Marching Morons or Bargain Shoppers?

A Hybrid? Forget it, Say Rising Number of Pickup Buyers - CSMonitor - 22 Jan 09

"Thanks in large part to $10,000 dealer incentives and (relatively) cheaper gasoline, buyers are creeping out of the deep woods and urban jungles, emptying dealer lots of a gritty, gas-guzzling American icon: the full-size pickup truck.

With all other car-sales categories as flat as a mall parking lot, sales of trucks at some dealerships jumped by more than 30 percent in December – usually the slowest month of the year. In fact, dealers reported sales matching or surpassing figures from late 2007 – before the Wall Street meltdown, the freezing of credit markets, and the federal bailout of Detroit’s Big 3."

"Economists, however, caution against reading too much into the truck sale surge. For one, Detroit is practically paying customers to take bloated inventories off their hands, relieving pent-up demand. What’s more, the fundamentals of the auto industry overall point to a continued slowdown in sales this year."

Marching Morons or Bargain Shoppers?

A Hybrid? Forget it, Say Rising Number of Pickup Buyers - CSMonitor - 22 Jan 09

"Thanks in large part to $10,000 dealer incentives and (relatively) cheaper gasoline, buyers are creeping out of the deep woods and urban jungles, emptying dealer lots of a gritty, gas-guzzling American icon: the full-size pickup truck.

With all other car-sales categories as flat as a mall parking lot, sales of trucks at some dealerships jumped by more than 30 percent in December – usually the slowest month of the year. In fact, dealers reported sales matching or surpassing figures from late 2007 – before the Wall Street meltdown, the freezing of credit markets, and the federal bailout of Detroit’s Big 3."

"Economists, however, caution against reading too much into the truck sale surge. For one, Detroit is practically paying customers to take bloated inventories off their hands, relieving pent-up demand. What’s more, the fundamentals of the auto industry overall point to a continued slowdown in sales this year."

Cows Gone Wild

Could Cows Heal the West? - CSMonitor - 20 Jan 09

"Large swaths of landscape continue to suffer loss of topsoil, invasion by weedy species, and runaway erosion.

Now, spurred by growing consumer concern over meat’s environmental impact and concerned about the long-term viability of their livelihood, a cohort of ranchers is trying to apply the understanding gleaned from the science of ecology to livestock management. Courtney White, cofounder of the Quivira Coalition in Santa Fe, N.M., and a former Sierra Club activist, calls the result a shift to the 'radical center.' After years of mutual antagonism, ranchers and environmentalists are finally working together, he says.

Others see it as ranchers finally taking stock of the Western landscape.

'We’ve been trying to make the West into Europe since our ancestors came here,' says George Whitten, a rancher in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. He has been practicing holistic management, with good results, since the mid-1980s. Now, 'I think we have to become truly westerners to live within its limits and its bounty,' he says."

Cows Gone Wild

Could Cows Heal the West? - CSMonitor - 20 Jan 09

"Large swaths of landscape continue to suffer loss of topsoil, invasion by weedy species, and runaway erosion.

Now, spurred by growing consumer concern over meat’s environmental impact and concerned about the long-term viability of their livelihood, a cohort of ranchers is trying to apply the understanding gleaned from the science of ecology to livestock management. Courtney White, cofounder of the Quivira Coalition in Santa Fe, N.M., and a former Sierra Club activist, calls the result a shift to the 'radical center.' After years of mutual antagonism, ranchers and environmentalists are finally working together, he says.

Others see it as ranchers finally taking stock of the Western landscape.

'We’ve been trying to make the West into Europe since our ancestors came here,' says George Whitten, a rancher in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. He has been practicing holistic management, with good results, since the mid-1980s. Now, 'I think we have to become truly westerners to live within its limits and its bounty,' he says."