kscarbel2

I'm thrilled that Navistar has a stake in the U.S. military truck segment. I don't like Oshkosh having a near monopoly. But in fact, Oshkosh does have the big chunk of Pentagon business. I want our boys to have the best trucks, and the U.S. taxpayer to get the best all-around deal while achieving that goal. That said, I wish that Navistar had secured the JLTV (hummer replacement deal) rather than Oshkosh. I like to spread out the business amongst several "American" suppliers for safety's sake. Now, OSK has too much. For the record, I'm deeply invested in both companies.

I suggest you contact the people who design and produce the Solo clutch........Eaton. The toll-free number for the Roadranger Help Line is 1-800-826-4357. http://www.roadranger.com/rr/ProductsServices/ProductsbyCategory/Clutches/MT-Clutches/Solo-Advantage/index.htm#tabs-6

Relax, it's all just a show. Seriously, do you honestly believe that either Hillary Clinton or Trump would be allowed to actually run America Inc. ?

A lone radical Islamist gunmen opened fire in Munich on Friday evening, killing 9 people and wounding 35. (Police initially suspected that three gunman were involved) Police investigation has revealed that the radical Islamist began planning his attack last summer. The Bavarian capital is now under a state of emergency as police hunt for the gunmen. Special forces are deployed throughout the city. "We are telling the people of Munich there are shooters on the run who are dangerous," police said. "We are urging people to stay indoors." The gunman, a German of Iranian descent identified as David Sonboly, shot himself in the head. His body was found about 1 km (0.6 miles) from the scene. The shooting broke out at a McDonald's across from the Olympia shopping mall about 5:50 p.m. (11:50 a.m. ET). Gunfire also broke out inside the mall, which is adjacent to the site of the 1972 Olympics. Police say gunfire was reported in several locations, and that witnesses saw three people with firearms. A profanity-filled verbal exchange between a man who matches the description of the Munich shooter and a witness was posted on social media Friday. The exchange, recorded on two different camera phones, captured an intense conversation that ends in gunfire. The man who appears to be a shooter said insulting things about Turks, did not espouse jihadist ideology and spoke with a German accent. A gunman shouting 'Allahu Akbar' opened fire on dining children in McDonald's before rampaging through the Olympia shopping mall across the street. Witnesses say that the gunman screamed 'I'm German' and 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Great) before shooting at the children. He came out of the McDonald’s bathroom with a gun and began shooting. “I come out of the toilet and I hear like an alarm, boom, boom, boom. He's killing the children. The children were sitting to eat. They can't run,” a woman said. .

Cruz is a politician, which means he’s a cheat and a liar, and when he’s not kissing babies......he’s stealing their lollipops. But it also means that he’s keeping his options open.

Volkswagen AG is precisely a German company. AG (Aktiengesellschaft) means corporation.......VW is a "German" corporation. Its "controlling" shareholders, the Piech and Porsche families, are the same "German" families that, in bed with their dear friend Hitler, from the early 1930s, received every war contract they could stand including the V-1 flying bomb contract. VW was the first in German industry to request slave labor from Hitler, and the largest user of slave labor during the war. In 1960, these two Nazi families wealthy from their WW2 military contracts amazingly were allowed by the German government to retake control of VW. The majority of VW's 600,000 employees are in............Germany. (VW is grossly inefficient owing to Germany being a social welfare country.......while Toyota and VW build roughly the same number of cars annually, Toyota does it with 300,000 people while VW has over 600,000 people).

