persons in key rolls.  Anecdotally speaking, a masters program classmate who was also a Naval Academy graduate mentioned that Home Depot had indeed made a push for hiring employees who were formerly Officer Grade to run their stores, casting the opportunity as entrepreneurial.  Businessweek gave several hints as to what was coming in their description of Nardelli’s style:

• SLATE: GOP Scandal Map
  Where do these scandals overlap? What is the culture of Washington, and of this Administration? Where do these scandals initiate and intersect? Is it about party, ideology, or just pure power?
  (tags: politics flash bush)
• 101 Greatest George Carlin Quotes
  (tags: GeorgeCarlin philosophy politics opinion list quotes)
• ironict.jpg (JPEG Image, 3024×2304 pixels)
  (tags: archive art culture fashion history tshirt visualization)
• Camry versus Chevrolet
  “Chevrolet is confident enough in its forthcoming Malibu redesign, that they’re willing to have customers paw all over their mid-size offering and Toyota’s Camry side by side.”
  (tags: Autos Chevrolet Malibu Toyota Campry)