[fabsroman]

First point, even if Ford can make the Focus for $1, it is still a pretty cheap car at $14,999 when compared to others. I'm growing aquarium plants in my fish tanks in an attempt to keep the nitrates down. I used to throw the overgrowth away, until I figured out I could sell it on ebay. The cost to me to sell these things is the initial listing fee and the final value fee. It costs me nothing extra to grow them because I would be doing it anyway.

Now, lets assume that Ford has $0 costs to build the Focus and it is completely $15,000 in profit. They would have to sell 400,000 of them to cover their Health Care costs of $6 Billion. In the real world, we know that the Focus costs something to build, and even if it is only $2,000 in raw materials and labor, R&D, marketing, and management overhead have to be added to that cost. So, it isn't quite $2,000.

I haven't read enough evidence to show that there really is suppressed technology out there. If you can point me to some credible sources, I might start to believe it.

I just find it hard to believe that the Big wigs at Ford haven't taken out the secret key to unlock the secret vault to pull out the secret carburetor from 1960 that provides 100 mpg when Toyota is kicking them in the nuts with the hybrid technology, and actually required Ford to buy the technology from it. Why not pull out the golden carburetor, patent it, and kick the snot out of Toyota. If the Prius is getting 60 mpg, at least pull out the 60 mpg carburetor to even the score, or down tweak the 100 mpg carburetor so that it only gets 60 mpg and the 70 mpg, 80 mpg, and 90 mpg carburetors can be held back till later.

I find it really hard to believe that Ford is spending tons of money on alternative fuel research when the golden carburetor is locked up in the secret vault that can only be opened with the secret key. Why spend the time and money on fuel cell vehicles, etc., that would pretty much make the golden carburetor obsolete once fuel cell vehicles are released to the public. Zero emissions and a replenishable source of energy sounds a lot better than the golden carburetor. So, why are they waiting so long to unleash the golden carburetor? Its usefulness is quickly vanishing if the hybrid reach 100 mpg and fuel cell vehicles become available.

Why wouldn't intel release its technology to put AMD in its place?

My take on suspended technology is that while it is available technology, it is not cheap or proven technology when it comes out? There might be small little issues with it, that none of us know about, and that is why they aren't releasing it. Ford has a couple of government fleets that are using fuel cell vehicles, so why aren't they being released to the public yet. Maybe because they want a small sample to see how the vehicles work. Nothing like releasing 500,000 of them only to find out that they blow up faster than Pintos in certain circumstances. You know attorneys like me would be lining up quicker than you can say Firestone blowouts on Explorers, to take a piece of Ford as we drove it into bankruptcy with 1,000's of multi million dollar claims.

Bicycle companies do this all the time. The newest and greatest bike technology isn't released for years down the road. We cyclists get to catch glimpses of it on the pros' bikes in the Tour de France, but it doesn't get released until the manufacturers get all the bugs out. Most, but not all, of the frames that the pros raced on this year in the Tour de France will be made available to the market next year. Campagnolo had a set of electronic derailleurs on a couple of its sponsored rider's bikes in 2006 and 2007, but they haven't been released to the public yet because there are still some issues with them. It would be great never to have to worry about a cable breaking, and reducing the weight of the bike by 300 grams since cables will no longer be needed, but Campagnolo hasn't released them yet and they are in a bitter rivalry with Shimano in the parts market.

Honestly, do the CEO's of all these companies have closed door meetings amongst each other to decide what technology will be released when? How about SRAM that just entered the road cycling market a couple of years ago? Are they having a pow wow with Campy and Shimano execs. Also, the Campy and Shimano execs must have gotten pretty pissed at the Suntour and Mavic execs during the 1980's meetings because both of those companies were driven out of the parts market.

If the Big 3 didn't send assassins after Big Oil big wigs when the price of oil went through the roof and put a screeching halt to the Big 3's sale of very profitable trucks and SUV's, I seriously doubt Big Oil would be sending assassins after the Big 3 execs if a golden carburetor is pulled out of the secret vault.

Why even face the risk of seeking bankruptcy protection, or being forced into bankruptcy by creditors, when they have the golden carburetor. If they could beat the Japanese manufacturers by 5 mpg on every vehicle, why aren't they, and why haven't they for decades.

I'm sure the GM and Ford execs, who are heavily invested in those companies through options and stock, are really happy to see GM's stock price sink to a level it hasn't hit since before 1950. I'm sure Ford execs are really happy about Ford stock being at $1.80 when it was at $15 a share 5 years ago, and even higher before that.

How did I do GOB?