GM, Isuzu end pickup truck tie-up in Asia; GM eyes more upscale market Automotive News / July 22, 2016 General Motors and Isuzu Motor Co. have agreed to stop working together on developing midsize pickup trucks made in Asia, as the U.S. automaker focuses on the higher end of the market while the Japanese firm sticks to selling vehicles for everyday commercial purposes. The automakers said on Friday they had cancelled their pickup truck deal struck in 2014, the latest under a joint product development arrangement that began in 2006. They added that separate collaboration agreements, including one for commercial vehicles in the U.S., remained intact. "The direction each company wanted to take (for the vehicles) was changing," an Isuzu spokesman said, adding that the Japanese truck maker intended to continue making trucks to be used as workhorse vehicles in markets including Australia, the Middle East, and Asia. "Both GM and Isuzu agree that due to unique requirements for each company, joint development of the next-generation midsize pickup truck for (GM) markets is no longer the optimal model for this project," GM said in a statement. Under the agreement, Isuzu, which specializes in light trucks and commercial vehicles, had developed its D-Max pick-up truck, marketing the model in Asia and beyond, focusing on markets including Australia and the Middle East. GM produced a version of its Colorado pick-up trucks and Trailblazer SUVs for Asian and Australasian markets. The Asia-produced Colorado pickup is different from a model sold under the same name in the U.S., which GM has developed on its own. One GM executive said the "unique requirements" for GM are about the strategic shift it began making last year in Southeast Asia where it is now trying to focus more on competing in the higher end of the region's truck and SUV markets. Despite the obvious benefits of collaborating on development such as sharing costs, the executive, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to discuss the move, said that GM had decided not to try to copy its Japanese rivals in Southeast Asia where brands like Isuzu, Toyota Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. dominate. "It doesn't make sense for us trying to copy the business strategy of the Japanese rivals in Southeast Asia," the executive said. GM's revamped strategy is especially pronounced in Thailand, where the automaker is now launching sleeker pick-up trucks. Isuzu and compatriot Mazda Motor Corp. earlier this month announced that Isuzu would produce next-generation pickup trucks for Mazda outside North America. Last year, GM said it would return to the medium-duty commercial truck business in the U.S. after a seven-year hiatus. GM plans to sell trucks from Isuzu Motors as rebadged Chevrolets, the companies announced. They include six so-called low-cab forward models.

GM and Isuzu have been jointly producing pickups in Thailand for the global market since 2004. But the GM–Isuzu relationship dates back to 1972 with the Chevrolet LUV pickup. In October 2011, the jointly developed 2012 model year Isuzu D-Max and Chevrolet Colorado was launched in Thailand for the global market. https://isuzuute.com.au/d-max/overview.aspx http://isuzu-tis.com/4door-page/ http://en.chevrolet.co.th/cars/colorado/model-overview.html In Brazil, the global market Colorado is called the S-10. http://www.chevrolet.com.br/picapes/s10-high-country.html The U.S. market Colorado/Canyon, derived from the global market truck, was introduced in 2015. It’s available with the same 2.8-liter Thailand-produced diesel engine. Like the body-on-frame Ford Everest which uses the global Ford Ranger platform, Chevrolet offers the Trailblazer in the global market which shares the D-Max/Colorado platform. http://en.chevrolet.co.th/cars/trailblazer/model-overview.html The upcoming Chevrolet-badged Isuzu N-Series U.S. market light truck cooperation, and the 6.6-liter Duramax V-8 diesel-producing GM-Isuzu DMAX Ltd. joint venture in Moraine, Ohio (60% owned by GM / 40% owned by Isuzu Diesel Services of America) are unaffected.

Isuzu and Mazda enter Pick-up Truck Collaboration Agreement Isuzu Motors Press Release / July 11, 2016 Isuzu Motors Limited (hereafter "Isuzu") and Mazda Motor Corporation (hereafter "Mazda") have reached a basic agreement on next-generation pick-up truck collaboration, allowing Isuzu to enhance its product competiveness and Mazda to strengthen its product line-up and maintain own-brand market coverage. Isuzu will produce next-generation pick-up trucks for Mazda, based on Isuzu's pick-up truck model. Isuzu and Mazda have developed a collaborative relationship for more than 10 years, with Isuzu producing for Mazda trucks for the Japanese market. This agreement reinforces the continuous long-term relationship between Isuzu and Mazda. “The Agreement” · Model: Next-generation pick-up truck produced by Isuzu · Producer: Isuzu Motors Limited · Purchaser: Mazda Motor Corporation · Sales area: Worldwide except North America · Start of sales: To be determined

