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a brief intermission...

While 'Privateers' is still in production, this is brief intermission. This is the week of tax preparation as well as some overwhelming workload from the revenue producing side of my life.

Here's a few tidbits to chew on during the commerical break:

1. UPS, the last customer for the freighter version of the A380 has now mercifully officially, formally and for the last time cancelled the order. You'll be somewhat shocked to hear this because on Feb 23rd UPS and Airbus announced that both parties had renegotiated the contract. The fine print however said that UPS could walk away if there were any further delays. UPS wanted to take delivery in 2009, but this week discovered that Airbus had already begun to shift workers from the freighter to the terribly behind schedule passenger version of the A380. As a result, deliveries slated for 2009 were pushed back to 2012, so now its "goodbye giant freighter".

2. What can we expect from Airbus now? With no customers for the A380 Freighter, Airbus will in all probability cancel the line, but like most Europeans they wont come right out and say that, they will insist that the company is producing the line, even when its obvious to everyone( just evidenced by UPS ) that there is no such thing.

3. And yes, French Aerospace Unions will go on strike against Airbus to protest job cuts, causing further delays to an already badly disorganized European Aerospace group, making job losses even more certain.

4. McCain announces Presidential candidacy and his poll numbers go down. The last time I saw this phenomenon was at the end of the internet boom when tech companies were hyped by underwriters, until they actually went public and the market responded by not buying the stock, leaving their underwriters with lots of overpriced stock. My bet is Mccain doesnt even make it to the Iowa primary. When you are a Republican and your biggest fan in the main stream media is Chris Matthews, the piece of legislature you are most known for is "McCain-Feingold" which is a byword for excessive government intrusion and you've spent your career as a "maverick against the far right wing of the party", then your chances of securing the Republican nomination during the primary are pretty laughible to those of us out here in flyover country.

Meanwhile, Rudy Guiliani seems to have inherited the "teflon suit" from Ronald Reagan; nothing seems to stick to this guy. He smiles,laughs at himself and his numbers go up every time he opens his mouth.

Hillary! and Obama are going round and around in a sort of "deadly embrace", each fundamentally defined by the weaknesses of the other. He because at the core of it all - he "isnt she", and she because of the bulk weight of the number of posters, buttons, flyers and other campaign ephemera thats been sitting in midwestern warehouses extolling her virtues as a candidate, just waiting for this opportunity to be used.

While Iraq may not go down in history for having finished off Al-queda, it will be noted that it did help end the political ascendancy of the matriarch of the Clinton family. Along with her sparkling demeanor, the "long campaign" is her worst enemy. If she's done in Iowa, she's done. She's the "Howard Dean" of the 2008 campaign, the one who everyone in the "main stream media" put their money on, and the folks in the caucuses just sat back and laughed at.

In 2009, she will replace Howard Dean as head of the party.

Posted @ March 02, 2007 07:35 AM | Current Affairs

Posted by: RPD at March 2, 2007 09:22 AM

Posted by: michael i at March 28, 2007 07:28 AM