Bay Area-based engineering company Mindtribe tore into a pair of the Back to the Future-inspired sneaks to find out what drives their relatively compact auto-tightening system, no doubt to the chagrin of the innovation team at Nike.
The report's most unexpected findings pointed to an increase in inhalable particulates in cities like Beijing, where officials have struggled to improve air quality by shutting down noxious factories and tightening auto emission standards.
But it also included initiatives that resembled traditionally Democratic goals, like creating flexible work hours and job-sharing programs to ease work-related burdens on families; cleaning the environment by tightening auto emissions standards; buying more open space and financing mass transportation programs; and giving patients more control of their corporate-managed health plans.
The government is working hard to reduce it – tightening auto-emissions standards, closing dirty factories – and the official count of "blue sky days" is rising.
Financing arms of the three major U.S.-based auto companies have tightened rules for financing auto loans and leases, so there may be an opening for Toyota to catapult itself way ahead of the pack.
Public health officials said they hoped to correct the problems by possibly changing the auto emissions program and tightening rules on utilities and manufacturing.
The trouble was compounded by a severe slump in auto sales and a tightening of credit markets that in late 2008 virtually eliminated GMAC as a financing source for G.M. customers.
So earlier this month, saying they had tired of waiting for assistance, local officials sued to force the state to tighten auto smog standards in the Bay Area.
Chinese regulators may not take kindly to the proposed deal, which could throw a wrench into the government's plans to consolidate the auto sector and tighten fuel efficiency standards.
Now, in California, a Democratic state legislator named Susan Bonilla is pushing a bill that would tighten auto-insurance regulations for transportation companies like Uber.
More recently, the number of auto repossessions has fallen dramatically, due to tightening credit standards.