Reuters / July 22, 2016 General Motors and Isuzu Motor Co. have agreed to cease collaboration on the development of mid-size pick-up trucks made in Asia, ending a joint product development relationship that dates back to the mid-2000s. Isuzu said on Friday the two companies had ended the deal under which Isuzu since 2014 had been producing pick-up trucks at its plant in Thailand, which the two companies had marketed under their own brands around the world. Isuzu and compatriot Mazda Motor Co. earlier this month announced that Isuzu would produce next-generation pick-up trucks for Mazda outside North America. "After detailed discussions with GM, we have agreed that we will continue pick-up truck development on our own," Isuzu said. Isuzu, which specializes in light trucks and commercial vehicles, had developed its D-Max pick-up truck under the agreement with GM, marketing the model in Asia and beyond, focusing on markets including Australia and the Middle East. GM did not make a similar filing but confirmed the collaboration with Isuzu, which provided the U.S. automaker the Colorado pick-up truck and its sport-utility variant Trailblazer for Southeast Asian markets and Australia, has been terminated. It was not clear who – GM or Isuzu – asked to terminate the collaboration. GM said in statement that the two companies will continue to collaborate on a range of other projects even though it is ceasing to jointly develop midsize trucks. Those other projects include joint vehicle parts and vehicle manufacturing in North and South America, Africa and Asia. "Both GM and Isuzu agree that due to unique requirements for each company, joint development of the next-generation midsize pick-up truck for GMI markets is no longer the optimal model for this project,” Isuzu said.

Everything you say about Navistar is true. Navistar's "Paccar Gang" led by the superb Bill Kozek has got the company rolling again nicely, even despite the current downturn in the truck market. Meanwhile, ex-General Motors man Troy Clarke is successfully negotiating meaningful partnerships with his old employer. Troy has stated his desire to "cooperate" with other companies where mutual synergies can be realized.........I don't sense he has the intention of pumping up the company and then selling out. And, would the DOJ allow the US to be down to just one U.S.-owned heavy truckmaker? I don't think Paccar (Pigott Inc.) is of a mind to sell out and retire. I see Oshkosh as being much the same way. Plus, as our nation's key military vehicle contractor, it would be virtually impossible for the DOJ to approve the sale of Oshkosh to a foreign aggressor.

The year is 1925. Mack Trucks, Inc. Factory Branch 2001 S. Alameda Street Los Angeles, California .

I suggest, buying a used TS442 Mack service manual on Amazon would be a very worthwhile investment. Here, you can see the air line schematic of a 2-stick TRTXL1070 (you have a single shift level TRTXL1070B with the dash-mounted low range selector switch) http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/13871-calling-all-mack-12-speed-experts/

Robert Young was at work at Wilson Trucking Company's Charlotte, North Carolina terminal early Wednesday morning when he heard an explosion and turned around to see flames pouring from the loading dock. "It felt like I was in a movie it was unreal. Two or three explosions behind another. People just started running everywhere. I had never seen anything like it before,” Young said. Emergency crews said several people were hurt after a 4-alarm fire at a north Charlotte trucking company early Wednesday morning. Fire, police and MEDIC were called to the 7500 block of Statesville Road, at Wilson Trucking Corporation, just before 6 a.m. after being told of an explosion and fire on the loading dock. When crews arrived they saw heavy flames and smoke coming from the loading dock area. It took 90 firefighters two hours to control the fire. MEDIC said they rushed five people to Carolinas Medical Center -- one with serious injuries, two with potentially life-threatening injuries and two with minor injuries. Four people were still at Carolinas Medical Center for treatment Wednesday afternoon. Two are in fair in condition; two are in good condition. “I’m glad most of the people are OK,” employee Tony Caldwell said. As of Wednesday evening, Charlotte fire representatives had not said what exploded or what started the fire. “We (have) got propane tanks and a couple of gas powered lifts. We [have] got fireworks there. All kinds of HAZMAT chemicals in there. We ship a lot of stuff (and) there's really no telling what's on the dock at anytime,” Young said. Fire Chief Jon Hannan said the way the loading dock is built may have helped the fire spread. “It’s completely open inside. There are trailers backed in on both sides. There’s no wall ... nothing to stop (the fire) from going from one side to the other,” he said. Property damage is estimated to be $1.5 million.

