My daily driving route is a mere 12 mile one-way commute from home to River Rock School in Montpelier, so it’s not like I spend a heckuva lot of money on gas. But rest assured, I have always hated buying gas even when it only cost $15 to fill up the tank. The dream of electric car ownership has always been “just a few years” away into a never-coming future. And when you actually see an electric car at Walker Motor’s, it’s about as practical as a moped, with a maximum speed of 25 mph.

So here are a couple of Sunday morning, coffee-sipping pieces on emerging electric cars. The Aptera caught my eye earlier this year, but now I’m looking at the Pininfarina B0 (pronounced bee-zero).

If you want to build a new car, even a small, economical car, get Pininfarina to design it. That lesson is made clear with the launch of the B0 at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, the best-looking small car we’ve seen here. The B0 has smart lines and a graceful arch between its front and rear wheels, yet maintains the dimensions and configuration to be a practical car. This car is actually a collaboration between Pininfarina and Bolloré, the latter being a consortium of companies with expertise in batteries and capacitors, and is intended to go into mass production late in 2009.

The B0 uses a lithium metal polymer battery pack occupying the undercarriage of the car, with an electric motor driving the front wheels. A super capacitor provides short-term storage for electricity recovered from regenerative braking. Solar cells set into the roof and front of the car trickle energy to the battery.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10057558-48.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=GreenTech

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The B0 is also reviewed in last Friday’s NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/automobiles/12PININ.html?ref=automobiles

Here is a 60 Minutes interview about the Karma and Aptera. But if you want to see exactly how sexy electric cars are, see the video below the fold!

Below the fold: “Electric Cars Are Sexy!” and other two more

Over at the Times Argus you can find an interesting statement against Jim Douglas from within his administration.

Douglas Driving Workers Out

            In response to Mr. Hamlin’s letter of October 6 regarding Jim Douglas’s job cuts. As a state employee for 30 years, I agree 100 percent with what he is saying.

            Not only is Governor Douglas making cuts with no regard to how they will affect the state, he has also put people in high paying positions, given them raises, etc. and some of his appointees don’t have a clue to what they are doing.

            I have worked 30 years and was going to continue to work for state government for a year or two, but with the lack of management, the clueless people at the top of the ranks, I have decided to leave this year.

            I am not the only one making the same decision and state government is losing some very valuable talent due to this administration.

Lori Scott

Calais

(Nice! – promoted by Christian Avard)

Tracking numbers on Site Meter show a clear trend of growth in GMD readership.  Site visits have risen from an average of 388 per day last October to 685 last month.  Factoring out weekend viewership, which runs about half of weekdays, visits per day are about 800.

It might be interesting to review a three year trend to see how the numbers cycle up prior to an election and what happens in the months after the legislative session has ended. 

Check out the numbers below the fold. 

First, the monthly totals over the last 12 months: 

 Second, the daily numbers over the last 7 days.

Times are tough all over, as they say.  Desperation is setting in.

On October 3rd, Reuters reported that a 90 year-old woman in Cincinnati facing eviction shot herself in an attempted suicide.  

The LA Times reports today that sometime over the weekend, between October 4th and 6th, a man in an upscale neighborhood inouter suburbs of Los Angeles killed himself and his family after losing his job as a financial manager.  

Karthik Rajaram who held an MBA from UCLA, was a hard-driving businessman. He was involved in several financial ventures. Between his home sale and another lucrative investment, he should have had a pile of cash.

He also had sold his home in September 2006, earning just shy of $500,000 in the process.  But apparently he must have crashed hard after losing his job as a financial manager in a London-based venture capital firm. 

The article also reports that a former employer had fired him in 2004 because Rajaram was unreliable and “emotionally unstable.”  So who knows, maybe some counseling and meds could have helped in this case.

But maybe this is something to think about when we discuss homeowner relief on Main Street, America.  In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 an army of professional counselors were sent to New York to help manage the group psychological impact of the crisis. 

It's easy to recall the tragic image of the man and woman holding hands as they stepped off a ledge on the World Trade Center.  It's also easy to rationalize and forget the behavior of a 90 year-old woman and an apparently manic financial manager. 

But maybe we should begin to recognize that there will be a growing need for individual crisis counseling even here in Vermont.  As the number of job losses and foreclosures rise in Chittenden County and elsewhere, we shouldn't be surprised to see acts of desperation closer to home.

Lenders and creditors are not counselors; in fact, they can be quite the opposite.  Few people experiencing financial plight would want to share the stigma of their quite desperation with colleagues, neighbors and friends.  

