Cuban Disses Detroit

Matt Welch | December 23, 2008

A very useful new website entitled the Libertarian Blog Aggregator points us to a funny little rant from the always-interesting dot-com billionaire/reviled sports owner/Ayn Rand fanatic/accused inside trader Mark Cuban, who is none too happy that Chrysler executives took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal thanking us, the little people with no say in the matter, for bailing their flabby asses out.

Is there anything more idiotic than spending more than 100k dollars on a full page "thanks for letting me waste your money" ad ? [...]

For those in Detroit who have never operated a lemonade stand, or any other business, the way profits are generated is by making products at a price people want to buy them for, and then producing them, with all costs allocated, for less than you are selling them for. It's not apparent that this is a principle that Detroit understands.

And while you are at it, when you spend marketing money, spend it to sell cars, not on Bullshit ads that accomplish nothing.

Whole thing here. Reason on Cuban here, and please do check out our Bailout page.

Some bonus Cubanism from his eminently readable blog:

* Why XBRL, a financial-reporting program required of large publicly traded companies, "is here and ready, but our government isnt using it for anything it does. Tracking the bailout would be a perfect application for XBRL."

* Why "we don't need an uptick rule," and shouldn't blame its absence for the financial crisis.

* Why the SEC might want to bury this particular investigation.

Comments

|12.23.08 @ 10:24AM|#

If you take Cuban's admonishment to "spend money on making money" seriously, this is probably money well spent.

Chrysler couldn't care less what Mark Cuban, or I, or any other taxpayer thinks; this ad is aimed at the people who will decide how much money Chrysler gets the next time they come rattling their tin cup at Congress' door.

LibertyMark|12.23.08 @ 10:31AM|#

One of the commenters to Cuban's blog entry actually wrote this:

"The market isn't the only factor in pricing, supply and demand also contribute."

This has got to be one of the funniest things a commenter has ever said.

Fluffy|12.23.08 @ 1:09PM|#

P Brooks is right.

The ad is in fact directed at the most important "customer" the car companies have right now - the feelings of government officials.

If government officials feel that the right amount of gratitude has been demonstrated, maybe more money will be forthcoming.

In the old days rent seekers and sycophants of corrupt government officials would have commissioned sculptures or paintings or churches or something to show their gratitude for the stolen wealth that was showered on them by their sovereign. This is simply the modern equivalent.

|12.23.08 @ 3:13PM|#

Here's what _I_ think about this:
http://nickscipio.com/pod/2008/12/images/bigthreebailout.jpg

Geotpf|12.23.08 @ 5:36PM|#

Why does clicking on "Reason on Cuban here" take you to a Google search on the site for Gray Davis? Somebody got a little overly happy with their cutting and pasting. :-P

|12.24.08 @ 12:27PM|#

I suggest Bush-it, rather than the more scatological.

And while you are at it, when you spend marketing money, spend it to sell cars, not on Bullshit ads that accomplish nothing