Sunshine Coast Daily / July 22, 2016 The first thing Bradley Morrison heard when he rushed up to a burning car was a baby crying. So he went to the back seat and pulled her out. Another man - Steven Hird - tried to open the front passenger door to try and get the mother out. But the car was starting to be engulfed in flames and the door was extremely hot and was jammed. Mr Morrison, who now lives in Warwick, and Mr Hird, who lives in Bowen, received bravery awards during a ceremony in Brisbane on Thursday for their rescuing efforts. They both received a Certificate of Merit from the The Royal Humane Society of Australasia. The two men were driving trucks along the Cunningham Hwy when they came across the horrific scene in November 2013. It was about 9.20pm and a car, being driven by a mother with her nine-month-old baby in the back, and a B-double truck had crashed on the highway at Aratula. Both vehicles were on fire. Mr Morrison pulled the baby out of the burning car. The driver of the truck involved in the crash had escaped but the mother tragically died. Looking back, the men said they did not pause to think about rushing in to help; it was instinct. "We just went in and did what had to be done I guess," Mr Morrison said. Mr Hird said the worst part was watching the mother be engulfed in the fire. "The passenger's door was really hot because it was really on flames at that point, the hardest part was watching the mother pass away and not being able to (help)," Mr Hird said. Mr Morrison was holding the baby while it all happened and the worst part for him was holding the girl while her mother was in the burning car. Mr Morrison said he regularly passed the site where the crash happened and always notices the cross and flowers on the side of the road. He is also friends with the baby's family that he had seen the little girl a few months ago. The men said they were pleased to be recognised for their rescuing efforts. "I guess it is good to be recognised for what you've done. Not that you'd do it for that though," Mr Morrison said. Mr Hird agreed. "That's the first thing (people) ask - how do you feel about it - it's great, but it's not what we expected when we were doing it," Mr Hird said. The third man involved in the rescue received a similar bravery award in Melbourne.

Land Line (OOIDA) / July 21, 2016 Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks North America are recalling 2013 model year Pinnacle (CXU) and VNL/VNM trucks, respectively. The 193 trucks affected by the recall have an issue with the front steer axles, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) documents. Affected trucks are equipped with Meritor FF967 non-drive front steer axles that may have been incorrectly heat treated. Axles that have not been heat treated correctly may fracture, increasing the risk of a crash, according to NHTSA. Both Mack and Volvo owners will be notified. Dealers will check axles for specific heat code serial numbers and replace them free of charge if necessary. Recalls are expected to begin July 29. Mack owners can call 800-866-1177 with recall number SC0404 with any questions. Volvo owners can call 800-528-6586 with recall number RVXX1605.

Commercial Motor TV - sponsored by DAF Trucks / July 21, 2016 .

Goteborgs-Posten / July 221, 2016 Recently, Europe's truckmakers were fine 28 billion kronor for price fixing. Among them, Volvo AB received a fine of 6.4 billion kronor. The cartel took place from 1997 to 2011 when Mr. Leif Johansson was CEO of Volvo Group, writes Dagens Industri. Given the price fixing revelation, Swedish ethics researcher Hans De Geer is now raising the question of how Mr. Johansson can rightfully remains in his current positions as chairman of both telecoms group Ericsson and drugmaker Astra Zeneca. “One can certainly, in the light of the EC’s ruling, question the appropriateness of it. Ultimately it is about trust in large companies' way of acting in the market,” says De Geer. According to Volvo Group's current President Martin Lundstedt, the European Commission has stated that Johansson did not know his company was participating in the price-fixing cartel. Hans De Geer thinks, however, that management always has a responsibility. Leif Johansson has refused to comment. .