I would argue that it's now a good time to begin running Public Service Announcements educating people that a financial crisis is often traumatic enough to require emotional counseling.  In the face of losing it all, Main Street, America needs to know that suicide isn't an option.

Respectfully submitted,

Nate Freeman

On Vermont Edition moments ago, a caller asked Jim Douglas about his negative ad questioning Symington's integrity for not providing her husband's tax information.

Douglas piled on, saying, “I don't know what she's hiding,” suggesting that she needed to provide the full picture.

Amazingly, there was no follow up on Douglas' running mate, Brian Dubie, who is not providing his tax information either.  Douglas also gave a pass to Cindy McCain.

As John Odum would say, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Costello has his numbers on the table, yet Dubie is getting a free pass.  What's up with that?

Maybe some phone calls should be made requesting Dubie's tax return.

( – promoted by odum)

As reported by Vermont Business Magazine this afternoon:

This letter was sent by University of Vermont President Dan Fogel on October 1, 2008, to the UVM Community

I am writing to alert you to a situation that is affecting nearly 1,000 higher education institutions nationwide, as reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education and The Washington Post (attached). We learned on Monday from the Commonfund that Wachovia (the trustee bank for Commonfund) had frozen 90% of the assets in its Short Term Fund. UVM invests the majority of its operating cash assets in the Short Term fund, and we immediately withdrew the maximum amount allowed under these new restrictions in order to maximize our ability to access sufficient cash to meet our payroll and other obligations.

Yesterday UVM participated in a lengthy conference call with the President of the Commonfund and representatives of many other affected institutions. During the call we were briefed on the redemption requirements and told that an additional 16-19% would be released by the end of the day today (Wednesday). Furthermore, more money is to be made available in increments over the next three months with a cumulative total of 57% to be available by December 29th and a cumulative total of 85% available by December 2010. At this time these assets do not appear to be at risk, but it will take some time before the University can withdraw all of its money. The time frame will be subject to credit market conditions.

I want to assure you that UVM will be able to meet its near-term cash flow needs. We are also in the process of negotiating a line of credit with a local bank to cover any potential gaps in cash needs and as insurance should the promised redemption schedule change or not materialize. We are also in the process of investigating alternatives to invest incoming cash somewhere other than in the Commonfund during this time of instability.

I expect that you will be hearing reports about this situation in both local and national media over the next several days. We believe that we have a satisfactory and sound plan for dealing with this very fluid situation, but we will be constantly re-evaluating our position based on continuing developments in the markets. Unfortunately, it appears that at least some small institutions may be more adversely affected by these developments.

Over the next two years Vermonters will slog through a deep recession despite the $700 billion Wall Street rescue. Unemployment will continue to rise in 2009. Notable restaurants and retailers throughout the state will teeter on the brink of closure. Demands on non-profit services and government assistance will increase while charitable giving and tax revenues decline.

For candidate Jim Douglas, ribbon-cutting opportunities will grind to a halt. His skim-coat solutions won't help middle-class Vermonters. His clever jokes and “aw-shucks” demeanor won't guide Vermont through the tough times ahead.

It's time for Vermonters to tell Jim Douglas, “No more Mr. Nice Guy.” As we face the certainty of a deep recession, Vermont taxpayers can't afford propping up a governor who has no record of accomplishment over the last six years.

Ask yourself: Besides shaking your hand and remembering your name, what has Jim Douglas done for you? How will his “affordability” agenda help Vermonters who lose their jobs? What are three accomplishments Jim Douglas can claim as his own?

Last year Jim Douglas' grand plan was to sell the Vermont Lottery to Wall Street's Lehman Brothers for a one-time payment. Today, Lehman Brothers is bankrupt. Last year Jim Douglas vetoed a bill protecting Vermont taxpayers from getting stuck with the bill when it's time to close Vermont Yankee. Today, Yankee's decommissioning fund is $400 million short and Vermonters are still on the hook.

We have tough times coming ahead and hard work that needs to get done. The future for ribbon-cutting looks pretty slim. Vermonters should ask, “Do we really need Jim?”

A meeting of mostly retired economists and finance executives at the New America Foundation. Reported by the American News Project.

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 After Bill Moyers Part 1 interview with Bacevich, conservative historian and author of the new book, Limits of Power, his book became the latest must-read on the subject of American political imperialism, the Iraq war, and Congress' abdication of power to the Executive Branch.

And guess what?  He's saying what almost every liberal in America has been saying for quite a long time. And he's not pulling any punches.

Part 2 also hits a home run because Bacevich discusses the implications of what's happening right now in a way that no one else is willing to talk about.  

Truth to Power. I'm not able to post the video here, so here's the link.  Both part of the interview are accesible on the same page.  

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09262008/watch.html