I just landed in Orlando and am very excited to get to the IMPACT NOW show. On the flight I learned that Circuit City is going bankrupt. Not a big surprise really when you consider they have to compete with Best Buy, Costco, Wal-Mart and the web. Anyone who has been in these stores know they don’t look great and the service level has been poor for years. In addition, the company’s website and email marketing are graphically poor.
While on the topic of bankruptcy, the fate of US automakers is not looking good. Sadly, Detroit can’t build cars people want. All the government money in the world won’t change this fact.
One wonders how if virtually all manufacturing has left the US, how can we argue that making cars here will be something that works in the long-term? Can you imagine if the feds put billions into the domestic toy industry? We would have riots in the streets. It makes no sense.
I do understand the too big to fail argument however and now is not the time to lose a million jobs.
IMHO the government needs a massive public works plan which includes all new and improved roads, tunnels and bridges. While we are at it, we need 250+ MPH bullet trains crisscrossing the nation.
One wonders if the best stimulus plan we can come up with should be anchored by subsidized broadband and computer training. Make every person out of work a web wizard. Give us programmers, web designers and people who can buy and sell on auction sites. We don’t need all people out of work to have a shovel when laptops will do for many.