This is an example of where 3D printing should be available. Did Watts Mack provides you with the part number........ perhaps 65RU29301A ? Daimler is about to begin this............. http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/46049-daimler-trucks-to-use-3d-printing-in-spare-parts-production/#comment-339295 http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/41869-jay-lenos-garage-–-replacement-parts-on-demand-3d-printers/#comment-304566 As it stands now, you need to contact the museum and get a copy of the blueprint, and have a fabrication shop make them. Be sure to use the appropriate hardened steel. MH Ultra-Liner owners should stock up on pins and bushings while they can still obtain them........if they're still available.

MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / July 21, 2016 MAN presents a strong future-proof portfolio of trucks at the IAA 2016. For the 2017 range, MAN merges engines with new power levels of up to 640 HP and higher torque with finely tuned transmissions and switching functions into application-optimised drivetrains. This is accompanied by a strong brand identity. Exterior and interior design innovations in the TG range strongly place the trademark of the lion in the foreground. At the same time, the traditional Munich-based manufacturer is preparing for the logistics business of the future with new digital products and services. http://www.corporate.man.eu/en/press-and-media/presscenter/MAN-at-the-IAA-2016_-more-efficient_-more-economical_-networked-257728.html

Petroleum Institute Campaigns to Educate About New Oils Heavy Duty Trucking / July 21, 2016 The American Petroleum Institute is ramping up efforts to educate diesel engine users about the two new diesel engine oil standards it approved earlier this year, API CK-4 and FA-4. Having two different oil categories is likely to cause confusion among truck owners. And putting the wrong oil in your engine will at the least mean it won’t perform like it should and could cause engine damage, according to Kevin Ferrick, senior manager for engine oil licensing at API. That’s because FA-4 was designed for use in new 2017-model engines that are required to get better fuel economy for lower greenhouse gas emissions. The different viscosity parameters needed in these oils generally won’t work well in older engines. The new oil categories were the results of a years-long process to develop new standards and tests, a process during which the new oils were known as PC-11. API CK-4 and FA-4 will first appear in the API Service Symbol “Donut” on Dec 1. Most truck and engine makers will likely recommend truck owners that are currently using API-licensed CJ-4 engine oils start using licensed API CK-4 oils as soon as they are available. API CK-4 oils have been designed to better protect existing diesel engines. API FA-4 oils, however, are different. The FA-4 standard describes certain lower viscosity oils specifically formulated for use in diesel engines designed to meet 2017 model year on-highway greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards. In general, FA-4 oils are not considered backward-compatible. Some engine manufacturers might recommend API FA-4 oils for their previous model-year vehicles, but it is more likely that manufacturers will recommend the oils starting with the 2017 model year engines. Making things more confusing is the different viscosity standards go beyond the basic 10W-40 or 5W-30 type of nomenclature. In fact, you could have two 10W-30 oils on the shelf, but one would be an FA-4 and one would be a CK-4. While lower-viscosity oils in general have been shown to improve fuel economy, the FA-4 oils must perform to a more stringent “high-temp/high-shear” viscosity test to stand up to the more punishing environment in the new engines. Add to all this the fact that most fleets would prefer to run a single oil, and you have potential for “misapplication” — using the wrong oil in your engine. One way the API has come up with to help truck owners identify the right oil is by changing the Service Symbol Donut. For FA-4 oils, the top of the donut has been divided, with FA-4 on the left-hand side. That part of the donut also will be shaded black or red. In addition, the API, which in the past has typically let oil marketers handle the announcements about new categories, is using everything from interviews with the press to radio and print ads to a website and social media to get the word out under the moniker “Diesel Oil Matters.” There’s a website, www.dieseloilmatters.com, a Facebook page, and a Twitter feed under @dieselmatters. Ferrick said he’s concerned that some truck owners “might believe that all oils are the same, and in this case this is not true. If you have two 10w30s side by side on the shelf, we’re worried they may mistakenly grab the wrong one. "The only way we know to mitigate that is to do the two things we’ve done. We named the oils differently — we called it FA-4 and CJ-4, we didn’t call it CK-4A and CK-4B – and we put a new API donut on the FA 4 without changing the CK 4 donut. Between those two things, we hope we get enough information out through our campaign to educate consumers, and if not we hope the difference in the donut will give them pause.” For fleets that aren’t buying oils off the shelf, Ferrick says, “the other thing I would say gives me some concern is there are a lot of fleets used to having only one oil. They need to come to grips with the idea that as they get new equipment, they may need to start carrying a second oil.” .

