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PINTO_EXPLODED

                                               April 2, 2014
                                               May  16, 2014

My understanding of the Ford Pinto
business is that:

   (a) the Pinto was no worse than other
   cars around at the time

   (b) rather than argue this case, Ford
   decided to pay off the trial lawyers
   and hope the story would just blow over

   (c) instead the Exploding Ford Pinto
   entered the collective unconscience as
   a permanent fixture.

   This is a classic example of a
   public relations disaster.          My source on this is the Paul Weaver
                                       book "The Suicidal Corporation",
                                       where Weaver claims some inside
                                       information on how things were
                                       handled at Ford. The current
                                       wikipedia page discusses a paper by
                                       a Gary Schwartz, from 1991, "The
                                       Myth of the Ford Pinto Case":
                                       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto





        During the GM ignition key controversy, I
        thought there were good reason's the CEO of         THIRTEEN_DEATHS
        GM carefully admitting nothing during the
        public show trials-- I mean, hearings.

        This apparently enraged many
        lefties out there, but it
        isn't clear to me why.

        It may very well have been bullshit,
        but a CEO's job is not necessarily to
        just tell you what you want to hear.

             (And, what exactly *did*
              they want to hear?)
                                               The "netizens" always demand
                                               to hear apologies so they can
                                               furiously reject them.



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