Technology Is The Way Forward
In the 44th president’s inauguration speech, Barack Obama talked the key role of science and technology in rebuilding the USA.
“We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its costs.”
The Big Apple
Bucking the trend of gloomy results, Apple posted results for the quarter ending December 2008 with a record profit of $1.61 billion on a record revenue of of $10.17 billion, a 5.6% rise on the same quarter last year.
Sales of the major product lines were all up in the quarter compared to last year
- MAC;s up 9% to 2.5 million
- iPods up 3% to over 22.7 million
- iPhones up 88% to 4.3 million
This is clearly where American companies can excel: great technology and great marketing
GM (and Chrysler) need Genetic Modification – Blue Collars to turn Green
The challenge for the Obama government is enabling those technological and branding skills to be applied to its ailing, outdated car industry. A $50 billion handout of transition relief may be a necessary palliative measure but what is required is investment in greener cars combined with overriding the motor industry’s vested interest in combating air pollution. Basically Americans, like the rest of us, need to get used to driving cheaper, smaller, greener cars.
The deepening recession paves the way for a carrot and stick approach to greening the United States with the carrot being Obams’s plan to create five million ‘green-collar’ jobs in ten years.
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