Transport Topics / July 21, 2016 Daimler AG, the world’s largest truck manufacturer, reported second-quarter net profit rose 3% to $2.64 billion — or $2.50 per diluted share — powered by sales of cars and vans even as U.S. orders for medium and heavy trucks plunged. Revenue for the quarter ended June 30 climbed 3% to $42.5 billion. In its earnings report, the company said, “In North America, weak overall investment is having a significant impact on the truck market. From today’s perspective, demand for Class 6-8 trucks is likely to decrease by approximately 15%.” In the quarter, orders for Daimler's U.S. medium and heavy trucks plunged 43% to 19,989 units from 34,822 a year earlier. U.S. retail sales of medium and heavy trucks fell 10% to 36,739 in the quarter compared with 40,694 in the 2015 period. At the same time, Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) increased its Class 8 market share by in the NAFTA region to 43.2% from 35.9%. But Daimler’s medium truck market share slipped to 36.4% from 40.9%. For the six-month period, net profit fell 13% to $4.2 billion, or $3.90 Euros. Revenue climbed 3% to $81 billion. But incoming U.S. orders for medium and heavy trucks plummeted 50% to 41,123, compared with 82,751 a year earlier. U.S. retail sales of medium and heavy trucks fell 3% to 72,501. Daimler’s Class 8 market share in the NAFTA region rose to 43.6%, compared with 37.9% in the 2015 six-month period. It’s medium truck market share dropped to 38.5% from 41%.

The Guardian / July 21, 2016 Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlelm the radical Islamist who drove a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring hundreds more, had help planning the attack, says Paris prosecutor François Molins. Evidence from mobile phones and computer records indicate Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was not a recently radicalised “lone wolf”, but had several accomplices and had planned his attack for up to a year. Molins says after the attack on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in January 2015, in which 12 people died, Bouhlel sent a text message to one suspect that read: “I am not Charlie. I’m happy they have brought some of Allah’s soldiers to finish the job.” French authorities have made “significant advances” in the investigation. Four men and a woman suspected of helping Bouhlel appeared before a judge in Paris accused of being involved in a terrorist operation. The five suspects were in contact with Lahouaiej-Bouhlel shortly before he ploughed into crowds gathered for the traditional Bastille Day fireworks last week along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, where the Tunisian man lived. Police have uncovered thousands of calls and messages between Lahouaiej Bouhlel, and five accomplices, after going through his social media accounts, laptop and phone records. "Put 2,000 tons of metal in the truck, f**k the brakes, and I'll be watching," says one message sent to Lahouaiej Bouhlel in April. In the past year alone, Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had more than 1,270 conversations from his mobile with one of the men. The accomplices continued to support Lahouaiej Bouhlel up until the day of the attack. Seconds before Bouhlel drove the truck for almost 2km through groups of people, he sent two “odious messages” that appeared to have been pre-recorded on his mobile phone. The prosecutor said it was increasingly evident that Bouhlel’s attack was premeditated and that he had logistical and planning support from the five others, with whom he had been in regular contact. “He seems to have envisaged and developed his criminal plans several months before carrying them out,” Molins said. The five people include a married couple from Albania, accused of supplying the automatic pistol that Bouhlel used to shoot at police, two French-Tunisian men and a Tunisian man. None were known to the French security or intelligence services and only one, a 41-year-old French-Tunisian, had a criminal record, for robbery, theft, assault and drug offences. Photographs and searches on the attacker’s mobile phone included pictures of the Bastille Day fireworks in July 2015, and an article referring to the “magic potion called Captagon”, which Molins said was a drug “used by certain jihadis preparing terrorist attacks”. At the home of one of the men, detectives reportedly found drugs, €2,600 in cash and 11 mobile phones. One photograph discovered by investigators showed one of the suspects in the cab of the truck used to carry out the massacre, taken three hours before the attack. France’s interior minister has acknowledged that there was no national police presence at the entrance to the pedestrian walkway in Nice during the attack. Backtracking on his previous claim that national police were present, Bernard Cazeneuve said local police, who are more lightly armed, were guarding the entrance through which Bouhlel drove his truck. Meanwhile, the 51-year-old motorcyclist who tried to stop the attacker spoke about his experience to Nice-Matin. Franck, an airport worker whose surname was not given, said: “I wanted to stop him at any price … my aim was to get to the [driver’s] cabin. When I drew level with him, I asked myself, what are you going to do with your poor scooter, so I threw it against the lorry and continued to run after him. “Finally I grabbed on to the cabin. I was on the steps at the level of the open window facing him. I hit and hit him and hit him again. With all my strength, with my left hand in the face. He said nothing. He didn’t even flinch. He had his gun in his hand but the pistol was not working. I had the impression he was trying to fiddle with it, I don’t know. He pointed it at me and pulled on the trigger but it didn’t work. “I was ready to die. I was conscious and ready to die to stop him and I kept hitting him. I tried to drag him out through the window because I couldn’t open the bloody door. I kept hitting him. Then he finally hit me on the head with the butt.”

Hillary and Bill Clinton: The for-profit partnership The Financial Times / July 21, 2016 They have made $22 million from the education industry since 2010 In 2010, Bill Clinton made a deal that drew him closer to some of the most high-powered investors in the world, including the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Citigroup, hedge fund managers Steven Cohen and George Soros and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Under the arrangement, the former US president would serve for five years as honorary chancellor of Laureate International Universities, a global network of for-profit institutions of higher education that had been taken private in 2007 in a $3.8bn leveraged buyout by its founder Douglas Becker and the KKR-led consortium. Mr Clinton’s duties included providing advice on “issues like social responsibility, youth leadership and civic engagement” and visiting 19 campuses in 14 countries, Laureate’s website says. His pay exceeded $16.5m — or more on an annualised basis than the president of Harvard University. The one-time commander-in-chief had become a globetrotting connector par excellence, as Mr Clinton explained during a speech in November 2010 at Malaysia’s Inti International University, one of dozens of Laureate schools serving more than 1m students around the world. “I agreed to be the honorary chancellor of Laureate because it is first of all a true global network of universities and I’m very big on establishing networks,” he said. “I think tying people together across national, religious, ethnic [and] ideological lines is the key to the 21st century.” Soon, Mr Clinton will find out whether his sense of the situation was correct. In the coming weeks, the Clinton brand of networking will be put to the political test as his wife Hillary, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, takes on Donald Trump, her Republican rival and proprietor of Trump University, his own for-profit education business, in what promises to be a rugged general election campaign. Learning curve For the Clintons, the Laureate connection has been a profitable step in one of the most lucrative post-presidential business careers in US history. After leaving the White House in 2001 in self-described penury, Mr and Mrs Clinton made close to a quarter of a billion dollars, largely by giving speeches, publishing books and consulting. The question is whether voters will understand. Today’s electorate is wary of the well connected. In the Democratic primaries, Mrs Clinton struggled to fend off Bernie Sanders, foe of the wealthiest 1 per cent of the citizenry and advocate of free public universities. On the Republican side, Mr Trump won the nomination by casting himself in the role of a tycoon beholden to no one. The Clintons, by contrast, have profited financially by using their connections to the global elite — including in such highly regulated sectors as for-profit education, finance and healthcare. Big banks such as Goldman Sachs and UBS, which have together paid almost $2m for speeches from the Clintons since 2013, are the obvious example. “In the realm of appearance, it’s just unnecessary,” says Robert Reich, who served as Mr Clinton’s labour secretary from 1993 to 1997. “It would be one thing if they were financially needy. But from all the accounts I have read that doesn’t seem to be the case. So why take the risk of the appearance of impropriety? Why give ammunition to the vast networks of people looking for ammunition? It’s a complete mystery to me.” The Clintons’ income from for-profit education could prove an especially sensitive subject at a time when US student debt exceeds $1.2tn. Critics argue that for-profit operators devote too much revenue to marketing and providing themselves with a return, and too little to teaching. Their case is made stronger by evidence that students at for-profit schools are less likely to pay back their loans or find jobs. Tax returns released by Mrs Clinton’s campaign show that she and her husband reported income of more than $22m from interests in the for-profit education industry since 2010. In addition to the $16.5m that Mr Clinton received from Laureate between 2010 and 2014, he was paid $5.6m as honorary chairman of the Varkey Gems Foundation, the charitable arm of Gems Education, a Dubai-based company founded by Sunny Varkey, an Indian-born billionaire. Payments from Laureate and the Varkey foundation continued in 2015, according to another filing by Mrs Clinton, which says only that the amounts in each case exceeded $1,000. Laureate, in turn, donated between $1m and $5m to the Clinton Global Initiative, says a representative of the education company. The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation also lists Gems Education as a donor in the same $1m-$5m range. Mrs Clinton has made far less personally from the education sector than her husband. However, after stepping down as secretary of state in February 2013, she was paid a total of $451,000 in 2014 to speak to two for-profit education companies: Academic Partnerships of Dallas, Texas, and New York-based Knewton, founded by Jose Ferreira, a former strategist for John Kerry, Mrs Clinton’s successor at the state department. In 2013, Mrs Clinton received $225,000 to speak to KKR, the Laureate investor. ‘Coalitions of money’ The irony is that the Clintons might have made more money in education than the ostensible industry entrepreneur in the presidential race. Eric Schneiderman, New York state’s attorney-general, says the available evidence suggests Mr Trump received $5m in profits from his real estate university while it operated from 2005 to 2010. The exact figures are unavailable because Mr Trump has refused to release his tax returns, citing a continuing audit. The comparison is somewhat unfair. Despite its name, Trump University was not a university. A New York judge ruled in 2014 that it was an unlicensed school. Three lawsuits — one filed by Mr Schneiderman, two by former students — have alleged it was a fraud. None of the suits has been tried. Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing and suggested that the US-born judge in the students’ cases is biased because his parents came from Mexico. He has also vowed to reopen his school — now called the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative. As a business indicator, however, the appearance of both the Clintons and Mr Trump on the for-profit education scene was revealing. During the early years of this century, it seemed like everyone wanted to get in on the act — with investors, technologists and other business interests all looking to upend traditional educational models. “You had hedge funds, private equity funds, all these coalitions of money that came into the for-profit education arena,” says AJ Angulo, author of Diploma Mills. “There was sort of a feverish approach to build up these institutions as quickly as possible.” Laureate Education, the university chain’s parent, based in Baltimore, Maryland, was started by one of the more unlikely players in the game. Mr Becker, 50, the company’s chairman and chief executive, never attended university. While still in his teens, he and some friends developed a high-tech medical records card that made them millionaires in the 1980s. Mr Becker and one of his partners turned to education in the early 1990s, acquiring Sylvan Learning Systems, a publicly traded tutoring company. From Sylvan grew Laureate, which began acquiring for-profit university assets in 1999, starting with the Universidad Europea de Madrid in Spain. Mr Clinton became honorary chancellor in 2010 as US regulatory pressure on the education sector grew and industry participants realised that dealing with the government had become essential. “For an education business, having political connections is a reality,” says Michael Moe, co-founder and chief investment officer of GSV Capital, a California fund manager with holdings in more than a dozen education companies. “[In] education, like healthcare, you have to have that as part of the playbook.”

Ian Wright, chief executive officer and founder at Wrightspeed and co-founder at Tesla, talks about Tesla's plans to produce an electric freight truck and discusses demand for his company’s electric garbage trucks. He speaks on "Bloomberg Markets." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-07-21/tesla-s-tech-shortfalls-on-path-to-truck-production